As usual, I'm really struggling to beat this quest and build a deck to get past even stage 3. All attempts fall short in either resource gen or card draw; I can't quite get them in properly due to focusing on threat reduction and that blasted 9 attack city guard. I feel the -10 engagement cards (treachery and site) come up far too often and are game ending when they turn up.

I've been playing nothing else since this pack came out and have tried it solo and 2 handed solo. I think one handed has the best shot and my last deck was a grey wanderer spirit frodo, the idea was to focus on getting his defense high with signals, arwen, inner strength, hobbit cloak and protector of lorien). I'm questing with strider attachment, songs attachments, arwen, bilbo, spirit sam, rosie, and 3 northern trackers. And lots of threat reduction.

However it's not that my deck performs badly, it's the quest forms too well too quickly. Sometimes resources go on stage 1 so fast that the game is practically over by turn 2 or 3.

So, who's beat this quest and how did you do it. Please post decks if you can. Any advice is helpful. Cheers.

My wife and I beat it together with her running Dale deck and me a Gandalf/Eleanor/Legolas (Tactics) deck. Her amazing Guardian of Esgaroth loaded with attachments was able to take the attacks from the city guard, likewise with Eleanor (or you could sub another Gondorian Noble like Boromir or even Beregond) equipped Ancestral Armor, Gondorian Shield and a Raiment of War and/or Livery of the Tower and Blood of Numenor. So three Hunters or Dale

Took me a dozen plays, but got lucky 2handed Dale and Noldor

My brother and I beat it as well. I ran a mono spirit deck with sp Glorifindel, Lothiriel, and Beregond. I had tons of willpower and threat reduction (got 3 outlands swordsmen out quick and played the sp damrod/knight of belfalas combo. My deck could put out at least 3 additional willpower each round.

My brother had Sp merry and Arwen and was using beorning skinchangers to bring in giant bears for taking down the Guard. It was quite a tough quest for sure.

Some tips are using Thrors key to blank the X threat location if it comes out at a bad time. Also you gotta chump in this quest, and therefore you want shadow cancel (hasty stroke) if that terrible shadow deals 9 damage amonst characters. That will wreck you.

We beat it with two grey wanderer decks. One with Gandalf, the other with Elrond. We were blocking the guard with support of the eagles on gandalf and with ancestral armour + arwen + something else on Elrond.

On the other hand, cumpbloking the city guard should work fine

22 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

Alonewolf87 1

Posted 4 hours ago

4 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Draws stand and fight and healing herbs. Discards healing herbs, silver Harp puts it back in my hand.

Arwen discards veteran sword elf to gain a resource

(Servant of Mordor has shut down grima discount action)

Play sailor of Lune for 2 play guardian of Rivendell for 3, discarding healing herbs first then stand and fight.

Here I would have discarded the Healing Herbs in the Resource Phase and used the Harp to keep Stand and Fight in the Planning Phase for next turn.

4 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Scoop.

All heroes exhausted, 1 card in my hand (guardian of Rivendell) only 2 resources left (lore) only 3 progress of 5 made on stage 1 and threat 34. facing 4 undefended attacks (3; 2; 4; 9)

Not surprised (Grima is a really bad fit for this quest), but perhaps you could have risked it a bit more with some undefended attack from the Servant to kill it.

4 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

(Reveal effect doesn't trigger)

Why not? No active location so you needed to chose the immediate attack opt

Anyway I think we are going quite off-topic. Do you want to split the topic or continue this somewhere else?

Ok so I'll try and tackle your points. The first one regarding stand and fight. I really wanted to discard veteran sword elf and then get her into play with stand and fight and I knew I wanted to keep an event on top of the discard pile to give sailor of Lune +1 quest. I looked at veteran and though that she works best when other copies are in the discard, sure I could chump with her but it was going to cost me 3 spirit resources and I needed them to get a quester out as grima was exhausted at the start of the round due to servant of Mordor attacking me in the refresh phase. Sailor really needed that event on top to make up for the missing grima 2 quest points. At this point I also had test of will in my hand and wanted a resource for it as this quest has some nasty treacheries that lower the engagement cost of city guard by 10. So I needed 1 extra resource.

Point 2. Yep I think some undefended attacks may have been doable, however servant of Mordor was attack 2 and if he got a shadow card attack booster then I'd have lost a hero. Imladris caregiver was in my hand but like the other Noldor effects he discards cards to heal, but I was running out of cards fast. Cirdan makes you discard a card, arwen needs to to discard a card. Getting Guardian of Rivendell out needs 2 discarded cards, I had too many effects that needed cards discarding and not enough cards. This enemy is nasty in that potentially he'd be attacking me in the planning phase for using Grima, then the quest phase if I quested unsuccessfully, the combat phase as normal and the refresh phase for end of turn threat. So taking him undefended was a risk.

Last point (reveal effect doesnt trigger) when I drew messenger from Mordor as travel effect you are right the location hasn't yet made it to be the active location, however you don't perform when revealed effects when taking a card from the discard pile and add it to the staging area. Which is what the travel effect tells you to do. 'Discard cards from the top until an enemy is discarded. Add that enemy to the staging area'

So, I did enjoy the challenge of playing your deck. And at first thought it was going well. But as with all my games against this quest, the quest quickly shuts you down and punishes you for your decks weakness, be it lack of card draw, or resource gen, or questing or chomping even (there's a few shadow effects that really penalise against chumping) I find this quest happens to find the one card to really hurt you. In this play through it was sevant of Mordor on turn 1.

I'll give it another go and make some of the changes you suggest regarding Grima.

I was thinking of travelling to the catacombs on turn 1 but it has the potential to pull out an enemy and engage it with me, so bottled it having no allies and servant of Mordor out. I also thought about taking servants attack undefended so cirdain could attack it but it would take 3 turns to kill it doing that and it would then have 3 undefended attacks at 2 or 3+ strength almost certainly killing off a couple of heroes.

**** servant of Mordor 😈

Another turning point would have been a mulligan for some other cards. However this was my first run with this deck so I guessed I had a pretty good hand getting light of valinor and a test of will and the silver Harp.

Only you will be able to tell me if i should have mulliganed

5 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Point 2. Yep I think some undefended attacks may have been doable, however servant of Mordor was attack 2 and if he got a shadow card attack booster then I'd have lost a hero.

Definitely true, but the early game is all about taking some risks to get in a good position I think. Also the Lembas could have helped later on with the damage.

But Servant of Mordor is definitely a **** enemy...

5 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Last point (reveal effect doesnt trigger) when I drew messenger from Mordor as travel effect you are right the location hasn't yet made it to be the active location, however you don't perform when revealed effects when taking a card from the discard pile and add it to the staging area. Which is what the travel effect tells you to do. 'Discard cards from the top until an enemy is discarded. Add that enemy to the staging area'

I made a mistake here then, thought the enemy was "revealed", not "added".

5 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Another turning point would have been a mulligan for some other cards. However this was my first run with this deck so I guessed I had a pretty good hand getting light of valinor and a test of will and the silver Harp.

Only you will be able to tell me if i should have mulliganed

Well I have only played it a few times (and never against City of Ulfast) so I am not sure which cards would be key to mulligan for.

BTW do you want me to share my Arwen/Elladan/Elrohir Three Hunters deck? That might be a better fit for this quest.

32 minutes ago, Alonewolf87 said:

BTW do you want me to share my Arwen/Elladan/Elrohir Three Hunters deck? That might be a better fit for this quest.

Oh yes!.

Yes please mate. Cheers. I have 3 cores and all packs so can build any deck.

One day I will get past this guard and get into ulfast 🤣

You can find it here

https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/8296

Though you might want to make some small changes (out Warden of Arnor, Rivendell Bow and Blade of Gondolin, in Celebrian's Stone and 1 more War Axe and Steed of the North)

If you want I can also take a swing with some of my decks against it in the next few days (COVID-19 gifted me with a lot of free time) and give you some feedback.

Thanks for the link. I'll give it a try with your amendments.

Please feel free to have a bash ( though I realise you have your hands full with the Havens at the mo 😉 )

I'm a key worker so I'm in work and doing weekend overtime too. Though some of my gaming buddies have gone off self isolating and enjoying the down time. Our weekly game night is now playing the division 2 together on the xbox 1.

I'm also spending time playing through Dunwich Legacy cycle with my daughter. Just about to do blood on the altar tonight.

Stay safe and happy gaming buddy.

30 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

Please feel free to have a bash ( though I realise you have your hands full with the Havens at the mo 😉 )

I might squeeze in a try tomorrow, for a change of pace.

30 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

'm a key worker so I'm in work and doing weekend overtime too.

I am actually working here in Italy on an epidemiologic research on the COVID-19, but since I have now to work from home my meal breaks are much more efficient and I have more free evenings.

32 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

I'm also spending time playing through Dunwich Legacy cycle with my daughter. Just about to do blood on the altar tonight.

Stay safe and happy gaming buddy.

So cool, I hope one day to have children of my own to play these games with.

You too, stay safe

8 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

I am actually working here in Italy on an epidemiologic research on the COVID-19,

This is really awesome. I'm glad to have bumped into you on the forums. 🤝

ok, so I tried the same deck again tonight. (After my Arkham game.)

before taking apart a deck I usually give it a couple of goes so I've simply switched out Grima for Beravor
Keys of Othanc and elf stone for ×2 unexpected courages

Set up:
Drew: elven jeweler, a test of will, sailor of Lune ×2, elwings flight and guardian of Rivendell.
Mulligan: imladris caregiver, elven jeweler, elven-light, the evening star and stand and fight ×2.
Place crowded market in staging area.

Turn 1
Draws veteran sword elf and the evening star. Discard veteran sword elf.
Beravor exhausts to draw elven light and the galhadrims greeting.
Arwen discards elven light to gain a resource
Planning: Plays stand and fight for 3 to put veteran sword elf into play from discard pile.
Quest: 7 WP. (Cirdain, arwen). Stages Crowded Market. 5 threat. 2 progress on stage 1
No travelling
Refresh: threat 32 and adds 1 resource to stage 1. City guard engagement is 40 and threat 2.

Turn 2
Draws veteran sword elf and sailor of Lune. Discards sword elf.
Exhausts Beravor to draw 2 cards. (Elronds council and imladris caregiver)
Arwen discards elven light to gain a resource.
Plays sailor of Lune . Plays the evening star putting 2 progress on one of the 2 crowded markets.
Plays elven light from discard pile and draws silver Harp. (Really happy)
Quest: 9 wp (cirdain, arwen and sailor (event on top)) plays elronds council (+1 wp to arwen) making 10 WP and reducing threat to 29. (EC Event on top of discard pile). Stages side street (3 threat and prevents progress on locations in the staging area) total 7 threat. 3 progress on stage 1 advancing to stage 2. Choose to raise threat by 5 option. Threat dial now 34 and city guard back up to 45 engagement.
Travel to side street. Travel effect adds street of ulfast to the staging area.
Refresh: threat increases to 35. Add 1 resource to stage 2 (city guard now engagement 40 and threat 2)

Turn 3
Draws the galhadrims greetings and elwings flight. Discards elwings flight.
Beravor exhausts to draw light of valinor and lembas.
Arwen discards elven light to gain a resource
Plays silver Harp, light of valinor and lembas on cirdain
Quest: 9 (cirdain, arwen and sailor). Stages patrolling the streets treachery. Places 1 resource on stage 2 (total 2). I choose the option to not place progress on the current quest. So 9 wp vs 8 threat. 1 progress on side street Active location.
Refresh. Threat now 36 and add 1 resource to stage 2. (Total 3). City guard now threat 4 and engagement 30. Streets of ulfast threat 4 also.

Turn 4
Draws steed of imladris and guardian of Rivendell. Discards guardian of Rivendell but harp saves him
Plays steed of imladris on arwen.
Play elven light (from bottom of discard pile leaving the other elven light on top) draws elven jeweler.
Quest for 11 (cirdain, arwen, beravor and sailor of Lune) steed of imladris discards elven light to put 2 progress on active side street exploring it fully. Stages ulchors agent who raises my threat to 39. Makes 13 threat in staging area. Raise my threat to 41.
Travels to crowded market adding messenger from Mordor to staging area. Doesnt trigger the when revealed effect due to being added rather than revealed.
City guard engagement is now 50.
Engagement: both messenger from Mordor and ulchors agent engage.
Play elven jeweler by discarding imladris caregiver ×2.
Deals shadow cards
Cirdain defends messenger (shadow is ulfast senrty- no effect). 2 damage on cirdain. Discards lembas to ready and heal.
Elven jeweler chumps ulchors agent (shadow is patrolling the streets +3 at this time for 6 attack). Jewler is destroyed.
Cirdain and veteran sword elf attack messenger of Mordor for 4 attack and he takes 2 damage
Refresh. Threat 42 and add 1 resource to stage 2 (total 4. Makes city guard 45 engagement and 5 threat. Streets of ulfast now 5 threat.

Turn 5
Draws light of valinor and narya. Discards light of valinor
[At this point I’m not really sure what to do. I have too many cards I need to play and not enough resources or cards for discard effects. If I use beravor it reduces quest or attack, if I clear the active location I have the city card attacking me with at least two other enemies, threat in the staging area is spiralling and I have no progress on stage 2.
In my hand is narya, stand and fight, x2 Galadhrims greeting, elven jewler, the evening star and guardian of Rivendell]

Plays Narya on cirdain using beravors resources.
Exhaust beravor to draw 2 cards Glorfindel and a test of will.
Arwen discards Glorfindel to gain a resource.
Plays stand and fight to pull veteran sword elf from discard pile to table
Quest 9 (cirdain, arwen and sailor of lune) steed of imladris discards the evening star to place 2 progress on crowded market exploring it. Silver Harp saves it. Stages ulfast sentry 2 threat making 12 in total.
Threat increases to 45.
Cant now travel to streets of ulfast as it will raise my threat to 50.
Engagement: ulfast sentry and city guard engage me. Ulfast sentry adds 1 resource to stage 2 (total 5- city guard now threat 6 and engagement cost 20)
Shadow cards dealt
Plays elven jewler by discarding Galadhrims greeting and the evening star.
Elven jewler defends city guard (shadow side street, no effect. Jewler is destroyed.
Sword elf defends ulfast sentry 6 attack ( shadow under guard- resolve travel effect of active location. There isn’t one) veteran destroyed.
Veteran #2 defends ulchors agent (shadow wave been seen- +1 attack with splash assigned to other characters) 4 attack vs 2 def. 2 damage on veteran.
Exhaust narya and cirdain to ready veteran se and sailor ol.
Sailor ol defends messenger from Mordor. (Shadow servant of Mordor- no effect. Sailor destroyed
Veteran sword e attacks messenger of Mordor for 3 putting 1 damage on him (total 3)
Refresh: threat now 46. Adds 1 resource to stage two (total 6)

Turn 6 scooped as a lost cause. 4 attacks next turn against 4 characters. And its 1:10 am 😴

Great game but again resource gen hurt me. I feel I could have got further with more resources.
Even without a turn 1 servant of Mordor showing up it’s the resources going on the stages that make this quest so difficult. If you bring a questing deck it smacks you in combat and if you bring a combat deck you get location lock and if you try both you get freight trained 🚂

7 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Great game but again resource gen hurt me. I feel I could have got further with more resources.

Yeah it's definitely not up to the challenge. If you want we can rework it from the ground up making it an Arwen, Cirdan, Erestor deck and going the full discard strategy route.

7 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Even without a turn 1 servant of Mordor showing up it’s the resources going on the stages that make this quest so difficult. If you bring a questing deck it smacks you in combat and if you bring a combat deck you get location lock and if you try both you get freight trained 🚂

A possibility could be going for a full Gondor Swarm (LeBoromir, Denethor and Erestor as heroes) and use Visionary Leadership and LeBoromir to cover both questing and attacking. It's quite the effective deck usually.

After a very quick defeat in my first run (City Guard engaged in the 2nd round while Elrohir was not fully setup and almost killed it, I decided to scoop up there) I was able to win the second run with my Three Hunters deck. I realized though that it's not really optimized for this quest so I made some small modifications to it (that you can find here https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/15136/forththechildrenofcelebrianinulfast-1.0 )

If you are interested I kept a playthrough of the game.

Yes please I would be interested in seeing your play though.

I'm about to start building your three hunters decks now. I'll give it a go straight after. 👍

Should I post here or send you the Word file?

I very much enjoyed this quest, it was certainly tough but didn't feel oppressive, and the rules/goal of the quest essentially stay the same throughout until needing to actually kill the city guard.

Chump blockers are pretty ideal for this encounter so I found outlander to be a good match. In a two player attempt, I had a friend use tactics Eowyn which was pretty ideal for sinking through a good bit of damage. A lot of the quest is a matter of deciding exactly when is best to advance to the next stage, which locations to tackle when etc.

City of Ulfast.

Three Hunters Set up: Draws Gondorian Shield, Elven-Light, Round Shield, Dunedain Remedy, Elronds Council and Silver Harp Keeps hand. Searches player deck and takes the one ring and plays it on Elrohir. Searches deck and puts inner strength into hand. Searches encounter deck for streets of ulfast and adds it to the staging area.

Turn 1

Draws dunedain warning Arwen discards elven light to gain a resource.

Planning: plays a discounted silver Harp on arwen, gondorian shield, dunedain warning and round shield on elrohir. Arwen pays for elven light to draw another elven light.

Quest: with arwen, elladan and elrohir. Plays elronds council on arwen. Threat reduces to 26. Stages side street. 8WP vs 5 threat. makes 3 progress on stage 1.

Travel to streets of ulfast. Raises threat to 27.

Refresh. Threat increases to 28. Adds 1 resource to stage 1

Turn 2

Draws open the armory. Arwen discards elven light to gain 1 resource. Arwen pays 1 resource to play elven light from discard and draws Rohan warhorse.

Planning: plays warhorse for free on elladan. Plays inner strength on elrohir. Quest: all in for 7 wp. Stages the kings lawn. 8 threat. Raises threat by 1

Refresh: raises threat by 2 to 31. Add 1 resource to stage 1. (2 total)

Turn 3

draws dagger of westerners. Discards elven light so arwen gains a resource.

Planning. Arwen plays for open the armoury. ( only two targets- war axe and Rivendell blade.) Takes Rivendell blade. Plays Rivendell blade for free on elladan and pays to play daggers on arwen. Three hunters now flips to side b. Arwen plays elven light from discard and draws light of valinor.

Quest: arwen, elrohir and elladan for 14 wp. Stages under guard- resolve travel effect of active location (streets of ulfast) Threat increases by 3 to 34. 14 vs 9 threat. Makes 5 progress on active location which explores the 5 quest points.

Travel: [cant travel to kings lawn as it would place 1 resource on stage 1 and city guard would engage me with no ready defenders]. So travel to side street. Which adds guarded archway to staging area.

Refresh: threat increases by 2 to 36. Adds 1 resource to stage 1. (Total 3)

Turn 4

Draws unexpected courage. Discard elven light to add a resource to arwen.

Planning: plays light of valinor on elrohir. Plays elven light from discard drawing dagger of westernesse. Plays dagger on elladan.

Quest: arwen, elladan and elrohir for 15 wp. Stages patrolling the streets- places 1 resource on stage 1 (total 4) and chooses option to not allow progress on main quest. So 15 vs 10 threat. Clears 3 quest point active location. Travels to kings lawn. Places 1 resource on stage 1( total 5). City guard has engagement cost 20 now.

Combat. Deals shadow to city guard. Elrohir defends for 6 (shadow is ulchors secret with shadow effect triggers +1 attack. Response exhaust round shield +2 def. Response inner strength- exhausts one ring, raises threat to 37 and cancels shadow effect.) 9 att vs 8 def. Elrohir takes 1 damage.

Refresh. Raises threat to 38. Adds 1 resource to stage 1 (total 6).

Turn 5

Draws Galadhrims greetings. Discards elven light to gain 1 resource on arwen.

Planning: plays dunedain remedy on elrohir to heal 1 damage. Plays unexpected courage on elladan.

Quest: arwen, elladan and elrohir for 15 wp. Stages messenger from Mordor. (I choose the immediate attack option. Deals shadow. Elrohir defends and spends 1 resource to ready. Shadow is messenger from Mordor +1 attack. Def 6 blocks it. So 15 wp vs 11 threat. Makes 4 progress on kings lawn.

Engagement. Messenger of mordor and city guard engages. Deals each a shadow card. Elrohir defends messenger from Mordor and spends 1 resource to ready. Shadow is ulfast sentry- no effect. 6 def blocks 4 att. Elrohir defends city guard. No ready this time. (He does have 2 resources left). Shadow is crowded market so no shadow effect. 6 def vs 9 att means 3 damage on elrohir. Readies elladan with unexpected courage. Elladan attacks messenger from Mordor , reduces his def by 2 and his attack is 4 killing messenger. Warhorse could ready him but Rivendell blade is useless against city guard. So his 4 attack wouldn’t get through.

Refresh: threat now 39. Adds 1 resource to stage 1 ( total 7)

Turn 6

Draws open the armory. Discards elven light to put a resource on arwen. Spend 1 resource from elrohir and elladan to pass remedy between them and heal 1 damage fro. Elrohir. And then again to heal 1 more damage (4 resources in total)

Quest all in for 15 wp. Stages patrolling the streets- adds 1 resource to stage 1 (total 8. ) then chooses the no progress on main quest option (the other option would threat me out). So 15 wp vs 11 threat. Makes 4 progress on active location exploring it and 3 progress go to waste.

Not travelling to guarded archway as it would give city guard a free attack.

Combat. Deals shadow to city guard. Use dunedain remedy again between the brothers to heal last damage from elrohir. They now have no resources left. Elrohir defends. Shadow is streets of ulfast, shadow effect returns city guard to staging. Exhausts round shield in response. 8 def vs 9 att. 1 damage on elrohir.

Refresh. Threat increases to 40. Adds 1 resource on stage one (total 9)

Turn 7

Draws a test of will. Discards it to gain a resource on arwen. Harp saves it.

Planning: spend 1 from elladan to play valour action on open the armory. Only 1 target card, elven mail which goes on arwen. Plays Galadhrims greeting to lower threat to 34.

Questing all in for 16 wp stages the kings lawn. So 16 vs 15 makes 1 progress on stage 1 (total 4)

Travels to kings lawn placing 1 resource on stage 1 (10 total)

Combat. City guard attacks. Deals shadow. Elrohir moves remedy to arwen and back to heal 1 damage. Each spending a resource. Elrohir defends shadow is servant of Mordor giving +1 attack exhausts round shield and one ring and raises threat to 35 to cancel it with inner strength. Elrohir takes 1 damage.

Refresh: threat increases to 36 adds 1 resource to stage 1( total 11)

At this point I cant win. Next card is elronds council , I have a test of will in my hand. Next encounter card is a 3 threat the kings elite. My questing would be 17 with 17 in staging. Active location has 5 quest points .

Scooped.

Great game. I thought I was going to win when I got unexpected courage out and with light of valinor too. But the resources going onto the quest are too fast. There's too many effects that add them from other cards.

3 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Should I post here or send you the Word file?

Post here please. Cheers.

7 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Turn 3

draws dagger of westerners. Discards elven light so arwen gains a resource.

Planning. Arwen plays for open the armoury. ( only two targets- war axe and Rivendell blade.) Takes Rivendell blade. Plays Rivendell blade for free on elladan and pays to play daggers on arwen. Three hunters now flips to side b. Arwen plays elven light from discard and draws light of valinor.

You flip the contract in the Refresh Phase.

6 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Post here please. Cheers.

If you spot any mistakes let me know

General indications: shadow cards are explicited only when they affect the game, I don't keep track of cards in the decks or the resources on the heroes

City of Ulfast

Lucky moments: good starting hand, good shadow cards

Unlucky moments: lots of threat increase

Setup: The One Ring on Elrohir, Inner Strenght pulled from the deck; Side Street as location in the staging area

Opening Hand (after mulligan) Silver Harp, Steed of the North, Round Shield, War Axe, Elven Mail, Open the Armory

Turn 1

Draw: Golden Belt
Planning Phase: play Silver Harp (with discount) on Arwen; exhaust Harp to get back resource; play Inner Strength on Elrohir; play Steed of the North (with discount) on Elrohir; play War Axe (with discount) on Elladan (since I could not get to 2 restricted on 1 ^st turn I decide to keep Elladan and Elrohir's resources for future needs)
Quest Phase: everyone to the quest; reveal Overwhelmed (30 threat, no effect); 3 progress
Travel Phase: travel to Side Street; discard until I get another Side Street (!) to add to the staging area
Engagement and Combat phase: nothing
End of Round: 1 resource on quest

Turn 2

Draw: Elven-Light
Planning Phase: play Open the Armory with 1 Spirit Resource, get Rivendell Blade; play Rivendell Blade on Elladan (with discount); play Elven Mail (with discount) on Elrohir; discard Elven-Light to get 1 resource on Arwen; play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Steed of Imladris; play Steed of Imladris on Arwen (with discount); play Golden Belt and Round Shield on Elrohir
Quest Phase: everyone to the quest; discard Elven-Light on Steed (2 progress on active location); reveal Ulfast Sentry; no progress
Travel Phase: nothing
Engagement phase: engage Ulfast Sentry (immediate attack, undefended, +1 attack, 3 damage on Elladan; ready Elrohir with Steed of the the North)
Combat phase: defend Sentry with Elrohir (no shadow, no damage)
Refresh Phase: flip contract
End of round: 1 resource on quest (2 total)

Turn 3

Draw: Foe-Hammer
Planning Phase: play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Dunedain Warning; play Warning on Elrohir
Quest Phase: send Elrohir and Arwen to the quest (10 Willpower); discard Elven-Light on Steed and clear active location; reveal Servant of Sauron (which engages me, I ready Elrohir) which surges into We Have Been Seen (33 threat, servant attacks, undefended (2 damage on Elrohir); 4 progress, clear the current quest, advancing I decide to reveal 1 encounter card, The King's Lawm
Travel Phase: travel to The King's Lawn (1 resource on quest)
Engagement phase: nothing
Combat phase: Elrohir defends Sentry (spend 1 resource to ready again, no damage); Elrohir defend Servant (no damage); Elladan spend 1 resource to kill both Servant and Sentry; use Foe-Hammer (draw Elrond's Counsel, Unexpected Courage, Elven-Mail) exhaust contract to heal 1 damage from Elladan and Elrohir; exhaust Harp to get 1 resource on Arwen
End of round: 1 resource on quest (2 total)

Turn 4

Draw: Miruvor
Planning Phase: play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Celebrian's Stone; discard Elven-Light to get back resource on Arwen; play Unexpected Courage on Elrohir; play Celebrian's Stone on Arwen
Quest Phase: send Arwen and Elrohir to the quest (13 Willpower); exhaust Harp on Steed to put 2 progress on active location, ready Elrohir with Courage; reveal Extra Vigil and attach it to City Guard; play Elrond's Counsel (31 threat); 8 progress, 3 to clear active location, 5 on current quest
Travel Phase: travel to Side Street, discard until I got a The King's Lawn (again!) and add it to the staging area
Engagement phase: nothing (City Guard is merely “considered to be engaged”)
Combat phase: Elrohir defends City Guard (shadow effect triggered. I activate Round Shield, 2 damage on Elrohir); exhaust contract to heal 1 damage from Elladan and Elrohir; Elladan attacks City Guard (1 damage, I raise my threat by 1 to 32 to discard Extra Vigil
Refresh Phase: 1 extra threat from The King's Lawn (34 Threat)
End of round: 1 resource on quest (3 total)

Turn 5

Draw: Light of Valinor
Planning Phase: play Light of Valinor on Elladan; exhaust Harp to get 1 resource on Arwen; play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Open the Armory; spend 1 Tactics resource on Open the Armory, draw Ancestral Armor
Quest Phase: everyone to the quest (17 Willpower, Elladan does not exhaust), discard Elven-Light on Steed to put 2 progress on active location; exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Elrohir; reveal Messenger from Mordor (immediate attack, shadow effect for +3 attack, I trigger Round Shield, no damage); 8 progress, 1 to clear the active location, the rest clear the active quest; after advancing I raise my threat by 5 (to 39 Threat) since Elrohir is exhausted
Travel Phase: travel to The King's Lawn (1 resource on the quest)
Engagement phase: engage Messenger from Mordor, ready Elrohir with Steed of the North
Combat phase: Elrohir defends Messenger (no damage); Elladan kills Messenger; exhaust contract to heal 1 damage from Elladan and Elrohir
End of round: 1 resource on quest (2 total)

Turn 6

Draw: Steed of the North
Planning Phase: exhaust Harp to give Elrohir 1 resource; play Golden Belt on Elrohir; play Miruvor on Elrohir; discard Miruvor to give Elrohir 1 resource and +1 Willpower; play Ancestral Armor on Elrohir (it gets to 7 (or 9 if shadow effect triggers) defense and 8 hit points, not too shabby) discarding Steed of the North
Quest Phase: send everyone to the quest (19 Willpower); exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Elrohir; reveal Shadow of Fear which surges into Catacombs; 12 progress, 5 to clear the active location, 7 on current quest
Travel Phase: travel to Catacombs, discard Crowded Market (of course!)
Engagement phase: nothing
Combat phase: Elrohir defends City Guard (shadow effect for +2 attack, trigger Round Shield, 2 damage); exhaust contract to heal 1 damage from Elrohir (2 total); Elladan attacks City Guard (1 damage, 2 total)
End of round: 1 resource on quest (3 total)

Turn 7

Draw: Warrior Sword
Planning Phase: play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Golden Belt; play Golden Belt, Warrior Sword and Steed of the North on Elladan (8 Attack and -2 Defense, not too shabby either) discarding Rivendell Blade; exhaust Harp to get resource to Elrohir
Quest Phase: choose Shadow of Fear as current quest; send everyone to the quest (20 Willpower); exhaust Unexpected Courage discard Elven-Light with Steed to put 2 progress on active location; reveal Under Guard (trigger Travel effect of Catacombs, discard The King's Elite (put it engaged with me, 42 Threat); 16 progress, 2 to clear active location, the rest to clear the side quest (39 Threat)
Travel and Engagement Phase: nothing
Combat Phase: Elrohir defends City Guard (spend 1 resource to ready Elrohir, shadow effect for additional attack, trigger Round Shield, exhaust One Ring and raise threat (40 threat) to cancel it, no damage); Elrohir defends The King's Elite (1 resource on the main quest, spend 1 resource to ready Elrohir) no damage); Elladan attack The King's Elite (spend 1 resource to ready Elladan) and destroys it; Elladan and Elrohir attack City Guard (6 damage for a total of 8); exhaust contract to heal Elrohir (1 damage)
End of round: 1 resource on quest (5 total)

Turn 8

Draw: Elven-Light
Planning Phase: play Elven-Light from the discard pile, draw Elrond's Counsel (lucky!); discard Elven-Light to give Elrohir 1 resource
Quest Phase: play Elrond's Counsel on Arwen (38 threat), send everyone to the quest (21 Willpower); exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Elrohir; reveal Guarded Archway; 19 progress, clear the current quest, advance to stage 4, get Ulfast Sentry as enemy
Travel Phase: travel to Guarded Archway, City Guard attacks and Elrohir defends (spend 1 resource to ready him again, no shadow effect, 2 damage)
Engagement phase: engage Ulfast Sentry
Combat phase: Elrohir defends Ulfast Sentry (no damage); Elladan kills Sentry; exhaust contract to heal 1 damage from Elrohir (2 damage)
End of round: 1 resource on quest

Turn 9

Draw: Rivendell Blade
Planning Phase: play Elven-Light from discard pile, draw Silver Circlet; discard Elven-Light to get back 1 resource on Arwen
Quest Phase: send everyone to the quest (20 Willpower), discard 2 ^nd Elven-Light on Steed to put 2 progress on active location; exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Elrohir; reveal Ulchor's Agent (**** it, 42 threat); 15 progress (2 to clear the active location, 13 on the current quest)
Travel Phase: nothing
Engagement phase: engage Ulchor's Agent
Combat phase: Elrohir defends Ulchor's Agent (spend 1 resource to ready Elrohir, no damage); Elrohir defends City Guard (spend 1 resource to ready Elrohir, shadow effect that sends it “back” to the staging area, lucky me, trigger Round Shield no damage); Elladan attack Ulchor's Agent (spend 1 resource to ready Elladan) and destroys it; Elladan and Elrohir attack City Guard (6 damage for a total of 14); exhaust contract to heal Elrohir (1 damage)
End of round: 1 resource on quest (for a total of 2)

Turn 10

Draw: Prepare for Battle
Planning Phase: discard Prepare for Battle to give 1 resource to Elrohir; play Silver Circlet on Arwen discarding Silver Harp
Quest Phase: send everyone to the quest (22 Willpower), exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Elrohir; reveal Messenger from Mordor (immediate attack, Elrohir defends, spend 1 resource to get ready, no damage), 18 progress for a total of 31 on the current quest (so I only need to "kill" the City Guard now)
Travel Phase: nothing
Engagement phase: engage Messenger from Mordor
Combat phase: Elrohir defend City Guard (spend resource to ready him, shadow is Extra Vigil, is attached to City Guard, I trigger Round Shield, no damage); Messenger from Mordor is undefended (I will sacrifice Arwen if needed, 4 damage on Elrohir for a total of 5); Elladan kills Messenger from Mordor (spend resource to ready Elladan); Elladan and Elrohir attack City Guard (6 damage for a total of 20) which wins the game

Final Threat: 43 (cutting it close with The One Ring)

Thanks for putting this on. What's really cool is that it's not so much looking for a mistake you've made but I might have made either tactically or mechanically.

Well.. it looks like I have been making a few mistakes with the contract.

Someone already spotted I flipped the contract at the wrong time, but I also misread the contract to be the first restricted attachment of the phase gets a discount rather than the first one on each hero in the phase. 🙈

So I might have done better with a few more resources.

I'll give it another shot later. I loved the deck by the way. I wasn't 100% of the timing window for the brothers' readying actions. The phrase after defending or after attacking. when does that last up to?

I'm a bit rushed so I haven't read all you game reports yet but I will do tonight and then play my game. I've been on overtime at work all day today.

Cheers.

42 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

Someone already spotted I flipped the contract at the wrong time, but I also misread the contract to be the first restricted attachment of the phase gets a discount rather than the first one on each hero in the phase. 🙈

So I might have done better with a few more resources.

Yes that's a huge discount since it applies to everyone once per round.

43 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

I'll give it another shot later. I loved the deck by the way. I wasn't 100% of the timing window for the brothers' readying actions. The phrase after defending or after attacking. when does that last up to?

After you declare them as attackers/defenders, but before you resolve the attack/defense. So for example in Elrohir case is before revealing the shadow card. Following Seastan useful Guide to Action Windows deck it would be after 6.4.1 for Elrohir and after 6.8b for Elladan