Can you guys please share with me your decks for solo return to mirkwood? I have beaten it a few times but still find it extremely hard. What strategies do you use? I would be interested in seeing what you guys are doing.
Solo Deck for Return to Mirkwood?
iGaveHimLife said:
Can you guys please share with me your decks for solo return to mirkwood? I have beaten it a few times but still find it extremely hard. What strategies do you use? I would be interested in seeing what you guys are doing.
This one is quite difficult for solo game. But you should use spirit GGreetings+Dwarven Tomb+Gandalf to reduce your threat level.And move quite quickly as well if possible Then you can win.
Otherwise depend a lot on luck......
honestly......the only deck i have beaten it with is mono spirit....i just fly through it and hope nothing bad shows up....i mean solo you have about 6 turns to do it in before it gets to 50
can u post your decks please?
iGaveHimLife said:
can u post your decks please?
ok something along this line.....note that you'll need all packs from the mirkwood cycle but if you have RTM then ill assume you have at least most?anyways....as you can see its not rocket science with mine....basically willpowerwillpowerwillpower, and then more willpower for good measure...i did this because as a soloer you have 4 threat every turn added...its a big rush
EOWYN/DUNHERE/FRODO
Neutral cards:
Gandalf x 3
Shadow of the past x 3
Spirit cards:
ALLY:
northern tracker x 2
lorien guide x 2
escort from edoras x 3
riddermarks finest x 3
west road traveller x 2
eomund x 3
elfhelm x 3
westfold horsebreaker x 3
ATTATCHMENT:
unexpected courage x 1 (its all i have but ideally 3)
favour of the lady x 2
power in the earth x 2
nor am i a stranger x 2
EVENT:
a test of will x 2
hasty stroke x 2
ride to ruin x 3
dwarven tomb x 1
astonishing speed x 3
fortune of fate x 1
strength of will x 2
stand and fight x 2
Awesome thanks I'll try it out!
iGaveHimLife said:
Return is not really achievable to play yet solo imo. Once the card pool gets larger and the power creep makes the quest easier I think it will become a legit solo game, for now though it just isn't.
The only way to really beat this quest, as people have said already, is to make a Rohan super questing deck and basically beeline for the finish as fast as possible and hope you get a good encounter draw. This is of course NOT playing the game. You do not really do anything, your deck building is next to meaningless as you draw like a tiny portion of your cards, the scenario is won or lost on pure luck. What you are basically doing is just drawing encounter cards, if it is a bad one you loose if you get a good draw you win.. There is no "playing".. no decision making.. just place quest power toons and hope you get though in time.
That is ******* stupid.
As I said once the card pool gets larger power creep may make this quest worth playing solo, but for now it is easily the worst solo game, yes, worse than Guldur, as I think that is a legitimate quest.
I've made a small rule modification that you can do to the rules to make this quest much more fun for solo players.
1) Make the card "Woodsmen Glade" remove 2 threat after exploration for solo games. At the moment this card has no effect for solo players.
2) I also have a custom rule for the Gollum card itself.. it sounds complex, but it really isn't... Basically Gollum adds 1 threat every round to your normal per turn threat gain. Though you also add 3 counters to Gollums card. Every time you hit 5 counters, you add 2 threat instead. If you have 4 counters on Gollum and add 3, you only need 1 to make 5, so remove all counters and add 2. In other words the excess counters carry on.. exactly like quest counters spilling over from travel location to the main quest...
It breaks down into a 5 turn cycle.... and looks like this....
1 - ??? - 1 Threat (3 counters is less than 5 so you get the default 1 Threat)
2 - ???-?? = 2 Threat (There was three counters, so you add 2 this makes it 5.. so you add 2 threat this round. You still have one counter left over so you place that)
3 - ?-??? = 1 Threat (There is 1 counter left from last round, you add 3, it is under 5.. so default 1 threat)
4 - ????-? = 2 Threat (There is 4 counter left from last round, add 3 counter. Adding 1 counter makes 5.. so add 2 threat, and leave the other 2 on the card)
5 - ??-??? = 2 Threat (There is 2 counters on the card, add 3, this is 5, so you add 2 threat)
6 - The pattern repeats.
It looks kinda complicated when I type it out.. but it is really simple.. just place a counters on Gollum.. if there is 5, add 2 threat instead of 1. Extra counters over 5 spill to next round
Anyway.. what this dose is about 1/2 the threat gain from Gollum. By default rules over 5 round you gain 15 threat. This method you only gain 8. Also it is a little lopsided, so you get some round that are "less stress" as lower threat gain.
And that is it, this is my custom rules for this as a solo quest. I strongly suggest you try it. By slowing down the threat gain, and allowing the threat reduction cards that only function in multioplayer games to work in solo the entire game lasts longer and allows you to enjoy the experience of building a deck and facing the challenged of the encounter deck and PLAYING the game, witch at the moment is NOT what happens when you build a super quest spirit deck.
Give it a go, make a deck, fight those monsters, explore and have fun... something I think is not possible in the original version. I am open to improvements to this if you have any.
i see your point but i disagree.....this is a tense quest and that brings the fun....knowing that 1 bad encounter card draw and its over, i agree though, this is certainly not for solo, unless the quest designer was on some serious long bottom leaf at the time.
ps what happened to your post??
Return is the best solo quest that we have so far. I killed dozen attercops , died due to threat quite a lot of times, but every game was a great fun. My Legolas - Theodred - Eowyn hold around 33% win rate against this scenario and I played a lot of games, so those numbers are not based on guessing. I can post a deck list during the weekend, I play localized version of the game so I need to compare the card names. (hint: Legolas shines in this quest as he pushes the quest very hard toward the final goal, and he gives you ability to instant win of 4th stage if there is a single weak enemy in the field)
Yes, I finally beat RTM! Tried with my usual decks, but gave up. So I adapted richsabre's mono-spirit-fly-through-quest-cards strategy and added Denethor for encounter deck control, so spirit/lore now.
Heroes: Eowyn (necessary for that strategy), Denethor (likewise) and Frodo (cheap, indestructable blocker, good quester). Starting threat: only 24.
Final threat: 48 in round 6, no dmg, no VP, so score of 98. Little bit worse than your 84 result, richsabre, but hey, I finally beat RTM solo! :-)
A log and the decklist is below (deck still tweakable). Used more than 1 core set. Won 2 games out of 6 or 7 games, so the win ratio is not too bad. At least for RTM. This deck will probably suck at other quests, especially Rhosgobel. Usually I like to build one-deck-to-rule-them, but I'm just not capable of doing that of EfDG and RTM.
Log:
Starting hand: Took a Bombadil/Mulligan because I wasn't satisfied (neither Westroad Traveller nor Unexpected Courage). 2nd one had a Westroad Traveller in it!
Starting encounter: Mountains of Mirkwood.
Round1:
Played: West Road Traveller.
Encounter: Dry Watercourse. (Knew this beforehand with Denethor, left it on top of the enc. deck.)
Everyone capable quested (Frodo, Eowyn, Traveller), discarded a card from hand: 9 WP against 4 threat strength -> 5 progress on 1B.
Travelled to Dry Watercourse.
Round2:
Played: Riddermakr's Finest.
Encounter: Wasted Provisions (most friendly encounter in this adventure), after Attercop had been put on bottom of the ED (puh)!
Quested with the same 3 (Riddermark's Finest left ready in case of enemy showing up). Discarded 1 card: 9 WP against 2 TS -> 7 on 1B (now 10), Dry Watercourse explored.
Travel: Mountains of Mirkwood, revealed Gollum's Bite on Frodo (no Test of Will in hand. Good Hobbit!) -> 32 threat now; 36 after refresh phase.
Round3:
Played: Rivendell Minstrell. The only song has already been in my hand, so no card draw.
Encounter: Eyes of the Forest (knew from Denethor beforehand), only Astonishing Speed got discarded.
Quested with everyone, Mountains of Mirkwood explored which let my take Henamarth into hand. Now to 2B!
No travel. Threat 40 after refresh.
Round4:
Played: Henamarth Riversond and Eomund.
Encounter: Woodman's Glade (left ontop of EC by Denethor).
Quested with everyone except Denethor and Henamarth: 13 -> now 3B.
No travel wo Woodman's Glade since no ready hero. A mistake, I could have known that I will need one and 13 WP is more than enough for 2B...
Exhausted Henamarth to know the next encounter (Gollum's Bite)
Threat now up to 44 after refresh.
Round5:
No play because of 3B.
Encounter: Spiders' Ring (known by Henamarth) after Denethor put Gollum's Bite under the EC.
Quested with everyone capable: 13 - 5 = 8. Just enough to go to 4B!
Travel to Spiders' Ring.
Threat up to 48 after refresh.
Round 6:
No play, not necessary. (I knew that East Bight would come because of Denethor).
No enemy, so the remaining 2 progress were easily achieved.
Finally, victory!
I hope I didn't make a mistake.
Putting Attercopp and Gollum's Bite under the encounter deck has been absolutely necessary. But except of those 2, I got lucky draws. No enemy entered the game.
Decklist:
Good ones:
2x Henamarth Riversong (CS 60)
3x West Road Traveller (SOM 121)
3x Escort from Edoras (SOM 55)
2x Gléowine (CS 62) never used him, but card drawing is usually good
3x Erebor Hammersmith (CS 59) solid character for only 2 resources
2x Éomund (SOM 30)
3x Ancient Mathom (SOM 56)
3x Fast Hitch (SOM 103)
2x Unexpected Courage (CS 57) deck is built for 2 core sets. But 3 UC were of course better
3x A Test of Will (CS 50)
3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (CS 46)
1x Song of Wisdom (SOM 34)
2x Rivendell Minstrel (SOM 8)
3x Lórien Guide (CS 44)
Not really necessary, perhaps replacable with better cards (especially because I've forgotten Shadows of the Past!)
3x Forest Snare (CS 69)
2x Astonishing Speed (SOM 122)
3x The Riddermark's Finest (SOM 77)
2x Mirkwood Runner (SOM 123)
2x Silvan Tracker (SOM 102)
2x Gildor Inglorion (SOM 79)
1x Northern Tracker (CS 45) since the deck is made for fast advancing, usually not many locations in the staging area, so Lorien Guide is cheaper
but all your doing is drawing cards... your not playing the game at all. you just puling cards and questing as fast as possible.... no skill is involved.. no GAMEPLAY... just draw a card , hope it dosn't kill you and quest.... you do not even have time to see a tiny part of your deck
HilariousPete said:
Yes, I finally beat RTM! Tried with my usual decks, but gave up. So I adapted richsabre's mono-spirit-fly-through-quest-cards strategy and added Denethor for encounter deck control, so spirit/lore now.
Heroes: Eowyn (necessary for that strategy), Denethor (likewise) and Frodo (cheap, indestructable blocker, good quester). Starting threat: only 24.
Final threat: 48 in round 6, no dmg, no VP, so score of 98. Little bit worse than your 84 result, richsabre, but hey, I finally beat RTM solo! :-)
A log and the decklist is below (deck still tweakable). Used more than 1 core set. Won 2 games out of 6 or 7 games, so the win ratio is not too bad. At least for RTM. This deck will probably suck at other quests, especially Rhosgobel. Usually I like to build one-deck-to-rule-them, but I'm just not capable of doing that of EfDG and RTM.
Log:
Starting hand: Took a Bombadil/Mulligan because I wasn't satisfied (neither Westroad Traveller nor Unexpected Courage). 2nd one had a Westroad Traveller in it!
Starting encounter: Mountains of Mirkwood.
Round1:
Played: West Road Traveller.
Encounter: Dry Watercourse. (Knew this beforehand with Denethor, left it on top of the enc. deck.)
Everyone capable quested (Frodo, Eowyn, Traveller), discarded a card from hand: 9 WP against 4 threat strength -> 5 progress on 1B.
Travelled to Dry Watercourse.
Round2:
Played: Riddermakr's Finest.
Encounter: Wasted Provisions (most friendly encounter in this adventure), after Attercop had been put on bottom of the ED (puh)!
Quested with the same 3 (Riddermark's Finest left ready in case of enemy showing up). Discarded 1 card: 9 WP against 2 TS -> 7 on 1B (now 10), Dry Watercourse explored.
Travel: Mountains of Mirkwood, revealed Gollum's Bite on Frodo (no Test of Will in hand. Good Hobbit!) -> 32 threat now; 36 after refresh phase.
Round3:
Played: Rivendell Minstrell. The only song has already been in my hand, so no card draw.
Encounter: Eyes of the Forest (knew from Denethor beforehand), only Astonishing Speed got discarded.
Quested with everyone, Mountains of Mirkwood explored which let my take Henamarth into hand. Now to 2B!
No travel. Threat 40 after refresh.
Round4:
Played: Henamarth Riversond and Eomund.
Encounter: Woodman's Glade (left ontop of EC by Denethor).
Quested with everyone except Denethor and Henamarth: 13 -> now 3B.
No travel wo Woodman's Glade since no ready hero. A mistake, I could have known that I will need one and 13 WP is more than enough for 2B...
Exhausted Henamarth to know the next encounter (Gollum's Bite)
Threat now up to 44 after refresh.
Round5:
No play because of 3B.
Encounter: Spiders' Ring (known by Henamarth) after Denethor put Gollum's Bite under the EC.
Quested with everyone capable: 13 - 5 = 8. Just enough to go to 4B!
Travel to Spiders' Ring.
Threat up to 48 after refresh.
Round 6:
No play, not necessary. (I knew that East Bight would come because of Denethor).
No enemy, so the remaining 2 progress were easily achieved.
Finally, victory!
I hope I didn't make a mistake.
Putting Attercopp and Gollum's Bite under the encounter deck has been absolutely necessary. But except of those 2, I got lucky draws. No enemy entered the game.
Decklist:
Good ones:
2x Henamarth Riversong (CS 60)
3x West Road Traveller (SOM 121)
3x Escort from Edoras (SOM 55)
2x Gléowine (CS 62) never used him, but card drawing is usually good
3x Erebor Hammersmith (CS 59) solid character for only 2 resources
2x Éomund (SOM 30)
3x Ancient Mathom (SOM 56)
3x Fast Hitch (SOM 103)
2x Unexpected Courage (CS 57) deck is built for 2 core sets. But 3 UC were of course better
3x A Test of Will (CS 50)
3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (CS 46)
1x Song of Wisdom (SOM 34)
2x Rivendell Minstrel (SOM 8)
3x Lórien Guide (CS 44)
Not really necessary, perhaps replacable with better cards (especially because I've forgotten Shadows of the Past!)
3x Forest Snare (CS 69)
2x Astonishing Speed (SOM 122)
3x The Riddermark's Finest (SOM 77)
2x Mirkwood Runner (SOM 123)
2x Silvan Tracker (SOM 102)
2x Gildor Inglorion (SOM 79)
1x Northern Tracker (CS 45) since the deck is made for fast advancing, usually not many locations in the staging area, so Lorien Guide is cheaper
awesome man, pleased you got it. also again i think no enemies is vital to this strategy, i think the worst enemy you can get away with is bats, and 1 kills like that...all the same a win's a win to me
richsabre said:
HilariousPete said:
awesome man, pleased you got it. also again i think no enemies is vital to this strategy, i think the worst enemy you can get away with is bats, and 1 kills like that...all the same a win's a win to me
I agree wit hiGaveHimLife... you just said it yourself.. this only works if you draw no enemies.. it is zero skill.. just luck. You may as well just deal 8 cards form the encounter deck.. if they are all good.. you win... I'm going to give his idea a go... see if it gives a more interesting experience.
He does have Denether in play and thinks about using Shadows of the past. Encounter deck manipulation is a valid strategy which prevents enemies entering the battlefield.
guciomir said:
He does have Denether in play and thinks about using Shadows of the past. Encounter deck manipulation is a valid strategy which prevents enemies entering the battlefield.
agreed, i also used shadow of the past to keep bringing back goblin sniper then taking him out with dunhere...thats a strategy
booored said:
richsabre said:
HilariousPete said:
awesome man, pleased you got it. also again i think no enemies is vital to this strategy, i think the worst enemy you can get away with is bats, and 1 kills like that...all the same a win's a win to me
I agree wit hiGaveHimLife... you just said it yourself.. this only works if you draw no enemies.. it is zero skill.. just luck. You may as well just deal 8 cards form the encounter deck.. if they are all good.. you win... I'm going to give his idea a go... see if it gives a more interesting experience.
Well, I'm just happy I did it. And small enemies can be dealt with. (Killed a lone Goblin Sniper in the other game). I don't think you'll like the running-rabbit-experience of this deck, but sure, give it a try!
yea i use denathor + spirit myself for this quest... but I totally understand his point. Just cause you can beat the quest doesn't mean it is FUN to play.
His idea allows you to draw MORE encounter cards.. get a wider variety of enemies.. face multiple atercop's and hill trolls, collect VPs form marsh snakes.. pull your counters and feints and trick cards from your deck... then get to use them in desprate life saving moves.. you know.. all the stuff that makes this game awesome.... in short - PLAY the game.
I still hold that while the "spirit:- sprint to the end" idea works.. it is not what I would call fun. The game is super shot.. you draw nearly no cards, you see hardly any of the encounter deck... it is just silly. I really think life's idea might allow for a more interesting game...
--PS--
Gratz on the win though!
i think hilariouspetes answer is the main point here...this is a quest thats different from the others and some may like it and some may not, but it still remains that this is an extremely fast paced quest that yes, admitedly relies alot on luck-but not totally. personally im fine with one quest out of the 6 being like this. i mean the long drawn out deck searching in HFG surely makes up for this? also id rather the quest relied on luck than house ruled/varient, my opinions of which are found elsewhere on this forum....booored i thought you were also against house ruling/varients?
No, I have nothing against rule variants.Why would I? I mean it is not like we all haven't beaten the quest a few times using "rabbit run decks" (heh love that term describes it perfectly, thanks HilariousPete, forever more the Rohan deck will be known as such) I see rules variants kind of like a MOD in a computer game.. it dose nothing to detract form the original rules or "how the game is meant to be played" but can add extra depth and enjoyment, and in some cases even make the original better.
All I am saying is that Life's idea to try and balance the quest for the solo player by reducing the off the chart insane threat gain is pretty cool. You get to draw more player cards, more encounter cards, face awesome monsters, use all your tricks.. get time to set up your resource and/or draw engines.... it is still pretty hard with his rules, the threat gain is still there , although depleted, and as the game is longer, you are guaranteed to draw some ubr monsters, witch is really fun.
Just because you play a rule variant, dose not mean you are "rejecting" the original rules.. it is just another way to play the scenario to get a different experience.. enhancing and/or extending the life of the game. It is not black and white like "rule variants all suck".
As i said, it is not like everyone of us hasn't beaten the quest with rabbit run, maybe a lore splash Detonator for encounter deck control. w/e, the point is.. what difference dose a rule variant make? Apart from giving you a "free" new quest.
I've tried his rule variant a few times and I think it is very fun, a very different experience, it is still pretty hard, I mean Hill Trolls, Spawns, Adders, Attercop... some scary beasts, and you need pretty strong agro control as well... challenging and fun... defiantly worth playing his version imo.
Examples in this thread are another reason that I play 2 deck games solo. Revealing 2 cards from the deck each turn, you have less control over the Encounter deck. One card per turn is too easy to manipulate.