I'm sure you've all had them, so only a very small apology for sharing this!

I'm trying to succeed solo at Escape from Dol Guldur (Nightmare), and have just had what must be the craziest game of LOTR LCG I've played. In round 1 I drew Dungeon Jailor, and with Torture Master on guard, just failed to quest by 1 point. Off went one objective to the encounter deck. I dispatched the Torture Master, but couldn't also optionally engage the Jailor. Round 2 was a case of deja vue - another Torture Master was revealed, and again I just failed to quest by 1 point. Off went the second objective.

I didn't think much of it ("they'll turn up again") until I managed to get through to stage 2, free my prisoner, dispatch the Nazgul, and slowly progress (which is a lot better than I'd done in the dozen games previously). But of course, I couldn't complete the stage without the missing two objectives. Eventually the first one turned up - guarded by Hummerhorns, and as my hand stood I didn't have a defence against the 5 pts of damage. There then followed a stand-off - threat edging up towards the lethal 40, me well enough established to handle each new encounter card, but neither deck was playing ball (encounter deck still holding on to the third objective, palyer deck stil with-holding the cards to deal with Hummerhorn without loosing a hero). Tension was mounting...

Eventually, with the encounter deck down to the last few cards, the objective turned up - as a shadow card! Straight in the discard pile, and I had to take a second pass at the encounter deck. Managed to draw Hummerhorns' sting, but I must confess my intergrity went at that point - the objective was top-of-the-deck, ready to become a shadow card again. A quick shuffle, and it was then spotted as the bottom card of the deck. Third shuffle and I didn't dare look again.

In the end, it appeared, guarded by a surging Spider of Dol Guldur, and I "completed" the quest on my 22nd round. Which is by far and away the longest game I have played. Interesting, very enjoyable, but not, alas, a clean win!

Which deck did you use, please?

Sounds pretty epic! I'd also be interested in hearing what deck you were using.

I'm about halfway through all of the released material, we're currently working our way through saga in the middle of Treason of Saruman. Had a few moments like the ones you had, wish I would have recorded them. I play in a group of three players, and we've been taking a break for a few months from LotR...the beatdowns started to outweigh the epic moments. Your story makes we want to take another run at the last quest, maybe this weekend!

Thanks for sharing!

Hi - I try to play progessive style, so used cards up to Encounter at Amon Din (AS-3), which was the last set before the EDG Nightmare quest came out. Not necessarily the best tuned deck, but here it is for the record:

Heroes - Glorfindel (Sp), Boromir, Aragorn (Lore)

Sp - Hasty Stroke x3, A test of Will x3, Stand and Fight, Bofur, Arwen, Elrond's Councillx3, Light of Valinor x2, Miruvor, Ethir Swordsman x3

Ta - Vet. Axehand, Feint x 3, Quick Strike, Blade Gondolin x2, Vassal of the Windlord, Rivendell Blade, Hail of Stones, Foe-Hammer, Goblin-cleaver x 3, Striaght Shot, Knights of Swan x3, Gondorian Shiled x2 Gondorian Discipline x3

Lo - Henamarth, Warden Healing x2, Healing herbs, Anfalas Herdsman

N - Gandalf x2, Envoy of Pelargir x3 (should be 51 cards in all)

I was getting better results are if Aragorn is the prisoner, so the deck has been increasingly slanted that way... A lot of the cards were picked for cheapness - because the game dragged on so long, had no problem with resources at the end!

Wow, have not played a 3-player game in a while. I am mostly doing 2-player games (even alone). Tried a real solo for some twenty games the other week and was almost shocked how much easier those are in general. I know there are quests still every now and then that may be punishing for solo player, but the LotR saga (which I play predominantly) was on average so much easier solo, much more predictable.

Anyway, I have never even tried Dol Guldur nightmare solo, I remember that was the quest almost impossible solo in the core set days. I think I only beat it once then. So I am sure it must be some deck to do it, even now with the card-pool.

Thanks. It is good to hear the quest is manageable with so many cards from the early days. Huge congrats. Looks like a very clever deck.

Now, who would you pick instead of Aragorn, in general for this deck, if you had to do another Lore hero. I never build decks with Aragorn or Frodo because of the saga.

Tricky - I have got into the rut of playing Lore Aragorn because his ability allows me to exploit Boromir to the max (errata alloiwng!). Plus he weighs in as a major player in his own right. To keep the threat down, Mirlonde, Bilbo or Denethor all spring to mind...

Great report! So as your report of Nightmare Dol Guldur, a scenario that interest me. Do you know how many try you have to do before winning the first one? I have playtest some decks against it so I can compare :).

Congratulation to win with a such restrain card pool and even using the later Boromir errata.

To my own my shortest win on nightmare Dol Guldur was on turn 2, with a combo deck who is no longer playable because of some errata. It was on the fifth try I think. I have a lot of very long game back in the days, where I was doing a campaign on scenario where I need to get my threat back before the next scenario. But my longest game ever was against Dead marshes, Gollum escape and go to shadow many times in a row. My friend die after 2 hours of game and it take me another 3 hours to win. Probably like 35 turns. I was keeping enemies engaged with me instead of killing them only to empty the encounter deck faster every time Gollum goes into shadow card ^^.

Hi Boromore, I played those three heroes through Gondor, Rohan and the North. Back then Boromir hadn't been errata'd yet and it was a really powerful deck. I note that you only have 2 of Light of Valinor and 2 Gondorian Shields. I really think that's a mistake. My list was very attachment heavy and so included Master of the Forge (x3), Song of Wisdom (x2) and Burning Brand (x2). I also had 2x Arwen instead of 1 and I think 2X Captain of Gondor.

When set up (then) Boromir could defend for 5 or 6 with no fear of shadow.

Hi Rouxxor. Think that was my 16th attempt, but I probably had a few where the mulligan count was stretched. Was your 2 turn win by any chance the infamous Dwarves and Ravens deck? Took me much head-scratching even to follow the sequence on that deck!

Hi Bullroarer - yes, I normally play with 3 Valinor, 3 Shield and 2 Arwen - think I cut it down by one each as (from memory) there is not much attachment discard in EDG, and I couldn't afford to draw any duplicates early. I have tried Song of Wisdom / Buring Brand, but I never seem to get the combo going. Maybe I need more card draw!

My combo are always about infamous dwarves and raven ^^. This one was the first I post on international website. It use love of tales (and may be even will of the west, I don't really remember). I made another one after the love of tales errata with justice shall be done and rod of the steward. Now we are idle is errated so I'm following Seastan idea for a 5 dwarves heroes loop with 2 decks.