I'm a bit confused: Victory Point awarding cards are to be displayed for the final score. so far, so good.

one could place them near the threat dial. ok

but when the encounter deck runs out of cards - I always noted them down and shuffled them back into the encounter deck?!!! isn't that the way to go? so theoretically I'd meet Hill Troll again, or whatever...

Victory point cards that you defeat or explore are not shuffled back into the encounter deck. That's the big advantage of taking down something with victory points.

ok! cool!!!! but that's different in nightmare mode... see FAQ... )) but thanks, I've been doing it wrong the whole time... (technically, I thought they just went into the discard pile as always...)... playing the game for over 6 months and still learning the rules

No, they are left in victory points pile if you run out on encounter cards. First, the whole intention of victory points would be gone, and second - If you really were to shuffle victory cards back again, you could possibly run into Rhosgobel again, perhaps just shortly before stage 3, and Athelas then couldn't heal Wilyador, because the word "cannot" on Rhosgobel would have priority....)

Oh, Bohemond was faster, but I don't want to delete this reply :-)