Hi everyone,

As in the topic, after building several decks it seems to me that all my decks lacking the tactics cards and heroes where completely impotent against the adventures. There is no one to kill the monsters, only just questing and healing, etc.

Probably I'm wrong, but although I knew that the game was tough on solo players I'm beginning to be slightly discouraged from playing and buying further APs. The percentage of my wins is laughably low.

I'd be grateful for some suggestions to relive my enthusiasm for this game.

Regards

Kacper

Actually, soloing without Tactics is doable (solo without spirit is much more difficult for example). You'll need Leadership and/or Lore though to beef up your heroes (increasing attack/defense and healing/burning brand). Of course you'll need some non-tactics heroes that are good in fighting like Aragorn, Imrahil, Denethor or Galadriel.

My best success in solo games has actually been with a Spirit/Lore deck, no tactics at all. It is definitely possible to play without Tactics.

With spirit you can keep your threat low. You can attack enemies in the staging area with Dunhere. You can attack with Northern Tracker... And of course you can just bring out plenty of 1 damage allies and combine attacks.

With lore you've got Glorfindel with 3 damage. You've also got Haldir and Gildor who both have great stats all around.

With leadership you've got Aragon who can potentially attack twice a turn with his 3 attack. You've also got Prince Imrahil with 3 attack who can ready himself. Leadership also has several allies with 2 damage as well.

Tactics might be the best at combat, but every sphere has something it excels at. The other spheres are more than capable of keeping up with combat if necessary though.

In fact I would say the exact opposite.. until recently tactics has been the weakest of all the spheres for solo play, and it is still extremely weak even now in many ways... I think Tactics is the weakest sphere in the game at the mo for solo

Though I really love tactics, I have to say that I usually win more without them.

kacek said:

I got this deck from cardgameDB www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php it is by Tragic, and I think it is a pretty good deck.. really fun as well as you have s much "stuff" you can do.. I think he made it compleatly from just a single copy of core as well withc is cool...

Yes, it's possible to win without Tactics cards. I solo'd Rhosgobel with Spi/Lore. Creature and Treachery control are the key in my experience and both spheres provide that. I also love Leadership/Lore and have made decks with those that work well

DurinIII said:

IMO the spirit deck is helpful against each of the scenarios because of it's ability to keep your threat low. Most of the nasty shadow effects don't trigger if your threat is lower than 35 (at least in the coreset adventures).

If you have a leadership hero, Dunedain Mark + Warning are going to increase your fighting abilities a lot.

Btw, is it a special scenario that you have problems against or is it a general problem? For example, I think that tactics is less helpful against JdtA than both the leadership and the spirit sphere (I'm currently trying out my leadership/lore deck against that scenario, and it has become a lot harder for me to defeat it). I had a spirit/lore deck when I was playing against JdTA and I won about 90 percent of my games. Try Eowyn, Eleanor and Beravor (or Bilbo). Gives you a starting threat of 26 (or 25), so you have 4 (5) turns to draw some cards that help you against the troll or lower your threat. If you have Bilbo you should have drawn 16 cards, so you should have Gandalf or Meeting of the Galadrim by then.

Spirit/leadership is designed to challenge THfG. Leadership has it's shining hour against CatC, as I have experienced with my deck, but surely both leadership and spirit should also do well.

leptokurt said:

I am so overwhelmed by this game that I feel like a small hobbit and am still fighting the first adventure. I build new decks just to try how they work in the very first adventure. I think I have gathered some experience with this game after having played the mirkwood for about 50 times, so I will finally try the second adventure today. I'm absolutely terrified with the difficulty level of this adventure (if Passage was 1 I don't want to think what 4 means...), but I hope it will be even more fun than the first one.

Thanks everybody for your help

Kacper

Just a warning: the second adventure from the base set (im sorry i cant remember the name) is one of the toughest solo adventures. Without having any expansions you will most likely need Lore, low threat, and alot of luck.

As others have said, Tactics aren't necessary, but can help alot more in some quest than in others. For instance, untile we get Dunedain Cache comes out, Journey to Rhosgobel might be really hard w/out Tactics as that sphere almost has a monopoly on Ranged and Eagle cards. Hills of Emyn Muil, however, Tactics is almost useless on that quest (mostly Spirit just owns it).

All the spheres have their uses, but Spirit is definitely my "crutch" sphere and the one I have the hardest time playing without.

Svenn said:

Only with help. Aragorn can quest then attack (or defend).

gatharion said:

Oops. Yeah, you're right. Well, that still leaves him doing double duty and being a decent attacker.

I rarely play tactics. In solo it just doesn't have the questing ability and in multiplay it's my least favourite. I'd much rather play Spirit or Lore.

Tactics is, at this point, more of a support sphere. It has some good tricks, but it still lacks balance, so it works far better backing up other spheres than as a leading sphere.

The_Big_Show said:

Yeah, the lack of Questing ability makes solo play with Tactics really tough. (At least with Tactics as your primary Sphere.)

Titan said:

Exactly.

Kingbee said:

Journey down the Anduin gets really easy with more players, but depending on card draws, can be really tough in solo play. Lore and Tactics are the two Spheres I've found the most useful for it. I'm no where near as experienced a player as others here, but if I were to build a deck with Journey Down the anduin in mind, I'd probably go with two Lore Heroes and One Tactic Hero and take my mulligan if i didn't draw a Forest Snare in my opening hand.

I have beaten it with my Tactics/Spirit (eagle-focused) deck. That deck focuses on keeping it's Threat low and killing enemies while they're still in the Staging area. However, it's a really hard deck to win most scenarios with because it has very little questing strength.

Does anyone else find it funny that the "Is it possible to win not using Tactics cards?" and "Is spirit a no brainer?" topics are right next to each other on the forums?

Svenn said:

Yes, I do, but now they probably aren't next to each other anymore.