(Crossposted)

I finally, after almost six months of trying, got my deck to the point where it can reliably beat the first scenario. I was thinking about which quest to do next, when my brain sidetracked and I stated to wonder about the difficulty order of the quests. I know they have numbered difficulty, but I'm interested in your thoughts.

So, who wants to try ranking the quests from easiest to most difficult? I don't have a ton of experience with most of them (well, I have experience losing at them) but I would very much like to hear your opinion. Feel free to omit any that you aren't comfortable ranking, and add any commentary that you may want. I'll take the plunge and list mine first.

From easiest to hardest:

1. Passage Through Mirkwood
2. The Hunt for Gollum
3. The Hills of Emyn Muil
4. Journey Down the Anduin
5. A Journey to Rhosgobel
6. Conflict at the Carrock
7. Escape from Dol Guldur
8. The Massing at Osgiliath

Looking forward to seeing YOUR list!

1. Passage through Mirkwood

2. The HIlls of Emyn Muil

3. Conflict at the Carrock

4. Hunt for Gollum

5. A Journey to Rhosgobel

6. Journey Down the Anduin

7. Escape from Dol Guldur

8. Massing at Osgiliath

For me and my playgroup Conflict never even gets close to being a challenge, which is odd because its supposed to be a level 7. But for whatever reason Journey Down the Anduin is really hard for us, maybe we just never approach the quest correctly haha

For Solo Play:

1. Passage Through Mirkwood

2. Conflict at the Carrock

3. Hunt for Gollum

4. Journey to Rhosgobel

5. The Hills of Emyn Muil

6. Journey Down the Anduin

7. Escape From Dol Guldur

8. Massing at Osgiliath

For Multiplayer:

1. Passage Through Mirkwood

2. Conflict at the Carrock

3. The Hills of Emyn Muil

4. Escape from Dol Guldur

5. Journey to Rhosgobel

6. Hunt for Gollum

7. Journey Down the Anduin

8. Massing at Osgiliath

IMO of course

Solo:

1. Mirkwood

2. Gollum

3. Carrock

4. Hills

5. Anduin

6. Eagle

7. Osgiliath

8. Dol Guldur

Khaden said:

Same thoughts about Carrock for me/us as well. I think Anduin, if you get any +threat Treachery during setup, you get the Hill Troll engaged on turn 1 and you're fairly ill-equipped to deal with him with just your heroes and maybe a couple of allies. Due to his ability, can't throw Snowborn Scouts to defend against him, which is what I always seem to do with the Unique Trolls. Anduin has mostly been make or break during stage 1, either everything goes smooth in which case stages 2 and 3 aren't too much of a problem or the Troll gets us, pumping threat while the staging area gets more and more locations and then the 35+ Treacheries hit.

Solo play:

1. Passage through Mirkwood

2. Hunt for Gollum

3. Conflict at the Carrock

4. Journey down the Anduin

5. Journey to Rhosgobel

6. Massing at Osgiliath

7. Escape from Dol Guldur

Simply based on how often I beat those scenarios, with the caveat that I have not yet beaten Osgiliath or Dol Guldur and their ranking is based on how close I've come so far. Emyn Muil has not yet arrived on these shores.

Based on my experiences.

For Solo:

1. Hunt for Gollum.

2. Passage Through Mirkwood.

3. The Hills of Emyn Muil.

4. Journey to Rhosgobel.

5. Conflict at the Carrock.

6. Journey down the Anduin.

7. Massing at Osgiliath.

8. Escape from Dol Guldor.

For Multiplayer (2 player):

1. Passage Through Mirkwood.

2. Journey down the Anduin.

3. The Hils of Emyn Muil.

4. Journey to Rhosgobel.

5. Conflict at the Carrock.

6. Hunt for Gollum.

7. Escape from Dol Guldor.

8. Massing at Osgilliath.

Dam said:

You know you can get a Hill Troll in Carrock, too. I really wonder about your analysis because it has no bearing with my experience. I really can lose the Carrock, something super wild would have to happen for me to lose against Anduin. It does not often whilst wild things happen frequently in the Carrock, the chances are just so much higher.

I also wonder about Dol Guldur. Solo, almost impossible, yes, 2 player, not a big problem, have not lost in the past 10 or so games. 3+ player is much easier. I actually find Rhosgobel being much harder than Dol Guldur coop.

And both Hunt and Emyn Muil can be a tedious pain, but not that super hard to win against.

1. Mirkwood
2. Emyn Muil
3. Gollum
4. Carrock
5. Anduin
6. Rhosgobel
7. Dol Guldur

This is all in solo. I can't really rate Osgiliath because I haven't played it. I'm almost tempted to put Emyn Muil first, that's how easy I'm finding it. The only thing holding me back from it, is that I haven't played much yet. Rhosgobel, on the other hand, has been laughing at me a lot lately. I really need to play Dol Guldur again, too.

lleimmoen said:

You can, but it's not a dealbreaker like in Anduin because there are no Treacheries that trigger off high threat (killing off you weak and your fodder). Played Carrock again today, never at a single moment was there ever a feeling that a draw for staging would kill us. Of course, with Henamarth + Denethor bottoming out Sacked! and Eleanor (or the Spirit canceller) there for Roasted (so it doesn't reshuffle back, keeping the Sacked! on the bottom as well). Today's game went so smooth, took on the Trolls one by one, hell, even lame Dunhere got to attack a Troll in the staging area, something that almost never works. Gloin was happily taking undefended damage from Misty Mountain Goblins, thus removing progress tokens, then healed back up with Daughter, so paying for Grimbeorn took no time at all (no such help in Anduin). There also only two quest cards and the second requires a massive 1 progress, compared to what, 15 for stage 2 in Anduin (with 3 cards drawn in 2-player) and the final Ambush (which I grant you can be really lame with just some Eastern Crows out there). Tomorrow's play of Carrock features decks with no Miners, so Sacked! are going to stick around (if drawn, can always get them as Shadow Effect for non-trolls) until I can kill off the Unique Trolls. But mostly I think the Treacheries are what leave Carrock so easy, Despair in Anduin can be nasty, stage 1 just as you're about to kill the Troll, suddenly need to quest for another turn, but in Carrock they just buy you more time to prepare, there is no automatic 6-attack, 12-hp Enemy waiting to slap you down (which happens usually turn 2 as three of my decks have starting threat of 29).

1. Passage Through Mirkwood
2. Hills of Emyn Muil
3. Hunt for Gollum
4. Journey Along the Anduin
5. Conflick at the Carrock
6. Journey to Rhosgobel
7. Massing at Osgiliath
8. Escape from Dol Guldur

I still think Dol Guldur is the hardest. I beat Osgiliath solo on my first try. It was a very weird match, I didn't draw a single location from the Encounter deck until the 4th phase, but still easier than any Dol Guldur attempts which is nearly impossible solo. Maybe after a 4 player Osgiliath I'll change my mind.

Marlow said:

In my opinion Dol-Guldor is not design for play solo. This is pure 2 players up quest. But Osgiliath is for solo and more players. So maybe we dont to compare this 2 quests.

Yes i heard there some special 30 cards deck to beat Dol-Guldor solo but is really special case.

lleimmoen said:

I agree with Khaden here. In Carrock you (in general) have time to lower your threat so that you can stay under that 30 point radar. In Anduin, depending on the deck you're playing you only have a couple of turns at the most. Once you're under that radar and you can stay that way, Carrock becomes a piece of cake. Anduin, not so much, as it as tougher lower threat enemies

Conykchameleon, did I read that wrong or did you write the wrong name, but reads like you agree with me that Anduin doesn't give you time and Carrock does. No biggie, just questioning my reading comprehension .

Dam said:

Haha yeah i thought I was getting some credit where it wasn't due right there

But I agree with all those points as well, pretty much my reasoning for why Anduin is harder too. We just milk that first scenario card until we feel like we're ready to take on the trolls. Anduin you get a similar "ambush" affect at the end of the game and it can really dictate whether you win or lose (along with the fact that the rest of the quest gives a ton of more challenges leading up to that ambush)

Okay, sixth and final play in the rotation for Carrock, 6-0 (total 7-0). Today's game was perhaps the closest, mostly due to only getting 1x Gandalf for each deck for threat reduction. Actually lost a hero to Sacked! + Roasted, but had played Landroval that same turn, so Theodred came right back. Both Hill Trolls and Marsh Adder were engaged and killed during stage 1 (they came on during separate turns and each was killed in a single attack). Finally reached stage 2 with threat at 40 for both, so with 2 Trolls each, 46 threat after they attacked. Louis went down first, then Stuart, both that same turn. Quested with everyone to clear Carrock and put enough progress on the quest card to survive Misty Mountain Goblins ability. Grim Resolve everyone up, fodder takes Troll attacks, then Gimli single-handedly kills Morris, Grimbeorn, Legolas, Aragorn and co take out Rupert.

Having gone through the Encounter deck after the game, there is one last point I want to make. Lack of +attack Shadow Effects. While that doesn't seem too big, if I looked right, there are only 2x Wargs in the deck that boost attacks. That means that undefended attacks will almost always do what the stat say, so it is easy and simple to plan for those. In other quests, you have those +1 att (+3 if undefended) that can turn a survivable attack into a hero-killer. This game, Gimli with 2 wounds + Citadel Plate was able to take an undefended attack from a Hill Troll (putting him at 8/9 wounds) with very little risk as one of the Wargs had already been killed. Not sure I'd like to chance it in Anduin for example. Muck Adder's -1 defense and Despair's defender doesn't count defense can be nasty when you're planning on having the defender survive, but against undefended attacks they help nothing at all.

You made a good point about Carrock and shadow effects. The quest would be much harder if other encounter set was used instead of Anduin.

Btw I can't imagine what problems people have with solo gollum. It is almost impossible to lose against this quest.

guciomir said:

Here i agree with you. Lose HFG almost impossible!