ATTENTION: We will be extending the tournament to the end of 2012 due to the fact that many people do not appear to be able to finish the quests on time, and due to the fact that I tore a tendon in my thumb and have not been able to play lately.

STANDINGS

1P W/L Record W/L Percentage

jjeagle 15-2 .882

Balin son… 4-1 .800

narsil0420 11-5 .688

idowd 3-3 .500

Goblin King 7-7 .500

mdowd 5-5 .500

2P W/L Record W/L Percentage

jjeagle 7-0 1.000

narsil0420 14-4 .778

mdowd, idowd 6-4 .600

3 P W/L Record W/L Percentage

jjeagle 2-0 1.000

mdowd, idowd, 7-3 .700

adowd

NOTE: Please ignore the 1.3 card errata but enforce the 1.3 rules and FAQ adjustments.

We have enjoyed the tournaments posted here on the Fantasy Flight message boards (thank you juicebox) and we'd like to host a tournament spanning all of the quests from Passage through Mirkwood to Shadow and Flame in the summer of 2012.

FORMAT : There will be separate solo, 2P, 3P, and 4P tournaments.

PARAMETERS:

1. Build a deck (or decks for multi-player) that can withstand the forces of evil found in each of quests in LOTR LCG, whether that be orcs or tentacles. Any legal LOTR cards at your disposal may be used (please note Parameter #5).

2. Decks and heroes cannot be changed throughout any of the different quests, except each player may have a 5 player card sideboard. Any or all of these 5 cards only may be substituted for any cards from your deck at the beginning of each quest, and are returned at the end of each quest. You MUST keep the same heroes.

3. Tournament standings will be based on Win/Loss record only, there is NO need to keep score. Each quest may only be attempted once per tournament entry. If there is a tie for the lead in any of the standings, a one game playoff using Massing at Osgiliath WITH scoring will be the tie-breaker, and the players will only be able to make one attempt (unless there is still a tie after everyone has played once).

4. Tournament dates: The first games of the tournament can begin on the US Memorial holiday weekend (Friday, May 25, 2012) and all games must be completed and posted by the end of the US Labor Day weekend (Monday, September 3, 2012).

5. REINFORCEMENTS: One exception to the "Unchanged Deck" rule is that player and hero cards released in the adventure packs Foundations of Stone and Shadow and Flame cannot be used in previous quests, but may be substituted in for other cards in your deck and/or sideboard when you reach each corresponding quest in the cycle. For example: Cards released in the Foundations of Stone adventure pack can only be used in the Foundations of Stone and Shadow and Flame quests while cards released in the Shadow and Flame adventure pack may only be used in the Shadow and Flame quest. This allows players to begin the tournament earlier in the summer without having the disadvantages of a smaller card pool.

6. Posting your results: Please post your results on this page as you complete each quest in the tournament by simply explaining which quest you completed and whether you won or lost. You may choose to include a brief narrative of your experience if you wish. Standings will be made available and updated on this page as results are posted.

7. Feel free to attempt the tournament as many times as you wish during the allotted dates but we would ask that you try DIFFERENT DECK BUILDS for each subsequent attempt. However, like in juicebox's tournaments, you may only occupy one place in the standings.

8. Follow all the rules of the game as established by Fantasy Flight Games including FAQ's and rule revisions. Please do not cheat (There is no money involved).

9. Upon completion of the tournament, as you post the final results of your Shadow and Flame quest, please include a deck list and heroes used during the tournament (including all reinforcements).

10. Please complete the quests in this chronological order:

1.Passage Through Mirkwood

2.Journey Down the Anduin

3.Escape from Dol Goldur

4.Hunt for Gollum

5.Conflict at the Carrock

6.Journey to Rhosgobel

7.The Hills of Emyn Muil

8.The Dead Marshes

9.Return to Mirkwood

10.Into the Pit

11.The Seventh Level

12.Flight from Moria

13.The Redhorn Gate

14.The Road to Rivendell

15.The Watcher in the Water

16.The Long Dark

17.Foundations of Stone

18.Shadow and Flame

Sound interesting, BUT as this is already very luck depending ( only one attempt for each quest) maybe make a little sideboard ( 5 cards) so Rhosgobel for instance is manageable with more than luck. Otherwise a great idea. Although could prove quite a lengthy tournament to play.

Looking forward to it.

I fully agree with you Muemakan…a small 5 card sideboard per deck would help smooth out the decks for the purposes of being able to put forth your best deck building skills. My hope is that because there are 18 quests in the tournament we would see the best constructed decks rise to the top even though, as you mentioned, it is considerably luck based. Yet, I did not think it would be a good idea to add to the length of the tournament. Players will have just over 14 weeks to complete 18 quests. This is manageable, but will indeed be quite a bit of quests. Now if I could only figure out how to edit my original post

Hi Mdowd,

Just want to say, I think this idea is FANTASTIC!!!

I do hope I have a chance to play this tournament, as it sounds loads of fun.

For updating your main thread, here's a few pointers:

1) Next time you make a new Reply to this thread a small Edit option will become available at the top of your main entry.

2) Click Edit and make whatever changes you like at that time.

3) While it's in "Edit Mode" copy and paste the URL address into a separate document and save it.

4) Next time you want to make an edit, just copy and paste that specific URL address to your internet header.

5) Boom! There you go.

Again, awesome idea. Really looking forward to seeing how the tournament plays out over the summer.

juicebox

I like this idea and I will definitely aim to enter with both 1 and 2 player. The change of focus from minimising score for juicebox's tournaments to playing solely for the win will be interesting.

Thanks for the help juicebox

(Testing………..)

My son (IDowd) and I (MDowd) are both going to be entering into the 2-player tournament as partners and individually as competitors in the 1-Player tournament. This should be interesting…

MDowd's 1-player narratives:

Passage through Mirkwood was a simple stroll through Mirkwood as the scariest thing off the encounter deck was a Forest Spider…Beorn's Path was the 3rd stage of the quest and quickly and easily I finished the quest. (1-0)

Journey Down the Anduin began with a bang as Ufthak and the Hill Troll started the game in the staging area. It was a grind throughout the quest, but I was able to cut out the number of enemies in the staging area by the end of the 2nd stage of the quest, and a solo Archer in the final part of the quest brought about a hard fought victory. (2-0)

Escape from Dol Goldur was brutal as it has always been for me solo…it is a quest that I have NEVER won solo and this time through was not an exception. I didn't even make it to the 2nd stage (again something I have NEVER done in the quest) of the quest before my two heroes fell and the quest came to an end. (2-1)

The Hunt for Gollum. Oh, how I remember how excited I was when this quest first arrived and we were finally able to play quests other than the core set. I was aided by the fact that I didn't face a single Hunter from Mordor throughout the final quest. I had two clues going in to the final stage and lost one of them before finally questing out for the win. My threat neared critical level, but I was able to come out with a victory. (3-1)

MDowd and IDowd's 2-player narratives:

Passage through Mirkwood was again a breeze. Ungoliant Spawn came off the encounter deck and IDowd's wise choice to keep him engaged with him with one point of damage away from death until the 3rd stage ended up being a very wise decision as the third stage of the quest ended up being "Don't Leave the Path" and Ungoliant Spawn died immediately afterwards. (1-0)

Journey Down the Anduin began calmly enough as the two cards in the set-up were the Hill Troll and Brown Lands (which was Snowbourn Scouted away). We maintained good control over the staging area throughout the quest and everything seemed to go smoothly until we revealed two evil storms as the final stage of the quest began. This wiped out two of MDowd's heroes and nearly finished off the third. IDowd's team had taken a beating as well and lost one hero in the final combat phase, but in the end an Archer and the Crows fell and the Dowd guys finished off with a victory. (2-0)

Escape from Dol Goldur was horrific. After losing a key hero to the prison and the guards of the objectives were Ufthak, the skeleton guy, and a Great Forest Web we knew that our chance of victory was very slim. We fought hard, made it through the first quest by grabbing the Map, but then MDowd's heroes quickly fell as they faced three enemies (as you will see when we release our deck list this deck should NEVER face three enemies). This sent a hoard of threat into the staging area for IDowd to deal with when he already had a threat in the 40s. Death came the next turn. (2-1)

I finished my first two quests

Passage through Mirkwood was, like it was for my dad, extremely easy. I had in fact an amazing hand of cards, so it was even easier than usual. The third stage of the quest was Don't Leave the Path, and I already had many allies and was ready for Ungoliant's Spawn (0-1).

Journey Down the Anduin was a different story. It started off well, in fact I was able to dispatch the Hill Troll at the beginning of the second turn (with Gandalf's help). I made it to the second stage of the quest almost certain I would win, but then The East Bight was revealed and everything changed. I made it through, but the locations in the staging area had built up a lot. Brown Lands took a turn of my traveling phase, and then I also had to deal with two Gladden Fields. Soon after, I also had to deal with Marsh Adder, and The Necromancer's Reach (which killed both of my 2 willpower, 1 hit point allies) I died by threat.

My dad, sister and I have completed our first 3 quests.

We defeated Mirkwood easily (1-0). Then the next two quests were different stories. Journey Down the Anduin took a long time to get through, and in the beginning of the 3rd stage of the quest mdowd and adowd were both eliminated by two consecutive Evil Storms, but idowd's secrecy deck was unaffected. Idowd was able to kill the small amount of enemies that were revealed by that stage of the quest (2-0)

Escape from Dol Goldur was also difficult. There were at least four locations in the staging area at the beginning of each turn during most of the quest! Somehow we were able to make it, but mdowd was eliminated in the last stage of the quest (3-0 )

I'm really excited about this! I'm testing decks right now and waiting to get Long Dark to get started.

jjeagle said:

Yes, but I at first thought the juicebox tournament is just the same, I had thought you play a quest three times and post the scores, I was not aware you can post any sequence of three games. If it were the former, winning the game three times with a worse score would mean more than winning two with a better one; as it is (but I am not bashing the idea by any means), it is quite easy in most of the quests to get three wins in a row… and you can play it risky to get a better score.

More 1P Narratives from Mdowd:

Conflict at the Carrock: I believed that my deck was suited for this quest. I figured it would be difficult, but I thought I had a decent chance at working methodically through the trolls on my way to victory. However, as some of you may have experienced, there can be some difficulties making it through the FIRST stage of the quest by the presence of two little words… MUCK ADDER. Couple the venomous snake with some evil shadow effects and I had quickly lost not one, but two of my heroes. I never even saw the Carrock or smelled the vile stench of a troll. (3-2)

Journey to Rhosgobel: I am truly thankful for the idea of having a 5-card sideboard in the tournament. As many of you probably will do, I built my sideboard with thoughts of this quest in particular, because I think this is the quest that requires the most fine tuning of all the quests to win. I was able to heal a decent amount of damage off of Wilyador throughout the journey and I had collected a couple of Athelas. I figured I was nearly ready to complete the task when the card effect "add 3 damage tokens to the character with the most damage tokens" came off the deck and Wilyador was beyond the Athelas I had to heal him. I remained engaged with one pesky bird with an Athelas attached to it, but my inability to attack it due to my lack of ranged characters ultimately brought about the death of the bloody eagle. (3-3)

Idowd and Mdowd 2P Quest narratives continued…

The Hunt for Gollum: For some reason we were able to fly through this quest and make it feel more like Passage through Mirkwood. Mdowd was the only one with a clue as to the whereabouts of Gollum, but (being the questing deck of the two) that wasn't a problem whatsoever. The encounter deck sent only one Hunter from Mordor into the fray and it was disposed of quickly by Idowd's combat tuned deck. It was quick and painless adventure…very unlike most journeys in Middle-Earth, unless you would call a journey to the Green Dragon for a pint of ale an adventure (3-1)

The Conflict at the Carrock: Strategy developed and changed throughout the beginning of this quest. As is often the case (except for occasions like what happened in my 1P experience) minimal questing is desired in the first stage of the quest unless a substantial army has been established. With Grimbeorn entering the staging area early in game we committed to enlisting his help before venturing to the lair of the trolls. Mdowd's threat reduction coupled with some good early card draw by Idowd allowed the us to move into the 2nd stage of the quest prepared us to have IDowd take on trolls one at a time. The fantastic questing of MDowd's team removed the Carrock in the first turn and IDowd craftily engaged and demolished one troll each turn…including a rogue Hill Troll that wandered into his friends' lair only to be demolished by Grimbeorn and the attackers of IDowd. It is never easy at the Carrock, but you've gotta love it when a plan comes together. (4-1)

Ok, I have a few reports to make for the Dowd family so here it goes…

Mdowd 1P Log:

The Hills of Emyn Muil: This quest became the ultimate treasure hunt as I looked high and low, and high and low, and (get the point???)…I reduced my threat none other than 3 times and still had a threat of 43 at the end of the game. On turn two Chieftain Ufthak entered the staging area and I was thrilled…I have 14 of the 20 points needed right there!!! Then, to my horror, I saw multiple location cards with victory points come off as shadow cards during conflict. By the end of the game I had only two cards left in my deck and a massive swarm of allies, but the elusive victory points made this quest seem to go on forever. I'll be honest, this is my least favorite of all the quests, but in the end I found the gold and happily walked away after about 1 1/2 hours of playing. (4-3)

The Dead Marshes: I wasn't so sure that my deck was prepared to handle this quest and it had been looming behind the Hills of Emyn Muil throughout my journey for victory. Would I be able to restrain the little wretch called Gollum or would I fall prey to the pretty lights in the marshes? On the first turn Gollum was "rewarded" two resource tokens and I became quite concerned. However, after a fairly solid spread of characters broken into groups of the questing team, the combat team, and the guarding Gollum team I was able to plod my way through the Dead Marshes. My deck construction was actually quite suited for the quest…more than I thought it was at the beginning. I'll save the details of my player deck for the conclusion of my journey through Middle-Earth. The first-turn two resource tokens were all that Gollum ever saw. (5-3)

Mdowd, Idowd, and Adowd 3P Log:

The Hunt for Gollum: In our first three quests it seemed like Adowd's deck seemed to be missing a certain spark that we just couldn't figure out. We actually decided to jump into a 3P journey on a whim…this is a game that Adowd plays occasionally, but not as much as Idowd and I (Mdowd) play. We decided to construct decks using heroes we were unfamiliar with and decks that just seemed to be "fun" more than anything else. We wanted to stretch ourselves into new territories. For example, in our 2P games Idowd typically mans the combat deck while I run the questing/support deck. In this journey, however, I decided to go combat heavy, Idowd went more of the support route, and Adowd was there to focus on the questing. It didn't seem like the questing part of our experiences had been going as well…that is until we started hunting for Gollum. The staging area was continuously overrun with location cards that we never could keep up with. Even though, half way through the 2nd stage of the quest we finally came across a clue as to Gollum's whereabouts that went to Adowd's keeping. The following turn we left the 2nd stage of the quest with another clue for Idowd and awaited the final stage of the quest. Due to the other two clues coming off the encounter deck being guarded by crows the number of cards in the staging area by the final turn was over 10. However, Adowd was able to use her superior questing skills to take home the victory. (4-0)

OK, here's the first instalment of my solo effort:

Passage through Mirkwood: A bad start with Theodred caught in a web, but he was rapidly freed by a Miner of the Iron Hills. Strider + Steward + Sword led his followers through the woods whilst the Forest Spiders dined on Snowbourn Scouts, strolling to a comfortable victory down Beorn's Path. (1-0)

Journey along the Anduin: This is potentially a problem scenario for this deck, as it starts on 30 threat and therefore has to fight the Hill Troll first turn. As it happened, the Hill Troll flattened Henamarth and then fell into a Forest Snare, Strider reset my threat from 39 to 30, and it was reasonably plain sailing. Gandalf showed up to incinerate the Troll and my party cruised down the Anduin in a single turn of questing, readying with Grim Resolve to defeat the Warg, Sniper and second Hill Troll who ambushed us on the shore. (2-0)

And some more….

Escape from Dol Guldur: I've never beaten this solo, and I didn't expect to do so this time. With Beravor imprisoned, I rapidly got location-locked (locations guarding each objective), and early Hummerhorns and a host of spiders overwhelmed me rapidly without making any progress whatsoever. (2-1)

The Hunt for Gollum: This was a very comfortable victory - nothing more specific I can really say about it. (3-1)

Conflict at the Carrock: My deck provided me with the perfect start (first turn Henamarth, second turn Broken Sword, Steward, Celebrian's Stone all on Strider). The encounter deck also gave me a nice early Grimbeorn, but also a Hill Troll who was rapidly snared and gradually killed. I was able to pick off the trolls quite easily one at a time. (4-1)

A Journey to Rhosgobel: It took some time to draw into the Lore of Imladris, so I completed stage one on turn 4, and next turn was able to play Lore twice which, with two Wardens of Healing sacrificing themselves, was sufficient to heal Wilyador fully and quest through for the win. (5-1)

The Hills of Emyn Muil: I'm not quite sure how you could ever lose against this scenario. It's just a question of grinding through, which I did without any real problems emerging. (6-1)

And instalment three:

The Dead Marshes: I have never actually lost to this quest, but for some reason it always makes me nervous that I will. My method was to move cautiously and prioritise preventing any tokens from being placed on Gollum, and this I was able to do (thanks in large part to being able to cancel two treacheries). This made the final escape test trivial and I won on turn 7. (7-1)

Return to Mirkwood: When this was first released, it seemed close to impossible (and not much fun) solo. Now, thanks to Strider to deal with the huge threat gains, it seems to me to be a very difficult but good, challenging quest. This was an epic game: in the end, I lost on the final stage on turn 7, overwhelmed by Hill Troll and Hummerhorns with threat in the high 40s. Key turning points were first turn Gollum's Anguish, which meant I had to reset my threat much earlier than planned, and my decision not to cancel turn three Caught in a Web, fearing the even worse treacheries - this hamstrung me for the rest of the game. (7-2)

Into the Pit: My method here was again to proceed slowly and cautiously, taking advantage of the East-gate to build up a strong position while the enemies mass inside. Thus, by the end of turn 8 I was still on stage 1, engaged with four enemies and with a wounded Faramir my only ally. Nevertheless, I was able to power through rapidly from here, aided by multiple Gandalves, and won on turn 11. (8-2)

And again:

The Seventh Level: My experience of this quest has been that it can be surprisingly tricky. This time, I followed the strategy of avoiding engaging enemies where possible, and killing them as fast as I could, on the grounds that engaged enemies rapidly turn into more enemies via shadow effects. I was able to manage this and to quest through and win on the fourth turn. (9-2)

Flight from Moria: This quest is, as far as I can tell, pretty random. Without readying abilities, the Abandoned Tools route isn't so good for my deck, so my best plan is to use Henamarth to scout the encounter deck with a view to winning via Blocked by Shadow. As it happened, Blocked by Shadow was the top quest card and I was able to follow this path. It took me a while to get through, but fortunately no New Devilry showed up to throw me off path and I won on the fourth turn. (10-2)

The Redhorn Gate: The vital second mountain conveniently showed up on turn four, and with the aid of multiple Gandalves I was able to quest through comfortably to victory on the sixth turn. (11-2)

Road to Rivendell: The deadly cards here are obviously Sleeping Sentry and Orc Ambush. I did see both, but the SS was innocuous as a treachery turn 2, and the Ambush consisted only of a lone Archer charging suicidally at my party, so I was able to mass my forces and drop 47 questing on turn 8 for victory. (12-2)

Additional Narratives

Mdowd, Idowd, Adowd 3P: Conflict at the Carrock. This quest allowed the combat centered deck controlled by Mdowd to shine. Threat management was a key, especially when we had a much harder time than usual getting the timing right and moving out of the first stage of the quest when we wanted. However, between Idowd and Mdowd we were able to take two trolls a turn and demolish them due to some beefy and multiple-readying heroes. It was a bit difficult early on when the staging area was clogged up, but the quest became a breeze when we charged the lair of the trolls. (5-0)

Mdowd 1P: Return to Mirkwood is a quest that I have won in the past, but it has always been VERY difficult to conquer. A first turn Hill Troll followed in the second turn by a surging bat that surged into a surging bat which surged into a Misty Mountain Goblin(!!!), which led to a third turn Marsh Adder. Additionally, I saw two Gollum's Anguish come off the encounter deck as shadow cards. I literally could have lost this game in all three ways that you can lose the quest…by threat, Gollum's death (he had 4 damage on him in the end) or by my heroes dying (only one hero was more than one hit away from death). In the end, my need to keep guys back who normally quest in order to help defend the massive attacking enemy army led to my threat rising too quickly and 50 threat was hit before I made it through the first stage of the quest. (5-4)

Ok, here I go! I'm playing with a mostly moono-Lore deck. I've got Bifur, Bilbo, and Aragorn (Lore) on my team.

1. Passage through Mirkwood: Win

2. Journey down the Anduin: Win!!! This was tough as usual but I made it through thanks to Gandalf taking out the Hill Troll

3. Dol Guldur: Loss I was really close on this one. It gave me a glimmer of hope and then shut me down…

(2-1)

4. Hunt for Gollum: Win

5. Conflict at the Carrock: Win. Took my sweet time and then used Strider to lower my threat right before I wanted the trolls to come out so I could take them on one at a time.

6. Journey to Rhosgobel: Loss. Just drew too many treacheries that damaged Wilyador too early

(4-2)

7. Hills of the Emyn Muil: Win

8. Dead Marshes: Win

9. Return to Mirkwood: Loss. This really sucked because I tested my deck on this the week before and beat it (for the first time ever solo!). I drew two Gollum's Tantrums, a Hill Troll, and Attercop all in the first 4 turns. Horrible luck.

(6-3)

I'll pause there and post up to the Long Dark soon.

And the final instalment (for the time being):

The Watcher in the Water: I was able to fend off the tentacles, reset to 30 threat turn 4, complete stage 1 on turn 5, open the doors with the aid of Henamarth and quest through to victory on turn 6. (13-2)

The Long Dark: As discussed at length elsewhere, this quest is laughably easy. I did unnecessarily ditch my entire hand to pass the locate test on Foul Air second turn, but it was plain sailing otherwise. (14-2)

Théodred (Leadership), Aragorn (Lore), Glorfindel (Spirit), Initial Threat 25

Quest 1, Passage through Mirkwood. I actually don't find this as easy solo. I mean it dosn't seem that much easier than some DL4. It may require felling a big foe so the deck has to have some kind of combat prowess. Well, enough of that. I did win despite some difficulty with the spiders.

1-0

Sorry to be a pain, but the rules for this tournament as they stand don't allow for the use of FOS cards in quests 1-16.

5. REINFORCEMENTS: One exception to the "Unchanged Deck" rule is that player and hero cards released in the adventure packs Foundations of Stone and Shadow and Flame cannot be used in previous quests, but may be substituted in for other cards in your deck and/or sideboard when you reach each corresponding quest in the cycle. For example: Cards released in the Foundations of Stone adventure pack can only be used in the Foundations of Stone and Shadow and Flame quests while cards released in the Shadow and Flame adventure pack may only be used in the Shadow and Flame quest. This allows players to begin the tournament earlier in the summer without having the disadvantages of a smaller card pool.

I've also begun the 2 player tournament! We're playing with Bifur/Dain/Berevor & Eowyn/Frodo/Gimli for dwarf synergy and some rohan stuff in there as well.

1. Passage Through Mirkwood: WIN!

2. Journey down the Anduin: WIN This game was crazy. We took care of the troll, no problem, thanks to Gimli. Then Eowyn and Frodo got knocked out in the same turn by double "deal 1 damage to exhausted characters" draws. Gimli was a beast but still fell prey to a untimely shadow effect. I was out of the game with just my wife to finish the quest. She was near the end but still had to face 4 enemies for the final ambush. She ended the game with maximum damage on all her heroes AND 49 THREAT!!! I've never seen such a close game… wheww!

3. Escape from Dol Guldur: WIN! This wasn't too hard. We got lucky on our initial staging area settup and then managed everything that was thrown at us. The Nazgul went down in one round thanks to dwarven might.

4. Hunt for Gollum: LOSS! I couldn't believe this one. We were doing great. So good that we even chose to put a Hunters from Mordor out into the staging area because we could handle them so easily! Then, right before we won we were hit by a "Pursued by Shadow" which was attached to a Clue card that we put out before we committed characters as per quest card 2a. This raised both of our threats by 10 and knocked us out of the game!!! Agggg!

to be continued…