Is this possible? I just played it and didn't get a single progress token on the first step of the quest. How are these hero's supposed to beat that troll? One undefended attack kills any hero.

EDIT: Can anyone point me to a place where I can read about basic strategy for each sphere. It seems like that troll is near impossible.

I think the consensus on these forums is that it's not possible. With a single core set, the predominant strategy for this scenario appears to be to start with a really low threat so you can build up an army to take the troll before he engages, so that when he does engage, you're ready for him. With the Tactics and Leadership starters, you have a starting threat of 29 which buys you one extra round, and the Lore starter has the troll engaging during round one. Spirit, on the other hand, is hard-pressed to round up the attack strength necessary to take the troll out. The main point: you really need to build a multi-sphere deck to beat this quest.

Budgernaut said:

and most of the following...............

With the Lore starter deck you'd be looking at getting a sacrificial Ally out in Turn 1, and then Forest Snaring the Troll in turn 2. Or get Protector of Lorien on Denethor in turn 1 to defend and Forest Snare turn 2.

scottindeed said:

This is the tact that I have been taking but I thought I must be doing something wrong. Doesn't it seem a little disingenuous for FFG to put out a 'core set' where you can't beat anything but the starter quest unless you buy the xpacs? I am very disappointed in them if that is the case.

dh098017 said:

You do not need the AP's to beat Anduin, you just need to build your deck with more than one sphere.
The Escape From Dol Guldur is also very hard, but this one I never tried solo with just the core set available, so can't help you here.

cordeirooo said:

Exactly! As mentioned above, the trick to taking it solo is to use multiple spheres. Have you read the recent news articles about deck construction? I don't know how familiar you are with deck-building games, but those articles helped me. I was able to beat Anduin with a Spirit/Tactics deck, though my win:loss ratio is really low. But that was using only cards from the core set, so there's hope!

As far as being disappointed with FFG for making a product that needs other expansions, well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but I still haven't beat Escape from Dol Guldur yet.

Yeah, I've learned that the "starter decks" (i.e. pure sphere decks) are only appropriate for the "starter" quest, Passage through Mirkwood. Past that you'll need to do your own deck building, and this is entirely possible with just the cards in the core set (that's all I've got). I've played Anduin three times in a 2-player game and beaten it twice (haven't won yet solo, but I haven't tried all that much).

First time we won, we did it by the skin of our teeth. I had a mixed tactics/spirit deck with Thalin, Dunhere and Eowyn, while my partner had a mixed leadership/lore with Theodred, Gloin and Beravor.

We just won again tonight, and this time we trounced the thing. I was playing a tactics/lore with Thalin, Legolas and Denethor, while my partner had spirit/leadership with Theodred, Eowyn and Dunhere. Luck paced the encounter deck to only one new enemy per round, which I think helped us immensely. We also had good draws. My partner got a ton of allies out, including the ever-useful Northern Tracker and Lorien Guide. I had almost nothing in the way of allies, but got some great events and attachments, including 2 feints, a citadel plate and both forest snares.

Deck building is fun, so give it a try! Just make sure you can pay for the cards you are putting in your deck (i.e. don't put Beorn in your deck if you only have 1 tactics hero!)

GS

Audin is not a problem to beat with a single copy of core. Its is a great quest as it is one of the true examples of deck building and player knowledge of the game that leads to very high susses ratios...

The trick is threat management. Most people see the trolls and reach for the likes of the tactics sphere. This is a mistake.. not that tactics can not win... but if your looking for consistency.. you want a spirit/lore/leadership deck.. focusing on Dunhere and questing.

What exactly is your card pool?

dh098017 said:

You also have to remember that despite what it says on the box the game is deigned for 2-4 players primarily. Solo play is kind of tacked on to the game which is why so many find it overly difficult.

that is rubbish... this is one of the best if not THE best solitaire deck construction games ever made... It is made for both play modes though soi yes some quest are more fun 2 player, some are more fun solo, and there are some cards that only benefit multiplayer..... saying it is "tacked on" though is a stretch. It is ridicules to expect that no cards will have multiplayer in mind.. same for quests.

This particular quest is one of the great solo quest in the game... IMO, better solo than 2 player.

The_Big_Show said:

Actually the box says 1-2 players and only 2-4 if you have 2 core sets.

It does say that but the game is far too hard for solo with just one deck. Some scenarios are easy or average but others are more than challenging. The game works best with multiple players. If it wasn't so hard solo then why do many solo players feel the need to houserule the game to make it more balanced?

But even with that I will fully agree that this is one of the best card games on the market.

for once i have to agree with booored, ive played several so called solitaire games (admittedly not deck building ones) and found them a headache

i do not find anything 'unbalanced' about this game, and have held on to that argument since the start of this game, even in the days of what others would call 'really unbalanced' i found it endlessly fun,

ive played just solo, since it came, out, zero modification and zero house rules on anything, and even though i may not be the best player on here, ive still beat all but 3 of the quest that are available, and never once had any complaints

i strongly believe that the 1-2 players on the box tells the truth, otherwise i would be seriously p***ed off and would be asking for my £100+ back

im not sure about alot of solo players house ruling, i may be wrong about this though, perhaps alot of new players are being given this advice and theyre not giving solo a good try- i always tell newcomers on here asking about solo that its rough for a few months, which yeah, alot of players dont have the time to weather through

booored said:

While the game is purportedly for 1-2 players, there is little to no indication that it's actually supposed to work well playing solo. But in all fairness, it's not much different from other cooperative games with single-player support. E.g. Arkham Horror also pretty much breaks down when playing it with a single investigator. What is true for AH is also true for LotR: Playing the game with severeal investigators/player decks works best, even if you're playing it solo.

jhaelen said:

ive tried these 2 deck 'solo' games, and i find them slow, boring and having to play the other player, makes the fun just dissapear, at least for me. i would rather it be extremely hard solo with one deck as it was designed, and win less

im not having a go at people who do use 2 decks though.........whatever works for you

jhaelen said:

lol... true. Though I suppose I was also counting some of the other solitaire card games that are floating about, it is the deck construction itself that makes this game so good.

jhaelen said:

I tend to agree here, Arkham is defiantly way way more fund playing multi investigators... but I hardly ever play this game with 2 decks... I find it was to unwieldy, and with out the "table talk" rule way way to easy playing with both hands open. I think rich is right, for me it is slow and lame playing that way .. I think the "true" solo mode is fine in most cases, though there are some glaring exceptions, namely aJTR and RTM. Though I think that just like Escape from Dol Goldor is now able to be beating with relative ease (still hard) and Massing is now in the high % win ratios (all due to ziggy), I am confident that eventually as the card pool matures these quests will become much better for solo. Then, of course, making the deck to own those quest will be all the sweeter!