Hey everyone! I just got the core set last weekend, and have been loving this game so far. At this point I only have one core set, but I'm going to pick up the full Mirkwood cycle and a second core set this coming weekend. I have a couple questions. I plan on only using cards that were available in the set for each quest so only core cards for core quests, and core + Mirkwood 1 for the first Mirkwood quest and so on. (Still learning all the names.) Once I do that I'll allow myself and my group to go back and play all the quests with any cards.

So far I've beat the first core quest with all four starter decks, and with a dual sphere deck. I played the second quest a few times so far and got stomped in the second phase. Without spoiling the third phase, any tips on what I should do to help with this solo using only core set cards?

Also regarding three or four player games, my group just did our first game (Full four players) last night and had a blast. We just all used a starter deck and used pen/paper to keep track of the threat for two people. At what point will I have enough cards to allow for four people to build a decent mixed sphere deck? Will the two cores + Mirkwood allow for that with enough unique heroes?

While enemies don't make engagement checks in Stage 2B, you can still make optional engagements to thin out the herd.

Take your time in stage one, so that you have a good army of questers to get through stage two quickly.

I think 2x Core Set + all the Mirkwood Adventure Packs should be a decent card pool for building four dual-sphere decks simultaneously. Your full pool would look like this:

http://ringsdb.com/find?q=c%3ACore%7CSoM&sort=sphere&view=list

If you want a few more heroes, you get a lot of bang for your buck with the Black Riders box, which comes with one hero from each sphere (three of which are excellent). You could also go for either (or both!) of the Hobbit boxes, which also include four heroes each, but they're heavily focused on Dwarf synergy so they're not as general-purpose.

Thanks for that list Authraw! Being able to see the heroes helped.

One more question, (For now!) Eowyn from the core set reads " Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to give Éowyn +1 (Willpower) until the end of the phase. This effect may be triggered by each player once each round." It hasn't come up in game yet, but does the "Each player" mean that in a four player game everyone can discard one card to give her a total of +4 willpower? If it had come up in game, I would have said yes, but that seems really powerful so I wanted to double check here.

Thanks for that list Authraw! Being able to see the heroes helped.

One more question, (For now!) Eowyn from the core set reads " Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to give Éowyn +1 (Willpower) until the end of the phase. This effect may be triggered by each player once each round." It hasn't come up in game yet, but does the "Each player" mean that in a four player game everyone can discard one card to give her a total of +4 willpower? If it had come up in game, I would have said yes, but that seems really powerful so I wanted to double check here.

Yes, every player may choose to discard 1 card from his/her hand in order to give Eowyn +1 Willpower (so up to +4 in a 4 player game).

Thanks for the answer!

I have another question. I picked up my second core set and the Mirkwood cycle and have completed quest 2 core set solo. I should finish quest 3 in the next day or two if I get a chance to play, and then start Mirkwood. My group wanted to try quest 1 again before diving into quest 2. (I think I scared them by saying it was much harder than quest 1) My plan was to only let myself use cards up to each quest as I solo play, and then remove them for group play until my group gets up to the quest. I'm the one with the most experience with deck building games so I don't want to overwhelm them with too many choices at once. I'm planning on picking up the expansions in order that they were released.

Anyway, on to my question. When did each saga expansion come out in relation to the deluxe ones and the cycles? I checked the product page here and on Amazon and didn't see a release date anywhere, or just missed it. I made the mistake of browsing some of the cards in the hobbit expansion and was tempted to deviate from my plan of going in order. While you're at it, if you have the order of the standalone scenarios also that would be helpful.

Also, I read that a good deck distribution is 50% allies, 25% events, 25% attachments, and then each subset is proportioned to your heroes' spheres. Is that pretty accurate considering my collection? Once we get through Mirkwood I know we'll have the songs to allow for a heavier proportion to one sphere or another since we can balance out the sphere mismatch.

Anyway, on to my question. When did each saga expansion come out in relation to the deluxe ones and the cycles? I checked the product page here and on Amazon and didn't see a release date anywhere, or just missed it. I made the mistake of browsing some of the cards in the hobbit expansion and was tempted to deviate from my plan of going in order. While you're at it, if you have the order of the standalone scenarios also that would be helpful.

Here you go!

Note: I have stopped updating this, but it shouldn't be hard to continue updating yourself.

Anyway, on to my question. When did each saga expansion come out in relation to the deluxe ones and the cycles? I checked the product page here and on Amazon and didn't see a release date anywhere, or just missed it. I made the mistake of browsing some of the cards in the hobbit expansion and was tempted to deviate from my plan of going in order. While you're at it, if you have the order of the standalone scenarios also that would be helpful.

Here you go!

Note: I have stopped updating this, but it shouldn't be hard to continue updating yourself.

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for. Looks like the first Saga is right after the second cycle. I think I'll be able to wait and play it in order. We'll see what I end up doing once I finish Mirkwood!

I have another question!

Horn of Gondor (Unique)

Attach to a hero. Restricted.

Response: After a character is destroyed, add 1 resource to attached hero's pool.

In a multiplayer game, all four players characters can trigger this right? So if I have it attached to my hero, but my friend lost an ally I would still get an extra resource, correct? I would assume so, but just want to double check. I got it attached last game, but it was discarded by the encounter deck right away so I never got to use it. lol

I have another question!

Horn of Gondor (Unique)

Attach to a hero. Restricted.

Response: After a character is destroyed, add 1 resource to attached hero's pool.

In a multiplayer game, all four players characters can trigger this right? So if I have it attached to my hero, but my friend lost an ally I would still get an extra resource, correct? I would assume so, but just want to double check. I got it attached last game, but it was discarded by the encounter deck right away so I never got to use it. lol

Well, you are mostly correct. Only the player who controls the attachment can "trigger" this response, but in your example, yes, the player who controls the attachment could trigger this response even when another player's ally is destroyed.

So I just tried Escape from Dol Goldur for the first time last night. I knew it was going to be difficult, but wow losing a hero is tough! I tried it half a dozen times or so and couldn't get set up once.

This is the deck I borrowed from ringsdb: http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/307/beorn-s-path-3-escape-from-dol-guldur-tactics-spirit-1.0 I added an extra horn, UC, dwarven tomb, and two extra gandalfs. (I'm using two core sets, but nothing from the mirkwood cycle.) I saw a couple others I may try if this one doesn't work out.

I have a question about setup though. it says to "Attach" three cards to the objectives in the staging area on 1A. Do you resolve the "When revealed" effects in this case? I was playing that you do, but after looking at the wording in Passage through Mirkwood and Journey Down the Anduin I think that was incorrect. PtM says "Add" which I know does NOT trigger "When Revealed" and JDtA says "Reveal" which does trigger.

Wording on 1A EfDG for those that haven't played in awhile:

" Setup: Search the encounter deck for the three objective cards, reveal and place them in the staging area. Also, place the Nazgul of Dol Goldur face up but out of play, alongside the quest deck. Then, shuffle the encounter deck, and attach 1 encounter to each objective card."

Yes, you reveal the card guarding the objectives. Under Guarded in the rule book, the first sentence is:

"The guarded keyword is a reminder on some objective cards to reveal and attach the next card of the encounter deck to the objective when it enters the staging area from the encounter deck, and place them both in the staging area."

Since the three objective cards are "revealed" from the encounter deck, the guarded keyword kicks in and reveals another card to guard them. If you're playing single deck against Dol Goldur, your only hope is that at least two of the revealed cards are no/low impact treacheries.

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Yes, you reveal the card guarding the objectives. Under Guarded in the rule book, the first sentence is:

"The guarded keyword is a reminder on some objective cards to reveal and attach the next card of the encounter deck to the objective when it enters the staging area from the encounter deck, and place them both in the staging area."

Since the three objective cards are "revealed" from the encounter deck, the guarded keyword kicks in and reveals another card to guard them. If you're playing single deck against Dol Goldur, your only hope is that at least two of the revealed cards are no/low impact treacheries.

Ok so I was playing correctly then. I was hoping I was wrong that way it would be easier. lol. Just seemed a little conflicting that it said "Add" specifically in the setup card, instead of just letting the rulebook "Guarded" keyword do it's job. That encounter deck can be mean! I had one setup where I revealed a surge and doomed guy (Who surged into a normal enemy), the treachery that attaches and prevents normal readying (Spider web thing), and then finally the spider that instantly exhausts a hero. Question on the surge, the surge instantly happens correct? So I would attach first guy to objective, the card from surge does not attach to the objective (Just goes to staging area like a normal card), then the remaining two attach and resolve.

Follow up question, this setup all occurs on 1A. When I flip to 1B and my hero is taken prisoner, if I was fortunate enough to have the one that got the web and instant exhaust be the prisoner, does he lose the web since the prisoner can't have attachments? Seems like the only counter to a setup that mean.

Yes, you reveal the card guarding the objectives. Under Guarded in the rule book, the first sentence is:

"The guarded keyword is a reminder on some objective cards to reveal and attach the next card of the encounter deck to the objective when it enters the staging area from the encounter deck, and place them both in the staging area."

Since the three objective cards are "revealed" from the encounter deck, the guarded keyword kicks in and reveals another card to guard them. If you're playing single deck against Dol Goldur, your only hope is that at least two of the revealed cards are no/low impact treacheries.

1) Question on the surge, the surge instantly happens correct? So I would attach first guy to objective, the card from surge does not attach to the objective (Just goes to staging area like a normal card), then the remaining two attach and resolve.

2) Follow up question, this setup all occurs on 1A. When I flip to 1B and my hero is taken prisoner, if I was fortunate enough to have the one that got the web and instant exhaust be the prisoner, does he lose the web since the prisoner can't have attachments? Seems like the only counter to a setup that mean.

1) The surge happens immediately after any When Revealed effects are resolved and would happen before revealing the next card to attach to the other Guarded objective. Whatever card you surged into, would simply be added to the staging area.

2) I am not entirely confident that the prisoner would lose the attachment. It depends on what they mean by "facedown" and "cannot be used". Personally, I would keep Caught in a Web attached.

Thanks for all the help.

Another question about the dungeon jailer. " Forced: If Dungeon Jailor is in the staging area after the players have just quested unsuccessfully, shuffle 1 unclaimed objective card from the staging area back into the encounter deck."

If the objective is still guarded, it is still a valid target for this effect correct? I played that it was.

I think this is the last question, at least until I play again.

Another question about the dungeon jailer. " Forced: If Dungeon Jailor is in the staging area after the players have just quested unsuccessfully, shuffle 1 unclaimed objective card from the staging area back into the encounter deck."

If the objective is still guarded, it is still a valid target for this effect correct? I played that it was.

Yes, it is still a valid target.

I hate to be bringing back dead threads but i thought i should note that the pods and nightmare decks are missing in the order of expansion list unless you go to past versions, might just be a glitch though

Here you go!

Note: I have stopped updating this, but it shouldn't be hard to continue updating yourself.

No worries. Thanks for letting me know about the POD and nightmare. Nightmare at least I wasn't planning on getting for a while still. I plan on using this thread for all my new player questions until it gets too old. I just haven't posted a new question recently since I haven't had time to play.

I hate to be bringing back dead threads but i thought i should note that the pods and nightmare decks are missing in the order of expansion list unless you go to past versions, might just be a glitch though

Here you go!

Note: I have stopped updating this, but it shouldn't be hard to continue updating yourself.

They are there. I went into the document yesterday and applied a filter to the "Type" column. If you remove the filter, they all reappear, POD and Nightmare included. I was just interested in looking at the non-POD and non-Nightmare scenarios for my friend. I have now removed the filter.

ah okay thanks