I'm getting ready to start the Against the Shadow Cycle (which starts with the Heirs of Numenor Cycle. I've been playing progressive style, single handed solo.

In the Dwarrowdelf Cycle I wanted to play with a Dwarf deck because it fit the theme. Fortunately, it turned out dwarf decks are very powerful. My initial reaction is to do a similar thing with Against the Shadow and play a themed deck, which would be a Gondor deck I guess. But I'm hearing this cycle is very difficult, and that the Gondor deck at this point in time is not as fleshed out as the dwarf decks were.

So would you recommend following a theme here, or just try to build the strongest deck you can without regard to theme? Bearing in mind I'm playing progressive style and single handed solo?

These quests are VERY difficult. Build the most powerful deck you can. Progression style, I wouldn't even bother with theme for this expansion.

One word, Outlands. They are the heroes you need hahaha

9 hours ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

These quests are VERY difficult. Build the most powerful deck you can. Progression style, I wouldn't even bother with theme for this expansion.

That's kind of what I was thinking. It would feel pretty silly playing something called Heirs of Numenor with a pack of dwarves though lol.

Anyone have any suggestions on what heroes to play? Since I'm playing proggressive, I don't think I have the cards to put together an Outlands deck yet.

47 minutes ago, Vince79 said:

That's kind of what I was thinking. It would feel pretty silly playing something called Heirs of Numenor with a pack of dwarves though lol.

Anyone have any suggestions on what heroes to play? Since I'm playing proggressive, I don't think I have the cards to put together an Outlands deck yet.

You will need a good mix of attack and defense in these quests. There is a lot of Battle questing, and Siege questing. I would recommend Spirit Glorfindel since he quests for 3 and attacks for 3, so he's good for regular questing and Battle questing.

Check out my Quest Log on RingsDB for this quest. My deck mostly uses cards you have access to with Progression style play. https://ringsdb.com/questlog/view/3068

You can substitute the cards you don't have, like Gondorian Shield, you can use Dunedain Warning instead. Bow of the Galadhrim, you could use Dunedain Mark instead, or Rivendell Bow for Legolas.

4 hours ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Check out my Quest Log on RingsDB for this quest. My deck mostly uses cards you have access to with Progression style play. https://ringsdb.com/questlog/view/3068

Interesting deck. I've never used Glorfindel much, even though I know he's a very popular hero in the community. I want to see how my deck performs first, and if I run into trouble I will try yours out.

I've been kind of dreading this cycle since I hear it's so difficult. I'm a little tired of difficult scenarios, having just finished Shadow and Flame and Battle for Lake-Town .

Edited to say: I was just looking at the first quest card, and I see why you recommended Glorfindel. Good suggestion.

1 hour ago, Vince79 said:

Interesting deck. I've never used Glorfindel much, even though I know he's a very popular hero in the community. I want to see how my deck performs first, and if I run into trouble I will try yours out.

I've been kind of dreading this cycle since I hear it's so difficult. I'm a little tired of difficult scenarios, having just finished Shadow and Flame and Battle for Lake-Town .

Edited to say: I was just looking at the first quest card, and I see why you recommended Glorfindel. Good suggestion.

Yeah generally I would say if playing progression and you run into trouble, just play Spirit Glorfindel, he was way strong

Beregond has a high defense and Beravor can draw cards, and get you the 4 defense ally. I’d recommend those 2 heroes

On 11/6/2019 at 7:22 PM, manoftomorrow010 said:

Check out my Quest Log on RingsDB for this quest. My deck mostly uses cards you have access to with Progression style play. https://ringsdb.com/questlog/view/3068

I was looking more closely at your deck, thought it was interesting, tried it out, and got a win with it. To play progression style, I substituted Dunedain Mark for Bow of the Galadhrim , Steward of Gondor for Legacy of Numenor , and Galadhrim's Greeting for Naith Guide .

I like trying other people's decks because I get to see different approaches people take, and get to use different cards that might not have otherwise occurred to me. Your deck has a lot of attachments, which is cool, it seems to focus mainly on buffing the heroes. In the Dwarrowdelf cycle, I was playing decks with a lot of allies, because Dain's ability buffs the dwarf allies. Erebor Battle Master is also more useful with more dwarf allies. Besides, fighting the Balrog (and later Smaug in the Saga Expansion), it was handy to have some chump blockers. So playing a different kind of deck was refreshing.

1 minute ago, Vince79 said:

I was looking more closely at your deck, thought it was interesting, tried it out, and got a win with it. To play progression style, I substituted Dunedain Mark for Bow of the Galadhrim , Steward of Gondor for Legacy of Numenor , and Galadhrim's Greeting for Naith Guide .

I like trying other people's decks because I get to see different approaches people take, and get to use different cards that might not have otherwise occurred to me. Your deck has a lot of attachments, which is cool, it seems to focus mainly on buffing the heroes. In the Dwarrowdelf cycle, I was playing decks with a lot of allies, because Dain's ability buffs the dwarf allies. Erebor Battle Master is also more useful with more dwarf allies. Besides, fighting the Balrog (and later Smaug in the Saga Expansion), it was handy to have some chump blockers. So playing a different kind of deck was refreshing.

Nice!

Yeah, I tend to like hero decks as opposed to swarming allies, mostly just because I imagine those characters specifically taking part in the quest. But, ally swarms can be fun, like Outlands, dwarves, Gondor, Rohan, etc.

1 hour ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Yeah, I tend to like hero decks as opposed to swarming allies, mostly just because I imagine those characters specifically taking part in the quest. But, ally swarms can be fun, like Outlands, dwarves, Gondor, Rohan, etc.

The main issue I saw with the Peril in Pelargir quest was the threat tends to pile up on you by the end. You need some time to buff the heroes.

Another thing that was different about your deck is there was no Gandalf! If I had him in this quest, I'd probably use him to lower threat.

1 minute ago, Vince79 said:

The main issue I saw with the Peril in Pelargir quest was the threat tends to pile up on you by the end. You need some time to buff the heroes.

Another thing that was different about your deck is there was no Gandalf! If I had him in this quest, I'd probably use him to lower threat.

Yeah, Elrond's Counsel was my threat lowering. That Collateral Damage and Local Trouble can really mess your threat up lol have to save Test of Will for those two cards, especially Local Trouble.

39 minutes ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Yeah, Elrond's Counsel was my threat lowering. That Collateral Damage and Local Trouble can really mess your threat up lol have to save Test of Will for those two cards, especially Local Trouble.

I forgot about Elrond's Counsel. I put it in the deck since it's okay Progression-wise, but I never happened to draw it, so it never came up. I'm not sure why they used the word "unique" in "unique Nolder character"?

Definitely agree with your second sentence.

1 hour ago, Vince79 said:

I forgot about Elrond's Counsel. I put it in the deck since it's okay Progression-wise, but I never happened to draw it, so it never came up. I'm not sure why they used the word "unique" in "unique Nolder character"?

Unique as in has the unique symbol next to the character's name. You can't use it if your only Noldor character is, say, Master of the Forge.

15 hours ago, rees263 said:

Unique as in has the unique symbol next to the character's name. You can't use it if your only Noldor character is, say, Master of the Forge.

OK thanks, I forgot that was what it was called.

I've been replaying Peril in Pelargir several times using various decks, but I haven't been able to get another win. I hate these scenarios that hit you extra heavy at the beginning, seems like they try to knock you out right at the start. I know there are reasons they are designed that way, but I don't care for them. If you can weather the early storm, you've got a decent chance, but it seems like I usually end up having to face three enemies right off the bat. Wow, this one sucks.

37 minutes ago, Vince79 said:

I've been replaying Peril in Pelargir several times using various decks, but I haven't been able to get another win. I hate these scenarios that hit you extra heavy at the beginning, seems like they try to knock you out right at the start. I know there are reasons they are designed that way, but I don't care for them. If you can weather the early storm, you've got a decent chance, but it seems like I usually end up having to face three enemies right off the bat. Wow, this one sucks.

Hate to say it, but that's the easiest quest of that deluxe box lol

6 hours ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Hate to say it, but that's the easiest quest of that deluxe box lol

Yeah, I figured as much. Yippee. I don't mind a challenge, but it annoys me to have to hope that the encounter cards fall a certain way or you're hosed. There's a guy on that site you linked to that claims his deck wins this quest 90% the time. It wasn't progressive though.

Edited to say: As soon as I posted this, I played another game and won pretty easily. I guess I'm whining too much lol. A lot depends on card draw though, I got a pretty good "flop". The deck I used had Beregond, who came in very handy as a defender, so kudos to Ywingscum, who recommended him.

Woohoo! Won Into Ithilien on the first try. From what I read however, the third quest, The Siege of Cair Andros is the toughest in the box.

The deck I'm using is somewhat thematic to Gondor, though not completely. The heroes are Boromir, Glorfindel, and Beregond. The way the quests are worded though, you don't really need a thematic deck. Because the storyline says you were sent by the White Council to help fight Mordor. So you don't need to have a Gondor deck anyway. But it's nice that when you use Boromir, he buffs other Gondor cards similar to how Dain Ironfoot buffed dwarves.

Surprisingly, Peril in Pelargir was the hardest quest for in that box. I can beat the other two fairly easily with an optimized deck.

On 11/16/2019 at 8:58 AM, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Surprisingly, Peril in Pelargir was the hardest quest for in that box. I can beat the other two fairly easily with an optimized deck.

The Siege of Cair Andros is usually rated as the toughest on most sites. I've played it twice so far and never got past the first quest card. I used the same deck that beat Into Ithilien and Peril in Pelargir . But I've noticed with LOTR one size does not fit all. It's not unusual (for me, at least) to have to change decks to beat a scenario. What is effective against one is not necessarily effective against another. So I'm going to change decks and give it another try.

Any tips for Siege ?

The thing I hate about scenarios like Perils in Pelargir (and I mentioned this before) is how they load up on you at the very start. So you usually end up facing multiple tough enemies at the start, when you haven't had the time or resources to build up your defenses yet. I hate scenarios like that. IIRC Escape from Dol Guldur was like that, which was the first scenario that that gave me fits.

2 hours ago, Vince79 said:

Any tips for Siege ?

Mono-Tactics lol

7 minutes ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Mono-Tactics lol

I take it you're kidding, but I am seeing heavy Tactics recommended. The two decks I'm looking at working from use two Tactics hero and add a third, either Leadership or Lore. Guess it makes sense since it's a battle. I've gotten so used to using three sphere decks it will be strange to go back to two.

Tactics started out as the weakest sphere and someone here told me it would come into its own in later expansions, and it appears that is the case.

1 hour ago, Vince79 said:

I take it you're kidding, but I am seeing heavy Tactics recommended. The two decks I'm looking at working from use two Tactics hero and add a third, either Leadership or Lore. Guess it makes sense since it's a battle. I've gotten so used to using three sphere decks it will be strange to go back to two.

Tactics started out as the weakest sphere and someone here told me it would come into its own in later expansions, and it appears that is the case.

Not kidding at all lol the majority of the quest is Siege and Battle, and there are cards in the encounter deck that actually punish you for playing a sphere that isn't Tactics.

You want to be able to play a Defender of Ramas or Winged Guardian turn 1 so you can Siege quest with them, plus Beregond

25 minutes ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

Not kidding at all lol the majority of the quest is Siege and Battle, and there are cards in the encounter deck that actually punish you for playing a sphere that isn't Tactics.

Seriously, mono Tactics? Why the lol then?

That's really amazing if true. Just because I haven't seen a scenario that called for a monosphere deck since.... ever. I gave up on them back in the Core box. I've heard of people who played one handed monosphere Tactics decks, but I figured they were using cards much later in the Expansion chain. Exciting, really.