Good day,

After my first playthrough in the game, there were a few issues that arose. Could you please enlighten me?

1. Concerning the “Quick Strike” event, can I use it to attack an enemy who is in the staging area or do I have to be engaged with it?

2. When I attack an enemy with the above event, do I deal a Shadow card to my adversary?

3. Do I reveal a card during the Staging step of the Quest phase even if I did not commit any character beforehand?

4. Does the Quest Resolution step of the above phase resolve, even if I haven't got characters committed to the quest? If, for instance, a location with threat 2 is in the staging area and there are no characters committed, does the threat raise by 2?

5. Do I deal Shadow cards to enemies engaged who are prevented from attacking, i.e. by a card such as Forest Snare?

6. During the Combat phase, may I attack an enemy who attacked in the previous stage of the phase? I guess so, otherwise I would only be able to attack only once in a while and only against opponents forbidden from attacking.

7. Do enemies exhaust?

Thanks.

Serazu said:

1. No, unless you use Dunhere to attack. This is answered in the new FAQ from FFG I believe. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=129&esem=4

2. No, because only you attack.

3. You do reveal a card whether you commit somebody or not.

4. Yes

5. Yes

6. Yes

7. It would´t matter..........you can exhaust them to indicate if they already attacked you or not...........otherwise it´s useless.

Thanx. Two more questions:

1. I may use an action that does not demand to exhaust somebody / something, as many times as I can, as long as I am able to pay the cost, right? i.e., if Protector of Lorien is attached to my hero, I may discard all the cards in my hand, to give him the equivalent number of Will / Def, in the form of Action + Action etc. Am I correct?

2. When I use the Strider's Path event, do I skip the Quest resolution?

Serazu said:

1. Yes

2. No, up until now you never ever skip quest resolution...........maybe there´ll come a time in the future where we can.

I'm fairly certain that if an enemy is forbidden from attacking (Feint, Forest Snare, etc) then they do not get a Shadow card, as a Shadow card is dealt to attackers only (same reason you wouldn't deal a Shadow card to the victim of a Quick Strike).

Engaged enemies always get shadow cards, whether they can attack or not. From the rules (p. 18):

"At the beginning of the combat phase, the players deal 1 shadow card to each engaged enemy. Deal the top card of the encounter deck, face down, to each engaged enemy."

This is stated before the section "Resolving enemy attacks" and the four steps involved in an enemy attack.

Merry Christmas to everybody!

Engaged enemies always get shadow cards, whether they can attack or not. From the rules (p. 18):

"At the beginning of the combat phase, the players deal 1 shadow card to each engaged enemy. Deal the top card of the encounter deck, face down, to each engaged enemy."

This is stated before the section "Resolving enemy attacks" and the four steps involved in an enemy attack.

1. Concerning "Quick Strike" though, I do not deal a Shadow card to target enemy, right? Unless of course it's the beginning of the combat phase, in which case everything resolves according to rules and of course it's a bad idea to use the event anyway.

2. When effects state "deal X damage to..." I deal the full X damage without reduction due to Defense. Correct?

Serazu said:

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

1. Are Shadow cards considered in play?

2. Concerning the 2B quest card of the the Hunt for Gollum, what happens if, while resolving the Forced effect, draw 2 Treacheries?

3. In the above case, what if I draw an Enemy / Location and a Treachery? May I opt to discard the Enemy or Location and keep the Treachery?

One more question:

What if I defeat the attached enemy or explore the attached location on Signs of Gollum, but opt not to take the clue? Will it just stay in the staging area waiting for me to pick it up if I beat a quest, without further interaction with the game? If another Signs comes into play will it interact with the old Signs in any way?

1. not 100% on this, but i would say technically yes but overall no as you disregard all other text on the card apart from the shadow underneath the line, although if it is a card like wolf rider then things change as the card itself is in play after it is drawn as a shadow card

2. and 3. i believe you can chose here, the text doesnt really state otherwise

4. yes it remains there unguarded till you quest sucessfully and pick it up, the only iteraction i can think of is that it still adds to hunters from mordor statistics buff

1. Let’s say then that I pick a Location and a Treachery. The staging area is full of Locations and I do not want another one. I decide to choose the Treachery. I discard the Location. Am I forced to resolve the Treachery? I ‘m asking because, technically, Treacheries do not enter the staging area, which is exactly what the Quest dictates. Cannot I just initially pick the Treachery and then discard it without ever resolving its effect? I know it's like cheating and I sound like a complete ass, I 'd like to know nonetheless.

2. Successfully questing means beating the quest resolution during the Quest phase, right?

3. Legolas's effect, for instance, does not count as successfully questing, right?

4. If I beat the quest resolution step, but put my progress tokens in an active location, this still counts as successfully questing, right?

5. Concerning my question regarding the Signs, it remains there unguarded, ok. What if another Signs enters play? I do not re-guard the original Signs, right? The "If another objective...the original keyword effect." phrase in the first paragraph under "Guarded" (Rules of Play, pg. 24) is irrelevant here, since it refers to a different instance, correct?

The text on a shadow card (including the card title and keywords) are ignored (considered blank) except those under the shadow line. So technically it is considered in play, but currently no shadow cards have effect beside its shadow effect.

Serazu said:

If you select a treachery card, it is revealed so it has to be resolved and then enters the encounter discard pile.

Serazu said:

Page 14 of the rulebook says, "If the [Will Power] is higher, the players ave successfully quest, ..." So if and only if the Will Power is higher than the Threat, it is considered successfully quested. Legolas's effect does not count as successfully quested, and to where the progress tokens are put has no relation with the status of successfully quested or not.

Serazu said:

Yes, it says, "If another objective card comes up WHILE attaching a card for the guarded keyword,...", so it is another situation entirely.

1. Concerning the "Surge" keyword, the rules state that it applies at the staging step of the Quest phase; this effectively means that if I put to the staging area a card with that keyword, following the instructions on the first two quests of Hunt for Gollum, "Surge" does not apply, since this happens outside the staging step. Correct?

2. Cards with the "Victory X" keyword that I defeat are set aside for score calculation and are not re-shuffled if the Encounter deck runs out of cards. Correct?

3. If I explore a Location with the aforementioned keyword with the Northern Tracker's ability, I still get the card. Right?

4. Is there a specific moment during the Quest phase that the encounter deck, if depleted, is re-shuffled and put back to the game or does it happen at any moment, as long as it's the Quest phase? The rules make no mention to a specific moment, so I guess it happens at the exact instance the deck runs out of cards during the Quest phase. If it was depleted before, then, the moment the Quest phase begins, the discard pile is re-shuffled into a new deck. Right?

5. There is neither a draw cap nor a cap as to how many cards I may have in hand. Right?

Serazu said:

1. new faq states it should be played at ALL times, including set up- same goes for doomed x

2.yes, otherwise emyn muil would be nigh on impossible (all locations are victory x and you collect them)

3.yes

4.as soon as it runs out in the quest phase, i dont see anything to state otherwise

5.there is no limit, but once it is depleted it is gone for good

In my last The Hunt for Gollum playthrough I drew a Signs of Gollum. I drew again to satisfy the "Guarded" keyword. I drew another Signs. Following the rules, I temporarily set it aside so as to draw again to put a card on the original Signs and then to draw once more to put a card on the second Signs. The card I drew was a Treachery with the "Surge" keyword. I resolved it, discarded it (and thus dealt with the original Signs) and drew again as the "Surge" dictates. The Location I drew, I put it on the second Signs to satisfy its "Guarded" keyword. Did I do the right thing or that Location entered play exclusively to satisfy the "Surge" of the card I previously drew and I should have just put it on the staging area and draw once more to satisfy the second Sign's "Guarded" keyword? To put it short, did I draw a card less?

so basically you used the surged card to guard? if this is the case then i would say you drew one card too short...if you tallied the cards you needed to draw at that time, you would end up with the amount that you did, plus 1 more that you didnt which satisfys the surge keyword

if the actual case is that you DO use the surged card then i would find this a strange rule as it effectivly makes the surge effect useless in that scenario

Serazu said:

I think you did draw one card short. The last card you drew was there exclusively to satisfy the surge effect. You needed one more to satisfy the guarded effect on the objective. Generally, one action cannot be used to satisfy two separate effects.

Thank you for your answers. One more question:

Is there a negative modifier on threat or does the minimum possible is zero? Logic dicates that it cannot be less than zero (what's the meaning of being minus concerning threat after all, go to Sauron's door and yell "here I am"?). I know that counting score can lead to negative numbers, but I 've always presumed minimum threat to be no less than zero.

By the way, Hunt for Gollum is exceptionally easy with a Spirit / Lore deck. Nice playthrough but absolutely no challenge.

no i wouldnt think it can go into minus, theres nowhere in the rules or on the threat tracker to show this, also as the cards stand there is nothing that can bring it to zero

even with three 7 cost heros (21) and using galadhrims greeting 3 times in a row for the first 3 rounds that would still make (24-18) 6 threat.

If a Signs with a guardian card attached is in play and False Lead is revealed, is the guardian card discarded when the clue is shuffled back into the deck? I 'd say yes, since it's supposed to be attached to Signs, right?

Never mind, the FAQ state that it remains in play.

yes im pleased you found that one, as i would have said that it remains in play

1. To the River Quest card: I had already 8+ progress tokens on the quest card, an active location, but I had yet to beat the Troll. I beat it. I automatically advanced to the next quest card. What should have happened to the active location? I discarded it. Was it right on my behalf or should it had been left in play as an active location to the next quest card?

2. Dol Guldur Beastmaster: The card text and the FAQ state that when chosen as an attacker, another Shadow card is dealt to it. Suppose that it's engaged along another enemy of, let's say, 20 engagement cost. Which should be the correct order shadow cards are dealt during the next phase? I suppose it goes like this: The uppermost card in the deck goes to the Dol, the one right below it goes to the other enemy, then, when the Dol is chosen as an attacker, it gets the next card on the deck. Correct?

3. When card effects force me to discard progress tokens from the current quest, this means firstly take them from the active locations and if there are no locations active, the quest card. Right?

Serazu said:

1. think you shoulda' left that one in play (edit: have doubled checked and yes it does- otherwise ive been playing it wrong for months)

2.i think you are correct but i would wait for more input on that one

3.no from the quest only i google this and this came up from the FAQ

Removing Progress Tokens from Quests
When a card effect removes progress tokens from a
quest or quest card, the effect applies specifically to the
quest card, and never to the active location.

note though that when a card states ADD to current quest,(legolas) then you add to the current location as it acts as a buffer still

Serazu said:

1. The location stays active until it's explored, so you should have left it in play.

2. You play the second card when the Beastmaster attacks, so you're correct (not that it really matters).

3. In this case you don't have to remove them from locations. Say you have 2 tokens on a location and none on your quest and you get the Misty Mountain Goblins as a shadow card, nothing would happen. It's also in the FAQ:

(1.05) Removing Progress Tokens from Quests
When a card effect removes progress tokens from a
quest or quest card, the effect applies specifically to the
quest card, and never to the active location.

About your question regarding guarded attachments, I let the guarding cards stay in play. Again, this is handled in the FAQ:

(1.17) Unclaimed Objectives
An unclaimed objective is one that is not currently
claimed and under the control of a player. An
unclaimed objective can be guarded or unguarded.
A guarded objective is treated like an attachment if
guarded by an enemy or location, and remains attached
to that card until it leaves play, at which point it will
return to the staging area. Any unclaimed objective
in the staging area that is not attached to a card is
considered to be unguarded. If an objective is claimed
at one point, and then returns to the staging area, it
regains the status of unclaimed.

So the objective card is attached to the guard, and not the other way around. In your examp,e the guard would simply loose its attachment.