So I am trying to play through the Hobbit boxes using a thematic deck from "tales from the cards". All dwarf heroes and allies, etc.

Took me a bunch of tries to beat "We must Away". I always had a ton of allies out before engaging the trolls but threat always crept up so I always seemed to get at least two trolls at once. The troll that limits the attacks to only one person was a killer too. As I tried to kill him, the trolls whould whittle away my allies until I lost. Maybe the easier method is to run out the encounter deck and wait for sunrise? I did finally beat it and forgot a step somewhere so that I didn't get the treasures. I am still using them though. After finally getting through, the thought of going again just to explore the troll cave wasn't going to happen, haha.

Over the Misty Mountains Grim took me about 5 tries but the first 4 were all over by round two. Three times I got a second giant in the staging area by round 2. 8+ threat at the beginning was almost impossible to overcome and location lock got me.

Another time I immediately got the treachery that makes the stone giant engage which then killed off one of my heros since I didn't get any allies out in round 1. Plus the ally would have been discarded anyway due to the text on the giant. I feel like there aren't enough cards in that encounter deck to avoid getting several nasty effects right at the beginning.

I enjoyed the second half though..after killing the goblin king it was definitely just a flight to the exit. I lost several allies when defending and never attacked. I just quested for the exit and got out in 3 rounds. A timely Gandalf helped with willpower.

Put together the encounter deck for Dungeons Deep and hope to give it a try tomorrow.

I tried doing the same thing, and these quests are tough with a thematic Dwarf deck. I finally gave in and added Thalin, and that helped quite a bit.

And you can be thematic on Battle of the Five Armies and switch up to Bard, Dain, Silvan Elves. You'll need it.

Be warned that Dungeons Deep is brutal in solo, the Riddle mechanic is not well balanced for a single player.

yeah, I don't mind moving away from dwarves for the battle of five armies. Dain would have helped with those 1 hit point crows!

Thanks for the warning on Dungeons Deep. I have never played two handed-single. Maybe I will try the "easy" mode if I keep getting destroyed on it.

So I finished up Dungeon's Deep last night. I did rather well on it...my riddle guessing was pretty good thanks to good knowledge of the deck since I've been using it forever getting through these Hobbit quests, haha.

I forgot in the first few rounds to reveal 2 cards during staging after I quest...I think this helped and hindered as it took me forever to put progress on the 2A riddle quest card. The riddle cards just weren't coming in the beginning and that lack of a second reveal may have affected my early questing. I had Gandalf and sneak attack early though to bring down my threat if necessary. I drew Orcrist up front so Thorin was swinging for 5 and was able to one shot any enemy that came up and wasn't discarded via riddle.

I almost ran out of deck too....I guess I used "will of the west" too early and got the last progress token on 2A with about 4 cards left in my draw deck.

The last stage was a few enemy attacks and then just one round to quest like crazy to the end.

Finally Defeated Flies and Spiders tonight. That was a tough one because the "poison" cards always seemed to be the card I was looking for. I think this was my 5th or 6th try on this encounter.

I took the first stage slow and tried to build up attachments like fast hitch (never got this), unexpected courage (took forever because I never got Narvi's Belt and had to wait for the song that gave me a spirit icon) and treasure cards.

I used Gandalf once before stage 3 to lower my threat so I could use the magic ring to get resources for bilbo. Unexpected Courage on Thorin helped and he was the first to revive. So I could quest with Thorin, defend with Bilbo and then ready Thorin to attack if necessary. I brought in Gandalf once here after a few rounds to help me get past stage 3 and then I used my third Gandalf on the last stage, along with a Fili/Kili combo to quest everyone and beat the final stage in just two rounds. Luckily I saved one resource and a test of will because the card that was revealed was infighting treachery which would have removed characters not of a given sphere from the quest. That would have resulted in Spider's Glade staying unexplored which would have added another spider next round just as my last Gandalf left play. I probably would have lost at that point. Instead I quested through spider's glade and the 3 points on stage 4 and won.

Next up, the Lonely Mountain and that dragon.....ol' whatshisface.

Thanks Estel Edain, its your deck on Tales from the Cards I am using! Althought I'm not as exacting as you were in your playthroughs with having all the dwarves out at the finish and trying not to chump block, haha.

Did you ever do the last Hobbit quest with this deck? I didn't see a write up.

Thanks again!

This list got me through the first four Hobbit Saga quests -- I had to modify it for the Lonely Mountain:

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (4)

1x Bilbo Baggins

1x Bombur

1x Ori

1x Thorin Oakenshield

Ally: (25)

3x Gandalf (Core)

3x Gloin

3x Longbeard Orc Slayer

3x Fili

3x Bifur

3x Dori

3x Erebor Hammersmith

2x Miner of the Iron Hills

2x Kili

Attachment: (11)

3x Forest Snare

3x Cram

3x Self Preservation

2x King Under the Mountain

Event: (14)

2x Expecting Mischief

3x Lore of Imladris

2x To Me! O My Kinsfolk!

3x Sneak Attack

2x Burglar Baggins

2x The Lucky Number

Thanks Estel Edain, its your deck on Tales from the Cards I am using! Althought I'm not as exacting as you were in your playthroughs with having all the dwarves out at the finish and trying not to chump block, haha.

Did you ever do the last Hobbit quest with this deck? I didn't see a write up.

Thanks again!

I'm glad you're enjoying the deck. As I mentioned in my introduction, I was focused on re-creating Tolkien's story as closely as possible, so I decided to play The Battle of Five Armies with my brother (even though I normally play solo). I wanted the battle to be epic, and to include the three armies of Dwarves, Elves, and Men, as well as the Eagles and Beorn. Even though I switched from one player to two players, I kept my Thorin and Company deck unchanged, which meant I had all the treasures in that deck. You can read my write-up of the companion deck at http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/716/three-armies-eagles-and-a-giant-bear-a-thematic-bo5a-deck-1.0

As you can see, I included some less powerful cards for thematic reasons, and some of my allies weren't great thematic fits (like Dunedain Watcher and the Lorien Elves). With the current card pool, you could adjust the composition of the three armies to make it more thematic, though perhaps weaker. Replacing A Good Harvest with Song of Travel (and cutting the Lore cards) would allow you to include Rhovanion Outrider and perhaps Woodland Courier or Celduin Traveler, and Greenwood Archer and Longbeard Sentry could also slot in.

Since I played this quest with my brother, I wasn't taking notes while playing (as I normally did). I attempted recording our playthrough, so that I could reconstruct it in written form, with thematic text, but I don't have much experience recording. The video didn't turn out well, and it was difficult to match the style of my earlier session reports, where I wrote down why I was making my choices before finding out what the outcome was. Sorry for not completing session reports; I hope the deck write-up gives a sense of what the conclusion was like. If you plan on playing the final quest solo, you might have some trouble siege questing, since Thorin and Company doesn't have a great deal of defense. You might also have some trouble at the beginning of the quest, since Thorin and Company can take a couple of rounds to get set up, and Battle of Five Armies is most difficult at the beginning. Getting multiple treasures in The Lonely Mountain definitely helps the deck to hit the ground running.

I also have a pretty thematic deck that I used to beat The Battle of Lake-town: http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/715/bard-s-black-arrow-a-thematic-solo-lake-town-deck-1.0; the description is perhaps overly-detailed, since Lake-town is quite challenging. In my most recent and epic playthrough, Beravor sacrificed herself to save a wounded Glorfindel from Close to the Flame's shadow effect halfway through the game, but Song of Wisdom allowed me to continue. Bard practically one-shotted Smaug in round 16, attacking for 20 damage (using Black Arrow and 2 Support of the Eagles), with The Old Thrush and Glorfindel handling Smaug's defense. I actually have a session report for that game, but I hit writer's block in trying to come up with the thematic text for each round.

This list got me through the first four Hobbit Saga quests -- I had to modify it for the Lonely Mountain:

It's good to a see a thematic deck that works with only the Core Set and The Hobbit expansions. I also came up with a minimum-purchase solo Hobbit deck (http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/1726/bombur-s-dark-knowledge-minimum-purchase-hobbit-deck-1.0). I think it's more powerful than your deck, but it's not as thematic. I included several non-dwarf allies (including Faramir, who wasn't yet born), and relied on A Very Good Tale to get the deck going quickly.

This list got me through the first four Hobbit Saga quests -- I had to modify it for the Lonely Mountain:

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (4)

1x Bilbo Baggins

1x Bombur

1x Ori

1x Thorin Oakenshield

Ally: (25)

3x Gandalf (Core)

3x Gloin

3x Longbeard Orc Slayer

3x Fili

3x Bifur

3x Dori

3x Erebor Hammersmith

2x Miner of the Iron Hills

2x Kili

Attachment: (11)

3x Forest Snare

3x Cram

3x Self Preservation

2x King Under the Mountain

Event: (14)

2x Expecting Mischief

3x Lore of Imladris

2x To Me! O My Kinsfolk!

3x Sneak Attack

2x Burglar Baggins

2x The Lucky Number

What modifications you needed for Lonely Mountains?

Needed better location control, so switched to this for Lonely Mountain:

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (4)

1x Bilbo Baggins

1x Bombur

1x Ori

1x Thorin Oakenshield

Ally: (25)

3x Gandalf (OHaUH)

3x Gloin

3x Longbeard Orc Slayer

3x Fili

3x Bifur

3x Dori

3x Erebor Hammersmith

2x Miner of the Iron Hills

2x Kili

Attachment: (7)

3x Cram

2x Self Preservation

2x King Under the Mountain

Event: (18)

3x Ravens of the Mountain

2x Lore of Imladris

2x To Me! O My Kinsfolk!

3x Sneak Attack

3x Burglar Baggins

2x The Lucky Number

3x Secret Paths

Then evolved to this to beat Battle of 5 Armies on the third attempt:

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (4)

1x Bilbo Baggins

1x Bombur

1x Ori

1x Thorin Oakenshield

Ally: (23)

3x Gandalf (OHaUH)

2x Gloin

3x Longbeard Orc Slayer

3x Fili

2x Bifur

2x Dori

3x Erebor Hammersmith

3x Miner of the Iron Hills

2x Kili

Attachment: (9)

3x Cram

2x Self Preservation

2x King Under the Mountain

2x Forest Snare

Event: (18)

3x Expecting Mischief

2x Lore of Imladris

3x To Me! O My Kinsfolk!

3x Sneak Attack

3x Burglar Baggins

2x The Lucky Number

2x Secret Paths

... do you think it would be working with only 1 core set?