I've put the deck together, read the story and race rules but I've not yet examined the encounter cards and quest stages. I'm going to play my first game blind.

I'm tempted just to use the deck that I beat City of Ulfast with, which was a Gondor leadership rush and chump deck. I almost always go to the next quest playing with winning deck of the previous quest but it rarely works for me. The designers have often said they don't want players to do that and create quests that use different mechanics to stop a deck dead in its tracks forcing you to create a new deck.

So I'm just going to use the next deck i had lined up for City Of Ulfast which was Seanstans Dale Force deck and see how it goes and what this quest is all about.

Difficulty 5 this one...

So, what are your thoughts on beating this quest? How was it for you, low points high points? What deck won and is it easier or harder than a 5?

I'll post my game here when I've played it through.

Stay safe everybody.

This quest wasn't overly difficult but beat us more than we expected, generally through bad luck in terms of race tests. I find that they usually make the more gimmicky quests a bit easier but this one was fairly challenging for being one of those kinds of quests, I could still easily see a lot of seasoned players beating it on their first attempt since all of our attempts were at least close, and one was lost simply by bad flips causing us to fail the final stage which cancels your progress and doesn't let you advance. Fun quest though!

2 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

I'm tempted just to use the deck that I beat City of Ulfast with, which was a Gondor leadership rush and chump deck. I almost always go to the next quest playing with winning deck of the previous quest but it rarely works for me. The designers have often said they don't want players to do that and create quests that use different mechanics to stop a deck dead in its tracks forcing you to create a new deck.

The high number of characters of the Gondor deck might actually be useful in that quest, but a Dale Deck might be good too.

New game with Dale Force Wins deck by Seanstan. See rings DB

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/12498/daleforcewins-1.0

Set up.

Place heroes: Brand son of Bard, Cirdain the Shipwright and Beregond. Threat 32

Draws: spare hood and cloak, Narya x2, king of dale, a test of will x2. (No mulligan )

Quest set up. Put Wainrider champion into staging. No location added as solo game.

Turn 1

Draws: long lake trader and a test of will (discarded).

Planning: play king of dale and spare hood and cloak on brand. Exhausts king of dale to play long lake trader for free.

I'm not sure weather I need to be a quest ahead of the Wainriders in order to avoid an attack and threat from the chieftain or let them go one quest ahead and then over take near the end. I'm going to go slow first and defend the wainrider so I can get my esgoroths set up.

Quest: commit with Cirdain and long lake trader for 5. Stage rocky outcrop. (Oh dear, looks bad- no readying of Beregond. It's why I didn't quest with dale, he has the spare hood and cloak.) Threst 5 vs 5 WP; no progress made. 2 damage to stage 1.

Travel to rocky outcrop and exhaust brand.

Combat: Beregond defends wainrider champion for 4. Shadow (painful fatigue) no effect. Att 4 defended. 0 damage. Beregond responds and reduces threat to 31.

Refresh: threat 32.

Turn 2

Draws: sneak attack and gandalf (discarded) (can't believe I'm discarding Gandalf but I think sneak attack is more important for the next Gandalf.)

Planning: plays narya on Cirdain (using brands resources).

Quest: commit Cirdain, brand and long lake trader for 8. Stages rolling plains. 6 threat vs 8 WP. 2 progress on rocky outcrop. 2 damage on stage 1 (total 4 Wainriders advance to stage 2).

(Do I now remove the damage? Nothing about that on any if the cards or rules. Does that mean the Wainriders will rush through on the second circuit?)

Refresh: threat 33.

Turn 3

Draws: wow... gandalf (discarded) and sneak attack. Blast you Cirdain. (Hopefully I still made the right choice here.)

Quest: commit Cirdain, brand and long lake trader for 8. Stages rolling plains. 10 threat vs 8 wp. Threat 35. 2 damage on stage 2.

Refresh: threat 36.

Turn 4

Draws: light of valinor( discard) and long lake fisherman.

Planning: exhaust king of dale to play long lake fisherman for free. Choose #2. Taking the only match- long lake fisherman. Play long lake fisherman. Choose #2. Take the only match (again) long lake fisherman. Play long lake fisherman. Choose #2. (A few targets this time but one was guardian of esgaroth which I grabbed.) Play guardian of esgaroth. (Only 2 resources left, both on cirdain). Exhaust long lake trader to move spare hood to guardian of esgaroth.

Quest: cirdain, brand, guardian of.., and ×3 L.L Fishermen. 13WP. Stages crowded track (8 threat.. seriously?) Threat 14 vs 13 WP. Threat 37. 2 damage on stage 2 (total 4. Wainriders advance to stage 3) meanwhile the heroes are stuck in a rocky outcrop.

Refresh: threat 38

Turn 5

Draw: steward of gondor and guardian of esgaroth (discard)

Planning: plays steward of gondor on Cirdain. Paid by brand and Cirdain. Exhaust steward and add 2 resource.

Quest: everyone bar Beregond for 14WP. Stages rocky outcrop. 17 threat vs 14 WP. Threat now 41. Add 2 damage to stage 3.

Refresh: threat 42

Turn 6

Draws: spare hood and cloak (discard) and hauberk of mail. Exhaust steward.

Planning: plays hauberk on guardian.

Quest: all in bar Beregond for 15WP. Stages the champions cunning treachery. A test of will cancels it otherwise it would move the wainrider to stage 4. Threat 17 vs 15 WP. Threat now 44. Add 2 damage to stage 3. Wainriders move to stage 4.

Refresh: threat now 45.

Turn 7

Draws: hauberk of mail and king of dale (discard) exhaust steward

Planning: plays hauberk of mail on a fisherman.

Quest: all in bar Beregond for 16WP. Stages chariot driver. Add 3 damage to stage 4. Threat 20 vs 16WP. Threat now 49. Add 5 damage to stage 4. Wainriders move to stage 5 with 4 damage. Wainriders move to stage 6.

Engagement: chariot driver.

Combat: Beregond defends for 4. Shadow (an arduous journey) no shadow. Beregond takes 1 damage

Refresh: threat now 50.

Just as the Wainriders are about to lap me.

Game over.

Very interesting mechanic. The locations are brutal. At least the ones that came out for me. Wondering now if I should have kept that second Gandalf or maybe quested with brand on the first turn to try and get ahead of the Wainriders. Perhaps I should have mulligan'd for some allies.

My ideal playthrough goes like this: Champion gets ahead of me on turn 1, turning off some of the nastier effects in the encounter deck. Then build up your board state while staying back 1 card behind Champion until you have a huge willpower force. Then quest like mad and, in one quest phase, get a quest card or two ahead of the Champion (but be prepared to win extra racing tests or this won’t work). Sprint ahead to the finish.

I pulled off some level of this with a hobbit only Fellowship deck and a Dunedain-ish Three Hunters deck. Was a very close game though. I think it took me two tries with those decks (2-handed play).

Before that I tried an Erestor Gondor swarm deck but failed to get traction quickly enough. And that deck relies on large numbers of smaller characters, whose stats are not super high. Makes it harder to win racing tests.

Having a character who can flexibly add to another character’s stats is really useful for racing tests. Cards like Rosie Cotton, Kahliel’s Tribesman, or Tale of Tinuviel can do this.

Thanks Grandspleen, I had a feeling I should let them go ahead early and then overtake them. Otherwise I'd probably be facing a combat from the champion every turn.

Crowded track came up. I guess they put that in incase people brought a swarm deck. I'm thinking i need some location removal and thematically, that would be asfalas and steeds of imladris. Playing under elven starlight would help too. Having three northern trackers would add to crowded tracks threat hike but the steeds wouldn't.

What did you do about the damage tokens? I couldn't find anything that tells you to remove them. I guess once the Wainriders defeat a stage they are removed just like it says to do with the challengers progress, but it wasn't directly clear. I haven't looked at all the encounter cards so I'm not sure if there is something on one of them that clears it.

12 hours ago, GrandSpleen said:

And that deck relies on large numbers of smaller characters, whose stats are not super high. Makes it harder to win racing tests.

That is true, even though usually you have at least one character with 3 in a stat to send to a test (Boromir for attack, Denethor for defense especially with an Ancestral Armor, Knight of the White Tower for some good all around stats, and Faramir ally might help to bring the Willpower up) and having lots of characters means having less of a problem keeping someone back from the quest. My first game and victory though come from a Three Hunters Arwen Elrohir Elladan so also the tower strategy is definitely a good approach.

5 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Thanks Grandspleen, I had a feeling I should let them go ahead early and then overtake them. Otherwise I'd probably be facing a combat from the champion every turn.

Yeah usually the "let the Champion start to go ahead and catch him later" is a good approach

21 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

So, what are your thoughts on beating this quest? How was it for you, low points high points? What deck won and is it easier or harder than a 5?

I actually enjoyed, I quite like the quests where you race in parallel against the encounter deck (like Flight of the Stormcaller or Race Across Harad)

1 hour ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Yeah usually the "let the Champion start to go ahead and catch him later" is a good approach

Bingo, if you give the lead, build up, then sequence some big quest turns, taking care to avoid failing the tests that hurt you too much, and specifically the 6th stage.

I personally found the main ones that we needed to be sure to succeed were the damage to each character and of course the final stage.

8 hours ago, programdude said:

Bingo, if you give the lead, build up, then sequence some big quest turns, taking care to avoid failing the tests that hurt you too much, and specifically the 6th stage.

I personally found the main ones that we needed to be sure to succeed were the damage to each character and of course the final stage.

If your running 3 hunters the damage on each character and the discard an ally are basically whiffs

5 hours ago, MikeGracey said:

If your running 3 hunters the damage on each character and the discard an ally are basically whiffs

True, three hunters can certainly nearly trivialize certain parts of it.

On 4/6/2020 at 7:45 AM, asgardianphil said:

What did you do about the damage tokens? I couldn't find anything that tells you to remove them. I guess once the Wainriders defeat a stage they are removed just like it says to do with the challengers progress, but it wasn't directly clear. I haven't looked at all the encounter cards so I'm not sure if there is something on one of them that clears it. Th

Thanks mate. They would seem to complete the second loop automatically without the damage being removed which is why I asked about it. Still, for all we know it might have been the damage is assigned to characters or worse added to your threat. 😂

I've found a deck on Rings DB I fancied trying against this quest.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/14244/thegreywanderer-1.0

Game #2

Set up.

Put into play Gandalf hero and the Grey Wander contract.

Draw hand of cards: Gandalf's Staff, Treebeard ×2, flame of arnor, the galhadrims greeting and eagles of the misty mountains.

Mulligan looking for resourceful. So, after a good shuffle, draws: treebeard ×2, flame of arnor, Galadriel, resourceful and narya.

Top card is landroval

Setup actions. Add wainrider champion to the staging area. Search player deck and put strider into play. Flip contract shuffles deck.

Top card unexpected courage.

Turn 1

Draws: unexpected courage. Top card is resourceful.

Planning: exhausts contract to add 2 resources, threat now 15. Play resourceful from hand and deck. Top card is Vassal of the windlord.

Quest: Gandalf for 5wp. Stages wainrider chariot. No target so discards. Surge into easterling horse. Attaches to wainrider champion. (He now has 4 threat... is the end of the game already? ) 4 threat vs 5 wp. 1 progress made on stage 1. The Wainriders add 4 damage to stage 1 and move to stage 2.

Refresh. Threat now 16.

Turn 2

Draws: Vassal of the windlord. Top card is landroval.

Planning: exhaust contract to add 2 resources. Threat 17. Play Treebeard exhausted and narya.

Quest: Gandalf for 5. Stages an arduous journey side quest. No immediate effect. Threat 4 vs 5 wp. 1 progress made on stage 1. Add 4 damage to stage 2. Wainriders move to stage 3.

Refresh: threat 18.

Turn 3.

Draws: landroval. Top card is Gandalf's staff.

Planning: exhaust contract to add 2 resources. Threat 19. Play unexpected courage. Play Gandalf's staff. Top card wellinghall preserver.

Quest: gandalf and Treebeard for 7wp. Stages aggressive racer. 5 threat vs 7wp makes 2 progress on stage 1. Forced- gandalf tests defence, gets 1 straight. Challengers advance to stage 2. Wainriders add 5 damage and advance to stage 4 with 1 damage. Ready gandalf with Unexpected courage.

Engagement: aggressive racer engages.

Combat: archery1 on Gandalf. Exhaust gandalf and narya to ready Treebeard. Use gandalfs staff to discard the shadow card. Treebeard defends for 4 vs a 4 att. No damage.

Refresh: threat 20

Turn 4

Draws: wellinghall preserver. Top card word of command. Plays wellinghall preserver and Pay 2 from Treebeard to ready wellinghall preserver.

Exhausts Gandalfs staff to draw word of command. Top card is wizards pipe. Play wizards pipe. Top card is Galadhrims greeting.

Quest: Gandalf, treebeard and wellinghall preserver. For 10wp. Stages rocky outcrop. 7 threat vs 10 wp. 3 progress made. Wainriders add 4 damage to stage 4 and advances to stage 5 taking 1 damage with it.

Travel: to rocky outcrop and exhausts gandalf. Exhausts contract to ready Gandalf and add 2 resources. Threat 21.

Combat: archery 1 on Treebeard. Exhausts narya and Gandalf to ready Treebeard and wellinghall preserver. Treebeard heals. Wellinghall defends for 3. Shadow (the champions cunning) +1. 2 damage on wellinghall. Phew. Almost thought I should have defended with Treebeard.

Treebeard attacks the aggressive racer for 5 and defeats it.

Refresh: threat 22. Heal 1 damage from wellinghall preserver.

Turn 5

Draws: the galhadrims greeting. Top card is wandering ent.

Planning: plays wandering ent. Top card is wellinghall preserver. Plays Galadriel from hand. (No viable targets. Only attachments were resourceful and support of the eagles; the first cost over 3 and the second needed a tactics hero to attach to. ). Top card wellinghall preserver after Galadriel reorders them.

Quest all in bar the exhausted wandering ent for 13 wp. Stages chariot driver. Choose the attack and Gandalf defends. For 3. Exhaust gandalfs staff to discard the shadow card. 2 damage on Gandalf. Exhausts contract to ready Gandalf and heal the 3 damage on him. Threat 23. So staging threat is 7 vs 13 wp. 6 progress clears the rocky outcrop and puts 3 on stage 2. Exhaust Gandalf to test fight. Draws 3 cards and finds 1 straight. The challengers advance to stage 3 carrying 2 progress over. Add 4 damage to stage 5. Wainriders advance to stage 6 carrying 1 damage with them.

Ready Gandalf with unexpected courage.

Engagement: chariot drivers.

Combat: Exhaust narya and Gandalf to ready Treebeard and Galadriel.

Galadriel defends the chariot driver for 0. Shadow (veteran wainrider) +2 att for 7. Defeats Galadriel. Treebeard attacks for 5. 4 damage on veteran driver.

Refresh: threat 24. Heal 1 damage from wellinghall preserver.

Turn 6

Draws: wellinghall preserver. Top card wandering ent.

Planning: play wellinghall preserver and Treebeard readies it.

Quest: gandalf, treebeard, wandering ent, and x2 wellinghall preservers for 15 wp. Stages crowded track (threat 5) threat 9 vs 15wp. 6 progress made (total 8). Gandalf exhausts to test will power 5(strider attached). Draws 2 turns but only needed one. Advances to stage 4 taking 4 progress.

(Is there an action window before I have to do the next forced effect on stage 4? I think there is so I'll treat it like there is one)

Exhaust contract to ready Gandalf and add 2 resources. Threat 25.

Exhaust Gandalf to test defence 3. Need 2 straights... nope. Only got 1. (So I still advance? It took a few re reads of the rules sheet and I reckon I still advance put with the penalty for not passing the test. ) draw one encounter card...aggressive racer. And as the Wainriders are ahead then it gains surge... chariot drivers. Choose the attack. Deals shadow. Gandalf readies with unexpected courage. Gandalf's staff discards the shadow card. Gandalf defends for 3 vs 5 att and takes 2 damage. Wainriders add 8 damage to stage 6 (total 9). The Wainriders advance from stage 6 to stage 2 carrying 1 damage to there.

Engagement: engages chariot driver leaving aggressive racer in staging. Plays flame of arnor to ready Gandalf discarding wandering ent. Top card is support of the eagles.

Combat: archery 1 on wandering ent. exhausts Gandalf and narya to ready Treebeard and wandering ent. Wandering ent defends one chariot driver for 3, shadow (veteran Wainrider) +2. wandering ent is killed. Tree beard defends the other chariot driver for 4 def. Shadow (the champions cunning) +1 att. Treebeard takes 2 damage.

Refresh: threat 26. Treebeard heals 2 damage.

Turn 7

Draws: support of the eagles. Top card is resourceful.

Planning: exhaust Gandalf and plays word of command to search for shadowfax. Top card is radagast. Plays shadowfax and exhaust him to ready Gandalf.

Quest: commit gandalf, Treebeard, and 2 wellinghall preservers for 13wp. Stages rolling plains.13 threat vs 13 wp. No progress made. Adds 5 damage to stage 2. Wainriders advance to stage 3 taking 2 damage with them .

Travel: to the rolling plains. Threat 28.

Engagement: aggressive racers engage.

Combat: archery 1 on Gandalf (total 3)

Exhaust Gandalf and narya to ready Treebeard and wellinghall preserver.

Exhaust contract to ready Gandalf and heal 3 damage. Threat 29. Exhaust staff to remove shadow card from aggressive racer.

Wellinghall preserver defends aggressive racer for 3. Takes 1 damage

Treebeard defends a chariot driver for 4 def. Shadow (narrow pass)no shadow. 1 damage on Treebeard.

Gandalf defends the other chariot driver. Shadow (narrow pass again) no shadow. Gandalf takes 2 damage.

Unexpected courage readies Gandalf who attacks the already damaged chariot driver for 3 att and kills it.

Refresh: threat 30. Wellinghall and Treebeard heal 1 damage each.

Turn 8

Draws: radagast. Top card eagles of the misty mountain.

Planning: exhaust contract to heal 2 damage and add 2 resources to Gandalf. Threat 31.

Plays radagast.

Quest: quest all in for 15wp. Stages painful fatigue. Target gandalf. Ehaust him and deals 1 damage. Uses shadowfax to ready Gandalf. 9 threat vs 15 wp. 6 progress made. Clears rolling plains and adds 2 progress on stage 5. Add 4 damage to stage 3. Wainriders advance to stage 4 taking 2 damage with them.

Combat: archery 1 to Treebeard. Exhaust narya and Gandalf to ready tree beard and wellinghall preserve. Treebeard heals 1 damage. Ready Gandalf with unexpected courage. Exhaust staff to discard shadow card from aggressive racer.

Wellinghall preserver defends aggressive racer for 3 def. No shadow card. Takes 1 damage. Treebeard defends chariot driver for 4 def. Shadow (painful fatigue) exhaust Gandalf. 1 damage on Treebeard. Spend 2 resources to ready Treebeard who then attacks the aggressive racer for 5 att killing it

Refresh: threat 32. Heal 1 damage from Treebeard and wellinghall preserver.

Turn 9

Draws: eagles of the misty mountains. Top card is eagles of the misty mountains.

Planning: nothing.

Quest: all in for 15 wp. Stages the champions cunning. Wainrider champion attacks. Gandalf defends for 3. Shadow (narrow pass) no shadow, and last card in the encounter deck. 1 damage on Gandalf. Shadowfax readies Gandalf. Threat 9 vs 15 wp. 6 progress made. Gandalf tests wp of 5. Got a straight and advanced to stage 6 with 4 progress carried over. Exhausts contract to ready Gandalf and heal 2 damage. Threat 33. Gandalf makes racing test again using fight of 3. Get 1 turn so not enough. Penalty is I don't advance and remain at stage 6. Add 4 damage to stage 4. Wainriders advance to stage 5 with 2 damage.

So I've got 6 stages yet to advance and the Wainriders will win on the next turn so this game is done.

Enjoyed the deck and the quest but the turn 1 treachery sealed this games fate.

13 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

So I still advance? It took a few re reads of the rules sheet and I reckon I still advance put with the penalty for not passing the test.

Yes, except for stage 6 which instructs differently, even if you fail the racing test you still progress stage (but you don't place any excess progress) and you are hit by the penalty. If the penaly is not too bad for you board state (Stage 2 for a Silvan deck with Silvan Tracker out, Stage 3 for an ally swarm deck) and you don't have or need the progress tokens carried over to the next stage you can basically decide to fail the test by sending some weak character to the test in order to preserve more useful actions.

This is a quest which generally rewards high willpower and a bit of turtling in the first stage (but not too much).

13 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

aggressive racer. And as the Wainriders are ahead then it gains surge

I think the aggressive racer gains surge when The Challengers are ahead of the Wainriders.

13 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

Surge into easterling horse. Attaches to wainrider champion. (He now has 4 threat... is the end of the game already? )

Yeah Easterling Horse on Wainrider Champion is one of the worst combo of this quest, especially in solo

Just a thought on the deck. I really enjoyed playing the deck but felt it should have focused to either ents or eagles not both. Support for the eagles was problematic in that it could only be played from to top of the deck using Gandalf's ability as it has an attachment condition to it. Wizard Pipe helps set that up but it's a bit long winded for a deck that's partially devoted to eagles. I'd be in favour of going full-on eagle and radagast with it.

I picked the deck, mainly due to the effect of crowded track, in that it offered few characters with higher will power and trying to keep to the strider limit. I think the eagles entering and leaving play could do alright though. In my game the ents were 'rushing' about drying to win a hasty race. 🤣

Game #3.

This time I've picked a deck based on Glorfindel and Radagast. For some reason I really fancied putting those two heroes together. I stated building my deck but was taking too long as I started meandering off course so I searched for those two heroes and found one deck. This one.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/12362/awizardisneverlate-1.0

Here goes...

Setup: place heroes: Radagast, Háma, Glorfindel (LORE)

Threat 32

Draw 1st opening hand: Gwaihir, Gandalf's Search, Decendent of Throrondir, Loyal Companion, Meneldor, and Flame of Arnor.

Mulligan for staff and pipe.

Draw 2nd opening hand: Gandalf, Flame of Arnor, A Burning Brand, Word of Command, Leather Boots, Gwaihir.

Put Wainrider Champion into staging area.

Turn 1

Draw: Melendor.

Planning: play Word of Command to search for Radagast's Staff. Play Radagast's Staff on Radagast.

Quest: commit Glorfindel and Háma for 5 WP. Stages- Aggressive Racer.

3 threat vs 5 WP = 2 progress on stage 1.

Forced: add 3 damage to stage 1.

Engagement: Aggressive Racer engages, and Wainrider Champion is considered engaged. Archery 1: 1 damage to Radagast.

Combat: undefended Wainrider Champion attack (shadow is Painful Fatigue) returns attacker to staging so no effect. 4 damage on Háma killing him. Undefended Aggressive Racer attack. (Shadow is Rolling Plains) so no effect. 4 damage on Glorfindel.

Refresh: threat now 33.

Turn 2

Draws: Descendant of Throrondor.

Pay 1 reduce to heal Glorfindel. Use Radagast's Staff to play Melendor.

Quest: Radagast only for 2 WP. Stages- Rocky Outcrop.

Threat 5 vs 2 WP. Threat dial now 36.

Forced: add 2 damage to stage 1. The Wainriders move to stage 2 with 1 damage.

Travel: nope. Can't afford the cost.

Combat: Archery 1 on Melendor. Melendor defends attack from Aggressive Racer for 1 def. (Shadow is another Aggressive Racer) no effect. Melendor dies and puts 2 progress on Rocky Outcrop. Glorfindel and Radagast kill the Aggressive Racer.

Refresh: threat now 37.

Turn 3

Draws: Flight Of The Eagles (now usless)

Planning: pay 1 resource to heal Glorfindel.

Quest: commit Glorfindel for 3WP. Stages- Chariot Driver. WR- places 3 damage on stage 2. Wainriders gallop to stage 3.

Threat 5 vs 3 WP. Threat dial now 39.

Forced: add 5 damage to stage 3 so Wainriders move to stage 4 carrying 1 damage over.

Engagement: Chariot Driver engages.

Combat: Radagast defends Chariot Driver for 3 def. (Shadow is Rolling Plains) so no effect. 2 damage on Radagast.

Refresh: threat now 40

Turn 4

Draws: Loyal Hound.

Planning: pay 1 resource to heal Radagast. Use Radagast's Staff to play Loyal Hound.

Quest: commit Radagast for 2WP. Stages Ravine Ledge.

Threat 9 vs 2 WP. Threat dial now 47.

Forced: add 2 damage to stage 4.

Combat: Loyal Hound defends Chariot Driver for 0. (Shadow is Crowded Track) no effect. Loyal Hound killed. Glorfindel and Radagast attack for 4 damage, (needs 6 to kill)

Refresh: threat now 48.

Turn 5

Draws: Asfaloth.

Planning: uses Radagast's Staff to play Gwaihir; he brings in Melendor from the discard pile. Melendor clears the Rocky Outcrop. Pay 1 resource to heal Radagast.

Quest: Radagast, and Glorfindel commits for 5WP. Stages Veteran Wainrider.

Threat 8 vs 5 WP. Threat dial now 51.

Game over.

Another loss. I know that wasn't the best deck to beat the quest and I picked the deck out of a sense of fun and just playing. However it was another first card revealed defeat that happens so often which poses the question again can fun thematic decks beat even a challenge 5 quest without any optimisation against the particular cards and mechanics that make up the quest... probably not.

So I'm going to create my own deck next in a serious attempt to beat the quest.

Thematic is no longer a synonym for weak or unoptimized in LotR LCG; in 2-handed play I beat the quest with two decks that are thematic without any concessions but still pretty strong. Compared to the deck you’ve got above, which is not all that thematic (Hama...?). You can do this quest with a thematic deck!

Yeah, I think Háma was in there purely to recur Gwaihir's Debt, so not too thematic but I get his inclusion. The game is modelled on a 2-player set up and playing true solo is probably going to cause some headaches for some quests, strategy and deck building.

Also, I didn't have the best starting hands. I know some people play this game by constant mulliganing untill they get some of the cards they need. (Like Radagast's Staff in a Radagast deck) but I didn't want to do that on these quests. Sort of a scoop before getting going. I have done that too in the past, as it saves time in failing quests. For these threads I wanted to use average decks that people claim beat quests, perform amazingly etc, but play by the 1 mulligan rule and only scoop if the situation is hopeless, or at least try to take the game to it's natural conclusion ie.. threat 50 or heroes dying.

In my City of Ulfast challenge someone wrote; no wonder you lost you played/picked a deck for fun. So, thematic decks are playable and win but when they loose.. peopel say no wonder you lost. 😂

A good starting hand and first staged card are so important to sucess too and I seem to be a bit down on my luck with that lately too.

I'm working on my deck now. I'll be back on soon hopefully. I'm thinking: quest and location clearing to get the job done. These locations are particularly nasty in this quest. That's my angle.

👋 back soon.

3 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

the question again can fun thematic decks beat even a challenge 5 quest

Nowadays with a full card pool that is most definitely true (even though there is always some subjectivity around the "fun" and "thematic" part), you can build thematic decks (which can still be quite optimized) and win against a majority of the quests. Little piece of advice (you might already know this but still), don't take the printed difficulty rating of the quests as accurate, they are often all over the place. Also this cycle is probably the hardest one of the game (it's the last one after all) so hardships are expected even in the "easier" quests.

Game #4.

This is why I don't build decks. I get carried away by all the choices. And end up with nothing that i wanted to include. 🤣

A 53 card deck.

Place starting heroes: Galadriel, Glorfindel (spirit) and Idraen.

Threat 25.

1st opening hand: Blood of Númenor, Elrond's Council x2, Arwen Undómiel, Will of The West and Gandalf.

No mirror, or Nenya, but otherwise a solid hand for buffing Idraen's defense. As I'm facing a 4 attack turn 1 I'm keeping this.

Setup: search and put The One Ring on Idraen. Search and take Inner Strength.

Put Wainrider Champion into staging.

Turn 1.

Draws: Northern Tracker.

Planning: exhaust Galadriel; threat now 24; draws Galadriel's Handmaiden. Play Inner Strength and Blood of Númenor on Idraen. Play Arwen Undómiel.

Quest: Arwen commits 2 WP. Play x2 Elrond's Council. +2 WP and threat now 18. Stages Agressive Racer.

Threat 3 vs 4. = 1 progress on stage 1.

Forced: add 3 damage to stage 1.

Engagement: optional. Agressive Racer engages and Wainrider Champion is considered engaged.

Combat: Arwen takes the 1 damage from Archery. Choose to defend the Agressive Racers first with Arwen so that I'll not have to defend the Wainrider Champion. Arwen exhausts to defend buffing Idraen's defence. (Shadow- Rolling Plains; no effect.) Kills Arwen so 2 damage on stage 1. Wainriders move to stage 2 taking 1 damage with them. So Wainriders Champion loses engagement now.

Glorfindel and Idraen attack Agressive Racer for 6. Killing it.

Refresh: threat now 19.

Turn 2

Draws: Silver Harp.

Planning: exhaust Galadriel. Threat now 18. Draws Children of The Sea. Play Galadriel's Handmaiden. Threat now 17. (Keep a resource on Idraen).

Quest: Glorfindel. Threat now 18. And Galadriel's Handmaiden for 5WP. Stages Rider of Rhûn. Searches encounter deck for an Easterling Horse attachment.

6 Threat vs 5 WP. Threat dial 19.

Forced. 6 damage on stage 2. Wainriders advance to stage 3 carrying over 2 damage.

Combat: 2 archery on Galadriel.

Refresh: threat 20.

Turn 3

Draws Asfaloth.

Planning: exhaust Galadriel. Threat 19. Draws Miruvor. Plays Northern Tracker.

Quest: Northern Tracker and Galadriel's Handmaiden for 3 WP. Plays Children of The Sea on Handmaiden now 5 WP. Stages An Arduous Journey.

6 Threat vs 5WP. Threat dial now 20.

Forced. Add 6 damage to stage 3. Wainriders advance to stage 4 carrying 4 damage so again advance to stage 5.

Galadriel's Handmaiden gets shuffled into the player deck.

Engagement: optional engagement. Rider of Rhún engages.

Combat: Archery 2 on Glorfindel. Idraen defends for 3 def. (Shadow- Veteran Wainrider, no effect as challengers not ahead.) She takes 2 damage. Glorfindel and Northern Tracker attack for 3 damage. (Needs 5)

Refresh: ready 4 characters. Threat now 21.

Turn 4.

Draws Valiant Determination.

Planning: exhaust Galadriel. Threat 20. Draws Light of Valinor. Play Light of Valinor on Glorfindel.

(I realise I'm going to loose either Glorfindel or Idraen to the rider so I need to defend with the Tracker. I'll save 2 resources for Gandalf next turn).

Quest: Glorfindel for 3 WP. (If I quest with Idraen I just know I'll get another enemy, but if I don't it'll be a location. This game really hates me 🥺 ). Stages ha ha neither. It's The Champions Cunning treachery. No attack is made so add 2 damage to stage 5.

Threat 2 vs 3WP. 1 progress on stage 1.

Forced: adds 2 damage to stage 5. Wainriders advance to stage 6.

Combat: Archery 2 to Northern Tracker. He also defends the Rider for 2 def. (Shadow- Chariot Driver, if kills a character then it returns to staging. ) kills Tracker then legs it to staging so it can't be killed. Perfect combo at this point in time.

Refresh: ready 1 character. Threat now 21.

Turn 5

Draws Gandalf.

Planning: exhaust Galadriel. Threat 20. Draws nenya. Plays Gandalf. Kills Rider of Rhún.

Quest: Gandalf Idraen and Glorfindel for 9 WP. Stages Painful Fatigue treachery. Exhaust Glorfindel and deals him 1 damage.

2 threat vs 9 WP. 7 progress made.

Exhaust Gandalf for racing test. 4 cards... getting 3 straights. Advances to stage 2 carrying over 5 progress. Advances to stage 3 but fails test as no one left to exhaust. Deals one damage to everyone. Each hero now 1 away from defeat.

Forced: add 2 damage to stage 6.

Refresh: readies 4 characters. Threat now 21. Discard Gandalf.

Turn 6.

Draws Mirror of Galadriel.

Planning: plays Nenya on Galadriel.

Quest: commit Glorfindel and Galadriel uses Nenya to aid him. For 7 wp. Stages Rolling Plains.

Threat 6 vs 7 WP. 1 progress made on stage 3.

Forced: add 2 damage to stage 6. Wainriders advance to stage 1.

Travel: to Rolling Plains. Threat now 23.

Refresh: Readies 1 character. Threat 24.

Turn 7

Draws Nenya.

Planning: plays Mirror of Galadriel and Silver Harp on Galadriel. Play Asfaloth on Glorfindel using Galadriel's resources. Use mirror and Harp to fetch unexpected courage.

Quest: all in for 9 WP. Stages Painful Fatigue. Kills Glorfindel. And painful it was.

Scoop! 🙈 as loosing him is the end of the deck really.

Got me. I had 2 wardens of healing in there too. I'll tweak and replay.

Onwards! Excelsior