This scenario is from the first adventure pack in the Dwarrodelf cycle.

So I'm guessing this is one of those scenarios that requires a special deck to play, a deck designed specifically for this scenario (sort of like Journey to Rhosgobel)?

Since the last quest card kills off any characters with 0 will, and there are effects that cause -1 will, I'm guessing you want to stack this deck with allies that have +2 or more will? Instead of the cheaper, "bargain" allies that are more commonly used?

Might want to take heroes with higher will power too, if you want to keep them.

Is this how you guys play this?

Global Willpower buffs (Visionary Leadership, Dain ironfoot, Core Set Faramir) are also very good on that quest.

Sword that was Broken is good tech against this quest.

7 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Global Willpower buffs (Visionary Leadership, Dain ironfoot, Core Set Faramir) are also very good on that quest.

So are you guys saying that you use willpower buffs rather than using allies with better willpower?

By the way, I've only tried this scenario once, and my Dain Ironfoot got killed (drained his willpower).

6 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

Sword that was Broken is good tech against this quest.

I like to play progression style, so at the time of this AP, Sword that was Broken (and Visionary Leadership) was not released yet.

I've also been trying to use dwarf decks for this cycle, although that seems less important for this quest than for some.

Dain's boost should help a lot in stage 3. Just make sure you don't attach Freezing Cold to him. It's a condition so if the worst happens you can remove it with Miner of the Iron Hills.

7 hours ago, Vince79 said:

By the way, I've only tried this scenario once, and my Dain Ironfoot got killed (drained his willpower).

Did you get the treachery that exhausted it and commited it to the quest? Or the shadow effect which reduced its Willpower?

7 hours ago, Vince79 said:

So are you guys saying that you use willpower buffs rather than using allies with better willpower?

It's an alternative, but you can also combine the two things.

The Fellowship contract also helps, but if you manage to get Dwarves with Dain, you should be in a good position. Remember to use attachments like Necklace of Girion, Celebrian's Stone, Windfola, Dunedain Quest, and Favor of the Lady to boost willpower on your heroes, so they survive without needing buffs from other effects. Dwarves are also helped by Untroubled by Darkness.

With that said, Visionary Leadership in a Gondor deck with Faramir is a reliable way to beat the quest. Get some readying effects on Faramir to trigger him multiple times per phase to make sure all allies are boosted several times in order to shield them from the snow, and allow you to make some good progress.

For more tips, see this older strategy article I made a while back: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2018/02/18/the-redhorn-gate/

If you’re in progression mode, I’d go with a Dwarf deck. Willpower is a non-issue with Dain’s boost, and Miner of the Iron Hills will keep Dain from becoming Freezine Cold. Throw in Faramir for good measure. You could splash Spirit with Narvi’s Belt to let Northern Tracker whittle down Caradhras before you travel there.

The zero willpower issue is only a danger for questing characters, so it doesn't necessarily have to dictate your deck. Just don't quest with anyone with 1 willpower in stage 3!

I found Ancestral Knowledge and Northern Tracker useful cards in this scenario. Also, Miner of the Iron Hills is a must (to remove Freezing Cold).

Getting some progress on Caradhras ahead of stage 3 (Snowbourn Scout and/or Northern Tracker) really helps, as it can easily cause location lock.

It's a really great scenario, enjoyed it a lot.

9 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Did you get the treachery that exhausted it and commited it to the quest? Or the shadow effect which reduced its Willpower?

IIRC I got the Avalanche card that committed him to the quest.

6 hours ago, mttrchrds said:

The zero willpower issue is only a danger for questing characters, so it doesn't necessarily have to dictate your deck. Just don't quest with anyone with 1 willpower in stage 3!

That's not exactly true though. If a Snowstorm card comes up as a shadow card, a defending character gets -1 willpower. A character can also fall prey to the Avalanche card mentioned above.

Sounds like I need to swap out at least a few allies for some with better willpower, and also add a buff or two.

In the Dwarrowdelf cycle in general there are quite a few game-ending treacheries and shadow effects, so packing some form of cancellation (the repeatable shadow cancellation of Balin for example is quite valuable against Snowstorm in Redhorn gate) is pretty much a must.

8 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

In the Dwarrowdelf cycle in general there are quite a few game-ending treacheries and shadow effects, so packing some form of cancellation (the repeatable shadow cancellation of Balin for example is quite valuable against Snowstorm in Redhorn gate) is pretty much a must.

Again, I'm playing progressive (at least for now), so Balin isn't available to me. I did have A Test of Will in my deck, but it wasn't in my hand at the time. I have a hard time reserving it for when I really, really need it lol.

The first time I play a scenario, I like to play it without looking at the quest cards ahead of time, which makes everything a surprise. So I wasn't aware going in that there were these willpower effects.

I played it for the first time with a mono-tactics group which would have been an auto-loss except I had Tactics Theoden and he gave the extra willpower to keep Thalin and Boromir in play. But he is an option worth considering. Him and Eowyn are already at 8 WP together.

So I swapped out some of my low willpower dwarves with some other allies with at least +2 will. Didn't have any more issues with willpower, beat the last quest card, but I lost the game because I didn't have the victory points and all my heroes were killed. I think all three were killed by shadow effects, so I knew I needed to add some shadow cancellation.

Added Hasty Stroke, and won on my third attempt fairly easily. I really didn't think it should have taken me three tries, but oh well. An enjoyable scenario nonetheless.

If you think about it though, since this quest is about escorting Arwen at the behest of Celeborn, using a dwarf deck is kind of odd. Considering the elves and dwarves didn't really get along at this point in time. These are enlightened elves though.

15 hours ago, Vince79 said:

Again, I'm playing progressive (at least for now), so Balin isn't available to me.

Oh right, he is from the Hobbit Saga which come out afterwards, sorry.

10 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Oh right, he is from the Hobbit Saga which come out afterwards, sorry.

No problem, it's a big topic. I know I have a long, long way to go. But my plan is to play progressive through all the quests, and then if I have any sanity left I might go back through and play them with everything available. Seems like doing the latter would make things a lot easier, but maybe not as easy as I might think?

To follow this up, I played the next scenario, Road to Rivendell. Anyone have any comments on that one?

Had some bad luck and lost the first game because I got overwhelmed by enemies. Fell prey to that Orc Ambush card which returns all the Orc enemies from the discard pile to the staging area, I had a bunch of them.

Had some good luck and won the second game. I'm enjoying these dwarf decks.

4 minutes ago, Vince79 said:

Anyone have any comments on that one?

Have you seen Sleeping Sentry at all?

Road to Rivendell is a quest that could be a lot of fun to come back to again and again except for one little card.

It's infamy knows no bounds. Even today, it is the go to example of a cancel or die treachery and/or shadow effect (because of course it has both).

If you haven't met it yet, you will soon enough

Road to Rivendell might be the most swingy quest in the whole game. It has some awful effects and also some really tame ones, but it has a massive encounter deck so it's very unlikely that any two sessions will be the same.

15 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Have you seen Sleeping Sentry at all?

I have not. I looked it up though and it looks pretty nasty.

14 hours ago, Onidsen said:

Road to Rivendell is a quest that could be a lot of fun to come back to again and again except for one little card.

It's infamy knows no bounds. Even today, it is the go to example of a cancel or die treachery and/or shadow effect (because of course it has both).

If you haven't met it yet, you will soon enough

Are you talking about Sleeping Sentry, or is there something worse?

I was actually planning on moving on to the next quest, Watcher in the Water. I wasn't going to play Road to Rivendell again, at least not for awhile.

1 hour ago, Vince79 said:

Are you talking about Sleeping Sentry, or is there something worse?

I was actually planning on moving on to the next quest, Watcher in the Water. I wasn't going to play Road to Rivendell again, at least not for awhile.

I was taking about sleeping sentry

19 hours ago, Onidsen said:

I was taking about sleeping sentry

Well, sorry I missed it. Not.

Vince I am catching up to you! I just played Redhorn Gate tonight with my Elf deck (Elrond, Galadriel, Spirit Glorfindel). It’s not progressive like you’re playing but it is my first time through the dwarrowdelf cycle.

I was able to beat it without any major difficulty but it was a major slog only revealing one card at a time; 22 turns total. Most of the VP locations were near the bottom of the encounter deck. Thankfully so were the snowstorms. All 3 of my heroes were freezing cold by the end. I also didn’t like taking Ally Arwen out of my deck but her replacement (Galadriel’s Handmaiden) ended up working just fine.

Road to Rivendell is next for me!