I don't have much experience playing with guarded objectives, so I am a little confused. I am trying to play HfG, and am on Quest Card 1B. I quest successfully. I draw from the encounter deck: Signs of Gollum, Hunters from Mordor, and Goblintown Scavengers. I decide to put Signs of Gollum into the staging area.

1. Do the Hunters from Mordor become the guard for the Signs of Gollum, or do I discard the Hunters and Scavengers and draw the next encounter deck card to serve as guard?

2. If the Hunters are used as guard, I have only the Scavengers to discard. Should I draw another encounter card so I have 2 to discard?

3. If the Signs of Gollum are guarded in the staging area, are they "in play"? I.e., are the Hunters stronger as soon as the Signs enter the staging area, even though they are guarded?

Nenya said:

1. no, i discard and draw another

2.as above

3.yes i believe that in play is anywhere in play, whether engaged, guarded or in staging area, so hunters get the effect regardless

rich

Nenya said:

No, If you choose to keep signs of Gollum, you discard the other two and then draw another card from the encounter deck to attach to it. And yes cards in the staging area are considered to be in play and therefore they pump the hunters.

My suggestion is that you try to keep from putting a Signs of Gollum card in play as long as you can so that the hunters are easier to deal with.

Thank you for your help, richsabre and silverhand77. And now I have another question. I draw False Leads. If I have a guarded Signs of Gollum in the staging area (which as you explained is "in play"), and I shuffle it back into the encounter deck to take care of the when revealed effect on False Leads, what happens to the card that was serving as guard?

It stays in the staging area because only the objective is shuffled back into the encounter deck.

I have an equally noob question:

When the quest card instructs you to reveal cards and add them to the staging area, is it legal to choose a treachery card? I am not one hundred percent sure those are ever added to the staging area, just resolved and discarded. Thank you much!

Rev.Joehr said:

In what context? When you reveal a card you resolve it's effect and then do whatever you would normally do with that card... if it's a location, enemy, or objective it goes to the staging area. If it's a treachery card it gets discarded, they cannot be added to the staging area.

How are you "choosing" a card though? If it just says to reveal cards and add them to the staging area you are drawing from the top of the deck, not picking out cards you want.

Svenn said:

I think he means the HfG 1B or 2B quest cards.

And yes, you may choose any from those cards, even if it's a treachery card and even if it's got no effect at all. Call yourself lucky if that happens!