Attempted to venture solo to the Redhorn Gate this evening and a pleasant journey through the mountains abruptly ended in disaster. While preparing for my journey I toyed around with the idea of using 2 heroes and going low threat to take advantage of the new secrecy cards. Initially I didn't think this would be feasible playing solo, but Arwen is such a good ally you immediately start with that she might make it feasible. However, with only a small number of secrecy cards available so far I decided to hold off on this strategy for now and went with a hardy and low threat group consisting of Eowyn, Frodo and Bifur. Decided to play blind (i.e. did not look at any of the new encounter cards before starting). Things started off smoothly...I sailed through the first phase, paused to enjoy the view and then zipped through the second phase thinking the difficulty of 6 assigned to this adventure was way off while mentally patting myself on the back for having improved my deck building skills and crushing the new quest first try. Was slightly concerned that Frodo was freezing cold and could no longer quest by the end of the second phase, but figured that I was in the home stretch so not a problem. Then wham, flipped to phase 3 and disaster struck. Frodo went down to the cold and was immediately discarded. He had been strategically waiting in the wings to fend off a Snow Warg, but with Frodo suddenly gone the Snow Warg pounced and his attack went undefended and together with a nasty shadow card he took out Bifur. Suddenly Eowyn was left stranded and next round went down to the Snow Warg as well leaving 3 frozen corpses buried at the foot of Caradhras...

Overall, first impression is that I really like this quest. Artwork on the encounter cards is fantastic and the combination of art work, locations and treachery cards (e.g. snowstorms, freezing cold sucking your willpower away) really immerses you in the theme of trudging through the mountains in a blizzard. Looking forward to giving this one another try.

Very nice! I'm really looking forward to trying this one out, it just sucks that it'll probably be another two weeks before we get it here in the UK! I'm desperate to be frozen!

Out of interest, which encounter sets are required for this scenario?

arrghghh! must have this! or at least some pretty pictures....it hurtsssss precioussssss, yesss it hurttssss

yes its bad spalanzani. where did you order it from? i got it from the usual maelstrom games

Just 2 encounter sets. The Redhorn Gate and the previously unused Misty Mountains. I'm going to make a few tweaks to my deck and strategy given I know what the encounter and quest cards are throwing at me now so will be interesting to see how difficult this quest really is when you know what's coming and have a slightly more tailored deck/strategy. I always play the quests blind the first time though...it usually results in a crushing defeat but I enjoy having the unexpected come at me....feels more like an adventure.

Just two sets? That's novel! I'm debating whether I need to buy any more core sets, hence the question. We'll just have to see what the Road to Rivendell has in store, then! I play blind too, and have such a bad memory for these cards that the feeling continues for at least three more plays! Other than "ooh" and "aahh" over the artwork, I've not yet looked at the Misty Mountains set, so I should be okay I think...

richsabre said:

I absolutely love the Gollum there - inspired stuff! I've not pre-ordered it yet. After waiting an excrutiating three extra days for Khazad-dum to arrive from maelstrom, I've decided I'll stick with 13th floor - free first class delivery, though they are a tad more costly from there. As yet, though, they don't have Redhorn Gate for preorder. ARGH! It'd hurt less to stick pins in my eyes...

Hm, perhaps I have a problem...

haha, yes its almost a skill in itself to try and pick a store that gets it first over here- sometimes iguk gets it first as with khazad- but they dont have it for pre order yet- sometimes gameslore- but ive stuck with maelstrom as they always put up a pre order on packs almost right after theyre announced- they even have the long dark for pre order

2 Encounter set in this quest?? So this is very good cose is mean small encounter deck. Small deck always play better and strategy and synergy of the cards work very good. I love it, i need challenge.