This quest is too hard in true solo. States difficulty 6 but it feels so much tougher.

I've played with an elrond/Gandalf/Galadriel three rings turtle deck that I beat the previous two quests. this quest smacked me around.

Then I tried an eagles grimbeorn deck. Then tried eagles with borimir and legolas.

Then I tried an Argalad Damrod mirlonde trap deck trying to pin down the enemies.

Then I tried two handed solo with the traps deck and the eagles deck.

In all cases I'm swarmed by tough enemies or locked with locations. The enemies also add to the orc assault objective when they engage or with abilities and some shadow effects.

I feel I'd have half a chance if the progress was removed from goblins assault between quest stages but it isn't.

Has anybody beaten this quest in true solo? Any ideas of the type of deck I should be building? (I have 3 cores and all expansions released.)

Take an early lead in combat ASAP, and never let go. You want T Boromir, Beorn, etc. That’s the best advice I can give you.

Also . . . Never pay attention to those difficulty ratings!

Hehe. I've been playing each quest in order, never moving on until it's been beaten. I started doing that in feb 2017 playing pretty much every other day and am only just getting up to date. It's been a fantastic game. Certainly frustrating at times when stuck on a quest for two months or so which happened quite often at least once in each cycle. So yeah, I am a bit bamboozled by the difficulty ratings.

Just been watching Mr Underhills play through on you tube and hadn't realised honour guard and Beorn is a workable combo.

Think I might try a direct damage type of tactics deck with sneak attack gandalfs and maybe recurring feints.

Well I finally beat the quest tonight in true solo.

I made a leadership dwarves deck. I lost and scooped a few times but eventually was lucky enough to get Path Of Need out on the Dwarven Watch Tower and get a Long Beard Elder out. This let me turtle the stages and quest fight and defend without exhausting my heroes. This was a huge benefit as the stages don't advance off progress on the quest itself.

The other big strategy was through the events Strategic Planning and Ever Onward which meant I didnt have to commit to the quest at all.

The valor action on Strategic Planning was only useful if there was enemies already out and so I didn't want to stage any other card or treachery.

I used Dain, Gloin and Thorin leadership Heroes.

Mulligan opening hand for a Steward of Gondor and king under the Mountain.

I've never heard of the event strategic planning. What pack is it from?

Congrats on the win, though!

I assume it is Doom Hangs Still according to the description.

Do you use the Longbeard Elder for scying? I am not sure this works, as you have to commit all characters at once, if I am not mistaken.

Sorry, yes it was doom still hangs.

Ah. I did exhaust him then use his response and then exhaust more to the quest. I did know that rule but it kinda left me in the desperation to beat this quest lol.. this was the first time I'd used long beard elder so it bamboozled me. Dammit... so I havent beaten it... (hangs head in shame 😫 )

And of course... long beard elder isn't quite as good as I first thought. Basically he can squeeze in a resource on the active location by reducing his will power.

I think they should have made the wording clearer.

In my opinion He should have been-

Action: if long beard elder is committed to the quest.....

The response keyword as written suggests that you can activate it as soon as he commits which is what fooled me. I'm not always reading the rules every game. I knew the quest commiting rule but when reading that card in the excitement of the game it tricked me.

Response abilities are labeled by the word “Response” followed by ability text. Unlike action abilities, which are resolved during action windows, response abilities may be executed after the specified triggering condition occurs, as described in the response’s ability text. ◊It is possible for multiple responses to be executed from the same triggering condition. ◊When two or more response abilities share the same trigger, resolve all response effects that use the word “when” before resolving response effects that use the word “after.”◊A response ability is always used immediately after its triggering condition has occurred and has been resolved. The first player always has the first opportunity to use an ability in response to a given triggering condition, followed by the next player, and so forth. Response opportunities for that triggering condition alternate between between players in this manner until all players have passed consecutively.

So according to this I may have played long beard elder correctly as this clarifies that a response does not need an action window but can follow the conditions stated in the response.

Thoughts?

1 hour ago, asgardianphil said:

So according to this I may have played long beard elder correctly as this clarifies that a response does not need an action window but can follow the conditions stated in the response.

Thoughts?

You commit characters to the quest all together as a whole, there is no opportunity to send some of them, activate some Responses and then send some more. After you commit all the characters you can activate all the correct timed Responses, then you have an Action Window before staging, but that's it.

So no Longbeard Elder cannot be used as scrying to perfectly adjust the amount of questing so to not explore the active location with Path of Need. You could use Henamarth Riversong or Lore Denethor to that effect.

You can trigger Longbeard Elder’s response immediately after committing him to the quest, before any other trigger (except forced responses). However, you will have already chosen which other characters to also commit at the same time you commit the elder: before you have the option to trigger the Elder’s response.

I do remember reading that in the old FAQ about not interrupting the committing of characters step.

That said...

The newer rule book also indicates that you don't need to wait for the action window. They give an example of a response ability clarifies the use of a response during the committing characters

[Responses: A response is an optional ability presented on cards that can resolve immediately after a specific event has occurred during the game. For example, each time a player commits the “Aragorn” hero card to a quest, that player can resolve that card’s response ability, spending one resource from that hero’s resource pool to ready that card.]

And considering the golden rule of a card ability in conflict with a rule book, the card takes precedence.

I've just perused the older rule book to double check what was written and again there is no inference or written statement to say responses cannot be played immediately after commiting to the quest and must be saved for the action window.

On page 30 of the old book it states at the top in the red box that actions are not possible but responses are if the conditions are met. In the green box it states any player can take actions generally or between the game steps stated in the rules. (I'd say that last part is inclusive rather than exlusive)

The commit characters to the quest is a green box. So that suggests it's an action window.

Again on page 23 of the older book it states responses can be played immediately after the conditions have been met.

So the old book makes out that you can do any type of action during the commit to quest step and the newer book indicates only responses are permitted if the conditions are met. So that might explain the FAQ clarification for the original rule book and why it's not there for the second rulebook.

Oh dear I've found the passage in the FAQ 1.9

😟

Q: Does a player commit his characters to a quest at once, or one character at a time? When can a player trigger responses to committing his characters to a quest?A: A player commits all characters he wishes to commit to a quest at once. Responses to the characters committing (such as those on Aragorn and Theodred) can then be triggered in the order of that player’s choice. After a player has committed his characters (and triggered any responses to those characters committing), the next player has the opportunity to commit his characters to the quest.

Guess that answers it then. I have to replay the quest.

31 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

The commit characters to the quest is a green box. So that suggests it's an action window.

The commict characters to the quest step is green so you can use action before or after sending the characters to the quest, but the actual committing is done all at once for each player, not one character at the time. That's what prevents you from using the Longbeard Elder in the way you hoped, not the actual timing of Responses and Actions.

Of course if that was a two-handed play and you were the first player you could commit your characters, activate the Longbear Elder Response and then the second player can decide which characters to send with some more information (even though not with a perfect knowledge such as in a one-handed game).

I cant believe they didnt make that clear in the new version of the rules given the FAQ exists.

Surely whoever's embarked on the project of creating a more up to date comprehensive rule book and rules reference should have made sure they incorporated all the FAQ into the book so that they are no longer Frequently asked questions.

All it would have taken was one line of text stating: all of a players characters commit to the quest simultaneously. Responses are performed once a player has finished commiting his characters.

Any way. Thanks for your help. I'm going to put the long beard back in the box and go with hennmarth and Navi's belts and redo the quest

1 hour ago, asgardianphil said:

Thanks for your help. I'm going to put the long beard back in the box and go with hennmarth and Navi's belts and redo the quest

Or you could go with Bifur for natural access to Lore, better resources distribution and easier access to the five dwarves threesold thanks to the Erebor Record Keeper playable from turn 1

Cool. Thanks. That's a really good suggestion. I'm going to make those changes and play it again tonight.

Just beaten the quest.

Path of need came up early which was lucky considering only one allowed in the deck. I had put in Gather information, king under the mountain x3 and Legacy of Durin to help get it. One location (Lonley Lands) was revealed early (I'd put in The Hidden Way x3 in order to get a favourable one but Lonley Lands was good enough). Also drew one of the 3 Hennamarth's I'd put in.

Path of need and Hennamarth really is a game winner on this quest. I had a sneak attack Gandalf and a burning brand on Bifur. He took two damage but I had self preservation for him still stuck in the deck somewhere.

Board state at the end was:

threat 44.

6 progress on the heroes defense

12 progress on the goblins assault.

Active location; lonley lands with 2 progress on and path of need attached.

Dain Ironfoot with King Under the Mountain and Steward of Gondor attached. Thorin Oakenshield and Bifur with burning brand and 2 damage.

Fili, kili, Hennamarth Riversong and Soldier of Erebor out.

The only ally I lost was Gandalf and he was discarded. And the game was over in about 5 rounds.

I'm very grateful to Alonewolf87 for your ideas.

I'm so happy now. I can move onto the next cycle.