Finally beat Stewards Fear in easy mode! Over 2 years of being stuck. I don't think I will try it in normal EVER.

4 hours ago, ScottGilbert25 said:

Finally beat Stewards Fear in easy mode! Over 2 years of being stuck. I don't think I will try it in normal EVER.

Congratulations. I'm surprised this scenario seems to be so popular, I think it's the hardest one yet. I'm playing normal mode, I must have played about 14 games and I have yet to get a win. I've had about four games where I was clearly ONE round away from winning, but my threat would hit 50 or I would run out of cards. I've tried several different decks, but I have one that has done the best, and I feel like it should be working, but it hasn't quite broken through. I'm going to try one more variation, and if that doesn't work I'll probably ask for some advice.

To OP...I played through this cycle years ago using the decklist by tracker1 in this thread

I'm not 100% sure it is completely progression style from the beginning of the saga, but shouldn't be too far off. It was really fun, but definitely a product of the time frame ....uses spirit glorfindel (who might be a little passe these days) and pre-errata tactics boromir (though one could make an argument that that was how he existed during that cycle and thus should be played in that form for progression).

Fun cycle...now you got me thinking that I should go replay it...though I've got the rest of ered mithrin and vengeance of Mordor to play too.

7 hours ago, Trialus said:

To OP...I played through this cycle years ago using the decklist by tracker1 in this thread

Thanks for the suggestion, I just looked it over briefly, but it appeared to be progressive to me. I've used these heroes and most of these cards, but not in this combination. I'll give it a try, since my latest attempt at tweaking my deck didn't work. Feels like I'm close, but I haven't quite been able to get over the hump.

On 12/17/2019 at 4:24 PM, Trialus said:

To OP...I played through this cycle years ago using the decklist by tracker1 in this thread

So I did try this deck against The Steward's Fear, but I ended up getting swarmed. Could have been bad luck, I'll try it again tomorrow. I could also use some practice with using some of these cards, because I'm not used to using a few of them.

People talk about Peril in Pelargir as being so difficult, but I don't think it holds a candle to The Steward's Fear. The decks I used to beat Peril in Pelargir won't even touch The Steward's Fear.

One problem with tracker1's deck I see for this scenario is it doesn't address the Local Trouble treachery card. That thing can really weight you down like a ball and chain if you don't have some way to prevent or remove it. So I'm going to add in Miner of the Iron Hills. That will put the deck over 50 cards, but this scenario might benefit from a larger deck, since it has that Up in Flames plot card that works to run you out of cards. As soon as that card is on the table, you've got a ticking clock. This kind of deadline is a big reason why this scenario is so difficult. Having a few extra cards in the deck might help.

6 hours ago, Vince79 said:

So I did try this deck against The Steward's Fear, but I ended up getting swarmed. Could have been bad luck, I'll try it again tomorrow. I could also use some practice with using some of these cards, because I'm not used to using a few of them.

People talk about Peril in Pelargir as being so difficult, but I don't think it holds a candle to The Steward's Fear. The decks I used to beat Peril in Pelargir won't even touch The Steward's Fear.

One problem with tracker1's deck I see for this scenario is it doesn't address the Local Trouble treachery card. That thing can really weight you down like a ball and chain if you don't have some way to prevent or remove it. So I'm going to add in Miner of the Iron Hills. That will put the deck over 50 cards, but this scenario might benefit from a larger deck, since it has that Up in Flames plot card that works to run you out of cards. As soon as that card is on the table, you've got a ticking clock. This kind of deadline is a big reason why this scenario is so difficult. Having a few extra cards in the deck might help.

Steward's Fear is really rough, no doubt. I remember struggling with that one quite a bit as well. I can't remember what I might have modified to get through it, though adding condition removal sounds like a good start. Of course, I might also have just beaten my head against it until i got lucky....or just played it in easy mode😜. Good luck!!!!

9 hours ago, Vince79 said:

The decks I used to beat Peril in Pelargir won't even touch The Steward's Fear.

Keep in mind that the reverse would also be true. Very few quests require the exact same deck type or strategy.

5 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Keep in mind that the reverse would also be true.

True enough. I'd probably still be stuck on Perils in Pelargir if y'all didn't point me in the direction of mono-Tactics. I wouldn't have thought of that.

One problem with The Steward's Fear is that you are so dependent on what comes up in the encounter deck and the underworld deck to make progress on your quests. You really have little control over it, you need clue cards or locations to clear. But if the locations come too quick, you can get location locked.

9 hours ago, Trialus said:

I might also have just beaten my head against it until i got lucky....or just played it in easy mode😜. Good luck!!!!

There was one game where I might have won, if a different encounter card had come up at the end. I was two progress tokens away from finishing, and a location with four threat came up.

I feel like what I'm missing in games where I have come close is more questing power. Because at the end you need to get those 15 quest points, but I run out of time (either cards or threat). And unfortunately the deck tries to kill all your allies, so it's hard to build a big questing force. I could add more expensive allies, but the deck also tries to steal all your resources, so it might be hard or impossible to pay for them. It's something I haven't tried though.

Later I might post the deck I've been using that I've had the most success with, and maybe someone could make some suggestions.

Well, I was going to post this deck to get some suggestions, but it turned out I just played The Steward's Fear with it and got a win finally! I got kind of lucky with the card draw from the encounter deck, so I guess I caught a break. About time. I'm tempted to take the win and run, although with all the variations possible with this scenario, I kind of feel like I should try it some more.

Anyway, I'll post the deck I used. Someone might have a suggestion to improve it:

Heroes:
Boromir (Tactics)
Glorfindel (Spirit)
Elrond

Allies:
Gandalf x3
Northern Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x3
West Road Traveller x3
Winged Guardian x3
Miner of the Iron Hills x3
Defender of Rammas x3
Veteran Axehand x3
Arwen Undomiel x3
Eomund x3

Attachments:
Asfaloth x3
Light of Valinor x3
Unexpected Courage x3
The Favor of the Lady x3
Ancient Mathom x3

Events:
A Test of Will x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Feint x3
Hasty Stroke x3

7 hours ago, Vince79 said:

Well, I was going to post this deck to get some suggestions, but it turned out I just played The Steward's Fear with it and got a win finally! I got kind of lucky with the card draw from the encounter deck, so I guess I caught a break. About time. I'm tempted to take the win and run, although with all the variations possible with this scenario, I kind of feel like I should try it some more.

Anyway, I'll post the deck I used. Someone might have a suggestion to improve it:

Heroes:
Boromir (Tactics)
Glorfindel (Spirit)
Elrond

Allies:
Gandalf x3
Northern Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x3
West Road Traveller x3
Winged Guardian x3
Miner of the Iron Hills x3
Defender of Rammas x3
Veteran Axehand x3
Arwen Undomiel x3
Eomund x3

Attachments:
Asfaloth x3
Light of Valinor x3
Unexpected Courage x3
The Favor of the Lady x3
Ancient Mathom x3

Events:
A Test of Will x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Feint x3
Hasty Stroke x3

Congrats!!! Nice work!!

Deck suggestions:

1) You're running Elrond without Vilya. Even without setting it up as a Vilya deck, including it would work well for you, and would also let Elrond help with spirit events/attachments. Stand and Fight can be handy.

2) You've got six strong ally defenders with Defender of Rammas and Winged Guardian, but you also have the makings of a first-class defender with Tactics Boromir and Gondorian Shield. The Guardians are expendable, I think.

3) Eomund 3x is a bit of a waste, his special ability to ready Rohan characters only helps out the west road traveler, which is worthless after readying. If you just want a 3-for-2 quester, Bofur is better and his special ability is much stronger. For this specific scenario, consider Elfhelm -- threat raises is one of the ways this quest can kill you, and he can help a lot.

4) Envoy of Pelargir costs net one if you have a noble, and since all three heroes are noble can be used for redistribution when coming into play.

5) Favor of the Lady doesn't excite me, but at least it's not affected by the ally-hate in this deck.

13 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Deck suggestions:

Thanks for the suggestions, Dale. I'll discuss:

1) I had Vilya in the deck originally, but I took it out to make space for some different cards, and because I found I wasn't using it much. I was needing Elrond to quest and sometimes to block, it didn't seem like there was much opportunity to exhaust him. Stand and Fight is interesting.

2) Gondorian Shield sounds great, I'll be putting that in straight away. I agree Winged Guardian is probably expendable. There's some redundancy built into this deck because of the way this quest kills allies, and because of the way Up in Flames makes you discard cards.

3) Yeah, I'm not thrilled with Eomund. He's only there to give me a hero with 2 will and 2 hit points. Because I needed questing power and he won't die right away if you get that effect that deals 1 damage to all your allies. Not crazy about the 3 cost. I agree Bofur is better - did you mean the Spirit or Tactics version? I had considered Elfhelm but he's 4 cost, this scenario likes to take your resources. Not sure how often I could afford him. I get Northern Tracker in now and then though, so I guess Elfhelm would be similar.

4) I think I had Envoy of Pelargir in the deck orginally, but I was trying to get rid of the 1 hit point allies, because they were getting killed so easily.

5) Not really thrilled by Favor of the Lady either, but I was trying to get more questing power. I'd rather have Celebrian's Stone, but that's Leadership.

1) It's true that Elrond's actions are especially valuable, and with Spirit Glorfindel around you can't put Light of Valinor on him. But you've got other defenders in the deck and you've got 3x Unexpected Courage -- there's some Vilya potential here.

2) It's true that both stud ally defenders are 1 hp, and the quest (well, the Zealous Traitor) can make short work of them. Of course, since it kills them all, multiplying doesn't help that much! Elrond and Boromir both have excellent defensive potential. I get making the deck fatter in case of Up in Flames, but you're only at 54 cards if I'm counting correctly.

3) Elfhelm does cost 4 -- that's two turns worth of resources for Glorfindel and Elrond, which is also true of a 3-cost. There's really only two cases where you really need Elfhelm -- Poisoned Counsels plot (he's always ready at end of turn) and Local Trouble (if you keep Elfhelm ready, Local Trouble can be completely ignored. I hate Local Trouble, so that's reason enough to pack Elfhelm if you have double spirit (which you sort-of do with Elrond). I did mean Spirit Bofur, it didn't even occur to me that OHUH came out before Steward's Fear. I can never remember when the saga expansions dropped, especially since they tend to have a limited convention release months before the street release.

4) Envoy of Pelargir is fragile (outside an Outlands deck with Sword of Morthond), but it's also very very cheap. There's really only one enemy that afflicts all your fragile enemies, Zealous Traitor (3 copies in the Underworld Deck). Knife in the Dark also targets an ally, but you *want* that one to hit your cheap Envoy instead of your hero-killing Gandalf. So how do you deal with Zealous Traitor, besides dying? Pack 3x Hail of Stones. It only takes two characters to kill the Traitor in staging *before* he engages you, and Boromir can always be one of them. (As an aside, I'm not a fan of the nerfed Horn of Gondor, but if you're playing against Zealous Traitor and have a bunch of 1-hp allies, it can pay out big.)

5) There's a reasonable number of 2-cost, 2-hp allies with 1 willpower, which while they're a little more fragile than Favor of the Lady are also more versatile. You should at least include a copy of Hennamarth Riversong. I'm always reluctant to include 3x of any unique ally for fear of redundancy (unless they're absolutely crtical), but Henamarth is *so* good he's always worth at least a 1x in one-deck solo.

You've got a potentially strong questing situation in Steward's Fear itself, if you can lower yourself to play Outlands characters. Put in 3x Ethir Swordsman (2-cost spirit) and 3x Anfalas Herdsman (1-cost lore).

The most recent pack released gave Spirit its own version of Celebrian's Stone (2-for-2, restricted), but in progression mode you won't be seeing that card for a long, long time.

More suggestions, cool.

1) You are really trying to sell this Vilya thing, aren't you? Are you getting a commission on old Elven rings? I admit there's some potential there for it to get some use. As I said before, I didn't find I was using it enough to be worth it. But if you argue for it a third time you might convince me.

2) 57 cards actually. But some think if you have more than 50, your favorite card will never come up. I did drop Winged Guardian. The idea of the multiple defenders wasn't that they'd all be on the table at the same time, but if one was killed it could later be replaced - theoretically.

3) I hate Local Trouble and Poisoned Councils. Elfhelm is sounding better. At this rate, I'd be more likely to stick him in there than Vilya.

4) I've considered Hail of Stones before, you've convinced me on that one. It's going in.

5) Hennamarth Riversong is a possibility also. I did try an Outland deck with this scenario also, didn't work very well.

You're right I won't see the new Celebrian's Stone for a while. At this point, I'll probably be on The Steward's Fear for a long time, trying to prove something that I'm probably not going to be able to prove. A lot of people say you should play this two handed solo, but that's not what I do. Eventually I'll likely get sick of it, take my win and move on.

21 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

You should at least include a copy of Hennamarth Riversong.

So after our little discussion, I got a pretty easy win over The Steward's Fear. I have to say, the stars of the day were Hail of Stones and Henamarth Riversong. I got a little lucky in that I got two of these early on, and was able to use them both against Zealous Traitor. That helped me keep more allies, so I was actually able to build up a decent force to take into the endgame. The updated, altered deck is below.

I also threw in three Spear of the Citadel on a whim. I might take it back out, it seems rather limited since you can only put it on Boromir. Especially since right now there are 66 cards in the deck, might be a bit much? What else looks disposable, Ancient Mathom and Favor of the Lady possibly (I feel a little better about the allies' health since adding Hail of Stones)? Or should I leave it as is? I'll try another game tomorrow.

Heroes:
Boromir (Tactics)
Glorfindel (Spirit)
Elrond

Allies:
Gandalf x3
Northern Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x3
West Road Traveller x3
Miner of the Iron Hills x3
Defender of Rammas x3
Veteran Axehand x3
Arwen Undomiel x3
Bofur x3
Henamarth Riversong x3

Attachments:
Asfaloth x3
Light of Valinor x3
Unexpected Courage x3
The Favor of the Lady x3
Ancient Mathom x3
Gondorian Shield x3
Spear of the Citadel x3

Events:
A Test of Will x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Feint x3
Hasty Stroke x3
Hail of Stones x3

1) It's actually kind of refreshing to see Elrond used without Vilya -- but it is an *extremely* powerful card. However, Vilya works best with lots of expensive allies, and the unique ones all are 1x, and yours isn't that sort of deck. I wouldn't put 3x Vilya in this deck or mulligan for it. OTOH, just putting 1x Vilya in the deck would probably be worth your while -- you have 3x Unexpected Courage, and Elrond's the best target for that -- Spirit Glorfindel gets LoV and can quest and attack with just that, and Boromir can self-ready. Once Elrond has U.C., he might have a spare action to Vilya something into play.

2) I'm not one of the must-get-down-to-50 crew. Even if you're mulliganing for a 3x card, the odds don't shift *that* much as you go from 50 cards to 60 cards, while dropping a card from 3x to 2x to get down to 50 alters the percentage of seeing that card much more. Since 1/3rd of the time this quest goes after your deck, running with 57 cards can buy you another turn or two -- and Vilya would work against you here,

3) Some quests Elfhelm is an expensive luxury -- this quest isn't one of them, he's great here. I've been wrecked by Local Trouble more than once in this (and other quests that use it), and Poisoned Councils can run up the threat in a hurry. Note that Elfhelm's a response, not a reducer, so if P.C. raises to 50 you threat out before Elfhelm uses his response to get back to 50.

5) I've beaten this quest with Outlands before, though with my latest attempt in the solo league I failed on my zero-token run, thanks to my Anfalas herdsmen getting killed off. But you'd need a different hero lineup for an Outlands deck and I'm not recommending you try that here -- it's just that Ethir Swordsmen *by themselves* are some of the best 2-cost questers in spirit, since they start at 2-for-2 and go up as more come out. And Anfalas Herdsmen not only can quest if Swordsmen are out, they fix the Swordsmen's fragility problem. Those are the only two Outlands allies that see use outside of Outlands deck (though a majority of Ethir Swordsman users don't supplement with Anfalas Herdsman). If you had a full card pool there'd be a lot more great 2-cost questers, but you're pretty limited at this point in the card pool.

Steward's Fear is tougher solo than with two decks, IMO. It's also a quest with a heavy luck component, especially in terms of clues coming out of the Underworld deck. If you get clues, you can wait to claim them until stage two, so you clear that quickly, get to the boss and take him out. But because the variability of clues/plot/villain is so great, good decks can lose and weaker decks can win. If you're getting frustrated, easy mode (or semi-easy) is a valid option; I also really like the Grace of the Valar variant Seastan invented that we use for the solo league.

Spear of Citadel only requires tactics characters, so it also can go on Defender of Rammas (or Veteran Axehand, though it's not much use there). It's a fantastic card when it can be used to kill enemies when they attack -- Gondorian Spearman + Spear of the Citadel would kill your Dissedents, Traitors and Pickpockets without their attack resolving. But that wouldn't prevent the Traitor's obnoxious when-engaged or Pickpockets when-attacks, so I'm not thrilled with the card in this deck against this quest.

BTW, I may have misled you above -- Spirit doesn't get the actual Celebrian's Stone, they get a different card (Silver Circlet), that shares the essential characteristics of Celebrian's Stone -- 2 cost, +2 willpower, restricted slot. The difference is that it's not unique (though it is limit one per player), it of course gives nothing extra to Aragorn, and it requires a spirit hero.

22 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Since 1/3rd of the time this quest goes after your deck, running with 57 cards can buy you another turn or two -- and Vilya would work against you here,

Well, there's 66 cards right now. I might slim it down some, if I can find stuff I'd be wiling to get rid of. I need to do some more playtesting.

Again with the Vilya and Elfhelm? You're like a dog with a bone, aren't you? Actually, right now I think I'll jettison Spear of the Citadel and put in Elfhelm. As you said, you can put the spear on Defender of Rammas, but that card is pretty fragile for having 4 defense. Hate to waste two resources to put a spear on him.

Got rid of Spear of the Citadel and added Elfhelm as said. Played another game, got another win against The Steward's Fear. The deck is shaping up nicely. This one was a squeaker though, came down to the wire. Had Elfhelm in my hand, but couldn't afford him. Didn't miss the spear.

The only plot I haven't gotten a win against is the one with the extra encounter card (Unholy Alliance). If I can beat that one, I think I'll move on to The Druadan Forest.

Finally got wins against all three plot points in The Steward's Fear, so I moved on to The Druadan Forest. Got a win on the first try, using the same deck. This pleased me, since I had read that this scenario required a specially built deck. If I had to do it over again, there are some cards I would definitely take out, including the more expensive ones (except Gandalf) since this scenario steals all your money.

Looks to me like this scenario requires healing (which I had with Warden of Healing) because of all the archery, and threat reduction (Gandalf and The Galadhrim's Greeting), because questing can take awhile.

Got another win in The Druadan Forest, won handily this time, so I'm going to move on to the next. There's no Local Trouble in this encounter, so I'm also taking Miner of the Iron Hills out of the deck, it's just dead weight. The most annoying part of this scenario is probably the effect that takes all your attachments (Leaves on Tree).

It seems this cycle is becoming really hard to find, at least the APs (and especially the Steward's Fear). Can we expect an upcoming reprint?

A reprint would be unlikely at this point, mostly due to Asmodee’s distribution. FFG just finished a massive LotR reprint and announced the LCG would be taking a break.

While it's taking a break, I'm not sure that's a hard barrier to reprints. Past reprints have sold quickly, so presumably created a profit for FFG/Asmodee, and if they really want the hiatus to be temporary instead of permanent some level of reprinting will be necessary to keep the game alive.

7 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

While it's taking a break, I'm not sure that's a hard barrier to reprints. Past reprints have sold quickly, so presumably created a profit for FFG/Asmodee, and if they really want the hiatus to be temporary instead of permanent some level of reprinting will be necessary to keep the game alive.

That was a nice sized reprint they had recently (was that almost a year ago already?). But I'm sure they'll have more eventually, just takes some patience. I came to the game late and thought I'd never complete my collection, but it only took about six months. And a chunk of change, lol.

Got two quick wins over Encounter at Amon Din, using the same deck as The Druadan Forest, so I'll be moving on to the next. It's a pretty easy scenario but it was kind of fun, rescuing the villagers and all that. It doesn't steal your resources, so I could have added in some of the more expensive cards, but it didn't seem necessary. Up next, Assault on Osgiliath.