During a livestream last night, me and the Card Talk crew finally beat the scenario 3p.

We got lucky though, we had to use 2 players to take on all enemies and I had to rely on a lucky draw for Untroubled by Darkness to quest through to the end. Final encounter card was a Hideous Deeps, which took 3 of the 4 cards left in my player deck. So with 1 card left in my deck and 2 dead players (Mono-Lore VD deck and a Silvan deck) we eventually won. But we wouldn't have made it for another turn, and if that Reek treachery came up, or the Torech Gorgor Patrol, then we would have lost.

The strategy used was to have the mono-Lore deck use high cost Lore cards to deal with the quest, for instance The Great Hunt for the Patrol and Gildor's Counsel to reduce the encounter cards per round. Haldir+Legacy Blade helped out with ranged attacks to kill Werewolves and Spiders. Dwarves had to rely on Untroubled by Darkness and Dain Ironfoot to quest hard whenever we could. We used Naith Guides from the Silvan deck to keep Sulien ready and used Lore resources to use her ability to basically quest double and not be affected by location lock. Dwarves also had a lot of recursion with Dwarf Pipe, To Me O My Kinsfolk, etc. Silvan deck provided additional support with questing and Ranged attacks, but was the first to die. The good thing is that if you know you are going to get decked, you can have that player take the biggest enemies and help the other players as much as possible so that they have an easier time. Including Ered Luin Miners and Hidden Caches is also highly advised! I discarded 3 Hidden Cashes at once, setting me up with enough resources to afford my allies. Ered Luin Miner got discarded for setup, so I started with a free ally, which is nice for the deck to get to 5 Dwarves quickly. Ever My Heart Rises eventually got discarded to a shadow effect, but it was free threat reduction and readying for my Dwarves since all locations are Underground.

All in all, the quest is very brutal, and we won by YOLO-questing on the final turn, with 2 encounter cards that could have cost us the game. But the victory was very sweet in the end (especially since it was 4am for me at the time)

Best of luck with your games everyone. Looking forward to your strategies.

2 hours ago, Durins_Father said:

During a livestream last night, me and the Card Talk crew finally beat the scenario 3p.

We got lucky though, we had to use 2 players to take on all enemies and I had to rely on a lucky draw for Untroubled by Darkness to quest through to the end. Final encounter card was a Hideous Deeps, which took 3 of the 4 cards left in my player deck. So with 1 card left in my deck and 2 dead players (Mono-Lore VD deck and a Silvan deck) we eventually won. But we wouldn't have made it for another turn, and if that Reek treachery came up, or the Torech Gorgor Patrol, then we would have lost.

The strategy used was to have the mono-Lore deck use high cost Lore cards to deal with the quest, for instance The Great Hunt for the Patrol and Gildor's Counsel to reduce the encounter cards per round. Haldir+Legacy Blade helped out with ranged attacks to kill Werewolves and Spiders. Dwarves had to rely on Untroubled by Darkness and Dain Ironfoot to quest hard whenever we could. We used Naith Guides from the Silvan deck to keep Sulien ready and used Lore resources to use her ability to basically quest double and not be affected by location lock. Dwarves also had a lot of recursion with Dwarf Pipe, To Me O My Kinsfolk, etc. Silvan deck provided additional support with questing and Ranged attacks, but was the first to die. The good thing is that if you know you are going to get decked, you can have that player take the biggest enemies and help the other players as much as possible so that they have an easier time. Including Ered Luin Miners and Hidden Caches is also highly advised! I discarded 3 Hidden Cashes at once, setting me up with enough resources to afford my allies. Ered Luin Miner got discarded for setup, so I started with a free ally, which is nice for the deck to get to 5 Dwarves quickly. Ever My Heart Rises eventually got discarded to a shadow effect, but it was free threat reduction and readying for my Dwarves since all locations are Underground.

All in all, the quest is very brutal, and we won by YOLO-questing on the final turn, with 2 encounter cards that could have cost us the game. But the victory was very sweet in the end (especially since it was 4am for me at the time)

Best of luck with your games everyone. Looking forward to your strategies.

Hi Durins Father will you guys be posting the video somewhere? if like to watch that play through

Well done guys. Super victory. I'm almost there with solo play.

I've tweaked my deck again. Substituted Círdan for Beregond. I'm thinking of engaging the Patrol as early as possible and capturing it with Forrest Snare using Reforged to play it from discard. If I draw it then Éowyn will discard it.

I was toying with the idea of replacing Galadriel with Glorfindel spirit but I want the threat reduction and card draw she brings in searching for Nenya. I've changed the Toymaker for Miners too.

Game 14

50 cards

Heroes: Beregond, Galadriel and Éowyn

Threat Dial 28

Mono spirit.

Draws: Ride Them Down, Forrest Snare, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Nenya, Ered Luin Miner and Unexpected Courage.

Great starting hand bar the miner. Almost too good to be true.

Setup

Discards 4 cards:

Ioreth

Arwen Undómiel

Unexpected Courage

Ered Luin Miner (put in play)

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging

Put The Tunnels of Torech Gorgor in staging. (I think this is the toughest one due to taking a minimum of 4 turns if you get locations out).

Search for the One Ring and put it on Beregond.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

Turn 1

Draw Pelargir Shipwright.

Planning: play Inner Strength and Unexpected Courage on Beregond.

Exhaust Galadriel. TD 27. Draws Ride Them Down.

Quest: commit Éowyn and Ered Luin Miner. 5WP. Éowyn discards Forrest Snare. +1 WP.

Stages Mordor Cave Troll.

6 threat vs 6WP. No progress made.

Engagement: optionally engage the Patrol. Makes an immediate attack. Beregond defends for 5. (Shadow is Twisted Tunnel. Discard Ash Mountain Werewolf. Add to staging).

I took a gamble here thinking if I use Inner Strength the next shadow might remove an attachment. Hopefully I can ride it down) no damage to Beregond and he reduces threat. TD 26. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol for 5 def. (Shadow is Fearful Shadows. Cannot ready... Use Inner Strength to cancel it. TD 27.

Refresh: TD 28

Discards 3 cards Galadriel's Handmaiden, Stand And Fight and Thrór's Key.

Turn 2

Draw Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Galadriel's Handmaiden. TD 27.

Play Dwarf Pipe on Ered Luin Miner.

Galadriel exhausts. TD 26. Draws Reforged.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Ered Luin Miner and Galadriel's Handmaiden (doesn't exhaust). 7 WP.

Stages Spawn of Shelob; surges into Crumbling Passage. Becomes the active location.

6 Threat Vs 7 WP. 1 progress on Crumbling Passage

Engagement: Spawn of Shelob engages. Choose to buff its attack.

Combat: Beregond defends the spider for 5 def. (Shadow is Writhing Shadows. Makes an additional attack. Cancel with Inner Strength. TD 27. No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 26. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Patrol for 5 def. (Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhaust Galadriel's Handmaiden.) No Damage.

Refresh: TD 27

Discards 3 cards Forrest Snare, Map of Earnil and Unexpected Courage (pipe saves)

Turn 3

Draws Thrór's Key.

Planning: play Nenya on Galadriel. Play Thrór's Key on Éowyn. Leaves 1 resource on Galadriel.

Quest: commit Éowyn and Ered Luin Miner for 5 WP.

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

9 WP

Stages Ash Mountain Werewolf... really! Another friggin enemy?

7 Threat vs 9 WP. Makes 2 progress on Crumbling Passage. Deals 1 damage to each exhausted character.

Put 1 progress on TToTG.

Combat: Beregond defends the spider for 5 def. (Shadow is Fearful Shadows. Cannot ready use Inner Strength to cancel. TD 28.) No damage. Reduces threat. TD 27. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Patrol. (Shadow is Narrow Opening. No effect). No damage.

Refresh:TD 28

Discards 3 cards Elrond's Council, Ethir Swordsman and Well Preserved (pipe saves)

Turn 4

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Pelargir Shipwright. Leaves 2 resources on Galadriel.

Exhaust Galadriel. TD 27. Draws Forrest Snare.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright (doesn't exhaust), Galadriel's Handmaiden and Ered Luin Miner. 10 WP.

Stages Firey Chasm . Attaches Thrór's Key. X threat now becomes 0.

7 Threat vs 10 WP. 3 progress made on stage 1.

Travel: forced to travel to Firey Chasm.

Combat: Beregond defends the spider for 5 def. (Shadow is Ransacked Supplies. Destroy an attachment. Use Inner Strength to cancel. TD 28) no damage. Reduces threat.TD 27. Readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Patrol for 5 def. (Shadow is Orc Passage. No effect.) No damage.

Refresh: TD 28

Discards 3 cards Elrond's Council, Map of Earnil and The Galhadrims Greeting (pipe saves)

Turn 5

Draws Nenya.

Planning: play Forrest Snare on Torech Gorgor Patrol. (Galadriel had 3 resources)

Galadriel exhausts. TD 27. Draws Ethir Swordsman.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Ered Luin Miner, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Pelargir Shipwright for 10 WP.

Stages Ash Mountain Werewolf. No way!

Éowyn discards Nenya.+1 WP.

9 threat Vs 11 WP. 2 progress made on Fiery Chasm.

Combat: Beregond defends the spider with 5 def. ( Shadow is Overwhelming Darkness. No effect). No damage. Reduce threat. TD 26.

Refresh: TD 27.

Discards 3 cards Galadriel's Handmaiden, Pelargir Shipwright and Map of Earnil (pipe saves)

Turn 6

Draws Nenya.

Planning: play Ered Luin Miner. Play Dwarf Pipe on Ered Luin Miner.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Pelargir Shipwright and 2 Ered Luin Miners. (1 doesn't exhaust). 11 WP.

Galadriel uses Nenya. +4 WP to Éowyn.

Stages Hideous Deeps. Grabs 3 cards.

Threat 12 vs 15 WP. 3 progress on Fiery Chasm explores it. Put 1 resource on TToTG.

Travel: forced to travel to Hideous Deeps

Engagement: optionally engage 1 Werewolf.

Combat: Beregond defends spider for 5 def. (Shadow is Burning Reek. Return to staging. ) no damage. Beregond reduces threat to TD 26. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Werewolf for 5 def. (Shadow is Ransacked Supplies . Uses Inner Strength to cancel TD 27. No damage. Werewolf discards Stand And Fight.

Refresh:TD 28

Discard 3 cards Ethir Swordsman (pipe saves), Arwen Undómiel (pipe saves) and Reforged.

Turn 7

Draws Stand And Fight.

Planning: play Reforged to put Forrest Snare on the Werewolf.

Galadriel exhausts. TD 27 draws Dwarf Pipe. If had used her for the quest I'd have to engage the 2 Werewolves and the spider.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright, Galadriel's Handmaiden and 2 Ered Luin Miners. 11WP

Stages Lost in the Dark. Puts 10 cards under threat dial. Deck contains exactly 10 cards.

Game over.

Seems no matter what deck I bring the encounter deck performs in exactly the right way to stop me. Every thing bad happens just at the right time in just the right way.

Still feel the Ered Luin Miners are weak if you have to pay to get them out. But they do go out for free which is nice.

16 hours ago, MikeGracey said:

Hi Durins Father will you guys be posting the video somewhere? if like to watch that play through

The playthrough can be seen here:

2 games and a bunch of filler, so don't be alarmed by the runtime

That's awesome I'm watching it in stages. I'm 1 hr 18 mins in and Galadriel has just exhausted to draw Orophin. And it's given me the bug to have my next game.

I'm keeping my deck the same for this 15th run. I feel like I had the full force of the encounter deck thrown at me early in the last game... troll, spider and 3 werewolves in the early turns.

Game 15.

50 card deck.

Heroes Éowyn, Beregond (spirit) and Galadriel. Threat Dial 28

Draws Forrest Snare, Ethir Swordsman, Ered Luin Miner, Stand And Fight, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Unexpected Courage.

The snare and the Unexpected Courage is a great combo, but without Nenya or Reforged I can't play it.

Mulligan

Draws Galadriel's Handmaiden, Dwarf Pipe, Forest Snare, Pelargir Shipwright and Thrór's Key.

Much better. I could really use a Steward of Gondor but couldn't fit it in the deck.

Setup: discards 4 cards-

Map of Earnil

Unexpected Courage

Stand And Fight

Galadriel's Handmaiden.

Add Torech Gorgor Patrol to staging.

Add Tunnels of Torech Gorgor to staging (oh crap!) I guess Dunedain Pathfinder would be great against this side quest.

Search and play The One Ring on Beregond.

Search and add Inner Strength to hand.

Turn 1

Draws Ered Luin Miner. (See, these hardly ever get discarded for me. )

Planning: play Inner Strength on Beregond, Nenya on Galadriel and Thrór's Key on Éowyn.

Quest: commit Éowyn. 4 WP

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

Total 8 WP

Stages Narrow Opening. (I think I'll save Thrór's Key for a worse location.)

6 threat vs 8 WP. 2 progress made on stage 1.

Travel: forced to travel to Narrow Opening.

Refresh: TD 29

Discards 3 cards: Pelargir Shipwright, Thrór's Key and Ethir Swordsman.

Turn 2

Draws Nenya.

Planning: can only play 1 card due to Narrow Opening. Play Ered Luin Miner.

Quest: commit Éowyn and Ered Luin Miner (doesn't exhaust.) 5 WP. (I'm not trying to clear the location as I don't want to loose my Dwarf Pipe.

Stages A Haunt for Beasts.

4 threat vs 5 WP. 1 progress Narrow Opening.

Exhaust Galadriel. TD 28. Draws Ered Luin Miner. (Where's an Imladris Stargazer when you need one?)

Refresh:TD 29

Discards 4 cards Thrór's Key, Forrest Snare, Ethir Swordsman and Elrond's Council.

Turn 3

Draws Reforged.

Planning: play Reforged to put Unexpected Courage on Beregond. (I need to get the Patrol out of staging.) Leaving 1 resource on Galadriel. (I'm guessing that even though Reforged states to play the attachment at no cost, I haven't actually played 2 cards here for the purposes of Narrow Opening? As far as I understand it, the restriction is on playing cards from your hand and paying the full cost)

Quest: commit Éowyn and Ered Luin Miner.

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

9 WP.

Stages Firey Chasm. Attach Thrór's Key.

4 threat vs 9 WP. 5 progress made. 2 on Narrow Opening explores it. Discards Ered Luin Miner from hand at random. 3 progress made on stage 1. Puts 1 resource on TToTG.

Travel: forced to travel to Firey Chasm.

Engagement: optionally engage the Torech Gorgor Patrol. Makes an immediate attack. Beregond defends with 5 def. (Shadow is Torech Gorgor Patrol. No effect.) No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 28.

Beregond readies with unexpected courage.

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Twisted Tunnel. (This is what screwed me over last game pulling out an enemy.) Beregond uses Inner strength to cancel it. TD 29. As the side quest can't be cleared if another enemy appears. No damage to Beregond.

Refresh:TD 30

Discards 4 cards: Ethir Swordsman, Ride Them Down, Nenya and Unexpected Courage.

Turn 4

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Dwarf Pipe on Ered Luin Miner. Have 2 resources on Galadriel so next turn can play Forrest Snare on the Patrol.

Quest: chooses A Haunt for Beasts as the current quest.

commit Éowyn and Ered Luin Miner. Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

9 WP.

Stages Narrow Opening.

Éowyn discards Nenya to add 1 WP.

3 threat vs 10 WP. Makes 7 progress. 5 o Firey Chasm explores it. No effect due to Thrór's Key. Puts 1 resource on TToTG. 2 progress on A Haunt for Beasts.

Travel: forced to travel to Narrow Opening

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect). No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 29

Refresh:TD 30

Discards 4 cards: Pelargir Shipwright, Dwarf Pipe, Forest Snare and Arwen Undómiel (pipe saves)

Turn 5

Draws Reforged.

Planning: play Pelargir Shipwright.

Quest: chooses a Haunt for Beasts as the current quest.

Commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright (doesn't exhaust) and Ered Luin Miner. 8 WP.

Stages Spawn of Shelob. Surges into Namless Beast.

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

4 threat vs 12 WP. 8 progress made. 3 on Narrow Opening explores it. Discard Reforged from hand at random. Pit 1 resource on TToTG. 5 progress made on A Haunt for Beasts clearing it.

Engagement: Namless Beast and Spawn of Shelob engages. Discards Ered Luin Miner. (Finally!) And puts it into play.

Pelargir Shipwright defends the spider with 1 def. (Shadow is. Ransacked Supplies. Oh No! Have to discard an attachment. Discards Dwarf Pipe. 1 damage on the Shipwright.

Beregond defends Namless Beast with 5 def. Discards Well Preserved and adds 1 to it's attack. (Shadow is Burning Reek. Namless Beast returns to staging.) No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 29. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Orc Passage. No effect). No damage.

Refresh:TD 30

Discards 3 cards Elrond's Council, Stand And Fight and Stand And Fight.

Turn 6

Draws Map of Earnil.

Planning: play Map of Earnil on Éowyn for 1 resource.

Use map to play Reforged from discard pile. Reforged puts Dwarf Pipe on Ered Luin Miner #2. Reforged goes to bottom of deck.

Play Galadriel's Handmaiden (leaving 2 resources on Galadriel). TD 29.

Only have 1 card left in hand (Forrest Snare)

Quest: choose TToTG as current quest.

Commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright and Galadriel's Handmaiden (doesn't exhaust) 9 WP.

Stages Mordor Cave Troll.

6 threat vs 9 WP. 3 progress made on TToTG clearing it.

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Ransacked Supplies. Relentless! This quest keeps on bringing the hurg. Use Inner Strength to cancel. TD 30. No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 29. Beregond defends with Unexpected courage.

Beregond defends the spider with 5 def. (Shadow is Writhing Shadows. Makes an additional attack. ) no damage.

Spider attacks undefended for 2. (Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect.) 2 damage on Galadriel.

Both Ered Luin miners attack the spider for 2. Deals 1 damage.

Refresh:TD 30

Discards 2 cards: Ride Them Down (piped) and Ride Them Down (piped).

Turn 7

Draws Ioreth.

Planning: play Ioreth.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright and Galadriel's Handmaiden. 9 WP.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Arwen Undómiel. +2 threat.

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

Total 13 WP

8 threat vs 13 WP. 5 progress made on stage 1. (10 total)

Engagement: Namless Beast engages.

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect.) No damage. Beregond reduces threat. TD 29. Beregond readies with Unexpected Courage.

Beregond defends the Nameless Beast with 5 def. Discards Unexpected Courage +2 att making 5. (Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect).

Spider attacks undefended. (Shadow is Crumbling Passage. No effect. ) 2 damage on Beregond.

Both Ered Luin miners attack the spider for 2. Deals 1 damage defeating it.

Ioreth heals Beregond.

Refresh:TD 30.

Discards 2 cards: Elrond's Council (piped) and Map of Earnil (piped)

Turn 8

Draws Reforged.

Planning: play Reforged to put Forrest Snare on to Namless Beast.

Quest: commit everyone except Beregond and Ioreth. 11 WP

Galadriel uses Nenya to buff Éowyn.

15 WP.

Stages Fearful Shadows. Doomed 1. TD 31. Characters text boxes are blank.

3 threat vs 15 WP. 12 progress made on stage 1. (Total 22)

Combat: Beregond defends the Patrol with 5 def. (Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect. No damage.

Refresh:TD 32

Discards 2 cards. The Galhadrims Greeting (piped) and Arwen Undómiel (piped)

Turn 9

Draws Galadriel's Handmaiden.

Planning: play Galadriel's Handmaiden. TD 31.

Quest: commit Éowyn, Pelargir Shipwright and both of Galadriel's Handmaidens. (1 doesn't exhaust.) 11 WP.

Stages Burning Reek. Doomed 1 TD 32. Discards 9 cards from top of deck. Only have 8.

Game over

Game 16

The Dwarven Pipes are the only things that can recur 3 cards reliably and the side quests generally discard 3 cards.

Also need a ton of quest power and need to get the Patrol out.

The various methods of getting the Patrol take some patience and can't necessarily be done on turn 1 without mono lore reducing questing and finding the Great Hunt.

The one way of guaranteeing taking the Patrol out of staging on turn 1 or 2 is to engage it which means getting a readying effect or throwing an ally or dwarf under the bus.

So... here goes nothing. This deck will need some tweaking after this game.

50 cards

Heroes leadership Aragorn and Dain Ironfoot. Óin.

Threat dial 31

Draws: To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk!, Narvi's Belt, Stand And Fight, Ered Luin Miner, Stand and Fight and Hidden Cache.

Bar the belt a terrible starting hand, although I've put in a dunedain pipe to put some undesirable cards back in the deck when they pop up.

Mulligan.

Draws: Smoke Rings, Steward of Gondor, Bilbo Baggins, The Sword That Was Broken, Stand And Fight and Nori.

Setup. Discards 4 cards: Stand And Fight, Smoke Rings, Narvi's Belt and To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk!

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging.

Put A Haunt for Beasts in staging by discarding.

Shuffle encounter deck.

Search for The One Ring and put it on Dain Ironfoot.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

Turn 1

Draws Hidden Cache.

Planning: play Inner Strength on Dain Ironfoot.

Quest: commit Aragorn and Óin. 5 WP.

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Dunedain Pipe. Adds 1 to threat in staging.

4 threat vs 5 WP. 1 progress made on stage 1.

Engagement: optionally engage Torech Gorgor Patrol. Makes an immediate attack. Aragorn defends with 2 def. Shadow is Mordor Cave Troll. No effect. 3 damage on Aragorn.

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

I just need Narvi's Belt and Ioreth now before the Patrol kills Dain.

Refresh: TD 32

Discards 3 cards: Ever My Heart Rises, Kili and Dwarven Sellsword.

Turn 2

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Steward of Gondor on Dain and exhaust it.

Play The Sword That Was Broken on Aragorn.

Play Dwarf Pipe on Óin.

Quest: choose A Haunt For Beasts as the current quest.

Commit Aragorn and Óin. 7 WP.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Dwarf Pipe; adds 1 threat to staging. (Óin smokes his pipe to save it)

1 threat vs 7 WP. Clears a Haunt for Beasts to the Victory Display.

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Namless Beast. +1 att. Dain uses Inner Strength to cancel it. TD 33. 1 damage to Dain.

Refresh: TD 34

Discards 2 cards: Gimli and To Me! My Kinsfolk! (Pipe saves) perhaps I should have saved Gimli, but I was worried about loosing another pipe.

Turn 3

Draws Steward of Gondor.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Dain plays Hidden Cache to draw Unexpected Courage.

I have 1 spirit resource. I could get the sellsword out of the discard or hold my nerve to play Bibo to fetch a dwarf pipe.

I'll hold my nerve.

Quest: commit Aragorn and Óin for 7WP.

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages Nameless Beast. Oh crap!

3 threat vs 7 WP. 4 progress made on stage 1.

Engagement: engages Namless Beast. This is going to kill a hero.

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

Aragorn defends Namless Beast with 2 def. Discards Celebraín's Stone adding 2 att. 3 damage on Aragorn defeating him.

Killed by Arwens pendant... ouch! Now, there is a tale to tell.

Scoop this game. I can't win now. Where the frig were my dwarves and Narvi's Belt.

Heh just peeked and next card was Reforged.

Looks like I should have left the Patrol for a few turns.

Game 17

Tweaked slightly to include x3 Galadriel to help pull pipes or unexpected courages.

51 cards

Heroes Aragorn, Dain and Óin.

Threat dial 31

Draws Armoured Destrier, Steward of Gondor, Nori, Hidden Cache, Helm of Secrecy and Stand And Fight.

Mulligan: Smoke Rings, Unexpected Courage, Dwarven Sellsword, Stand And Fight, Dwarven Sellsword and Ioreth.

Setup:

discard 5 cards: Sword That Was Broken, The One Ring, Dwarf Pipe, Smoke Rings and To Me! My Kinsfolk!

(Presumably I can still take the One Ring from the discard pile during Setup?)

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging.

Put Lost In The Dark in staging. Shuffle deck. Put top 10 player cards facedown under threat dial.

Take The One Ring from discard pile and attach to Dain Ironfoot. Search the player deck and take Inner Strength and add to hand. (Very lucky!)

Turn 1

Draw Steward of Gondor.

Planning: play Steward of Gondor and exhaust it.

Play Dwarven Sellsword.

Quest: choose Lost in the Dark as the current quest.

Commit Aragorn, Óin and Dwarven Sellsword. 8WP.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Glóin and adds 3 to staging.

6 threat vs 8 WP. 2 progress made on LitD.

Refresh:TD 32 and discards Galadriel from under it.

Discards 3 cards: Gimli, Unexpected Courage and Reforged.

Pay to keep Dwarven Sellsword.

Turn 2

Draws Helm of Secrecy. (This is a flight of fancy to bring in lore Aragorn later)

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Play Unexpected Courage on Dain.

Play Dwarven Sellsword #2

Quest: choose Lost in the Dark as the current quest.

Commit Dain, Aragorn, Óin and the 2 sellswords.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

13 WP.

Stages Nameless Beast.

6 threat vs 13 WP 7 progress made. Clears LitD to the Victory Display. Shuffles 9 cards back into deck.

Engagement: Namless Beast engages.

Combat: Dain defends the beast with 3 def. Discards Ever My Heart Rises. Adding 0 to att. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. No effect. No damage.

Refresh: TD 33

Discards 2 cards Azain Silverbeard and Unexpected Courage.

Dain pays 2 res to keep both Sellswords.

Turn 3

Draws Galadriel.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Play Inner Strength on Dain.

Dain pays to play Galadriel. She puts Celebraín's Stone on Aragorn. Reorders Hidden Cache, Stand And Fight, Stand And Fight and Dunedain Pipe.

Quest: commit Galadriel, Óin and Dain.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

8 WP.

Stages Firey Chasm.

4 threat vs 8 WP. 4 progress made on stage 1

Travel: to Firey Chasm.

Combat: Dain defends the beast with 4 def. Discards Hidden Cache +0 att ( adds 2 resource to Óin) Shadow is Orc Passage. No effect. No damage.

Aragorn and the two Sellswords attack the Beast for 7. Deals 4 damage.

Refresh: TD 34

Discards 2 cards Stand And Fight x2

Aragorn pays 2 to retain the Sellswords

Galadriel leaves play.

Turn 4

Draws Dunedain Pipe.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Óin plays Stand And Fight to play Azain Silverbeard from discard pile.

Quest: commit Aragorn, 1 Sellsword and Óin. 10 WP.

Stages Overwhelming Darkness.

3 threat vs 10 WP. 7 progress made. 5 on Fiery Chasm explores it. Discard 3 cards: Reforged, Steward of Gondor and Hidden Cache (adds 2 resource to Aragorn). 2 progress on stage 1.

Combat: Dain defends the Beast with 4 def. Discards Ered Luin Miner. +3 att. Puts miner into play. 6 att vs 4 def. Shadow is Narrow Opening. No effect. 2 damage on Dain.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Sellsword #2, Azain and Ered Luin Miner att Namless Beast for 9 att defeating it.

Refresh: TD 35

Discards 3 cards Ever My Heart Rises, Dwarf Pipe and Armoured Destrier.

Dain pays 2 resources to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 5

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Aragorn pays to play Dwarf Pipe on Óin. Discards Nori (Pipe saves)

Quest: choose Overwhelming Darkness as the current quest.

Commit Óin, Aragorn and both Sellswords. 13 WP.

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages Torech Gorgor Patrol.

6 Threat vs 13 WP. 7 progress made on Overwhelming Darkness clearing it to the Victory Display. Shuffles 3 cards back.

Engagement: optionally engage one Patrol. Makes an immediate attack. Dain defends with 4 def. Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Burning Reek. Uses Inner Strength to cancel. TD 36. 1 damage on Dain.

Aragorn, Azain and Ered Luin Miner attack the Patrol for 7. Deals 3 damage

Refresh: TD 37

Discards 2 cards Narvi's Belt and To Me! My Kinsfolk! (Pipe saves)

Dain pays 2 resources to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 6

Draws Narvi's Belt.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Aragorn pays to play Narvi's Belt on Dain.

Narvi's Belt gives Dain Lore.

Play Ioreth.

Play Dunedain Pipe on Aragorn.

Exhaust Dunedain Pipe to put Smoke Rings on bottom of deck to draw Ever My Heart Rises. Play it on Óin.

Ioreth heals 3 damage from Dain.

Quest: commit Aragorn and Óin. 7 WP.

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages The Tunnels of Torech Gorgor.

3 threat vs 7 WP. 4 progress made on stage 1

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Narrow Opening. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Aragorn, both Sellswords, Azain and Ered Luin Miner attack the Patrol with 15 att. Deals 11 damage. Defeats it. Óin spends 1 tactics resource to allow Azain to put 2 damage on the other patrol.

Refresh: TD 38

Discards 3 cards Ever My Heart Rises, Bofur (pipe saves) and Galadriel.

Dain pays 2 resources to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 7

Draws To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk!

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Aragorn smokes his pipe to put Helm of Secrecy on the bottom of the deck and draws Dwarf Pipe. Óin pays to put Dwarf Pipe on Dain.

Quest: commit Aragorn and Óin for 7 WP

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages Twisted Tunnel. Puts Ash Mountain Werewolf in Staging.

7 threat vs 7 WP. 0 progress made.

Travel: forced to travel to Twisted Tunnel. Óin's heart rises and he readies. TD 37.

Engagement: optionally engage the Patrol. Makes an immediate attack. Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhaust Ioreth. 1 damage on Dain.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage

Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Combat:

Dain plays To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk! To play Gimli from the discard pile.

Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Orc Passage. No effect. 1 damage on Dain

Gimli defends the Werewolf with 2 def. Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect.2 damage on Gimli. Werewolf discards Nori. (Dain smokes pipe to save)

Aragorn, Óin and Ered Luin Miner attack the Werewolf with 6 att. Dealing 5 damage defeating it.

Both Sellswords and Azain attack the Patrol with 7 attack. Deals 3 damage.

Gimli goes to the bottom of the deck.

Refresh: TD 38.

Discards 3 cards Ered Luin Miner (goes into play), Narvi's Belt (pipe saved) and Ered Luin Miner (put into play)

Dain pays 2 resources to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 8

Draws Power of Command.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor

Aragorn smokes Dunedain Pipe to put Power of Command on bottom of deck to Draw Smoke Rings.

Quest: commit Aragorn, Óin and 3 miners and both Sellswords 19 WP.

Aragorn readies himself.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Reforged. +0 to staging. Dain smokes his pipe to save it.

0 threat vs 19 WP. 19 progress made. 2 on Twisted Tunnel explores it. 1 resource on TToTG. 17 progress on stage 1. Advances to stage 2.

Searches and puts A Haunt for Beasts in stageing. Discard until Ash Mountain Werewolf appears. Add to staging.

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Combat: Narvi's Belt gives Dain lore. Ioreth heals 3 damage from Dain.

Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Mordor Cave Troll. No effect. 1 damage on Dain. Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Dain defends the Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect. No damage on Dain. Werewolf discards Hidden Cache. (Adds 2 resources to Dain.)

Aragorn and Azain attack the Werewolf with 6 attack dealing 4 damage. (Limited by side quest)

Refresh:TD 39.

Discards 4 cards: Armoured Destrier, To Me! My Kinsfolk! (Saved by pipe), Smoke Rings and Bofur (saved by pipe)

Dain pays 2 resource to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 9

Draws Helm of Secrecy.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Aragorn smokes pipe and puts Helm of Secrecy on the bottom of deck to draw Nori.

Óin pays 3 tactics resources to play Nori.

Quest: choose A Haunt for Beasts as the current quest.

Commit Aragorn, Óin and 2 Ered Luin Miners. 11 WP.

Stages Firey Chasm.

4 threat vs 11 WP. 7 progress made on the side quest clearing it to the Victory Display.

Travel: forced to travel to Firey Chasm. Óin's heart rises and he readies. TD 38

Combat: Dain defends the Patrol with 4 def. Shadow is Crumbling Passage. No effect. 1 damage on Dain. Dain readies with Unexpected Courage. Narvi's Belt gives Dain Lore.

Ioreth heals 3 damage from Dain.

Dain defends the Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Namless Beast. +2 att (Smoke Rings) 6 att vs 4 def. Dain takes 2 damage. Werewolf discards Gimli.

Nori attacks the Werewolf with 2 att and defeats it. Nori returns Gimli to the bottom of the deck.

Both Sellswords, Óin and Azain attack the Patrol with 9 att. Deals 5 damage. Defeating it.

Refresh: TD 39

Discards 3 cards: Narvi's Belt, Power of Command (pipe saves) and Reforged (pipe saves)

Dain pays 2 resources to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 10

Draws To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk!

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Quest: play To Me! Oh My Kinsfolk! To put Glóin into play.

Commit, Dain, Aragorn, Óin, both Sellswords, 3 Ered Luin miners, and Glóin.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Aragorn readies himself.

24 WP.

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discard Bofur to add 3 to threat area.

3 threat vs 24 WP. 21 progress made. 5 on Fiery Chasm explores it. Discards 3 cards: Helm of Secrecy, Gimi and Power of command. 16 progress on stage 2. Put 1 resource on TToTG.

Glóin returns to bottom of deck.

Refresh:TD 40

Only 2 cards left in player deck and I know 1 of them is reforged. So fingers crossed. Aragorn smokes his pipe to to put Smoke Rings to the bottom of the deck. To draw Reforged. (This game is going to be soooooo close. )

Dain exhausts Narvi's Belt to give him spirit. Play reforged to put Dwarf Pipe from the discard pile on Nori.

I think that's saved me for this turn.

Discards 3 cards: Glóin (pipe saves), Smoke Rings (pipe saves) and Glóin (pipe saves).

Dain pays 2 resource to retain the Sellswords.

Turn 11

Draws Smoke Rings.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Quest:

Óin pays to play Smoke Rings. TD 36. Each hero gets +1 WP.

Quest all in bar Ioreth.

Dain readies with Unexpected Courage

Aragorn readies himself

27 WP.

Stages.... Writhing Shadows. Assigns 3 damage to Aragorn.

0 threat vs 27 WP.

Boom! Quest beat with 1 card left in my player deck. Holy crap!

If you can get the three dwarf pipes and Nori out early you can get through it easier than I did. It needs someone to make a more efficient deck with that concept.

However I'm still elated I won.

Yay me.

This was the deck.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/16147/smokingpipesundertheashmountains-1.0

There isn't a Card for Helm of Secrecy on Rings DB yet so I couldn't include it. However in hindsight I would have cut that card and put in an extra Nori. So that's what I've shown here.

My win all depends on whether I was allowed to play The One Ring from the discard pile. Technically it hadn't gone out of play. It was never in play.

I still need an answer on playing Reforged or Stand And Fight on neutral cards. I've treated it as you can't but I'm not 100% sure.

3 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

This was the deck.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/16147/smokingpipesundertheashmountains-1.0

There isn't a Card for Helm of Secrecy on Rings DB yet so I couldn't include it. However in hindsight I would have cut that card and put in an extra Nori. So that's what I've shown here.

My win all depends on whether I was allowed to play The One Ring from the discard pile. Technically it hadn't gone out of play. It was never in play.

I still need an answer on playing Reforged or Stand And Fight on neutral cards. I've treated it as you can't but I'm not 100% sure.

We don't have an official ruling, but the current consensus in the Discord is that the Ring's Setup text is still active even when it is in the discard pile. (You couldn't retrieve a Master card from the discard pile, because the Ring only says to search your deck, but Setup text that doesn't directly reference your deck should be fine.)

Also - congrats! Amazing use of ally Nori. Hadn't thought to use him yet

You never tried hunting party asgardianphil?

On 5/21/2020 at 4:19 AM, MikeGracey said:

You never tried hunting party asgardianphil?

Hi, alas no.

I kept considering the card but I didn't like the trade off of drawing something else such as a side quest or Cave Troll. (Come to think of it no card was nice in that encounter deck, even the Spawn of Shelobs were nasty due to their surge.)

I think I would have tried Hunting Party but by game 16 I realised that removing it with Great Hunt hadn't worked for me, trying to engage and Forrest Snare (without a fighting deck) hadn't really worked either. Attacking it with direct damage also hadn't worked. All mainly because of the set up required to get those cards in play from a fast shrinking player deck. Also they discard the target and it will be shuffled back into the encounter deck when stage 1 advances leaving 2 patrols to still be drawn.

I came to the conclusion that the best way to deal with the starting Patrol is with a deck that can engage the Patrol very early and clobber it or just keep it engaged with defending or Reforged Forrest Snare (reforged is better as you can place it before it attacks) so basically Beregond with Inner Strength can defend from turn 1. It's just the immediate attack for engaging you need to handle so Cram, Unexpected Courage, Armoured Destrier and Lembas Bread or any chump. However there are some nasty chumping countermeasures in the encounter deck.

The trouble I had with Beregond was his 0 will power. He needed to double as a quester. I think this is why Dain and Aragorn did what Beregond couldn't. Dain boosted all the dwarves and defended too. Aragorn was able to ready from turn 1. I also needed dwarves out from turn 1 for the pipes incase I drew one, so that's the only reason why I used 2 dwarf heroes.

I don't have the next two quest packs yet so I might just build a Hunting Party deck and give it a try. See if I can beat my win with more player cards left than 1.

Now, where did I put my pipe?

26 minutes ago, asgardianphil said:

I don't have the next two quest packs yet so I might just build a Hunting Party deck and give it a try. See if I can beat my win with more player cards left than 1.

Now, where did I put my pipe?

Well good job on your successful playthrough, would be interesting to see how hunting party would do. Alas, I do not have my pack yet.

New challenge. Win the game using Hunting Party.

I've built a deck however it's proved quite difficult. There are only 8 scout heroes in the game and only 1 in Leadership which is in sphere for Hunting Party. Obviously the scout trait doesn't need to be in leadership but it's still slim pickings throughout the spheres.

Fearless scout attachment could be used or any number of allys but I really want to be able to use the hunting party turn 1 if I can and I don't want to rely on other set up cards that could end up being discarded. Fearless scout is Spirit sphere and so are the Dwarf pipes and recurring cards so Spirit is needed and Leadership for the hunting party. Dwarves are needed from turn 1 and I need two spirit heroes to be able to play unexpected Courages and Handmaidens etc without needing any resource smoothing or acceleration.

So I came up with Gimli and Legolas duo and ended up with Dain spirit over Óin or Dwalin in spirit. Dain leadership was a good choice but I need 2 spirit heroes otherwise I need other cards to grant spirit. Gimli is needed to defend to ready Legolas and he's not going to be good enough as he has a poor defense and has to spend a resource. However he can pay for Elvenking to go on Legolas and the Galadhrim Weaver will be the target of that combo to readyblegolas and recur a card.

There's still too much to pack into this deck and so it's lacking any healing or threat reduction at the moment but that may come when I tweak it.

Game #18

50 cards

Heroes: Dain Ironfoot, Legolas (both spirit) and Gimli (leadership)

Threat 31

Draws: Dwarf Pipe, Reforged, Thrór's Key, Dwarven Tomb, Bilbo and Galadhrim Weaver.

Ok so this is a great starting hand. I would like to mulligan to try and get Hunting Party into hand first turn. However, Hunting Party can bring in another enemy or even worse another Patrol. I really need pipes out turn 1 and I have 2 here ( Bilbo counts as a pipe)

So.. no mulligan.

Setup

Discards 4 cards

Arwen Undómiel, The Elvenking, Curious Brandybuck and Unexpected Courage.

Stages Torech Gorgor Patrol.

Stages Lost In The Dark. Places 10 cards under the threat dial.

Search for the One Ring and put it on Dain.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

(Cannot believe they were both in there. Good job the deck is not built around them)

Turn 1

Draws Galadriel's Handmaiden.

Planning: play Bilbo Baggins. He searches and pulls a Dwarf Pipe to hand.

I could could do with 9 spirit resources to play everything.

Quest: choose Lost in the Dark as the current quest.

commit Gimli, Legolas and Bilbo. 5 WP (pretty thin)

Stages Ransacked Supplies. Discards Hidden Cache. +0 threat to staging. Adds 2 resources to Legolas.

3 threat vs 8 WP. 5 progress made on Lost in the Dark.

Refresh:TD 32 and discards Galadhrim Weaver from under it.

Discards 3 cards Bofur, Arwen Undómiel and Dwarven Tomb.

Turn 2

Draws Unlikely Friendship.

Planning: play Dwar Pipe on Dain and Gimli.

Play Unlikely Friendship. Add resource to Legolas and draws Ered Luin Miner.

Play Galadriel's Handmaiden. TD 31

Play Thrór's Key on Dain.

Quest: choose Lost in the Dark as the current quest.

Commit Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo and Galadriel's Handmaiden. 7 WP.

Stages Spawn of Shelob. Surges into Writhing Shadows. Assigns 3 damage ( Bilbo 1 and Legolas 2.

4 threat vs 7 WP. 3 progress made on LitD. Clears it to Victory Display. Shuffles 9 cards back into the deck.

Engagement: Spawn of Shelob engages. (With Dain defending I'm going to have to discard a card to buff him). Choose to discard a card to not add 2 to spiders defense.

Discards Galadriel's Handmaiden. Dain smokes his Pipe to save.

Dain defends the spider with 3 def. Shadow is Writhing Shadows. Makes another attack.

Spider attacks undefended. Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect. 2 damage on Gimli.

Refresh:TD 32

Discards 2 cards: Ered Luin Miner (puts into play) and Elven-light. (Now we can get Legolas Readying)

Turn 3

Draws Mirkwood Long-Knife

Planning: play Elven-light from discard pile. Draws Unexpected Courage.

Play Inner Strength on Dain.

Quest: (realising that questing with Legolas and using Elven-light isn't going to work without buffing up Gimli's defense. I need to use Elvenking)

Commit Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo and Galadriel's Handmaiden. Discard Elven-light to ready Gimli. 8 WP

Stages Ash Mountain Werewolf.

4 threat vs 8 WP. 4 progress made on stage 1.

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Gimli defends the spider with 2 def. Spend 1 resource to ready Legolas. Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect. No damage.

Dain defends the Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhaust Ered Luin Miner. Werewolf discards Curious Brandybuck. Dain smokes and saves it.

Legolas attacks the spider with 4 att and defeats it.

Refresh:TD 32

Discards 2 cards: Thrór's Key (piped) and Reforged (piped).

Turn 4

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Dwarf Pipe on Ered Luin Miner.

Play Galadhrim Weaver. Shuffle Elven-light back into deck.

Quest: commit Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Galadhrim Weaver. 5 WP

Stages Ash Mountain Werewolf.

4 Threat vs 5 WP. 1 progress made on stage 1

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Dain defends the Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Fearful Shadows. Cannot ready. Uses Inner Strength to cancel. TD 33. No damage. Werewolf discards Thrór's Key.

Gimli Defends the other Werewolf with 2 def. He spends a resource to buff Legolas +1 att (he was already ready) Shadow is Crumbling Passage. No effect. 2 damage on Gimli. Werewolf discards Galadhrim Weaver (miner pipe saves)

Legolas and miner attack Werewolf with 5 att. Deals 4 damage.

Refresh:TD 34

Discards 2 cards: Dwarven Tomb (piped) and Hunting Party (piped)

Turn 5

Draws Curious Brandybuck.

Planning: play Unexpected Courage on Dain.

Quest: commit Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Galadhrim Weaver. 5 WP

Stages Hideous Deeps. Puts top 3 player cards under it. (Going to save Thrór's Key for a worse location).

5 threat vs 5 WP. 0 progress made.

Travel: to Hideous Deeps. Play Curious Brandybuck for free.

Combat: Dain defends a Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Namless Beast. (Top card is Thrór's Key) +1 att. 1 damage to Dain. Werewolf discards Arwen( pipe saves). Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Dain defends the other Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect. No damage. Werewolf discards Reforged.

Legolas, Gimli and Miner attacks the undamaged Werewolf with 6 att. Defeats it.

Refresh:TD 35

Discards 2 cards: Bilbo (piped) and Curious Brandybuck (piped)

Turn 6

Draws Unexpected Courage.

Planning: play Reforged to put The Elvenking on Legolas. Play Dwarven Tomb to return Arwen Undómiel to hand.

Quest: commit Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Galadhrim Weaver and Curious Brandybuck. 7 WP. Stages Firey Chasm. Attaches Thrór's Key to it.

2 threat vs 7 WP. 5 progress made on Hideous Deeps.

Combat: Dain defends the Werewolf with 4 def. Shadow is Ransacked Supplies. Discard an attachment. Uses Inner Strength to cancel. TD 36. No damage. Werewolf discards Galadriel's Handmaiden (piped)

Legolas attacks the wounded Werewolf with 3 att. Defeats it.

Refresh:TD 37

Discards 2 cards Unlikely Friendship (piped) and The Elvenking (piped).

Turn 7

Draws Elven-light.

Planning: play Arwen Undómiel.

Quest: commit Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Galadhrim Weaver, Curious Brandybuck and Arwen Undómiel (buffs Dain) 9 WP.

Stages A Haunt for Beasts.

3 threat vs 9 WP. 6 progress made. 1 on Hideous Deeps returning 3 cards and 5 on stage 1. Put Curious Brandybuck on bottom of deck.

Refresh:TD 38

Discards 3 cards (pipes will save each one): The Elvenking, Curious Brandybuck and The Elvenking.

Turn 8

Draws Hunting Party (yay!)

Planning: play Mirkwood Long-Knife on Legolas.

Quest: Commit Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Galadhrim Weaver and Arwen Undómiel. Discard Elven-light to ready Gimli. Arwen buffs Dain's defense. 12 WP.

Play Hunting Party. Discards the Patrol. Draws Fearful Shadows. Doomed 1. TD 39. Printed text boxes are blank. (Presumably this doesnt affect Legolas as he already gave a +1 WP bonus until the end of the round)

Stages Narrow Opening.

3 threat vs 12 WP. 9 progress made on stage 1. (Total 19)

Travel: to Narrow Opening.

Return Galadhrim Weaver to hand to ready Legolas.

Refresh:TD 40

Discards 3 cards. Pipes will save them all. Galadriel's Handmaiden x2 and Unlikely Friendship.

Turn 9

Draws Ered Luin Miner.

Planning: can only play 1 card. Play Galadhrim Weaver and shuffle Hunting Party back into deck.

Quest: choose A Haunt for Beasts as the current quest. Commit Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Arwen Undómiel. Discard Ered Luin Miner to ready Gimli. Arwen buffs Dain's def. 12 WP.

Stages Crumbling Passage. Becomes the active location. (Oh crap!)

3 threat vs 12 WP. 9 progress made. 3 on Crumbling Passage. Damages Legolas and Arwen. Defeats Bilbo, Galadriel's Handmaiden and Galadhrim Weaver. (In Hindsight I should have readied Legolas before staging. 6 progress on A Haunt for Beasts clearing it to the Victory Display.

Travel: to Narrow Opening.

Refresh:TD 41

Discard 2 cards (pipes will save them both.) Hunting Party and Bilbo

Turn 10

Draws Hidden Cache.

Planning: play Ered Luin Miner (paid by Gimli)

Quest: commit Gimli, Arwen and both Ered Luin Miners. Arwen buffs Dain's defense. 6 WP.

Stages Mordor Cave Troll.

3 Threat vs 6 WP. 3 progress made on Narrow Opening explores it.

Gimli pays to play Hidden Cache. Draws Curious Brandybuck.

Engagement: Mordor Cave Troll engages.

Combat: Dain defends the Troll with 5 def. Shadow is Burning Reek. Return to staging. 1 damage to Dain.

Refresh:TD 42

Discards 2 cards (pipes will save them) Curious Brandybuck and The Elvenking.

Turn 11

Draws The Elvenking.

Planning: play Curious Brandybuck. Play Unexpected Courage on Legolas. Play Elven-light from discard to draw Reforged.

Quest: commit Legolas, Gimli, Arwen and Curious Brandybuck. Discards Elven-light to ready Gimli. Arwen buffs Dain's defense. Unexpected Courage readies Legolas. 9 WP

Stages Nameless Beast.

6 threat vs 9 WP. 3 progress made on stage 1.

Engagement: both the Troll and beast engages.

Combat: Dain defends the Beast with 5 def. Discards Galadriel's Handmaiden (piped) +2 att. Shadow is Orc Passage. No effect. No damage. Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Dain defends the Troll with 5 def. Shadow is Mordor Cave Troll. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

Legolas, Gimli and both miners attack the Nameless Beast with 8 att. Deals 5 damage.

Refresh:TD 43

Discard 2 cards (pipes will save) Galadhrim Weaver and Galadriel's Handmaiden.

Turn 12

Draws Hunting Party.

Planning: play Reforged to play Thrór's Key from discard pile on Dain.

Play Elven-light from discard pile to draw Unlikely Friendship.

Play Unlikely Friendship to put 1 resource on Legolas and draw Hunting Party.

Quest: commit Gimli, Legolas, Arwen and Curious Brandybuck. Discard Elven-light to ready Gimli. Arwen buffs Dain's defense. Legolas readies with Unexpected Courage. 9 WP

Stages The Tunnels of Torech Gorgor.

0 Threat vs 9 WP. Advances to stage 2.

Put Overwhelming Darkness into staging. Put Spawn of Shelob into staging.

Engagement: Spawn of Shelob engages. Choose to discard 2 cards. Thrór's Key and Arwen.

Combat:

Dain defends the Nameless Beast with 5 def. Dicards Dwarven Tomb. +1 att. (Pipe saves). Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect. No damage. Dain readies with Unexpected Courage.

Dain defends the Troll with 5 def. Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect. 1 damage on Dain.

Gimli defends the spider with 2 def. Spends 1 resource to ready Dain. Shadow is Ransacked Supplies. Discard the Elvenking. No damage.

Legolas attacks the beast with 4 att. Defeats it.

Dain and both miners attack the spider with 4 att defeating it.

Refresh:TD 44

Discards 4 cards Mirkwood Long-Knife (piped), Unlikely Friendship (piped), Hidden Cache (adds 2 resources to Legolas) (piped) and Hunting Party.

Turn 13

Draws Bilbo Baggins.

Planning: play Bilbo Baggins (discard Curious Brandybuck)

Play Elven-light from discard pile to draw The Elvenking. Discard Galadriel's Handmaiden.

Quest: commit Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo, Arwen, Curious Brandybuck and both miners. Discard Elven-light to ready Gimli. Arwen buffs Dain's defense. Legolas readies with Unexpected Courage. 13 WP.

Stages Twisted Tunnel. Attaches Thrór's Key (not really sure about the timing of Thrór's Key. I presume it stops Twisted Tunnels when reveal text. It attaches before it completes? Or are you supposed to do the when reveal effects before you place th location in staging?)

Anyway this is game over as threat is going to be 45 and I have the One Ring.

It all went wrong because I didn't ready Legolas and I Lost the Weaver.

I'll tweak and try again. I'm glad I used the Hunting Party but it is useless against enemies that are staged that round. So with this high starting threat lineup it's only going to be useful against the Patrol.

That was a great play through, you almost beat it on your first try with that deck! Nicely done 👍

Cheers, it was a few seconds of terror when playing Hunting Party and then relief once it was gone and nothing worse came out.

https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/16226/smokingpipesafterhuntingorcs-1.0

That was my deck. First draft.

Game 19

All I've tweaked at the moment is to remove 2 Unlikely Friendship and put in 2 Steward of Gondor to put on Legolas.

Heroes are Spirit Dain and Legolas and Tactics Gimli.

Threat Dial 31

50 cards

Draw: Elven-light, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Hidden Cache, Reforged, Reforged and Steward of Gondor.

Mulligan: Galadhrim Weaver, Dwarven Tomb, Ered Luin Miner, Reforged, Unexpected Courage and Curious Brandybuck.

Possibly a worse hand. I should have stuck with Steward and Elven-light.

Setup

Discards 4 cards: Galadriel's Handmaiden, Curious Brandybuck, Unlikely Friendship and Galadhrim Weaver.

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging

Put A Haunt for Beasts in stageing.

Search for the one ring and put it on Dain.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

Turn 1

Draws The Elvenking.

Planning: play The Elvenking on Legolas.

Play Galadhrim Weaver shuffle a Galadhrim Weaver back into deck.

Play Inner Strength on Dain.

Quest: commit Legolas, Gimli and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP

Stages Fearful Shadows. Doomed 1 TD 32. All text boxes are blank.

3 threat vs 4 WP. 1 progress made on stage 1.

The Elvenking returns Galadhrim Weaver to hand to ready Legolas.

Refresh:TD 33

Discards 3 cards: Mirkwood Long-Knife, The Elvenking and Dwarven Tomb.

Turn 2

Draws Dwarven Tomb.

Planning: play Galadhrim Weaver to shuffle back Dwarven Tomb.

Quest: commit Legolas, Gimli and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP.

Stages Twisted Tunnel. Adds Mordor Cave Troll to staging.

8 threat vs 4 WP. TD 37

The Elvenking returns Galadhrim Weaver to hand to ready Legolas.

Play Dwarven Tomb to put Curious Brandybuck in hand.

Travel: travel to Twisted Tunnel. Play 2 copies of Curious Brandybuck for free.

Engagement: Cave Troll engages.

Combat: Dain defends the troll with 4 def. Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect and 2 damage on Dain.

Going to scoop this game as hopeless cause. Really bad Mulligan and start.

I have another deck I'm working on designed to get Hunting Party to hand asap using Heed the Dream and Word of Command.

1 hour ago, asgardianphil said:

Game 19

All I've tweaked at the moment is to remove 2 Unlikely Friendship and put in 2 Steward of Gondor to put on Legolas.

Heroes are Spirit Dain and Legolas and Tactics Gimli.

Threat Dial 31

50 cards

Draw: Elven-light, Galadriel's Handmaiden, Hidden Cache, Reforged, Reforged and Steward of Gondor.

Mulligan: Galadhrim Weaver, Dwarven Tomb, Ered Luin Miner, Reforged, Unexpected Courage and Curious Brandybuck.

Possibly a worse hand. I should have stuck with Steward and Elven-light.

Setup

Discards 4 cards: Galadriel's Handmaiden, Curious Brandybuck, Unlikely Friendship and Galadhrim Weaver.

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging

Put A Haunt for Beasts in stageing.

Search for the one ring and put it on Dain.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

Turn 1

Draws The Elvenking.

Planning: play The Elvenking on Legolas.

Play Galadhrim Weaver shuffle a Galadhrim Weaver back into deck.

Play Inner Strength on Dain.

Quest: commit Legolas, Gimli and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP

Stages Fearful Shadows. Doomed 1 TD 32. All text boxes are blank.

3 threat vs 4 WP. 1 progress made on stage 1.

The Elvenking returns Galadhrim Weaver to hand to ready Legolas.

Refresh:TD 33

Discards 3 cards: Mirkwood Long-Knife, The Elvenking and Dwarven Tomb.

Turn 2

Draws Dwarven Tomb.

Planning: play Galadhrim Weaver to shuffle back Dwarven Tomb.

Quest: commit Legolas, Gimli and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP.

Stages Twisted Tunnel. Adds Mordor Cave Troll to staging.

8 threat vs 4 WP. TD 37

The Elvenking returns Galadhrim Weaver to hand to ready Legolas.

Play Dwarven Tomb to put Curious Brandybuck in hand.

Travel: travel to Twisted Tunnel. Play 2 copies of Curious Brandybuck for free.

Engagement: Cave Troll engages.

Combat: Dain defends the troll with 4 def. Shadow is Hideous Deeps. No effect and 2 damage on Dain.

Going to scoop this game as hopeless cause. Really bad Mulligan and start.

I have another deck I'm working on designed to get Hunting Party to hand asap using Heed the Dream and Word of Command.

Your using Leadership Dain right? Gimli should be questing for 3?

No, it's spirit Dain. I wanted leadership Dain but I needed more spirit resource for the questing and Reforged. I'd have to put in songs or Narvi's Belt otherwise to resource smooth.

Game 20

New line up

50 card deck

Heroes Gimli, Legolas and Radagast (leadership, spirit, lore)

TD 31

Draw: The Elvenking, Word of Command, Longbeard Elder, Ioreth, Hunting Party and Narvi's Belt.

No mulligan.

Setup

Discards 4 cards: Reforged, Longbeard Elder, Narvi's Belt and Heed The Dream.

Put Torech Gorgor Patrol in staging.

Put The Tunnels of Torech Gorgor in staging.

Search for the One Ring and put it on Radagast.

Search for Inner Strength and add to hand.

Turn 1

Draws Galadhrim Weaver.

Planning: play Ioreth.

Play Galadhrim Weaver. Shuffles Heed The Dream back.

Quest: commit, Gimli, Legolas and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP.

Play Hunting Party on Torech Gorgor Patrol. Reveals Mordor Cave Troll.

Stages Firey Chasm.

6 threat vs 4 WP. TD 33

Travel: forced to travel to Firey Chasm.

Engagement: Mordor Cave Troll engages.

Combat: Radagast defends the troll with 3 def. Shadow is Crumbling Passage. No effect. 3 damage on Radagast.

Ioreth heals Radagast.

Refresh:TD 34

Discards 3 cards: Galadriel, Ranger Spikes and Reforged.

Think the game is now over.

Turn 2

Draws Galadriel

So yeah, Hunting Party isn't really a first turn card. Youbuabe to set up first to be able to take what's comming. So in light of that I don't really need the scout to be a hero I could use scout allies or Fearless Scout attachment.

Planning: play Word of Command to find Steward of Gondor and add to hand.

Play Inner Strength on Radagast.

Quest: commit Gimli, Legolas and Galadhrim Weaver. Legolas discards The Elvenking to ready Radagast. 4WP.

stages Ash Mountain Werewolf.

2 threat vs 4 WP. 2 progress made on Fiery Chasm.

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Combat:

Radagast defends the troll with 4 def. Shadow is A Haunt for Beasts. No effect. 2 damage.

Ash Mountain Werewolf attacks undefended. Shadow is Fiery Chasm. No effect. 4 damage on Gimli. Werewolf discards Longbeard Elder.

Refresh:TD 35

Discards 3 cards: Bofur, Ered Luin Miner (puts into play) and Hunting Party.

Turn 3

Draws Dwarf Pipe.

Planning: play Dwarf Pipe on Gimli. Play Steward of Gondor on Gimli and exhaust it.

Quest: commit Gimli, Legolas and Galadhrim Weaver. 4 WP.

Stages Writhing Shadows. Assigns 3 damage to 2 to Legolas, and 1 to Ered Luin Miner.

0 threat vs 4 WP. 4 progress made. 3 on Fiery Chasm explores it. 1 progress on stage 1. Discards 3 cards: Bilbo, Ered Luin Miner (put into play) and Steward of Gondor. Put 1 resource on TToTG.

Ioreth heals Radagast.

Combat: Radagast defends the Troll with 4 def. Shadow is Ash Mountain Werewolf. No effect. 2 damage on Radagast.

Wounded Ered Luin Miner defends the Werewolf with 1 def. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhaust Ered Luin Miner 2. Defeats Ered Luin Miner 1. Werewolf discards 2 cards: Word of Command and Gloin (Pipe saves)

Refresh:TD 36

Discards 3 cards Hidden Cache. (Adds 2 resources to Gimli.), Hidden Cache (adds 2 more resources to Gimli) and The Elvenking (pipe saves)

Turn 4

Draws Galadriel.

Planning: exhausts Steward of Gondor.

Play Longbeard Elder.

Play Galadriel. Puts Radagast's Staff on Radagast. Reorders: Ioreth, Reforged, Hunting Party and Ranger Spikes.

Play Narvi's Belt on Gimli.

Quest: commit Gimli Legolas, Galadriel, Longbeard Elder and Galadhrim Weaver. Longbeard Elder peeks at Writhing Shadows.

Total WP 8

Stages Writhing Shadows. Deals 3 damage. 2 on Galadriel and 1 on Legolas.

0 threat vs 8 WP. 8 progress made on stage 1.

Combat: Radagast uses his staff to send the Werewolf to Staging. Ioreth heals Radagast.

Radagast defends the Troll with 4 def. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhausts Ered Luin Miner. 2 damage on Radagast.

Refresh:TD 37

Discards 3 cards: Ioreth, Reforged and The Hunting Party (pipe saves)

Galadriel leaves play.

Turn 5

Draws Ranger Spikes.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor. Exhaust Narvi's Belt to give Gimli Lore.

Play Ranger Spikes in staging.

Quest: commit Gimli, Legolas, Longbeard Elder and Galadhrim Weaver. 6 WP. (Not using Longbeard's response.)

Stages Nameless Beast. Ranger Spikes catches it.

3 threat vs 6 WP. 3 progress made on stage 1.

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Combat: Radagast uses his staff to send the Werewolf back to staging.

Ioreth heals Radagast.

Radagast defends the Troll with 4 def. Shadow is Crumbling Passage. No effect. 2 damage on Radagast.

Refresh:TD 38

Discards 3 cards: Hidden Cache (adds 2 resources to Gimli), The Elvenking and Dwarf Pipe (pipe saves)

Turn 6

Draws Heed the Dream.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Exhaust Narvi's Belt to give Dain lore.

Play Heed the Dream. Puts Galadhrim Weaver into hand.

Plays Galadriel. She puts Dwarf Pipe on Longbeard Elder. Reorders Ered Luin Miner, Narvi's Belt, Gloin and Galadhrim Weaver.

Quest: commit, Gimli, Longbeard Elder, Galadhrim Weaver and Galadriel. 8WP.

Stages Torech Gorgor Patrol.

6 Threat vs 8WP. 2 progress made on stage 1

Engagement: Ash Mountain Werewolf engages.

Combat: Radagast uses his staff to send the Werewolf to staging. Ioreth heals Radagast.

Radagast defends the Troll with 4 def. Shadow is Spawn of Shelob. Exhaust a character. Uses Inner Strength to cancel. TD39. 2 damage on Radagast.

Legolas and Ered Luin Miner attack Cave Troll with 4 att. Deals 1 damage.

Refresh:TD 40

Discards 3 cards: Ered Luin Miner (put into play), Narvi's Belt (piped) and Glóin (piped)

Galadriel leaves play.

Turn 7

Draws Galadhrim Weaver.

Planning: exhaust Steward of Gondor.

Play both Galadhrim Weavers. Shuffles back in Galadriel and Heed The Dream.

Quest: commit Longbeard Elder, and 3 Galadhrim Weavers. 5 WP.

Stages Lost in the Dark. Puts top 10 cards under the threat dial. Only leaves 2 cards so...

Game over.

The vibe I'm getting with Hunting Party is not to set it up early. Use unique allies. The warrior part is easy enough.

Also this deck wasn't a good questing deck. If the Troll hadn't turned up it might of worked. However the Troll was going to turn up anyway in turn 1 stageing.

So:

definitely need spirit

Definitely need dwarves (for the pipe) it's a shame there'll be no Dwarven equivalent of Elf-Friend now.

Definitely need leadership resource, unique warrior and unique Scout for hunting Party or their attachment skills.

Back to the drawing board.

Dain Leadership is a must. Thorin and perhaps Leadership Glóin and splash spirit with songs or belt. I've been toying with the idea of tactics Dori to boost def from turn 1. He's in sphere for Dwarven attachments and buffs.

Leadership Dain seems like a good choice, he boosts willpower and can defend great.

Since Under the Ash Mountains is finally on OCTGN I was able to play test it a bit. I had a close defeat with my Caldara Mono Spirit deck, getting just one round short of completing Stage 2, a comparatively easy win with a SpBeregond/TaEowyn/SpGlorfindel Three Hunters + Inner Strength deck and a hard win with my Arwen/Elladan/Elrohir Three Hunters deck.

It's definitely a very hard quest and I dread the moment when we will try to grapple it with our usual 4 players Fellowship.

I got try 3H with Inner Strenght. Now I just have to read on the rulings with the one ring and setup cos I know there was some debate about it. 🤣 🤣