Dear players,

new Encounter set is ready to read. Spiders and exhaustion will be the main theme of Spiders of Mirkwood.

Click here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2020/04/14/encounter-set-review-spiders-of-the-mirkwood/

Sit down and make comfort yourself. And don't forget to share your own experiences with this Encounter set.:)

Silblade

Hummerhorns is the enemy I like least. Don't get me wrong, Ungoliant's Spawn has an obnoxious when revealed effect, a low (for his strength) engagement cost and is definitely the boss enemy of the set. But once engaged he can be chumped with impunity, 5 attack can be manageable with strong hero defense, and with only two defense can be whittled down more easily than other bosses. Meanwhile the Hummerhorns lie in wait until 40 threat, when they suddenly read "destroy a hero". I *hate* destroying heroes.

Under the "Goblin card", it says of Great Forest Web "traveling there would induce only very stupid Players. Who would voluntarily choose the location, which exhausts one hero of each Player?". That's an easy question to answer -- anyone who has a hero available to exhaust. This isn't uncommon, especially in one-deck play -- a combat-focused hero needs to stay ready in case an enemy comes out, and if Great Forest Web comes out instead the travel cost is painless. It's true that "only very stupid players" would travel there when they can't afford to exhaust a hero, but that doesn't mean they won't get there eventually.

The travel effect of Mountains of Mirkwood is way more obnoxious (reveal a card), but this sentance was odd: "Moreover, the added card will increase the overall Threat Strength in the staging area". Since you're getting Mountains of Mirkwood and its three threat out of the staging area by traveling, it's likely that threat will be going *down* -- in this particular encounter set there is only one card with 3+ threat, and I don't believe any of the quests it is in have a higher proportion of 3+ threat than they do 1-or-less. In addition, there are a fair number of cards that are better to reveal during the travel phase than during staging, though in this set only Ungoliant's Spawn fits that description.

King Spider as Shadow Horror I don't get. The only case where it can cause undefended attack (potential hero killer) is when you have another attack yet to defend and only one defender to stop it -- and if you're defending two attacks with no attackers available, you're already behind the 8-ball. Hummerhorns is easily the worst shadow here, as its one damage to everyone (two if undefended) is likely to kill allies and posssibly could kill heroes as well. Besides that, the 1 damage *applies to the defender*, so while King Spider can only cause an undefended attack if there's another attack *and* only one character ready, Hummerhorns *will* cause an undefended attack every time against a 1-hp chump defender (absent Shadow cancellation). Probably the nastiest shadow in the entire core set.

@dalestephenson
Tbh, with Hummerhorns I often don't solve any issue, UNTIL I am not occuring in late game. Hitting 40 threat in first scenario is very improbable, though in Return to Mirkwood it is quite different situation. Maybe I am lucky, but I have never faced Hummerhorns in Return to Mirkwood in late game. However, I can imagine that facing this enemy in "ending rush" to complete quest can be devastating.

I found very few moments, when you could afford to travel to Great Forest Web without any consequences. Basically, the only moment when you could do that, is when you won't expect any fight. Then this location doesn't pose any problem.
Btw, don't get me wrong, I won't ridicule Players, if they behave as I have described. It's from the view of arrogant Sauron's servants, which has only words of contempt for Players. Hope that none of Players would take it personally.:)

Oh, I a bit forget about that it's Travel effect, not When revealed effect (of Mountains of Mirkwood ), so increasing overall Threat Strength won't be probably any problem. If you are not "location-locked" already, ofc.

Man... King Spider's shadow effect sucks! It's horrible! Many times the revealing of King Spider as shadow effect has ruined my combat plans, because he was revealed as one of the firsts shadow effects, thus he exhausted one more character, which I needed for combat. Disgusting. It's truth, that I often don't keep any character in "backup", who could substitute affected character.

I don't have anything against Hummerhorn's shadow effect. Its massive dealing 1 damage will send many chump blockers right to the graveyard, God protect you if the attack is undefended. To be honest, I see all shadow effects from Spiders of Mirkwood as quite nasty, hard to choose "the worst" effect. I also remember games, when Ungoliant's Spawn's shadow effect was very unpleasant surprise.

It's true that in the first scenario engaging Hummerhorns is unlikely. But getting to 40 in more difficult scenarios is pretty common for me. It's pretty deck dependent whether Hummerhorns (as an enemy) is much of a threat or not. Both Hummerhorns and Ungoliant's Spawn can ruin your day in Return to Mirkwood.

Yes, not expecting combat is the most obvious case where traveling to Great Forest Web is painless. But as I get allies out to help with combat, losing a hero action can be very manageable. Since the threat doesn't mandate immediate travel, it's easy to travel when convenient.

King Spider's shadow effect is annoying, I'll grant. I hate when I have plans to kill an enemy and some shadow effect (such as this, or a return-to-staging, or enemy-can't-take-damage) prevents me from doing it. But what I call terrible shadows are shadows that kill heroes, and King Spider only does that in a narrow circumstance when you have only as many ready characters as you need defense, *and* King Spider isn't last. That can happen, but it's not particularly common.

Hummerhorns, OTOH, can make the *current* attack undefended, and I fear shadows like that. It can also absolutely devastate your board state. Exhausting a character can't compare with killing off every character with only one hp.

Ungoliant's Spawn threat raise may or may not be game threatening, depending on the quest and your ability to lower threat, but it doesn't immediately threaten your board state or kill heroes. There's lots of quests I'd rather see U.S. as a shadow than as an enemy, that's pretty much never true of Hummerhorns.