all i can say is wow. in my experience gaming, im not sure i can say ive ran into such a difficult game aspect in the "core" set. My wife and i attempted to pass dol goldur for the first time last night and it became very powerful negative play experience (my wife got the prisoner, then both caught in a web). I had read it was tough, but yikes. oh well, we'll practice some more and maybe get away from the base solo-sphere starter decks before attempting this mission again.

but, moving past my initial reactions to the level, we ran into some rules questions. i am sure these have all been asked before so im sorry for the repetitiveness of the questions.

first one is more of a reaffirmation of what i read on here, you cant use caught in a web on the prisoner, correct? once the hero is face down, you can't use the "hero" aspect of that card for caught in a web, right?

in regards to an objective with a location attached to it. the rules talk about the location being removed from the objective once it is fully explored. however, i didnt see in the rules where it confirms that you can "travel" to a location that is attached to an objective card. but if you can't "travel" there, i couldnt figure out how you'd fully explore it since it's not active. so we played it that you can travel to the location, thus removing the location and the objective from the staging area. was that correct? if not, how are you supposed to explore those attached locations?

dungeon jailer questions: is a tie an example of "quested unsuccessfully"? also, i am assuming that the jailer can shuffle an objective card that has an attachment (thus shuffling the attachment as well) back in the deck for an unsuccessful quest attempt, is that correct? or is it only unclaimed objectives with no attachments?

Thanks for the help and clarification. That is a tough mission, no doubt. the frustrating part is i dont think there was anything we could have done differently (other than not playing the game) that would have changed the outcome. time to travel back down the anduin for a little more practice.

First one: no, you can't use the card on him.

Second: nothing change for the location, no reason to apply another rule that is not written.

Third: tie is nor questing successfully nor unseccessfully, don't resolve any of the effect that should trigger by them. It can shuffle guarded objectives, but the card guarding it doesn't move.

There is much randomness in this game, it will be better as card pool increase and the last cycle where the designer make better design choice, but it still remain a card game.

Edit: ah! didn't see the other post... answered for nothing... :'(

When you travel to the location with the guarded objective, it stays attached until you explore the location. Once the location is explored, it becomes unattached and you can claim it.

One reminder that some new players miss - the rescue of the prisoner (and bringing in the Nazgul) is a response, meaning it is always optional. If you are not ready to deal with the Nazgul on a given round, you can decide not to rescue your hero after placing progress.

Another trick to the objectives that you could try. Claim the Map to get to stage 2. Leave the others unclaimed until you have 15 progress on stage 2. Then, next turn, claim the two objectives during the action window after the start of the quest phase.You will have fulfilled the requirements for advancing, and you will immediately move to stage 3. Then, all your progress for that round will go on stage 3, for the win, hopefully. Doing it this way will allow you to avoid ever having to deal with the Orc Guards (since the enter play only if you are at stage 3 at the beginning of the quest phase). You also avoid ever having to trigger the end of round effects on the torch or the key.

One reminder that some new players miss - the rescue of the prisoner (and bringing in the Nazgul) is a response, meaning it is always optional. If you are not ready to deal with the Nazgul on a given round, you can decide not to rescue your hero after placing progress.

It's apparently not just new players that miss that--I never noticed that it was an optional Response instead of a Forced ability! That makes it a little easier.

Raven-Winged Helm shuts down the Shadow Key...and it's free on Beregond!