Ok, tried again and won. I think my most difficult part was to stall as much as possible on stage two. My ally was Deorwine which helped. Beregond was a beastcin defence and kept threat low, Eowyn used its ability to help kill Wraith on Wings, Halbarad was questing and attacking each turn while from stage 3 and on i had Legolas, Gimli, Faramir, Grimbold and Ingold allies on table with some other Rohan cheap ones. Pure theme

On stage 4 i could do 23 damage but there were not that many enemies in play (apart from a mumak which could get only three)

Epic quest!!!

Wooooo! I just had to crow about a win I just had against Siege of Gondor.

The only wins I've had against this quest involved balls-to-the-wall willpower decks, but for some reason I decided to take a Silvan/Noldor fellowship of two decks against it instead. Moreover, the Silvan deck was Celeborn-Legolas-Argalad, which meant that it was not a heavy quester (compared to Silvan decks that use Galadriel, at least).

I'm not sure I've ever been so doubly lucky and unlucky in a game. Unlucky because it took me forever to find certain cards, like Elven-light and O Lorien (which actually sits in the heavily-drawing Noldor deck, which moreover has 3x Rivendell Minstrel, so it was shocking it took so long). When I finally played O Lorien, it was just a round or two before a shadow effect discarded it, ugh. Meanwhile, the Tactics Silvan deck couldn't find a weapon for the life of it, so its intended Straight Shot abuse was entirely for naught: 3x Straight Shot sat in my hand nearly all game. And Silvan Tracker, who could've been so excellent with all the direct damage in the quest, never hit the table either.

At the same time, the roulette spin that Silvans can be hit money over and over and over. Do I need to Tree People into a Galadhrim Minstrel into a Feigned Voices in order to survive...? Sure, that can happen. Will the usually least-useful Silvan event, Pursuing the Enemy, repeatedly get me the last damage I need to avoid deadly attacks? Yup! I need to draw into a Galadhrim Healer RIGHT NOW. Oh, there she is.

In the end, with 11 (!) damage on the Corsair Fleet, I YOLO quested with everyone except Legolas and found myself... two short. Four undefended attacks and four dead heroes later, Legolas -- good ol' Core set Legolas, not a single attachment on him -- fired off a single Ranged arrow at an 8HP Umbar Pirate Crew who'd been slowly but surely softened up by repeated Argalad'ings and a Gandalf bomb... It plinked for that last point of needed damage to destroy it, and Legolas calmly put the last two progress on the quest for the win. What a boss.

I've never felt so simultaneously undeserving and deserving of a win. Good thing this wasn't in campaign mode!

(Also: Dunedain Remedy is good, yo. I only had it for a couple of rounds before it too was discarded to a shadow effect, but in those two rounds, it healed a ridiculous amount of damage.)

Nice write-up, sounds like an awesome game. I like the Dunedain Remedy card very much, although I haven't played with it yet. Is that the first healing card that isn't Lore? (excluding boons)

Wooooo! I just had to crow about a win I just had against Siege of Gondor.

Finally got around to trying this one and it is brutal. Glad to know it's not just me! Congrats on your win.

I'm wondering if a supar secrat Hobbit deck would work, since you must quest to win. I mean to try this solo this weekend.

I'm wondering if a supar secrat Hobbit deck would work, since you must quest to win. I mean to try this solo this weekend.

You're gonna need some hit points!

I'm wondering if a supar secrat Hobbit deck would work, since you must quest to win. I mean to try this solo this weekend.

You're gonna need some hit points!

Frodo.

Or just take the extra card.

In The Passing of the Grey Company, if an enemy with the Phantom keyword attacks and you raise your threat as a result, do you also have to count excess damage dealt by that attack, or can it never be more than the HP of the defending character?

I'm wondering if a supar secrat Hobbit deck would work, since you must quest to win. I mean to try this solo this weekend.

You're gonna need some hit points!

Frodo.

Or just take the extra card.

I did something similar with a Gondor deck.

Banner of Elendil + Sword that Was Broken + Visionary Leadership + Faramir (core) + cheap Gondor allies. Keep threat low with sneak+Gandalf and quest past everything. I took the damage for the first 3 rounds and took the extra card for each round after. It worked pretty well. Really fun to have your Squires of the Citadel questing for 4 each!

Mono-Leadership?

Mono-Leadership?

It was Leadership Denethor, Leadership Boromir, and Lore Pippin, but I think you can make a better deck if you are willing to break theme a bit. Boromir's global buff wasn't too useful, so Imrahil would be another thematic option.

Damrod + Traps is another option, swapping him for Pippin.

Yeah, I agree that a Gondor deck can still be better when you splash Lore, although you should not underestimate the Rod of the Steward in Mono Leadership. Strange that you found Boromir's buff not too useful, as it is usually quite the contrary with my builds.

Yeah, I agree that a Gondor deck can still be better when you splash Lore, although you should not underestimate the Rod of the Steward in Mono Leadership. Strange that you found Boromir's buff not too useful, as it is usually quite the contrary with my builds.

For this specific quest you don't need to kill much.

I was very pleased and impressed with this saga box. Artwork is amazing. I played the quests solo with one deck (tried a lore one splashed with spirit and then spirit with a bit of lore) :

Grey Company is an excellent quest with a small encounter deck, and i thought it worked great with early planning key, it kept getting tense and yes spirit cards felt like a necessity. Really enjoyed this one for solo play and think this will become a regular scenario for me to play.

Siege of Gondor is another small encounter deck quest which has a nice fleet attack theme fighting corsairs, but i couldn't really take to it, i think it is because you just have to beat it quickly so doesn't leave much room for changing spheres. It was pretty hard too.

Pelennor Fields is a one of those epic style quest with many stages, some clever design, but has quite a lot to keep track of, which i don't usually like so much, but this one had such great artwork and theme. In terms of difficulty it felt like Ruins of Belegost, a wonderful quest with such good art and cards but designed way hard for solo fun. I feel i needed to modify the Witch King so he didn't attack me (as first player) every round just to feel i had a chance and even then the archers wear me down. I did manage a good win on easy level so that is encouraging. Overall with slight rules modification i will enjoy playing again.

Overall i really like this box set, heroes, theme, artwork and quests are high on the enjoyment list. I don't buy saga's generally but glad i got this one.

I was very pleased and impressed with this saga box. Artwork is amazing. I played the quests solo with one deck (tried a lore one splashed with spirit and then spirit with a bit of lore) :

Grey Company is an excellent quest with a small encounter deck, and i thought it worked great with early planning key, it kept getting tense and yes spirit cards felt like a necessity. Really enjoyed this one for solo play and think this will become a regular scenario for me to play.

Siege of Gondor is another small encounter deck quest which has a nice fleet attack theme fighting corsairs, but i couldn't really take to it, i think it is because you just have to beat it quickly so doesn't leave much room for changing spheres. It was pretty hard too.

Pelennor Fields is a one of those epic style quest with many stages, some clever design, but has quite a lot to keep track of, which i don't usually like so much, but this one had such great artwork and theme. In terms of difficulty it felt like Ruins of Belegost, a wonderful quest with such good art and cards but designed way hard for solo fun. I feel i needed to modify the Witch King so he didn't attack me (as first player) every round just to feel i had a chance and even then the archers wear me down. I did manage a good win on easy level so that is encouraging. Overall with slight rules modification i will enjoy playing again.

Overall i really like this box set, heroes, theme, artwork and quests are high on the enjoyment list. I don't buy saga's generally but glad i got this one.

Pretty much exactly my review, except I'd add a bit more hate towards Siege of Gondor lol. This is the box that made me realize Campaign Mode will for the most part only be playable for power decks, which is kind of a bummer. Otherwise, yeah, the art and theme are incredible, although I don't find Pelennor to be that hard unless you get Black Dart or the Mumak or Black Serpent first round, but I agree that it's a bit too much to keep track of.

This is the box that made me realize Campaign Mode will for the most part only be playable for power decks, which is kind of a bummer. O

Maybe in true solo. I play mostly solo 2-handed these days, and my decks have been thematic through the whole campaign. Certainly you can build a "power deck" which is thematic, but I don't get that accolade. My decks are moderately successful, wouldn't classify as power decks. I think I won Siege on my 2nd or 3rd try, and in only 5 rounds!

Maybe in true solo? I'm sorry, but I'm not taking my secrecy hobbit deck against Pelennor without Aragorn for half the game and with extra Oliphaunts at the end (assuming I won Crossroads and Siege). Ain't nobody got time for that.