Well, I finally picked up the game (woohoo!) and have started out just playing with the Core set (I do have all of the APs and KD expansion as well) and going through the first quest with single sphere decks to get a feel for each and make sure I'm getting the mechanics of the game down correctly. I started out with Leadership and breezed through the quest with ease. Next, I moved onto Lore and was getting my butt kicked, until I finally won on my 4th attempt.

I just finished playing Spirit and this is where my clarification question comes in. I got lucky and drew Unexpected Courage in my opening hand and attached it to Dunhere. 2 rounds later, Ungoliant Spawn pops up in the staging area. Now my threat was low (and managed to keep it low, under 30) the whole game, so the Spawn stayed in the staging area the whole time. I used Dunhere to attack the Spawn twice each round, once normally, then exhausting UC, and attacking again. I did this to whittle it down to the point where it had 8 damage tokens on it, then left it alone in case I needed it for 3a. Did I use UC correctly? The FAQ states: "Characters are not limited as to how many times they can participate in attacks against the same enemy, provided each attack can be legally declared, and the character is ready and eligible to be declared as an attacker."

So far I'm loving this game. I'm off to try the Tactics deck next, then maybe try building a dual-sphere deck.

Faradey said:

hi and welcome

you seem to have a good grasp of the game so far however.........

sadly you can only attack each enemy once per attack round, so you could use UC to ready dunhere and attack a different enemy, however you couldnt attack it twice

the faq refers to possible card effect granting you a second attack such as quick strike

this has been questioned much- the rules are really over complicating it for newcomers, the key word is LEGALLY declared, and if youve attacked it once (without quick strike), it is no longer a legal move to declare another on the same enemy

see here for a thread explaining it www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

rich

Correct, but what's even more important:

Don't try Tacticts!

Ok, you might be able to beat the first scenario with it, but you will never journey down the Anduin with these warriors, as they have no clue how to find the way.

leptokurt said:

plus with all that armour, the boat will sink

richsabre said:

LOL, tru dat! In fact, if you are traveling down the Anduin, why would you use anything other than Leader"ship".

You guys are a riot.

Holy crap this just made it appear more confusing because what seems to be left out in a lot of discussions is the difference between enemies being engaged with you and not being engaged with you.

So, can I attack with Ranged characters the same enemy more than one time if that enemy is engaged with the other player?

It sounds like yes based on the other forum but it is left out of this thread.

Thanks for the replies! Ok, I think I have that rule 'fixed' in my head now. Oh, and Tactics was a rough ride to be sure. Yikes. The first draw of the first game was a 'Caught in a Web' treachery card. Needless to say, that game didn't last long. I finally won on my 3rd attempt and finished with 46 threat. Definitely time to do some dual-sphere deck building! I was going to start with a Leadership/Lore combo.

Leadership/Lore is pretty fantastic. I think you'll be pleased.

Bomb said:

I don't play multi player very often, but IIRC a ranged character is able to support another player when the latter is attacking an enemy. If the ranged character can be readied in that turn, he may attack the same enemy again.

It's not possible though to attack an enemy engaged with another player with a ranged character twice, so you can't attack an enemy, ready the ranged cahracter and attack again.

There are no "rules" or guides about deck building. This is a major part of the game and I think you should really experiment with this stuff yourself. Still ALL spheres work well with any other sphere. In a 2+ player game as you can cast spells to benefit your partner, the sphere combination is nearly meaningless.

If you are playing solo though you soon learn that there are some spheres that are a bit weak, due to solo decks needing to handle everything at once. Most people tend to have the best success with tri sphere decks.. so 2 spheres and a splash though the belt or song.

As for your other things.. You can never attack the same enemy twice with the same character, ever. There is no card or game situation in the game that gets around this as of this moment.

leptokurt said:

Basically I think I follow what you are saying. You are just using the terminology of "Support" versus "Attack". So you can Support and the Attack or vice versa as against the same enemy as long as you can find a way to Ready him between those "actions".

Ok, so far, so good. I like the Leadership/Lore deck (using Theodred, Aragorn, and Denethor), but was having a hard time getting through the first stage of 'Journey Along the Anduin', so I decided to try a Tactics/Spirit deck (using Legolas, Gimli, and Eowyn). After a couple of tries, I finally got past the first stage. Now, I'm sure I'm reading it right, but it doesn't make sense (thematic sense anyway) to me. "Reveal 1 additional card from the encounter deck each quest phase. Do not make engagement checks during the encounter phase. (Each player may still optionally engage 1 enemy each encounter phase.)" I understand the concept that enemies can't 'engage' me because I'm floating on a raft down a river, but I can choose to engage 1 of them. That's not the issue.

My problem is that now I'm revealing 2 encounter cards each quest phase, making threat a much bigger issue, so I have to choose to optionally engage 1 enemy, which isn't a problem. My problem (and question) is shouldn't any location cards I draw simply be discarded? How can I travel to any other location while I'm on a raft floating down the Anduin? Is it assumed I leave the raft to travel by land to these locations then run back and get back on the raft? If that was the case, wouldn't the above rule about drawing more encounter cards/no engagement checks be lifted since I'm not on the raft while questing the active location? The threat build up from locations would be impossible to overcome. It would make more sense to discard locations, since Treachery cards still affect me, and I realistically HAVE to optionally engage an enemy every round to keep threat from getting too out of hand, as it is.

I know I'm new to the game, but this seems next to impossible to do solo (one deck) without a HUGE amount of luck and this is only a difficulty 4? The next scenario must be an absolute nightmare to do solo with one deck.

Faradey said:

firstly take heart- this is a hard scenario even compared to the following adventure packs

now on to the questions....theme is a great part of the game for me and i see what you are saying, some things in the game just cant possibly make sense- even i- tolkien pureist and fanatic, have to agree that the game has to sacrifice theme occasionally for good playabilty

just think of the location part as you are travelling down a river to these locations

ok next- this has been a much discussed quest, there are many good guides to do this solo, one deck, no changes

my usual advice i give to people trying to crack this is

LOW low low starting threat

build up lots of resources while the troll stays in the staging area

then either chip away at it with dunhere or engage it and take it down with loads of allys and weapon buffs

the next part is threat management at its best- you need a good quester (such as eowyn, though doesnt HAVE to be) and you need to try and buff their willpower up- i like to have a big card draw and use protector of loriens +1 action (which can be used as many times as long as you have cards to discard)

also you need to prevent enemies building up- thalin is good to get rid of crows, and of course engage low level enemies to get them out of the way

Yeah, I made the last post just as I had reached 2a and I already had 2 enemies (a Marsh Adder and a Dol Guldur Beastmaster) in the staging area, so I think I was just feeling overwhelmed in the moment. I still think my way would be better though! With a lucky use of Gandalf (twice, since a shadow effect sent him back into my hand, HA!), I made it through the beasties just fine, but then had locations pile up and threat me to death. I'm diving right back in though!

Faradey said:

thats the spirit chap!!

AAARRG!! SO close to getting through 2a. I swapped out Legolas and Gimli for Dunhere and Thalin. Things went much smoother this game. Got a Dwarven Axe and a Blade on Dunhere, so he was chewing things up nicely in the staging area. Got a Horn and Citadel Plate on Thalin and had a couple of axemen and a spearman for allies, just in case. For the life of me, I couldn't draw any big Spirit cards (Trackers or Guides), almost everything was Tactics. Of course I was eating through those resources while the Spirit just kept piling up (I had 25+ just sitting there). I'm on the raft and thing are going great. I have a couple enemies that will go down in the next 2 rounds (thank you Thalin and Dunhere!). Then it happens...

I draw my 2 encounter cards.The Brown Lands followed by...The East Bight. Ok, um, OW! Take a big threat hit there that will last a few turns. Maybe it will be ok? Next draw. TWO The Necromancer's Reach. Eowyn dies. No way to recover. Game over. Grrrr...

Oh and 1 question. I want to make sure I'm doing the set-up right. Thalin doesn't do damage to the Hill Troll (or any enemy that might be revealed) in the staging area before I start my turn, since he hasn't 'gone questing' yet and his ability isn't a 'response', correct? That's the way I've been playing it, just wanted to double check.

Faradey said:

sounds bad luck man.......

and yes, thalin has to commit to a quest to get the effect, and remember once the quest phase is over, he remains exhasuted but is no longer considered commited- so his action wont trigger any other point after that

and sort of related, remember that enemy card words such as surge and doomed do trigger during set up (just thought id say that, as it trips alot of people up!)

you didn't say what quest you are playing... or if you were playing solo or not.. so it is hard to help you

Sorry, thought it was in an earlier post. Journey Along the Anduin. Solo, one deck. Spirit/Tactics with Eowyn, Dunhere, and Thalin.

Faradey said:

I wouldn't give it too much thought. Anyone who read the whole thread would have a pretty clear idea of what you were talking about.

Faradey said:

;D

I switched things up a bit now and I'm getting close. I at least made it to 3a before losing this time! I swapped out Thalin (and Tactics) in favor of Theodred (and Leadership), so I have PLENTY of resources and good allies. I've come so close...

Faradey said:

This feeling is awesome.
It's like a wound that itches.

I beat it! Finally! Everything went pretty smooth this time around. I had more resources than I would ever use and still had 2 Gandalfs in my hand at the end (I had used 1 earlier with Sneak Attack against the Hill Troll). The game took a while though. I haven't tried 'scoring' a game yet, but I'll try that next time. At least I know this deck works!