Just played my fifth game last night - and had my fifth loss against Passage through Mirkwood, the starter scenario. Can't imagine the bloodbath I'll face against later scenarios.
Here's my deck. It's modeled on other decks that have been described here as being well-built to win against this scenario.
Heroes
• Éowyn CS 7
• Dúnhere CS 9
• Bifur KHD 2
Deck
2x Northern Tracker (CS 45)
2x The Galadhrim's Greeting (CS 46)
2x Strength of Will (CS 47)
2x Hasty Stroke (CS 48)
2x A Test of Will (CS 50)
3x Stand and Fight (CS 51)
1x Dwarven Tomb (CS 53)
1x Fortune or Fate (CS 54)
2x The Favor of the Lady (CS 55)
2x Power in the Earth (CS 56)
1x Unexpected Courage (CS 57)
1x • Henamarth Riversong (CS 60)
3x Lore of Imladris (CS 63)
2x Lórien's Wealth (CS 64)
2x Secret Paths (CS 66)
2x Forest Snare (CS 69)
2x Protector of Lórien (CS 70)
2x Self Preservation (CS 72)
3x • Gandalf (CS 73)
3x A Burning Brand (SOM 33)
2x Escort from Edoras (SOM 55)
2x Ancient Mathom (SOM 56)
3x West Road Traveller (SOM 121)
3x Mirkwood Runner (SOM 123)
Last night, didn't help that Caught in the Web came out on the first round(!). I'll be adding Miner of the Iron Hills to the deck next time I play.
Almost every time I play, though, it ends up about the same. Some time near the end, I have a couple of copies of Dol Guldur Beastmaster in the staging area along with Ungoliant's Spawn who I'm trying to kill off to win. Combination of cards may be different, but I usually have 9-10 points worth of threat in the staging area. I usually only have a couple of allies out and almost everyone has to be questing otherwise threat will go up unacceptably and everyone will engage and then it's death in a couple of rounds. Dunhere helps, but his 1-2 points of damage per round takes a long time to clear enemies out of the staging area.
Admittedly I'm horribly unlucky at cards (on a good poker night, I may get three pairs over a four-hour session) but I never get many allies coming out of the deck. Is there something else I'm doing wrong? When Gandalf comes out, I ususally use him to reduce threat early on. Should I be holding off on most actions as long as possible to try to get more allies into play?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. A few more games like this and I'll be ready to put the whole mess on eBay. Thanks.