Anyone beaten Journey Along the Anduin solo since the new scoring change? I'm curious about how it turned out considering the old start with a low threat and slowly pick off the troll and other enemies tactic would probably add some serious points for rounds.

I tried several times tonight with various decks but couldn't manage a single win. Got to stage two a couple times at about Round 14+. At one point I went through two entire games back-to-back without drawing a single ally in decks that were half allies or more. Terrible luck (or terrible shuffling). I'll get back to it tomorrow.

And don't come in here talking about how easy the scenario is. Tired of hearing it. It is composed of some of the worst encounter cards available so far. Anyone who beats it 100% of the time solo with one core set needs to post video evidence with deck lists and well formatted game logs. I'm not buying the open claims of success anymore. Proof or get out. I could sit here all day claiming I'm a surgeon and I just bought my third vacation home. Words don't mean diddly.

Solo Anduin. Let's go. Show me those scores.

I got a 100 with the old Rohan deck ( I thought I'd go easy on myself for the first try with the new scoring system). Eowyn, Theodred, Dunhere. But that's the easy way with that scenario, I usually try to give myself a challenge by switching up what I'm playing with (it seems like some people just play the Rohan deck every time).

Yeah I've been steering away from Rohan for replays. Use it to knock out a scenario once, then try to mix it up a bit and go with something different. I'm also fond of leaving Gandalf out cause I hate the idea that he's a must have. I don't like must haves.

Had two losses a couple days ago vs. Dead Marshes using decks without a heavy Rohan presence. Both ended at Threat 50, one in 8 rounds and one in 11.

Need to crack this Anduin nut. Might need to go really ally heavy and just try to beat it to death. No finesse. I'm tired of Spirit.

Hi Buddy,

I guess some people just redraw till they got the perfect starting hand and don't call it loosing. Other than that, I don't see 100% happening, ever.

Once the troll is ensnared, it's pretty much close to certain victory. The problem is, every time he swings at an hero he can potentially outright lose you the game (shadow: ignore armor or +1 damage).

I'm doing this with Lore / Leadership (Bilbo, guy who puts 1$ on a questing hero, guy who gets 1$ per damage on him). The starting thread is low so I've got some time to get an forrest trap. Also I'm drawing a ton cards which helps getting it faster. Like I said, when you manage to ensnare him the rest is a cakewalk. Before that though you can pretty much lose quite fast and unexpected by some unlucky shadow cards. My best score is 149, havnt tried to improve it yet.

Narsil0420 said:

I have only started to play Rohan deck recently, and just because of the theme. And it works well, yes, the best way solo right now, probably, at least most of the quests, not Rhosgobel, for instance.

I do run 2 other deck frequently or at the same time when playing coop.

The dollar guys are in Middle-earth called Théodred and Glóin.

Using a spirit/lore deck (Eowyn, Dunhere, Bilbo, using HfG + CatC) I managed to win 50 percent of my games. The score ranged from 133 to 199. Before that I played tactics-lore deck (Gimli, Legolas, Bilbo) which had some problems with this scenario (do not put a dwarf, an elf and a hobbit on a boat! ), but rocked against HfG and CatC.

I think I used another spirit/lore deck when I played JdtA first when I only had the core set. Eleanor, Dunhere and Beravor with a starting threat of 25 allowed me to win about 80 percent of the games.

lleimmoen said:

Haha

leptokurt said:

80% wins doesn't do anything for me just like 9% unemployment rate in the US doesn't do anything to solve the economic troubles (it's much higher than 9%). There's more to the story, and I want the more. I've played with that hero combo, I've played with just about every hero combo at this point. It gets to the point where nothing is happening except my threat is going up and up and up. I only own five threat reducers, the two Greetings and 3x Gandalf who I don't even include in every deck because he's an attention &^%$#. There are many games where I don't draw any of those five threat reducers out of a 50 card deck. I rarely get through half my deck even with Beravor doing nothing but drawing. Anduin drives the pain train at you from round one. There's no time to dilly dally and build up the perfect hand and perfect wall of allies that some people seem to describe. It would take a miracle series of draws and about 20 rounds. I don't buy it.

Score range of 133-199 is the kind of info I'm looking for. I think scenarios like Anduin are going to finish with considerably higher scores on average than some other scenarios, scenarios people have claimed to beat in round 3.

We must endeavor to break the barrier and score the lowest score ever for Anduin (after the scoring change) and provide deck details other than which heroes we used. It's a moral imperative.

Next up for me is a possible quad sphere deck using the songs and Boromir, Imrahil, and Denethor. High starting threat but if I can get out a cheap blocker for the troll I think they can tag team him. The cheap blocker would be exiting, standing Imrahil. High starting threat will be going higher though with Boromir. I might have to call Gandalf's agent and arrange a public appearance. The songs are necessary when no hero is present for a resource match but they take up valuable deck space. I might grab as many allies of cost 2 or lower that can fit but I feel dirty using Rohan characters as I already know Rohan is strong like bull.

Back to the command center! Lower scores!

Sometimes when I finish a game with the new scoring system I feel like i'm not very good at the game anymore cause my score is so much higher than before, it's kind of depressing. I haven't tried Anduin with the new scoring system but I am sure that my score will be high and I will once again feel like I suck. Oh well

Marlow said:

Marlow said:

Do you only own the coreset or some of the expansions, too? Because scoring the lowest score ever without knowing your opportunities doesn't do anything for me just like knowing that some Hobbit has my ring... but these little bastards all look the same.

Btw, IMHO "3x Gandalf who I don't even include in every deck because he's §%§/&§ " is not compatible with "score the lowest score ever for Anduin". At all. And what do you mean with "only fvie threat reducers"? In more than 75 percent of your games you should have one of them in your starting hand!

So, what can I say to help you? Well, I might not be a genius, but I think it's safe to assume that Protector of Lorien in combination with Beravor or Bilbo should be essential to get a good score in this scenario. And use Gandalf (if he's in your deck, that is) to hit the troll, thread reduction is not as essential as it had been (I wonder if it would be even ok to play this scenario without Greeting of the Galadrim).

I own all released adventure packs and 1 core set. It doesn't matter what I own, I'm challenging everyone to take on Anduin after the scoring change. So get to work.

I don't want to see "you should be drawing this 75% of the time in your opening hand." It never works that way. Ever. I've been playing card games for too long at this point to rely on figures. Think practically and realistically instead of crunching numbers.

Is Gandalf truly needed for the lowest possible score? That is a valid point you bring up. Let's build decks and find out.

Less theory, more scoring. Onward, comrade citizens!

I want us to score below 100. That's our target right now. If it can be done without Gandalf and Galadhrim's Greetings, awesome. Say with a generous final threat of or near 40, that would be 5 rounds. Can Anduin be successfully completed in 5 rounds? If no, then a lower threat must be established or more victory points. Going to get at least the VP from the first Troll.

A toast, with my orange soda, to strong starts and no dead heroes.

I've only been playing since the scoring changed, but I've been playing a lot since I started. I play mostly solo, and I only have one Core Set.

That said, the best score I've managed against Journey Down the Anduin is 121, and that was with Éowyn, Glóin, and Gimli.

My second best score was 130 with Éowyn, Denethor, and Glorfindel.

My third best score was 141 with Aragorn, Théodred, and Legolas.

My scoring is 193. Is not so good actually. But with deck i dont think it can be better. Maybe the best is 140 or something. Yes you can make a deck against certain quest and try to get best scores.... If this will be tournament system i pass.

juicebox said:

Good stuff. You're doing better than I am. I played over a dozen games tonight at least and lost every. single. one. Badly.

I was determined to get a Tactics/Lore deck to do it, without any Spirit, without Gandalf. Couldn't do it. Even with my main man Gimli who can actually take a full hit from the Troll and survive. Tinkered, adjusted, tried again. Tinkered, adjusted, tried again. I managed to draw Forest Snare once and that was in a game where I decked myself and lost due to a slow threat death. I need resource generation.

So I gave in and went back to Leadership/Spirit. Lost again.

Gave up even further and went to Emyn Muil to try and salvage some dignity. Ended up with a final score of 199. Brutal. Nothing I could do about it, I had to wait for victory point locations to actually hit the table.

I know what I have to do to beat Anduin. I've beaten it. I don't want to do it. I want to find another route. So far it hasn't happened.

Back to the drawing board!

I just played it with my new combo of Dunhere, Frodo and Bilbo. Results were 126, 187 and 115.

In the last game I had a few lucky draws from the encounter deck. I started against Gladden Fields and the Hill Troll, but I had Henemarth Riversong right from the beginning. I used his action every round, which helped a lot because the first two cards from the encounter deck were Pursued by Shadows. By round 3 my threat was at 29, but I could use Galadrim's Greeting to bring it down to 23. In the meanwhile I had played Eomund as an ally and Burning Brand on Bilbo.

The encounter deck then spilled out the Goblin Snipers who were immediatly killed by Dunhere.

In round 4 I got Treacherous Fog (yeah!) and made some more progress in the quest. Dunhere sang the Song of Wisdom.

In round 5 the Beastmaster of Dol Guldur approached who didn't care about my party but was attacked by Dunhere nonetheless (2 damage).

During round 6 I had to cross another Treacherous Fog, and afterwards the Beast Master was killed by Dunhere. I was able to play Rivendell Mistress before and thus got Song of Kings. I put it on Frodo who immediatly named himself Steward of Gondor, got a Favour by the Lady and gave a Dunedain Mark to Dunhere.

In round 7 a band of Misty Hill Goblins attacked my party, but they were deflected by the mighty Bilbo and killed by Dunhere and Eomund.

Round 8 saw the battle against the Hill Troll. Gandalf himself damaged the troll badly before the fight even started. He absorbed the troll's attack while my remaining party, now supported by a Northern Tracker, slaughtered the poor troll. Henemarth was killed and Eomund wounded by The Necromancer's Reach which proofed that questing is sometimes more dangerous than fighting trolls.

Round 9 again delivered my a lucky draw from the encounter deck: Banks of the Anduin and Evil Storm. I played Longbeard Mapmaker. Gandalf and Faramir joined my party using a Sneak Attack. Farmir performed his awesome action and supported the questing crew which consisted of Frodo (4 WP), Northern Tracker (2), the Mapmaker (2), Eomund (3), the Mistress (3) and Gandalf (5).

I immediatly travelled to stage 3B and was confronted with some Wargs and the Necromancer's Path. Dunhere and Bilbo didn't give a **** about the latter. They both decided not to defend against the Wargs so Frodo used his powers to absorb the three points damage. The Wargs tried to flee (no shadow effect), but Dunhere got them just when they felt they were safe.

My final threat level was at 32, plus 90 points minus 7 points for the Hill Troll and the Gladden Fields = 115 points.

I really had a good time with the encounter deck in this game. Six (!) treachery cards, all of them doing me little to none harm, three locations of which only the Gladden Fields were a threat and only four enemies of which I could kill two before they could attack me. Getting 2x Sneak Attack to use the Faramir/Gandalf combo was the cherry on the cake, of course.

Of course the encounter deck took revenge immediately.

Starting card: Enchanted Stream

1st encounter: Wolf Rider + Brown Lands

I have no allies, I have nothing to cancel the threat of Brown Lands, my threat rises to 30. In the second round I draw the Marsh Adder which seals the deal.

I haven't played Journey at solo only 2 players games.

Last weekend we played it few times. We played 1-Glorfindel, Beravor and Theodred; 2-Legolas, Eowyn and Dunhere. First 4 games we were defeated at the middle of 2b stage with no chances. There were a lot of enemies: both trolls, marsh, chieftan and others. And our draw was very unsuccessful. But next day we played same decks and defeated this quest with 140 points! We had neither dead nor even wounded heroes. We had 68 total threat, 18 victory in 9 rounds. But I should admit that we had just amazing draw. Again lot of enemies but excellent draw: 3 forest snares (for both trolls and marsh). At the end of game I had threat 48 (2 Trolls by 5 threat each), 2 Sneak attacks, no one Gandalf in game but lots of cards (Beravor + Gleowyn). And then I draw Gandalf, -10 threat during round, and in last round I again bought Gandalf; healed every heros with Glorfingel, Daughter of the Nimrodel and Self Preservation on Beravor and defeated it. It was very lucky draw!

But the easier variant for this quest for 2 players game is simple Core Tactics+Spirit. 1 player Tactics and second is Spirit. We defeated this quest with such deck mostly every time we tried (maybe 1-2 loses in 10+ games).

leptokurt said:

That might be the best we can hope for. Below 100 might require more luck than the Encounter deck will allow. I'm going to keep trying. This is my way of retiring the Core scenarios before Khazad Dum hits.

I'm toying with an idea to try and take on and kill the Troll by Round 2 but I don't know if I'm dreaming. Building up before dealing with him adds to the number of rounds but starting with strong heroes that might be able to handle him adds to Threat. I think adding to the starting Threat may be better than adding unnecessary rounds at 10 points a pop. But then I'll have to use G. Greetings and Gandalf to recover. Maybe.

*returns to the mad scientist's laboratory on sub-level 6*

I have to say... this new scoring system is making people actually discuss scores and ways to lower them. That's already a plus for me I think.

And what is more, people are encouraged to play more aggresively, which sometimes can turn out pretty badly.

Do you imagine (old scoring) anyone who would rush to meet the troll? Most people were delaying this for hours and the quest was not giving much fun. But now, when delaying is not a valid strategy, Anduin suddenly become very interesting and harder.

I like to think of it as the "LEEROY JENKINS!!" effect.

I wasn't a fan of stalling for glory even before the scoring change. I like to defeat my opponents by breaking their fists with my face.

And like the temperature outside, I'm no fan of triple digits. 99 on solo Anduin or bust.

Make it so, Number One.

Marlow said:

Well, my face is sore...

I just took my first attempt(s) with a Rohan deck (Éowyn, Théodred, Dúnhere - 1 core set only) against Journey Down the Anduin.

The first 4 games were a bust in one way or another. Determination set in.

I finally won it with a final score of 193. (Final Threat of 40, Turn 16, +Damage, -Victory Points)

And those victory points included 2 Hill Trolls and a Marsh Adder. Yikes!

Conclusions: The Rohan trio must have their place somewhere, but I think it may not be on the shores of the Anduin with only one Core Set to deck build.

Is it sick that I kind of want to try again now though...?

Actually some people have 1 core sets. Some people have 2 core sets. Some people have 3 core sets. So i have 2 core set. So it means i have always better chance against the people who have 1 core set right???? So this scores not really fair.

If my deck have 3 northern tracker and 2 Dwarven tomb(2 core set) i have better chance to win anyway. So here is also some tricks about what kind of format we play for now. Sure with 1 core set game more interesting and hard but with 2 or 3 core set more chance to win and get better scores right???