6 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Take servant of Mordor undefended. Shadow (streets of ulfast) return attacker to staging. But he then engages again.

Melendor defends kings elite for 1 def. Shadow (kings lawn) no shadow. Kills meneldor and eagles of misty mountains grabs it. Adds 1 resource to stage 4 (total 1 CG 40)

Marksman of lorien defends messenger from Mordor for 0. Shadow (kings elite) makes additional attack. Kills marksman. Plays last stand to put 3 damage on messenger.

Additional attack from messenger from Mordor Defended by eagles of misty mountains for def 5. Shadow ( crowded market) no shadow.

Ulchors agent attacks undefended. Shadow (extra vigil) no effect. 3 damage on theoden.

Refresh. Threat increases to 45. Add 1 resource to stage 4. (Total 2 CG 35)

And I also think that since the number of resources on the quest change during the combat phase City Guard should still have attacked you (albeit without a shadow card) since it was not considered engaged and the Enemy Attacks step was not finished.

6 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Tough but inevitable end. I really had hope mid game. I saved eowyns attack ability for city guard but even if I had used it earlier on the kings elite it wouldnt have helped later in the long run against city guard.

Till the next time.

Too bad sorry.

1 minute ago, Alonewolf87 said:

6 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

stage 4. (Total 2 CG 35)

And I also think that since the number of resources on the quest change during the combat phase City Guard should still have attacked you (albeit without a shadow card) since it was not considered engaged and the Enemy Attacks step was not finished.

Darn it, yes you are right. It's considered to be engaged rather than actually engaging. I missed that. Too much going on on the board. So, the quest Freight trained me for sure.

6 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Turn 2

Draws legolas.

Quest with eowyn, hirgon, theoden and eagles of... for 13 wp. Stages patrolling the city treachery. Resolves travel effect of catacombs. Discards we've been seen. Phew! Theat 4 vs 14 wp quested successfully so hirgon responds playing grimbold discounted. 10 progress made. Clears catacombs and stage 1. Reveals stage 2 and chooses to raise threat by 5 to 33.

Refresh. Threat goes up to 34 add 1 resource to stage 2 (total 2 CG 40)

Perhaps here you could have played it a bit more safely by not sending the eagle to the quest and revealed the encounter card if you passed the stage, so that even if it was an enemy you would have had a defender and you would have kept a lower threat.

Talking in general perhaps (besides the awful draws) you rushed a little bit too much in the first 4 turns without building up that would have helped you killing more enemies later on.

If you play on OCTGN and you want someone to assist and talk with you during a game to better spend the time let me know, lately I am basically glued to my PC 😄

7 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Perhaps here you could have played it a bit more safely by not sending the eagle to the quest and revealed the encounter card if you passed the stage, so that even if it was an enemy you would have had a defender and you would have kept a lower threat.

Talking in general perhaps (besides the awful draws) you rushed a little bit too much in the first 4 turns without building up that would have helped you killing more enemies later on.

If you play on OCTGN and you want someone to assist and talk with you during a game to better spend the time let me know, lately I am basically glued to my PC 😄

You're right, and I did think long and hard at that decision, I didnt rush it. My decision though was motivated by two things:

fear of drawing any card but mostly another location due to the fact that on the following stageing I'd draw yet another location (a lot of my games have ended in location lock on this quest due the city guards threat hike and the streets of ulfast that match him), and

fear of the resource engine on the quest which as I just mentioned adds masses of threat but also lowers the engagement of city guard.

The other things that went through my mind at that decision point was:

I was hopeful of getting one of the three gandalfs to lower my threat

that I wasnt generating enough resources (I almost put in a couple copies of horn of gondor) to dump a load of allies.

The allies in the deck were costly and the discount of hirgon requires a successful quest.

So, I over quested thinking to rush each stage with high wp and chump (mikeGracey's advice, which made sense to me) to keep the city guards threat low and engagement cost high by clearing the stages resources. I put more eagles in the deck for their quest power and then to buff up misty eagles for attacking city guard and using chumps to defend obviously. When I first played this deck I was surprised at how much quest power it had, but quickly came to realise that was only the quest power it had. Eagles fit the bill for hirgon and was doing really well but I needed more card draw and more resources.

Looking back i did make a mistake with totalling wp should have been 13 wp and 9 progress not 14 wp and 10 progress.

So, Catacombs ate up 4 and the stage took 1 meaning an over quest of 4 threat (enough for another staged catacombs) but without misty eagles' 2 will power if another catacombs had come out I'd not have cleared the stage.

As it turns out if I had of drawn a card instead of the 5 threat hike I'd have drawn under guard and put out side street. But in another couple of turns I'd still have been overwhelmed by enemies and city guard. This deck was only capable of putting out 1 maybe two allies a turn.

Seriously all that went through my mind at that point. 😃

7 hours ago, Alonewolf87 said:

If you play on OCTGN and you want someone to assist and talk with you during a game to better spend the time let me know, lately I am basically glued to my PC 😄

Edited 7 hours ago by Alonewolf87

Cheers for the offer, unfortunately I dont have a pc or laptop so no octgn. I just use my mobile for most things, (which is why my grammar and caps use is poor on these forums.) If I was at PC I'd take a little more care with it all. 😃

New game

Erestor in Ulfas.

A deck created by Alonewolf87.

This deck looks really exciting putting it together. A strong leadership resource pot of gondor allies brimming with synergy.. Can't beat city of ulfast? Gondor will see it done.

We shall see.

Also this deck contains a few cards I've never yet used.

Set up... Plays Erestor, Leadership Denethor and boromir.

Threat 29

Draws: warden of healing, wealth of gondor, envoy of pelargir, citadel custodian, ancestral armor, herald of anorien.

I'm guessing my mulligan choice depends on how much of this I can play turn 1 due to erestors discard. I think I'll loose the warden and ancestral armour if i dont play them but if i play ancestral then i still loose the warden.

Going to mulligan for steward of gondor.

Draws: faramir, man the walls, heir of mardil, ioreth, citadel custodian, herald of anorien.

The other hand was better. But had better cards to loose.

Set up: adds 2 resource to Denethor. Add crowded market to staging.

Turn 1

Draws: woodmens clearing. Erestor draws: errand-rider, mablung, knight of the white tower. Plays: man the walls, faramir (discounted), Ioreth, errand-rider (moves erestors resource to boromir), herald of anorien ( doomed 2 to play mablung for free) threat now 31. Then play citadel custodian for free (5 gondor allies) and woodmans clearing on crowded market. That leaves just 2 cards that are unplayable; heir of mardil and knight of white tower.

Quest: Erestor, herald of..., mablung for 5 wp. Stages patrolling the streets. Add 1 resource to stage 1 (total 1 CG 40) faramir exhausts +3 wp. 4 threat vs 8 wp. = 4 progress on stage 1.

Refresh: threat now 32. Add 1 resource to stage 1 (total 2 CG 35). Erestor discards 2 cards.

Turn 2

Draws: soldier of gondor, man the walls, veteran of osgiliath, citadel custodian.

Plays man the walls and soldier of gondor (discounted) searches and pulls squire of the citadel (the only ally). plays citadel custodian for free. Plays squire of...

Quest: erestor, herald of..., mablung, x2 citadel custodians for 7 wp. Stages streets of ulfast x =2. Threat 6 vs 7 wp. (Don't need to use faramir here) 1 progress on stage 1 clearing it. Reveals stage 2 and reveal an encounter card: we've been seen: yikes possibly the worst treachery as I have 9 allies in play. I'll take the city guard attack. Squire of.. steps up and defends for 1. Shadow (extra vigil) not good! Attaches to city guard. (CG 25) Kills squire of... and he adds 1 resource to boromir.

Travel to crowded market (CG 55) and stages servant of sauron. ( incidentally I discarded 5 locations, 7 treacheries and 2 side quests before the enemy showed up) servant of sauron engages me immediately.

Engagement: no other engagement.

Combat: Denathor defends for 3. Shadow (patrolling the streets) +0 attack. Boromir and faramir attack and kills servant of sauron.

Refresh: threat now 33. Adds 1 resource to stage 2 (total 1CG 50). Erestor discards 1 card.

Turn 3

Draws: warden of healing, veteran of osgiliath, wealth of gondor, visionary leadership.

Plays wealth of gondor adds 1 resource to boromir, warden of healing, visionary leadership on boromir. Leaving 2 resources on boromir only.

Quest: erestor, herald of.., mablung, citadel custodian x2 for 11 wp. Stages side street. Exhausts farimir. Threat 7 vs 16 wp. = 9 progress (2 on crowded market 7 on stage 2). Explores crowded market. (CG 30). Woodmens clearing reduces threat by 3 now 30.

Travels to streets of ulfast and threat increases by 2 now 32. City guard is considered engaged.

Combat: errand rider defends for 0. Shadow (messenger from Mordor) +1 att. Kills errand-rider. Boromir, soldier of gondor, warden of healing and Denethor attack city guard for 7 att. 3 dam on CG. Raise threat to 33 to remove extra vigil. (CG 40)

Refresh. Threat now 34. Add 1 resource to stage 2 (total 2 CG 35). Erestor discards 1 card.

Turn 4

Draws: gaining strength, citadel custodian, herald of..., warden of healing.

Plays gaining strength on boromir. Plays citadel custodian for free. Plays herald of... (not going to raise threat to play warden of healing (Erestor only has 1 resource))

Quest: Erestor, x2 heralds of..., mablung, and x2 citadel custodians for 13 wp. Stages the kings lawn. Exhaust farimir (otherwise won't clear the active location) + 6 wp. Threat 9 vs 19 wp. Makes 10 progress (5 on streets of ulfast and 5 on stage 2 clearing it CG 45) Reveals stage 3 chooses city guard to attack. Citadel custodian defends for 1. Shadow (catacombs) no shadow. Citadel custodian killed.

Travel to kings lawn adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 1 CG 40).

Refresh: threat now 35. Adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 2 CG 35) Erestor discards 1 card.

Turn 5

Draws: visionary leadership, errand-rider, steward of gondor and wealth of gondor. Plays wealth of gondor on boromir.

Plays steward of gondor on boromir paid by Denethor. Plays errand-rider. Exhaust steward

Quest: Erestor, x2 heralds of.., mablung, citadel custodian for 11 wp. Stages kings elite. Exhausts faramir + 5 wp. Threat 9 vs 16 wp. Making 5 progress clearing active location.

Engagement. Kings elite engages and city guard is considered engaged.

Combat. Citadel custodian defends kings elite ( too risky to use denethor) for 1. shadow (messenger from Mordor) +1 att. (Would have killed Denethor). Kills citadel custodian and adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 3 CG 30). Errand-rider defends city guard for 0. shadow (we've been seen) +1 att and splash damage (!!!) 10 att - 2 hp. Kills errand-rider and 8 damage to be splashed. (Damage- 3 boromir, 3 errestor, 2 faramir) Borromir, denethor, soldier of..., warden of healing att kings elite for 7 killing it. Ioreth spends a resource to heal boromir.

Refresh. Theat now 36. Adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 4 CG 25). Erestor discards 1 card.

Turn 6

Draws: gaining strength, errand-rider, ancestral armor, herald of... Plays gaining strength on boromir. Exhausts steward of... 2 resources on boromir. Plays ancestral armor on Denethor. Herald of..., and errand-rider. Leaves 1 resource left on boromir. Iroeth spends a resource to heal Erestor.

Quest erestor, x3 heralds of.., and mablung for 11 wp. Stages kings elite. Exhausts faramir + 5 wp. Threat 11 vs 16 wp. Makes 5 progress on stage 3.

Engages kings elite.

Combat: Denethor defends for 5. Shadow ( ulchors agent ) +1. So 1 damage on Denethor. Adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 5 CG 20) Errand-rider defends city guard for 0. Shadow (under guard) no active location, no effect. Kills errand-rider. Borromir, warden of.., citadel custodian and soldier of.. all attack kings elite for 7 killing it.

Refresh. Threat now 37. Adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 7 CG 15). No cards to discard.

Turn 7

Draws: squire of the citadel, man the walls, steward of gondor and warden of healing.

Plays man the walls to discount warden of healing. Plays squire of the citadel. Exhaust steward of gondor. Exhaust 1 warden of healing to heal Denethor and faramir.

Quest, Erestor, mablung and x3 heralds of.. and citadel custodian for 13 wp. Stages under guard. No active location so adds guarded archway. Exhaust faramir + 5 wp. Threat 12 vs 18 wp. 6 progress made on stage 3. (Total 11)

No travel.

Combat: City guard attacks. Squire defends for 1. Shadow (ulfast sentry) no shadow. Kills squire adds a resource to boromir. Denethor, boromir, soldier of.., warden of.., attack city guard for 7. 3 damage (total 6)

Refresh threat now 38. Adds 1 resource to stage 3 (total 7 CG 10) discards 1 card.

Turn 8

Draws: wealth of gondor, visionary leadership, woodman clearing and envoy of pelargir. Exhausts steward

Plays woodmens clearing to guarded archway. Plays wealth of gondor on boromir. Plays envoy of pelargir adding the resource back to boromir.

Quest erstor, warden of healing, mablung, x3 heralds, for 13 wp. Stages side street. Exhausts faramir + 5. Threat 16 vs 18 wp 2 progress made on stage 3 (total 13) No travel.

Combat: city guard attacks. Citadel custodian defends for 1. Shadow (ulfast sentry) no shadow. Kills citadel custodian. Boromir, denethor, envoy, warden and soldier of.. attack for 9. 5 damage on city guard. (Total 11)

Refresh. Threat now 39. Add 1 resource to stage 3 (total 8. CG 05). discards 1 card.

Turn 9

Draws: soldier of gondor, angbor the fearless, woodmens clearing and envoy of pelargir. Exhaust steward

Play envoy and add 1 resource back to boromir. Play angbor and soldier of gondor. He searches and pulls soldier of gondor. Play soldier of gondor. He searches and pulls knight of white tower Plays knight of tower all from boromir (now has 2 resources left) Plays woodmens clearing on a side street.

Quest: Erestor, mablung, angbor, x3 heralds, and x2 envoys for 18 wp. Stages kings lawn. Exhausts faramir + 8 wp. Threat 20 vs 26 wp makes 6 progress on stage 3 clearing it. (CG 45) reveals stage 4. Adds ulfast sentry to staging.

Engagement: Ulfast sentry engages. Choose his free attack. Denethor defends for 5 against 1 att. Shadow ( extra vigil) no effect.

Combat: knight of the tower defends ulfast sentry for 3 def. Shadow ( we've been seen) +1 for a 2 att. No damage. Boromir and 3 soldiers kill sentry. (overkill, I know) Warden of healing exhausts to heal faramir. (Bit late but I was keeping warden incase i needed them for other things)

Refresh: threat now 41 (kings lawn). Adds 1 resource to stage 4. (Total 1 CG 40) . Discards no cards.

Turn 10.

Draws: squire of the citadel, gaining strength, steward of gondor, and envoy of pelargir. (1 card left in player deck) Exhaust steward of gondor. 2 resources on boromir.

Plays gaining strength on Erestor. (For healing). Plays squire of .., and envoy of.., adding 1 resource back to boromir.

(So 13 threat + 1 card and at least 1 city guard attack. Can I rush the quest and get all 20 (needing at least 33) done? Counting up and leaving a couple of defenders i can muster 47 wp using visionary leader and faramir)

Quest: Committing erestor, angbor (doesnt exhaust as threat in valour), knight of.., mablung, ×3 soldiers of.., x3 heralds of.. and x3 envoys of.. for 29 wp. Stages ulchors agent. When revealed raises threat to 44. Exhaust faramir + 12 wp. Threat 16 vs 41 wp. 25 progress made on stage 4.

Travel to kings lawn. Adds 1 resource to stage 4 (total 2 CG 35)

Engagement. Ulchors agent engages and city guard is considered engaged.

Combat: Denethor defends ulchors agent for def 5. Shadow (overwhelmed) , choose attacking enemy cannot be damaged rather than a threat 2 increase. No damage on Denethor. Squire of the citadel defends city guard for 1 def. Shadow (kings elite) makes an additional attack. Squire killed and gives 1 resource to boromir . Warden of healing defends second attack from city guard for def 1. Shadow (kings elite) another attack, again! This quest is turning on the screws. Warden killed. 2nd Warden of healing defends third attack from city guard for 1 def. Shadow (kings lawn) no shadow. Warden killed. Boromir and angbor attack for 7. Putting 3 damage on city guard ( total 14)

Refresh. Threat now 45. Adds 1 resource to stage 4 (total 3 CG 30). Discards 1 card.

Turn 11

Draws: faramir. Player deck empty.

Quest: erestor, angbor (valour), mablung, and ×3 heralds of.. for 14 wp. Stages patrolling the streets. Add 1 resource to stage 1 (total 4 CG 25) and choose option for no progress on quest. Threat 13 vs 14 wp. 1 progress on kings lawn. Didn’t need faramir this time.

Combat: Denethor defends ulchors agent for 5 def. Shadow (cat and mouse) no shadow. No damage. Envoy of... defends city guard for 0 def. Shadow (messenger from Mordor) +1. Kills envoy of pelargir. Boromir, faramir, angbor and knight of white tower attack city guard for 12 att. 8 damage so only 6 of it goes on city guard.

25 progress on stage 4 and 20 dmage on city guard.

I win, Gondor saw it done. Wow!

For Gondor! For Gondor! For Gondor!

Really chuffed 🤣

Started the quest 19th February 2020. Completed it 3rd April 2020.

What a journey.

Thanks everyone. And big huge thanks to Alonewolf87 who made sure I was not alone.

The deck you created flowed like a dream. It was dead simple and was designed to do one thing... dump 30 gondor allies on the table. Buff up their attack with boromir and buff up their quest with visionary leadership. Everything else was resource gen and healing.

No gandalfs, no unexpected courages, no magical rings.

I'm really surprised it was leadership that came through, I was convince the winning deck was going to be questing spirit and beregond.

I am over the moon. I could actually cry I'm so elated, and that is where the designers want us. It feels like I just walked through Mordor and chucked the ring into the volcano.

I think I'm going to set up a thread right off the bat for the challenge of the Wainriders as I've enjoyed this threat so much and other people can join in. No Idea yet what is in store for me there.

I'm going to have a few nights off before starting the next quest as I've hammered this over the last couple of weeks.

45 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

I am over the moon. I could actually cry I'm so elated, and that is where the designers want us. It feels like I just walked through Mordor and chucked the ring into the volcano.

I get it, some hard won victories can give you an unparalleled burst of happiness. I still remember my first win against Mount Doom 😄

45 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

The deck you created flowed like a dream. It was dead simple and was designed to do one thing... dump 30 gondor allies on the table. Buff up their attack with boromir and buff up their quest with visionary leadership. Everything else was resource gen and healing.

No gandalfs, no unexpected courages, no magical rings.

I'm really surprised it was leadership that came through, I was convince the winning deck was going to be questing spirit and beregond.

I am glad it worked out, in retrospect is probably a good play style against this quest: fast willpower and attack together as an all-in style. The only tweak I made on my usual Gondor - Erestor deck was the inclusion of the Woodman clearing since this quest cares a bit about threat (both as increases and with the quest resource mechanic). Sure including Erestor in a Gondor deck might be a little bit unthematic, but it really fixes the usual leadership sward deck main weakness in card draw (and Leadership resource generation and Gondor allies usual low cost goes quite well with Erestor decks weakness in having difficulties playing all the cards it draws).

Against City Guard I guess chump-blocking is quite the effective strategy (you can think about it as drawing the guards attention somewhere else with a distraction) since to build up an uber-defender who can stand against it you have to put out some effort which you don't have lot of time to accomplish.