Yeah, that's a good strategy. I did go however with a more (almost) thematic deck for the first quest : http://www.ringsdb.com/deck/view/19720

SPOILER**** Yeah, Galdor is cool, but try to destroy the Army of the Dead in this quest.... you won't regret it!

"You are not allowed to view this deck. To get access, you can ask the deck owner to enable "Share my decks" on their account."

Yeah, that's a good strategy. I did go however with a more (almost) thematic deck for the first quest : http://www.ringsdb.com/deck/view/19720

SPOILER**** Yeah, Galdor is cool, but try to destroy the Army of the Dead in this quest.... you won't regret it!

"You are not allowed to view this deck. To get access, you can ask the deck owner to enable "Share my decks" on their account."

OK, it's fixed. I didn't know about that setting, thanks for the heads up!!!!!

Battle of the Pelennor Fields was really tough and it kicked my butt. I made a bad decision to avoid questing early so that I could deal with some of the enemies in the staging area (and there are a lot of them!), but the damage piled up so fast on Minas Tirith it was shocking. It's extra hard in campaign mode because when you get to the last stage, all of those Haradrim that are in the campaign log from the Black Gate come out to party. It's got lots of neat elements going on from stage to stage as it tries to capture all of the epic things that happened during the battle. One of the things that surprised me is how quickly it went. I was expecting a long, drawn out siege like Helm's Deep, but this is nothing like that. There's a pause where you have a short time to build up forces, and then it's on as enemies upon enemies invade from Mordor. From that point on, you have to figure out how to best make a dent in their forces as they relentlessly assault the city. If you're not careful, the encounter deck will end things quickly (or end you quickly).

General agreement on this after my 1st attempt at Pelennor Fields tonight (non-campaign). I brought a power Gandalf deck and what I think of as a reverse-colored Rohan-Beregond deck (Tactics Theoden and Eowyn with Spirit Beregond). This is how close I came... **Slight spoilers**

47/50 damage on Minas Tirith. Witch King in the victory display. 14 quest progress to win. 2 cards to reveal. Test of Will in hand. I yolo-quest, since Grond is going to lose me the game next turn. But that gives me like a 35 excess progress cushion. Staging:

* Location that cancels Test of Will.

* Surging enemy.

* Surging enemy.

* Surging enemy.

* Treachery that either deals 5 damage to Minas Tirith (auto-loss) or 1 to each exhausted character.

Due to the horrid archery I've been taking throughout, the 2nd choice directly causes 17 of my characters to die. I do not make it.

I love this game.

Battle of the Pelennor Fields was really tough and it kicked my butt. I made a bad decision to avoid questing early so that I could deal with some of the enemies in the staging area (and there are a lot of them!), but the damage piled up so fast on Minas Tirith it was shocking. It's extra hard in campaign mode because when you get to the last stage, all of those Haradrim that are in the campaign log from the Black Gate come out to party. It's got lots of neat elements going on from stage to stage as it tries to capture all of the epic things that happened during the battle. One of the things that surprised me is how quickly it went. I was expecting a long, drawn out siege like Helm's Deep, but this is nothing like that. There's a pause where you have a short time to build up forces, and then it's on as enemies upon enemies invade from Mordor. From that point on, you have to figure out how to best make a dent in their forces as they relentlessly assault the city. If you're not careful, the encounter deck will end things quickly (or end you quickly).

General agreement on this after my 1st attempt at Pelennor Fields tonight (non-campaign). I brought a power Gandalf deck and what I think of as a reverse-colored Rohan-Beregond deck (Tactics Theoden and Eowyn with Spirit Beregond). This is how close I came... **Slight spoilers**

47/50 damage on Minas Tirith. Witch King in the victory display. 14 quest progress to win. 2 cards to reveal. Test of Will in hand. I yolo-quest, since Grond is going to lose me the game next turn. But that gives me like a 35 excess progress cushion. Staging:

* Location that cancels Test of Will.

* Surging enemy.

* Surging enemy.

* Surging enemy.

* Treachery that either deals 5 damage to Minas Tirith (auto-loss) or 1 to each exhausted character.

Due to the horrid archery I've been taking throughout, the 2nd choice directly causes 17 of my characters to die. I do not make it.

I love this game.

Voices from the developers: "Well played son, well played, muhahahahahahahahahahaha"

Replaying the campaign through again to get up to the new box, just escaped Moria and cannot wait to play the new quests. All three quests sound great but Battle of Pelennor Fields sounds truly epic!

Got my box today ... Since i cannot change heroes for the Battle it is the first time i regret playing my campaign one hand solo ... i cannot pick heroes, i want Dunedains, Rohan, Gondor, Gandalf, Hobbits ... i am very stuck with the books i guess

Do you believe that a deck with Tac Eowyn, Sp Beregond and Halbarad , with all the attachments needed to give Fellowship Aragorn all these sphaires (Roheryn, StwB and Celebrians Stone) and SoG for resources, would be possible to have a success on these or it takes to much time to build up?

Do you believe that a deck with Tac Eowyn, Sp Beregond and Halbarad , with all the attachments needed to give Fellowship Aragorn all these sphaires (Roheryn, StwB and Celebrians Stone) and SoG for resources, would be possible to have a success on these or it takes to much time to build up?

Seems like a solid heroes combo, I was thinking of such a deck. With Roah ally trigering effects qhen they leave play, it could be fun!

Seems like it takes too long without Galadriel (ally).

Spoilers for details on the Pelennor Fields quest in this post.

Played The Battle of the Pelennor Fields for the first time tonight. I was playing 2-handed in my campaign (so hero death is unacceptable) with Gimli/Eowyn(T)/Beravor and Amarthiul/Elfhelm/Beregond(S).

A heartbreaking loss. I was doing very well, and probably would have won on my first go. The 2nd stage had Gandalf and Mablung as allies in the staging area, which meant I had 7 damage to buffer me. I would have delayed there had I realized what came next, but I got through in 2 turns (I was playing blind). Still I did very well. Gimli was swinging for 11 with a Rohan Warhorse attached. Beregond and Amarthiul both had 6 defense with an Armoured Destrier each. Aragorn was in play and I had Visionary Leadership and Faramir on the table amid a swarm of Gondor allies.

I had a War Mumak engaged and was going to kill it (it had 6 damage on it). Beregond was defending for 6, and the shadow card that came up was the Shadow of Fear burden -- defending character does not count its defense. I used every trick I had, including all my Boons, Beravor, a copy of Heed the Dream (could only pay the Lore cost for it), Campfire Tales, and in the end drew 9 cards. I even used Old Bogey Stories to try to get the Beravor deck to draw into a copy of Deep Knowledge so I could get 2 more cards (didn't work). I was trying to draw into a Sneak Attack so I could play Gandalf and kill the Mumak. No dice. I drew a Hasty Stroke but it was too late to play it. Beregond was killed. After, just for giggles I shuffled the deck and looked at the top card -- Sneak Attack.

Sounds like a truly epic game!

Should have chosen Pursued by the Enemy instead huh?
I have never once chosen Shadow of Fear and I never will.

Losing the text box of each and every single character in play even just for a turn is just awful. No abilities, no ranged, no sentinel. Perhaps because I have always used decks that focus on strong character abilities and usually excel at destroying enemies sooner rather than later Shadow of Fear seems so much worse than pursued by the enemy.
I struggle to think of a worse encounter effect to be honest.

and yeah that shadow effect is potentially even worse. It essentially makes the attack undefended but you still exhausted a defender to it.

Yeah, that shadow has botched many games for me. The blanking I can deal with, as it has minimal effect on, say, a willpower Gondor army and characters with "gravy" abilities like hero Faramir, Mablung, and Damrod (as opposed to an ability on a character who would be neutered by a blank text box, like the twins).

Had a great Passing game yesterday. On the final turn I had Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir, Gimli (ally), Legolas (ally), and Halbarad (ally) on the table. The Grey Company indeed.

Had my first attempt on passage. My heroes where Eowyn (T), Beregond (S), Halbarad. My deck was thematic for the whole box (had Rohan, Gondor and Dunedain) since i played for my campaign.

Won snd also had army of the dead in Victory display. My final threat was 48 and that was thanks to Beregond for lowering it when he defended undamaged. Tried to have always an enemy engaged for this. Ally Faramir was of hreat help for quest too.

Aragorn version of the box can become very strong with attachments.

The quest was more on the easy side i guess but liked it. The early discard is tough though

Played the siege of Gondor, same deck. I was lucky to have SoG kai StwB on my opening hand and on turn three Aragorn had them both. Army of the dead helped a lot and Eowyn with the Golden shield and UC was questing and defending as well as Beregond. Halbarad was helping questing and attack.

The quest was easy, at least for my deck, though it was thematic and the only reason i could replay it is just because i had 7 tokens on corsair fleet ... There where a couple of turns that no ship location was coming from the encounter deck.

Next will be the battle of pelennor fields, in which i might change a lot of cards in my deck, especially since Aragorn will come late and all his attachments might be of no use

Had a great Passing game yesterday. On the final turn I had Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir, Gimli (ally), Legolas (ally), and Halbarad (ally) on the table. The Grey Company indeed.

What other heroes were you using? Sounds like a similar line up to what I was running until recently.

Had a great Passing game yesterday. On the final turn I had Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir, Gimli (ally), Legolas (ally), and Halbarad (ally) on the table. The Grey Company indeed.

What other heroes were you using? Sounds like a similar line up to what I was running until recently.

You won't like the answer I'm afraid. Elladan, Elrohir & ... Arwen. She was there "in spirit". Ba-dum-pum.

That lineup/deck isn't working on the next quest yet though. There is SO much incidental damage and chump blocking needed that I will need a pretty major revision to the deck.

Had my victory tonight (long play report follows!)

Decks wer Gimli (Tactics), Eowyn (Tactics), and Beravor on one side, and Amarthiul, Elfhelm, and Beregond (Spirit) on the other.

I won handily. Got Steward on round 1 (thanks to Beravor, I think) and a Citadel Plate in play by the second round, when combat would start. I stalled on stage 2 (allies were Gandalf and a Veteran of Osgiliath) for a good long time, and owned the board state. Not that many locations came out, which was lucky, and I killed both Wraiths on Wings before advancing to stage 3, which finally I did by choice. Aragorn also arrived before the Witch King.

Stage 3 passed very quickly -- on the first round I had only 1 enemy engaged, I think, and put 2 progress down (or I had more and cleared the active location +put 2 progress down, I forget). Next round I had 4 enemies and no active location, and plunked down 8 more on the quest, bringing me 2 shy of advancing. Next round the Witch King's effect discarded and added to the staging area The Black Serpent, which was lucky because it avoided his When Revealed immediate attack. I opted not to travel -- my options were Grond, which meant 2 attacks from the Witch King, or a Siege Tower, which would have shuffled the discard pile (including nasty shadow effects) back into the nearly empty encounter deck. I elected not to travel, and kept Grond in the staging area for the remainder of the game. Gimli made short work of The Black Serpent and I advanced to stage 4.

I had a long planning phase because I needed healing or risked defeat. All of the tactics deck's heroes were within 1 point of defeat; a Shadow of Mordor would have defeated me. I did some card draw shenanigans but came up empty, so I used my Three Golden Hairs boon, which thematically was attached to Gimli. I drew into a healer, played and used him immediately. Healed 1 point of damage on Eowyn and 1 on Beravor. Quest phase was a double reveal of Shadow of Mordor, so they got their damage right back (thanks, Galadriel!).

The leadership deck engaged the Witch King on stage 5 and made very quick work of him. During the encounter phase he attacked and killed a Defender of Rammas who had Sentinel thanks to Arwen, then a Sneak Attack Gandalf provided the second defense. Aragorn and the Gondor gang piled on the Witch King with all those +1 attacks from the Banner of Elendil, and dispatched him readily (sadly, Eowyn did not get her moment). Next round I quested to victory without incident. With Aragorn plus Banner of Elendil and Sword that was Broken, Visionary Leadership and Faramir, you can get up some s.e.r.i.o.u.s willpower.

I realized later that I totally forgot to add my campaign enemy from Journey to the Cross-roads once I hit stage 5, but it was a single Man of Harad and my board state was so strong that certainly it made no difference.

Nice report and good job on your victory! Took me three attempts in the end, was this your second after that first you posted about?

We actually had some VERY similar experiences! I had the Black Serpent appear from the Witch Kings effect as well avoiding his when revealed effect. Also I forgot to include my set aside campaign enemy from Journey to the Cross-roads as well the first two attempts (but remembered the third time when I won) and for me it was a single copy of Man of Harad as well!!!

I had far more trouble with the Wraith's on Wings and Witch King however. Didn't have anywhere near as much willpower as it sounds like you had so I had to commit multiple characters I would have liked to save for additional offensive and defensive power to questing instead t on most turns and had to carefully and specifically hold back from questing in order to dispatch the Witch King towards the end.

Played first attempt on the battle. Reached stage three but when the effect of of Witch King revealed a Mumak and the card i drew on staging was also a mumak (two in a raw) i dumped it.

Have a question. Since there is no ringbearer in game, do i shuffle brace of coneys in my deck? I guess not but want to be sure

Played first attempt on the battle. Reached stage three but when the effect of of Witch King revealed a Mumak and the card i drew on staging was also a mumak (two in a raw) i dumped it.

Have a question. Since there is no ringbearer in game, do i shuffle brace of coneys in my deck? I guess not but want to be sure

You can shuffle Brace of coneys in your deck for this scenario, but it's absurd. The problem is, since there is no ring-bearer in play during the game (Aragorn has not the ring bearer trait), you will never been able to play the card. (The condition on the boon is : Play only if you control the Ring-bearer.) So no point to add this card at all.

Had a victory too last night with a friend on the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

He played an Arwen / Elladan / Elrohir deck. Lot of resources on Elrohir, with quickly 2 Dunedain Warning on him + elven mail. He saved us with 6 defence on a single turn!!

I played a Galadriel / Lanwyn / Haldir Deck. With 3 scouting party an a lot of scout allies. Water of Nimrodel was very useful.

Aragorn arrived at turn 8,it very late. But he saved us! We 've been lucky when my friend drawn an Elrond Council when he was at 48 threat.

And 3 Mumak killed!

Rivendell Blade + Straight shot = Mumak killer combo

It took my 4 tries after everything. Two were scrapped by the Shadow of Fear shadow effect. The third I threated out on round 3 or so after a 13-point threat increase in the quest phase, just didn't get willpower down fast enough and was forced on to stage 3 with all that threat in the staging area. The time I won, with all my willpower boosting effects out, I had +4 willpower on some characters, so my Envoys of Pelargir were questing for 5 each!

I did not read Brace of Coneys since I earned it months ago, did not realize you needed the Ring-bearer! Well, I definitely cheated there, as I used it to lower threat by 2 and draw 2 cards early in the game. I doubt I will go back and play again now, though.

Had the most epic fail I ever had

Was playing the battle of pelennor fields

Stalled for 4 turns on stage 2, which helped me play allies Legolas, Gimli, Deorwyn, Ingold and a couple chump blockers (Good harvest and Tight your belts -or how it is called, helped a lot). At some point Gamling who was on stage area died cause I did not engaged an enemy for a couple of turns and so I went stage 3. Witch King, Grond etc, the first enemy that the Witch Kings ability discarded is a Mumak and the encounter card is the Black Serpant ... I also have Raith on WIngs engaged.

While on the second turn on this stage Aragorn joined and I managed to defeat Raith on Wings -who had 5 resources on- next turn Black Serpant (keep this in mind). I continue to play and after 4 turns (6 total in stage 3) I manage to get to stage 4 when I quested with a questing power of 30 (Faramir was in etc) ... Next turn I lost cause Grond was still in staging area and since on stage 4 there is no Witch King to attack I guess I cannot travel to Grond - is this correct btw or I could travel? I guess not - Minas Tirith was destroyed ... then a flash comes in my mind ... progress on stage 3 is placed by the encounter power of enemies killed, not by questing succesfull ... thus just on second turn on stage 3 I should have progressed on stage 4 saving myself of lots of archery, combat damage and most, damage on Minas Tirith (I am playing solo)

I feel like I never want to play again

Had the most epic fail I ever had

Was playing the battle of pelennor fields

Stalled for 4 turns on stage 2, which helped me play allies Legolas, Gimli, Deorwyn, Ingold and a couple chump blockers (Good harvest and Tight your belts -or how it is called, helped a lot). At some point Gamling who was on stage area died cause I did not engaged an enemy for a couple of turns and so I went stage 3. Witch King, Grond etc, the first enemy that the Witch Kings ability discarded is a Mumak and the encounter card is the Black Serpant ... I also have Raith on WIngs engaged.

While on the second turn on this stage Aragorn joined and I managed to defeat Raith on Wings -who had 5 resources on- next turn Black Serpant (keep this in mind). I continue to play and after 4 turns (6 total in stage 3) I manage to get to stage 4 when I quested with a questing power of 30 (Faramir was in etc) ... Next turn I lost cause Grond was still in staging area and since on stage 4 there is no Witch King to attack I guess I cannot travel to Grond - is this correct btw or I could travel? I guess not - Minas Tirith was destroyed ... then a flash comes in my mind ... progress on stage 3 is placed by the encounter power of enemies killed, not by questing succesfull ... thus just on second turn on stage 3 I should have progressed on stage 4 saving myself of lots of archery, combat damage and most, damage on Minas Tirith (I am playing solo)

I feel like I never want to play again

The first attempt I had I managed to get to the very end, had the witch king almost defeated and almost enough progress on the last stage. Minas Tirith was on 48 damage or something ridiculous (playing two handed so it has 50 total health).

All of a sudden I realise I had been ignoring the effect on the Mordor Orcs and had been placing undefended attack damage on heroes instead of Minas Tirith. In reality I had most likely lost a few turns prior....

I was pretty disheartened...

Then I played another game and had an epic but really fun loss, then third attempt I managed an epic win!

Its a hard quest but stick with it because victory is usually pretty epic on this one when you do achieve it!

You are right, I know ... it is just that I might have won the quest if I was playing correctly, I damaged my whole attempt cause I did not pay attention on the card

I love it as a quest, it is tough and my hero line up while perfect for the first two has a little weakness here, plus that I have 7 resources on Corsair Fleet thus Aragorn comes a bit late. Also on the six games I had so far in Pelennor Fields, three of them I had the Black Arrow attached on a hero on stage two or three which with no healing in my deck makes things nearly impossible.

My biggest problem though are Mumaks, I might change a few cards to take Rivendell blade and straight shot for ally Legolas that I have in my deck already.