Hey folks,

Any advice on how to deal with the troll that jumps out at the start of the Anduin quest in the Core set? I play solo most of the time (with one deck only) and that guy just hammers me. If I do manage to kill it, my threat has gone up 10 or more and the fellowship is limping and broken!

I am still playing with single-sphere starter decks... (I dunno how I would handle resource management if my income was divided up among spheres, I'm pretty bad at it even with 3 heroes from the same sphere!)

By the way, when you guys post on here that you're doing something "solo," do you always mean "with one deck," or does that also tend to encompass "I'm playing alone but with two decks?"

Thanks!

GS

I'm assuming you just have a Core Set at the moment, and not using cards from any Adventure Packs. You really need to make sure your starting Threat is lower than 30 to give yourself a few turns to build up counter measures against the Troll. Out of the Core Set cards your best bet is Forest Snare. I also like Feint which can buy you a precious extra turn.

Solo play generally refers to a single deck, though I always play solo with two decks at once.

GrandSpleen said:

firstly i cant speak for anyone else but i play 1 deck solo, no house ruling

main idea with the troll- LOW starting threat, use low threat heros, and galadhrims greetings/gandalfs to give yourself loads of time to build up resources allies and attatchemts before you have to deal with it.

when the time comes, or you feel you can engage it, either 1.forest snare it, and then kill it or 2. let an ally take the attack, and then attack it with as much force as you have, preferably kill it within 1 turn.

also use your gandalfs- sneak attack him if playing leadership so you can use his effects more than once before he is discarded- 4 damage on it, or to reduce threat even more to give you more time to deal with it

alternatively to this- get threat low, and use dunhere to attack it in the staging area and chip it off bit by bit

i recommend mixing spheres as soon as you can

try spirit with eowyn (for willpower) and dunhere (for attacking in the staging area) and mix possibly with tactics with thalin (to quest and kill them crows before they surge with his ability)

Thanks all. I will try some of these strategies soon.

richsabre said:

Though in order to use forest snare without having to sacrifice an ally first you´d need to be able to engage the troll sometime after the combat phase and before or in the planning phase of the following turn. Forest Snare is an attachment after all. Or maybe I´m just reading this wrong

Nerdmeister said:

yes you're right, you have to engage then use it following turn, or you could engage then faint it, then use it the following turn

i just ignorantly assume people know how to use it (though i probably used it wrong for the first few months anyways )

The best way to deal with trolls is to just ignore them. Responding only encourages them to keep trolling....

I think I mighthave taken the thread title the wrong way.

Bohemond said:

hahahahahahaha someone had to

Thanks for replies -- had my first win in Anduin tonight. Success story is below if you want to read!

It was a real squeaker! I made a spirit/tactics deck with Eowyn, Dunhere and Thalin. Tried it solo once and got close, but I got mobbed in the final round. Dunhere is very useful on the raft, but he is only one man! Second time I tried it I just couldn't produce any good cards, and I was killed by two trolls after a protracted first stage. Thalin is very useful with Unexpect Courage, though. Each time I play this deck I find myself holding very few cards in my hand but still lacking the tools I need to succeed, especially against those darn trolls. I guess this means I am getting cards that I can USE (hence none stay in my hand), but they are still the wrong ones.

Tonight I played with my wife (which is mostly me playing while she sits next to me, but she is starting to read the cards now at least!). I gave her a mixed lore/leadership deck with Gloin, Beravor for the card draw and Theodred to keep Beravor in the money. Also discovered that Theodred is pretty nice with Celebrian's Stone. A forest snare took care of one troll, and a wealth of allies kept her alive against the second one but her threat went up to 49, even after I had lowered her threat by 6. Meanwhile I am sitting with only a Northern Tracker to help me out. Beravor was killed, but then Gandalf came out and saved the day, and we jumped on the raft while Gandalf went his merry way. On the raft we committed to the quest almost all-in, defeating that stage in 2 or 3 rounds. At this point our threat is 45 and 46. By sheer luck, landing on the shore produced only 2 enemies (one of them crows, which Thalin quickly dispatched). I believe the final staging area was Dol Guldur Orcs (also damaged by Thalin) and 5 locations. I had kept Dunhere at the ready and held a Swift Strike in my hand, dropped that and the orcs were no more. Safe!

I still want to beat it solo, but I think I need to "trim the fat" from that spirit/tactics deck before I'll be successful... as it is now, I depend too much on luck to draw just the right combination of cards to get past stage 1.

Your combination of heroes was the same I used to beat Anduin the first time and I felt the same as you - I just didn't feel like I had enough cards in my hand. I'm looking forward to getting the "A Journey to Rhosgobel" AP because of Ancient Mathom. I think that would help out with the Spirit/Tactics as a way to increase card draw for the Spirit sphere.

GrandSpleen said:

What do you mean by "Theodred to keep Beravor in the money"? Theodred can only give a resource to a hero that commits to the quest, if Beravor commits to quest, she can't draw cards; if she draws cards, she can't commit to quest and get Theodred's resource.

Angus Lee said:

Beravor quests on some rounds, gets paid. Beravor can use her ability on rounds during which she didn't quest. Give me a little credit!