Hiya folks,

Had an epic 2-hour stalemate against the Hunt for Gollum encounter deck last night (2 hours! On Gollum! I know, right?!). Actually, we won in the end, but it was a super near thing. The encounter deck spits out so many locations in that quest that we just couldn't keep up, and in some rounds it was all we could do just to break even during the quest phase. So my question is this: how do you all manage large numbers of locations (4-6.. we may have had 7 out at one point) in the staging area?

I've never had a problem with the Hunt for Gollum before, but I guess the Northern Trackers must have come out in a timely manner in previous games. Last night it was a two player game. I had Beravor, Thalin and Legolas. The other player had Aragorn, Eleanor and Eowyn. Both Lorien Guides were in play, but that only helped vs. the active location. The Northern Trackers just didn't want to come out of the deck. I wanted to use my card draw on Beravor to speed up my partner to get those trackers out, but I had to keep questing Beravor just to keep from losing. I found myself wishing I had brought Bilbo instead.

Eventually I hit 50 threat and was out, but it was in this turn, and in the following turn, that both trackers finally came out and got played. Within 2-3 rounds the game was won. Those things DESTROY the Hunt for Gollum encounter deck. Are there any other ways to manage it?!

Aside from the core set, I currently have Gollum and the Carrock adventure packs.

Thanks for any replies!

if im being perfectly honest all the real good location smashers are in the later packs- say from emyn onwards- theyre all rohan cards, and you can pretty much destroy any locations that come up on you......so that would be my advice, though you dont have them, so its not much use to you

aside from northern trackers there's lorien guide of course- not as good but ok

and of course it goes without saying the best way is prevention- try and do everything to clear the staging area, this is when i feel protector of lorien and map maker really shines

rich

Yeah, location control is pretty limited outside of The Hills of Emyn Muil (which comes with two very strong Spirit cards that can handle locations in the staging area).

With your current card pool, Lorien Guide is probably the best bet outside of Northern Tracker. There's also Snowbourn Scout, Strength of Will, Strider's Path, Secret Paths, and Power of the Earth (if you're really desperate). Strength of Will might be worth a look, since it rapidly accelerates the rate at which you burn through active locations. That'll allow you to travel more frequently, hopefully minimizing the buildup in the staging area.

Dont bother much about it. Just put 3 trackers in your deck and if you play 2 players game both use spirit and you will have 6 trackers, 6 test of will, potential 6 dwarfen tomb and then....... you can play and win all the time most of the quests and look some tv show at the same time!

i dont think grand spleen has two core sets though

yeah, I was going to reply and say "see starhawk77's sig, above."