Try to get the highest willpower for the two types of modes

Mode 1: You can only use your starting hand + your starting draw (7 cards - this is a hard limit. No hero abilities, such as Erestor, will allow more draws). You may not draw more cards/manipulate your deck.

Mode 2: You can use any player cards to manipulate your deck/hand/draws and draw more than your starting hand+initial draw.

1) You are only using one deck

2) You are using willpower for questing (not battle/siege)

3) You can only benefit from player card effects

4) You may not included any objective allies or extra heroes (from sagas etc) in the calculation for your willpower

5) Try not to come up with any other gimmicky things I've not thought of that would give you an unfair starting advantage to your willpower and haven't thought to list in these rules as disallowed

6) You can choose your draw(s) when applicable

7) You are playing regular mode (not easy mode)

Currently, Seastan has a very impressive 36 Willpower for Mode 1, but I won't divulge how he did it in case any players want to try to top it...

I'm not gonna even get close to 36...

If I'm doing my math right, I think at least 38 is possible:

That's 15 resources worth of cards, but you only have 12 resources.

That's 15 resources worth of cards, but you only have 12 resources.

Doh, I thought Ethir Swordsman was only 1. Math is hard

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

Wow! Nice. I hadn't thought of this avenue before. It looks like it can be Improved a bit...I'm sure it can still be improved even more, but here's a slightly higher amount using the same idea.

Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn

3x Good Meal

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Westfold Horsebreeder

Frodo (2), Theoden (8), Eowyn (10), Westfold Horsebreeder (7) = 27

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

Wow! Nice. I hadn't thought of this avenue before. It looks like it can be Improved a bit...I'm sure it can still be improved even more, but here's a slightly higher amount using the same idea.

Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn

3x Good Meal

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Westfold Horsebreeder

Frodo (2), Theoden (8), Eowyn (10), Westfold Horsebreeder (7) = 27

So there is also...mostly thanks to Seastan

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Eothian

Theodred

Eowyn

Theoden

Erkenbrand (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

Theodred (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

I didn't think of good meal, great idea!

Another approach (with only the starting hand - if you could draw more cards this could quickly become crazy) uses the first round potential of the new Denthor hero.

Heroes: Cirdan, Eowyn, Denethor (L)

Play a Legacy of Numenor for the extra resources. You now have enough to play Galadriel (L), who finds Celebrian's Stone, and also two Escort from Edoras. Sneak attack in Faramir, and then play Ever Vigilant to get two uses out of him during the quest phase. This gets you 34:

Cirdan (4) + Eowyn (4) + Denethor (1) + Celbrian's Stone (2) + Escort 1 (4) + Escort 2 (4) + Galadriel (3) +Faramir use 1 (6) + Faramir use 2 (6) = 34!

I'm sure this can be improved on as well - certainly with more draws of Ever Vigilant, or possibly by substituting in Aragorn somewhere and having Galadriel draw Sword that was Broken. At any rate, it is within striking distance of Seastan's answer.

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

Wow! Nice. I hadn't thought of this avenue before. It looks like it can be Improved a bit...I'm sure it can still be improved even more, but here's a slightly higher amount using the same idea.

Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn

3x Good Meal

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Westfold Horsebreeder

Frodo (2), Theoden (8), Eowyn (10), Westfold Horsebreeder (7) = 27

So there is also...mostly thanks to Seastan

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Eothian

Theodred

Eowyn

Theoden

Erkenbrand (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

Theodred (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

You can actually get 35 with Rohan a 2 different ways...

2x Legacy

2x Astonishing Speed

1x Escort from Edoras

2x Snowborn Scout

3x Legacy

2x Astonishing Speed

2x Escort from Edoras

Does using Grappling hook violate criteria 2)?

Does using Grappling hook violate criteria 2)?

No. There is a 32 solution that we've come up with if we allow Trained for War as well. And there is a 40 solution if we allow the tactics battle side quest. I'm not sure how those should be considered sine this is a fairly casual exercise

I imagine with Tactics Eowyn and Grappling hook, you can get quite high.

When Temple of the Deceived gets released Scouting Party is going to blow this up. You can get to 35+(whatever willpower the hero in that pack has).

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

Wow! Nice. I hadn't thought of this avenue before. It looks like it can be Improved a bit...I'm sure it can still be improved even more, but here's a slightly higher amount using the same idea.

Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn

3x Good Meal

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Westfold Horsebreeder

Frodo (2), Theoden (8), Eowyn (10), Westfold Horsebreeder (7) = 27

So there is also...mostly thanks to Seastan

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Eothian

Theodred

Eowyn

Theoden

Erkenbrand (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

Theodred (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

You can actually get 35 with Rohan a 2 different ways...

2x Legacy

2x Astonishing Speed

1x Escort from Edoras

2x Snowborn Scout

This solution becomes 36 if we replace 1x Snowborn Scout with Ceorl (the unreleased Rohan ally).

This was not the 36 solution Seastan came up with. At this point we may as well reveal his 36 solution...

Denethor

Theodred

Eowyn (S)

3 2x Legacy of Numenor

3x Lay of Nimrodel

2x Parting Gifts

When Temple of the Deceived gets released Scouting Party is going to blow this up. You can get to 35+(whatever willpower the hero in that pack has).

Yes, that's quite crazy!

This was not the 36 solution Seastan came up with. At this point we may as well reveal his 36 solution...

Denethor

Theodred

Eowyn (S)

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Lay of Nimrodel

2x Parting Gifts

That was way simpler than I thought it would be.

I can get up to 20 in a scenario that I can actually imagine occurring in-game:

Heroes: Arwen, Theoden (S), Eowyn

Play Astonishing Speed (3 resources). Discard a card for a resource, use this and Theoden's discount to play Escort From Edoras. Discard a card to boost Eowyn. This gets you:

Arwen (3) + Theoden (4) + Eowyn (7) + Escort (6) = 20 willpower.

You could increase this to 23 by playing 3x Elrond's Council, which uses all resources and your entire opening hand of 6+1 cards. Seems a bit less likely to me.

Wow! Nice. I hadn't thought of this avenue before. It looks like it can be Improved a bit...I'm sure it can still be improved even more, but here's a slightly higher amount using the same idea.

Frodo, Theoden, Eowyn

3x Good Meal

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Westfold Horsebreeder

Frodo (2), Theoden (8), Eowyn (10), Westfold Horsebreeder (7) = 27

So there is also...mostly thanks to Seastan

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Astonishing Speed

1x Eothian

Theodred

Eowyn

Theoden

Erkenbrand (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

Theodred (7), Eowyn (10), Theoden (8), Eothian (8) = 33

You can actually get 35 with Rohan a 2 different ways...

2x Legacy

2x Astonishing Speed

1x Escort from Edoras

2x Snowborn Scout

This solution becomes 36 if we replace 1x Snowborn Scout with Ceorl (the unreleased Rohan ally).

This was not the 36 solution Seastan came up with. At this point we may as well reveal his 36 solution...

Denethor

Theodred

Eowyn (S)

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x Lay of Nimrodel

2x Parting Gifts

That's 8 cards! It should only be 2 Legacy.

It's possible to quest with 69 willpower on a first turn.

I think you can get 39 willpower if you tweak Seastan's a little bit to replace Theodred with Cirdan, and one of the parting gifts with another legacy of Numenor. One spirit hero will pay for the Lay of Nimrodels on the other spirit hero that receives all of Denethor's resources.

Interesting thread .. but mostly in exchange for 12 threat .. uff.. so after round 1 you have finished the first quest card, all characters are exhausted and your threat is nearly 40 ..

I think you can get 39 willpower if you tweak Seastan's a little bit to replace Theodred with Cirdan, and one of the parting gifts with another legacy of Numenor. One spirit hero will pay for the Lay of Nimrodels on the other spirit hero that receives all of Denethor's resources.

Impressive!! That's the highest pure will power so far. Not sure if it can get much better than that.

I think you can get 39 willpower if you tweak Seastan's a little bit to replace Theodred with Cirdan, and one of the parting gifts with another legacy of Numenor. One spirit hero will pay for the Lay of Nimrodels on the other spirit hero that receives all of Denethor's resources.

Nice! I didn't think of that. I think I can tie 39 with:

Cirdan, Eowyn, Denerthor, Legacy x 2, Parting Gifts, Lay of Nimrodel x 3, Dwarven Tomb.

To go for the highest questing strength, rather than straight willpower, you can get to 40 with:

Tactics Eowyn, Treebeard, Amarthiul, 3x Dunedain hunter, Vassal of the Windlord, Sneak Attack, Beorn Ally, and Delay the Enemy.

Heroes:

Dain, Thorin, Aragorn (L)

Opening Hand plus draw:

Fili

A Very Good Tale

A Very Good Tale

A Very Good Tale

Legacy of Numenor

We are not Idle

Sword that was Broken

Play order:

Play Legacy of Numenor, you now have 6 L resources. Play Sword that was Broken on Aragorn (now 3 L resources). Play Fili and grab Kili (now 0 resources). Exhaust both for A Very Good Tale, grabbing 2x Longbeard Elders. Exhaust the Elders for second A Very Good Tale, grabbing Gloin and Bofur. Exhaust Gloin and Bofur for a third Elder and Bifur. Play We are not Idle, exhausting the ready Elder, Bifur, Dain and Thorin to put 4 resources on Dain. Draw Lure of Moria. Play Lure of Moria to ready all dwarves. Quest with everyone except Dain.

Total:

Thorin (5) + Aragorn (3) + {Fili, Kili, Longbeard Elders x 3, Gloin, Bofur, Bifur} (4 each = 32) = 40

Aren't Fili, Kili, and Bifur all 1 base WP, as opposed to the Elders/Gloin/Bofur with 2 base WP? Which would make your total 37.

Anyway, the others have gotten even the non-draw version up to 39, so I'm sure even the following improvement can be much bettered, but if you do two things:

- Have ally Galadriel in hand instead of Sword that was Broken, and put StwB into play via Galadriel's effect.

- Replace the allies put into play by the last Very Good Tale with Faramir and, say, Erebor Hammersmith, then you can exhaust the Erebor Hammersmith, Dain, and Thorin to put 3 resources on Dain with We Are Not Idle, draw and play Lure of Moria, quest with everyone except Dain and Faramir, then trigger Faramir.

...then you get:

Thorin (6) + Aragorn (4) + (Elders x2, Gloin, Bofur) (4*5) + (Fili, Kili, Erebor Hammersmith) (3*4) + Galadriel (5) = 47.

@sappidus: Good point, and nice improvement. Nobody had done a dwarf version yet (or really any Mode 2's), so I thought I'd throw out an option. Figured there were probably ways to improve it -- as you point out!