In the last three days me and my girlfriend went throught the whole Haradrim cycle with our four mono-sphere decks (that have right now succesfully dealt with little changes with almost all the existing quests, we are tyring to beat them all). I think it might be the best cycle I ever played, even better than Wilds of Rhovanion and the Ered Mithrin cycle, both as narration and as quest mechanics. The Mumakil was the easiest quest for us and the most challenging (albeit still in a good and interesting way, not frustrating) was The Crossing of Poros. The Black Serpent was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be by reading around.

In any case great fun, this game keeps just giving.

I finished checking my German copies of the Angmar Awakened cycle for translation errors, on to Grey Havens tomorrow.

7 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

In the last three days me and my girlfriend went throught the whole Haradrim cycle with our four mono-sphere decks (that have right now succesfully dealt with little changes with almost all the existing quests, we are tyring to beat them all). I think it might be the best cycle I ever played, even better than Wilds of Rhovanion and the Ered Mithrin cycle, both as narration and as quest mechanics. The Mumakil was the easiest quest for us and the most challenging (albeit still in a good and interesting way, not frustrating) was The Crossing of Poros. The Black Serpent was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be by reading around.

In any case great fun, this game keeps just giving.

Awesome to hear! We recently finished Angmar Awakened and loved it, well after having to go super easy mode on Carn Dum. I'm very much looking forward to the Grey Havens adventures but nice to know that the future desert is also well told and executed! Is the story connected?

2 hours ago, GILLIES291 said:

Awesome to hear! We recently finished Angmar Awakened and loved it, well after having to go super easy mode on Carn Dum. I'm very much looking forward to the Grey Havens adventures but nice to know that the future desert is also well told and executed! Is the story connected?

Yes, basically all the expansions starting from Heirs of Numenor tell a connected story, even though it really starts shining from The Grey Havens forward since the connection is especially strong between The Grey Havens -> Dream-chaser cycle -> The Sands of Harad -> Haradrim cycle -> Wilds of Rhovanion

On 2/20/2019 at 5:50 PM, Alonewolf87 said:

In the last three days me and my girlfriend went throught the whole Haradrim cycle with our four mono-sphere decks (that have right now succesfully dealt with little changes with almost all the existing quests, we are tyring to beat them all).

When you say monosphere decks, I take it to mean that you will play one sphere while your girlfriend plays another sphere, right?

8 minutes ago, Vince79 said:

When you say monosphere decks, I take it to mean that you will play one sphere while your girlfriend plays another sphere, right?

No, I mean each of us play two mono-sphere decks in a sort of double versione of two-handed solo. We basically play a 4 players fellowship, with each deck made with a single sphere, but it's only the two of us. I play one leadership deck and one lore one, she play the tactics and spirit ones. You can find the fellowship here (even though it's not the most updated version, there have been some additions and small twists); it's basically a big gondor swarm with lots of readying effects all across the table.

1 hour ago, Alonewolf87 said:

No, I mean each of us play two mono-sphere decks in a sort of double versione of two-handed solo. We basically play a 4 players fellowship, with each deck made with a single sphere, but it's only the two of us.

Oh, I see. That sounds pretty ambitious.

I was looking at your card list. I didn't even realize there was a Boromir in Heirs of Numenor. I have the box, but I haven't opened it yet lol. I'm still working on the first cycle.

8 hours ago, Vince79 said:

Oh, I see. That sounds pretty ambitious.

I was looking at your card list. I didn't even realize there was a Boromir in Heirs of Numenor. I have the box, but I haven't opened it yet lol. I'm still working on the first cycle.

He usually is the centerpiece of our fellowship between its ability and Visionary Leadership. Beregond is another big part since it's the usual uber-defender of the table, while Elrond's ability to boost healing is unvaluable in helping clear all the damage spread around. We also often found Legolas ability to add progress outside the quest phase to be amazing since it lets us advance of stage during the combat phase avoiding some of the biggest troubles the encounter deck can throw at us so we preferred him as the main ranged attacker to other choices. The traps are also quite the big part of our play since they can provide quite the wide range of advantages. Furthermore using mono-sphere decks lets us use resources more freely and we can more easily afford "big" cards, not to mention some possibile only on mono-sphere (like Strenght of Arms which often can end up readying like 15-20 characters, or Advance Warning, not to mention Shadows Give Way which often ended up saving our butts even outside of Carn Dum). All in all it's been quite the fun playthrough for now, we only really had to change how the decks worked (albeit not the heroes) for Mount Doom.

As I had doubts about the "legitimacy" of my late 2018 progression mode victories over Battle of Carn Dum due to what I perceived to be some ambiguous rules situations, I decided to continue playing the quest in standard mode with the most recently available errata in effect, both straight solo and 2-handed, until I was satisfied that I had truly beaten the quest.

What a time consuming endeavour (mistake?) that was... but the 4-month, 207 game marathon came to an end in the wee hours of this morning.

In that time, I managed a whopping 6 victories (lol)... you may snicker at my poor deck-building, strategic play, or sheer awful luck... and marvel at the sheer insanity of playing similar poorly performing decks over such a long period of time, and expecting better results of them!

My two-handed decks featured Faramir (Lo)/Aragorn (Lo)/Frodo Baggins, and Glorfindel (Sp)/Erestor/Elrond.

For solo, I started out with Bilbo Baggins/Erestor/Mirlonde (variation on a deck by Seastan), but eventually came to the conclusion that Faramir/Erestor/Glorfindel worked better and was more enjoyable... even though the overall win ratio remained dismal.

I was glad to have been able to make good use of cards that I had never found much use for in the past, such as Miruvor (Erestor really enables you to make the most of that one) and hero Faramir (Lo).

Must admit that I'm happy that my OCD is finally allowing me to move on. I really hope The Dread Realm won't be nearly as painful...

16 hours ago, TwiceBorn said:

the 4-month, 207 game marathon came to an end in the wee hours of this morning.

Congratulations. I actually gave up trying to beat Escape from Dol Guldur true solo with cards just from the Core Set. Even though I know it can be done, because I've read that so many people have done it. Still, a load off my back to move on. I may circle back to it at some point, or I may not, I don't know. It's not really that fun just hoping that your luck holds out, when the odds are so stacked against you.

On 2/27/2019 at 5:40 PM, TwiceBorn said:

My two-handed decks featured Faramir (Lo)/Aragorn (Lo)/Frodo Baggins, and Glorfindel (Sp)/Erestor/Elrond.

Did you ever try the Elrond deck solo against Carn Dum? I'd think that one might fare well (though I know not its contents) although I suspect Erestor might feed into Carn Dum's discard pile hate.

I think the community agrees Carn Dum is difficult. I played it at least 40 times while working through it. Good luck in The Dread Realm. There's an interesting challenge that crops up in that one too.

12 hours ago, Vince79 said:

Congratulations. I actually gave up trying to beat Escape from Dol Guldur true solo with cards just from the Core Set. Even though I know it can be done, because I've read that so many people have done it. Still, a load off my back to move on. I may circle back to it at some point, or I may not, I don't know. It's not really that fun just hoping that your luck holds out, when the odds are so stacked against you.

Thank you. And I get where you're coming from, Vince. There can definitely be real relief when knowing when to let go, and that it isn't worth becoming soured on the whole game because of negative experiences with a particular quest.

I'm a "special kind of determined" (obsessive isn't too strong a word) when it comes to beating quests... and having a very flexible work schedule helps, too. 🙂 In the end, I think my "success" rate straight solo progression mode vs. Escape from Dol Guldur was a tiny bit better than my success rate vs. Carn Dum... but in both cases I pulled it off, and that's all that matters.

2 hours ago, Vermithrax said:

Did you ever try the Elrond deck solo against Carn Dum? I'd think that one might fare well (though I know not its contents) although I suspect Erestor might feed into Carn Dum's discard pile hate.

I think the community agrees Carn Dum is difficult. I played it at least 40 times while working through it. Good luck in The Dread Realm. There's an interesting challenge that crops up in that one too.

No, I did not try the Elrond deck solo vs. Carn Dum. I don't think I even used Vilya at all in the Elrond fellowship deck, just relied on him to be a solid second defender. In straight solo, I felt that the deck I used with Faramir/Erestor/Glorfindel was better as it was able to build Faramir into a mega battle quester/defender/wrecking ball much more effectively (using Songs, Love of Tales, Blood of Gondor, Gondorian Fire, Steward of Gondor, A Burning Brand, Miruvor, Unexpected Courage, Lembas, Wingfoot, etc., and striving to break even on questing in order to keep Accursed Battlefield as the active location as long as possible until I was ready to rush into and through Stage 2).

I had never used hero Faramir before Carn Dum, and man was it a pleasure to discover just how awesome he is in battle quests (especially with Song of Kings/Steward of Gondor/Gondorian Fire attached), when enemies accumulate in staging due to ranger spikes and/or high engagement costs.

But you are right regarding Erestor... while he was awesome for quickly putting into play low-cost attachments, he frequently got me into trouble as a result of treacheries forcing me to discard multiple/all copies of Will of the West and other key cards into the discard pile and/or Power of Angmar making it impossible to reshuffle or otherwise pull cards from the player discard pile. Still, I really liked the way he comboed with both Faramir and Glorfindel.

First deck i built for Carn Dum was with Faramir. You have an enemy that won't leave the staging area so you start out with a stronger Faramir. I may have to go back and try him against that quest again. Funny enough I just finished Conflict at the Carrock (Nightmare) and that one also has enemies parked in the staging area. I might have to go back to that one and try Faramir again. I just want to make him work.

That's the beauty of Elrond. Even without Vilya, he's a quality hero that can contribute to willpower, defense, healing, and your engine.

Created a super fun 70 card deck featuring Gandalf/Elrond/Treebeard.

Starts at threat 40 but lots of threat reduction and hits like a brick house whether Questing, Defending or Attacking. Easily one of the most fun teams I've tried out.

My FLGS finally got Celebrimbor’s secret in! This means that Eoywn leaves my elf deck and it gets tuned as Galadriel takes her rightful place with Elrond and (sp) Glorfindel.

It slows the deck down a bit but really brings out the theme, so we will see how it works out!

EDIT: Sorry to add more, but I am actually really excited for my playing of this game right now. This week with the restock I bought a bunch of things that I didn't have. Did not get everything I hoped to but I know the aforementioned Elves will get a healthy bolster. The possibilities for deck creation are looking great!

7 hours ago, TheSpitfired said:

My FLGS finally got Celebrimbor’s secret in! This means that Eoywn leaves my elf deck and it gets tuned as Galadriel takes her rightful place with Elrond and (sp) Glorfindel.

It slows the deck down a bit but really brings out the theme, so we will see how it works out!

EDIT: Sorry to add more, but I am actually really excited for my playing of this game right now. This week with the restock I bought a bunch of things that I didn't have. Did not get everything I hoped to but I know the aforementioned Elves will get a healthy bolster. The possibilities for deck creation are looking great!

Galadriel is great! My wife is currently running her with Aragorn and Arwen for a deadly half Noldor and half Dunedain deck. It's pretty deadly. Heir of Mardil is great on her when combined with Arwen for some readying fun

I played Shadow and Flame for the first time today. I've been playing progression style two-handed solo with an Aragorn/Theodred/Eowyn questing deck and a Legolas/Gimli/Beravor combat deck. Once the cards became available, I've stuffed a lot of Eagles into the combat deck along with Radagast.

I got really lucky, holding 2 Galadrim's Greetings and Steward of Gondor in my opening hand. That combined with Theodred's resource going to Eowyn, I was able reduce both hand's threat to 0 before combat to avoid the attacks in rounds 2 and 3. I just left all enemies in the staging area as the questing deck could still over-power the threat, meaning I could draw lots of cards with Beravor for the questing deck and Peace and Thought for the combat deck as I didn't need the combat deck at all early. This allowed me to draw the 3rd Galadrim's Greetings, Celebrian's Stone, and Dwarven Tomb. After using those tricks, I advanced to stage 3 during round 6 and Durin's Bane hadn't even attacked yet (the staging area had 4 or 5 low threat goblins, but I could quest for 15+ using only the questing deck so I just left them there). In stage 3, Durin's Bane obliterated a few allies including some eagles (which got tucked under The Eagles of the Misty Mountain to bump their attack to 5). The Misty Mountain Eagles (attacking for 5), Beravor (with Support of the Eagles attacking for 7), a couple Trollshaw Scouts, Gimli, Legolas, and Radagast chipping in made quick work of the Big Guy in only 2 rounds.

I can't imagine ever getting so lucky as to completely avoid all attacks for the first 5 rounds again, but it was a glorious conclusion to the Darrowdelf cycle.

I love dem birbs...

Opened and sleeved my haul from the latest restock including the last 3 Saga expansions I needed.

Also noticed today that I seem to be missing the first 3 Quest cards for The Lonely Mountain. Don't know where they went 😡 😭

On the Doorstep was not a recent purchase....hopefully the cards are just hiding in the wrong divider.

Trying to work out a two deck fellowship for all the quests from Heirs of Numenor. It's being harder than I thought it would be.

I finally managed to check all my cards for translation errors and fixed them, then I included errata, clarifications and FAQs on many cards, so my sister can play with them without asking what they mean or breaking the rules unknowingly. On to the Lure of Middle-earth this week-end, should be fun.

A vast portion of last week’s ordering has arrived, so I sorted everything out and began building my new decks.

I still have the elf deck I mentioned, but now my Rohan deck with Dunhere, Tactics Eowyn and Theoden is realized! Once Treason of Saruman arrives today I’ll be putting spirit Theoden in as there are more expensive spirit cards than there are tactics cards but this deck is ready to rock and roll! I took it through Passage Through Mirkwood a few times last night. Once solo and once with a friend as a refresher for him.

I also made a hobbit deck and I’ve learned a lot about how to play them in the sessions I played with it! This deck uses Sam, Merry and Pippen from Black Riders with a sub-theme of getting ally Treebeard out with some other Ents for a lot of wallop. It’s very fun!

Lastly, I had another friend ask if I could build a deck with his favorite character, Prince Imrahil. I tried to make a Gondor deck but it just didn’t work. Maybe it paired with a high questing deck it would be fine but I took it apart to make the Hobbit deck.

Trying to decide if I jump back into where I was quest-wise (khazad-dum) or if I jump into the sagas. Correct answer is probably “why not both?”

We played a couple of times Fire in the Night at the Lure of Middle Earth convention with Caleb Grace and it was awesome. He is a really cool guy

It's great to hear Caleb is a great guy.

But what would be really spectacular is if he dropped hints about future heroes/cards/cycles.

I have finished the Ring-maker cycle. Next up Khazad Dum and Dwarrowdelf cycle.

ive played in a weird order, cause I’ve been catching up, and playing what I owned. After Dwarrowdelf I have Grey havens to play. Last will be the saga as I am still missing Mountain of Fire. But it will take me some time yet to get there so I have time to find it