So, i've attempted to get the treasure cards multiple times now, with no such luck. I'm using a Dwarf deck that is all about threat reduction and infinite resource generation. Last game I almost got the key, but had to whittle the encounter deck down to the last 3 cards, and just couldn't get the troll cave explored in time. Is there some trick to this? "The End Comes" helps if you miss out on the card because of it being drawn as a shadow card or discarded from questing… likewise, "risk some light" can help you draw it perfectly. However, it seems like unless you tailor your deck to specifically accomplishing this mini-quest, its nearly impossible to pull off… I find that to be a bummer, because its not really based on skill, its based on luck. You either draw it, or you don't.

Am I right? Or is there something I missed that makes accomplishing this task possible without tailoring your deck to include TEC and RSL?

I slow played stage 1 getting lots of dwarves out and an Erebor Battle Master. Kept my threat low with Nori & Galadhrim's Greeting (recycled with Dwarven Tomb). Engaged and killed the first troll. Snared the second one, and the engaged and killed the third. Then took my sweet time looking for the troll key.

I'm sure I did something wrong though.

I played a similar strategy, snaring the last troll, letting it return to the staging area and waiting for the key to turn up. The only real downside is that you need to re-engage the troll to damage it and steal the key off it so it makes sense to keep a troll camp in play too.

Given that the objectives are shuffled back in if they appear in stage 1 and resolve the "when revealed" effect when discarded as shadow cards or due to successful questing there isn't as much luck needed as I first expected. You just need to be able to quest really well.

I found having Henemarth or a Rumor from the earth to gage how much questing was needed was really useful.

took a few attempts in a 2P game to get the treasure. We found slow-playing the first quest card (only commiting 4 or 5 willpower above whatever threat was in the staging area) and getting a lot of allies in play early was key. Also save resources on Bilbo (Steward of Gondor helped us a lot) so you can afford to travel to the cave even without the purse. However, if you hang around too long and your threat becomes too high them trolls are a real pain in the arse expecially with all the sacked coming into play, so we found it a bit of a balancing act. I think the time we managed to do it we spent 3 rounds on the first card.

Took us a few attempts but on the bright side, we didn't feel the need to tweak our decks any. We were using the thematic ones that came listed with the expansion.

you don't need that much luck at all, keep your threat low, try to stay at quest phase one for a couple of rounds to get some allies out. Dain and Faramir help a lot in a dwarf deck too rush through the rest of the quest. With many allies enter seceond stage, wait until the key appears and attach it to a troll, engage and damage him. killing the troll is not needed to trigger the key's effect. you may kill that ugly guy or just let him go back to staging area, whatever you prefer. don't forget to reduce the encounter deck meanwhile. next round travel to troll cave and then in the final round get rid of what's left of the encounter deck. i did not have great problems with this quest. the worst thing to happen is when this damned key is almost at the bottom of the encounter deck. otherwise there shouldn't be any big problems

Cheers

I finally managed it this week. Did the slow play. got my threat to 0 in the first quest part. Then just killed off 2 off the trolls, and used will of the west with risk some light to get the key. Wasn't too hard once i figured out a solid strategy. I think i may have made it harder then myself…

When you kill a troll, does it return to play after combat if you don't up your treat? I was playing it as after killing two of the trolls, i was basically getting +3 threat each round to keep them out of play. I realized after the fact that that ability probably doesn't work once the trolls are in my victory display.

Anyhow, i completed it with Elrond, Nori, and Gloin. Not my favorite team or deck (all focused on allies). I may rebuild the deck now and try the rest of the quests… would like to get some use out of the treasure cards, and with my current build, they are pretty useless… don't really need weapons when you have 20 dwarves in play and a erebor battle master.

bollywongaloid said:

Bilbo cannot get resources by a player card effect. Or do you mean you did not have to use his resources for neutral cards???

muemakan said:

Sorry that's my poor english coming into play lol. yea I meant SoG was a great help with neutrals my bad

Captain Poe said:

This reads to me that you're playing it wrong. If you discard the key because he is either revealed as an encounter or discarded because of the quest card effect it will be attached to a troll. You attach it on Bert, give him one point damage, take the key and explore the troll cave next round. The only problems here are lack of Baggins resources or the key lying near the bottom of the encounter deck.

leptokurt said:

Why would you? You're not revealing the card to the staging area, so why would the text trigger? Its not a shadow effect, so it has no effect when revealed as a shadow card except to be discarded. If you discard it with the quest effect, it never enters play to attach to a troll either.

"If Troll Key is discarded, resolve its "When Revealed" effect if able.
When Revealed: Attach to a Troll enemy.
Response: After attached Troll enemy takes damage as the result of an attack, the first player may exhaust Bilbo Baggins to claim this objective and attach it to him."

oh ****… i forgot about that discarded effect. God… i made that first quest so much harder for myself then I needed too.

No one has answered yet… if you defeat a troll, do you still need to raise your threat to prevent it from coming back to play, or does it stay dead?