1)Get your mind out of the gutter

2) Since I have tried to teach the game to someone else I thought it would be fun to play 2 handed and use all those "Wandering Took" type cards that only work when playing wth others. So I set myself a challenge: to play "story mode" using only cards provided for the story. Core set was pretty easy, Mirkwood is always straight forward and incredibly easy with 2 decks and 6 heroes. Anduin actuall gave me the most trouble mainly due to an unlucky draw (2 hill trolls and the mash adder). Dol Guldur was surprisingly easy with 2 decks.

So then I said off to the Mirkwood cycle. HFG was a little tougher than my solo play, mainly b/c Mordor Hunters kept poping up, but after some adjustments to my deck it turned out ok. But I am stuck on Carrock!
Deck 1 is Legolas/Bard/Denethor with mainly eagles cards and Radagast and of course Miners of the Iron Hills for sack cards. My other deck is Theodred/Eowyn/Frodo built around the Rohan cards. My plan is to play each scenario find what works, what doesnt and try and make a deck that will run through all 6 quests with no adjustments. I know I need certain cards like Shadow of the Past for the 6th quest so I need to save room for those guys.

So I guess my questions for the community are:

1) Who plays solo 2 handed?

2) Has anyone played through the Mirkwood cycle in this "story mode" style

and

3) How the heck did you do it?

Any help would be appreciated.

i switched from playing straight solo to exclusively 2 handed solo about 4 months ago. i said for ages i wouldnt but i much perfer it now

as for your other question ive never tried it

rich

I dunno what you mean by story mode, but I have played through the Mirkwood cycle two handed with decks using cards from the core & first 3-4 packs from Mirkwood. I have 2 cores too. I cannot remember what I did exactly as it was about a year ago.

The heroes were Legolas, Beravor & Denethor / Eowyn, Theoden & Dunhere plus using bits & bobs of allies mostly from the core set & 6 Gandalfs (ie no eagles & no Rohan theme). I did consciously use the best cards available (IMO) & I was carrying 3 Lore of Imladris just for the Rhosgobel scenario.

The only difficult scenarios were Dol Guldur & Return to Mirkwood which I would lose more than win while the others I could lose occasionally with bad draws (2 clues & 3 Hunters from Mordor etc).

I guess this is not very useful to you other than to know that it is possible - I will try to find the deck lists.

What I mean by "story mode" is not intrerupting the game to change your deck. So the deck you build must be able to play all 6 scenarios. And one day just running through all 6 scenarios straight and the only card changing/shuffeling is the encounter deck.

Good luck doing more than a couple of scenarios without resetting your deck! Well without using a lot of healing & Will of the West.

i think the main problem is not carrock in the mirkwood cycle but rhosgobel- one of the worst 'build for' quests out of them all. i dont think its currently possible

rich

I think Conflict at the Carrock is actually one of the few scenarios which is easier with one deck. If you try to engage the trolls with tactics heroes and axes swining, you are going to get mauled. I was frustrated with this scenario until I saw a guy on youtube do it. It occurred to me that a stealth team will have a much better chance. The trick is to keep your threat ultra low and engage the trolls one at a time with overwhelming force. Spirit works best, but leadership is needed to hire that one ally. I also think that forest snare in the Lore deck is good for catching the trolls. I visualize the scenario as a bunch of dim witted trolls wandering around their camp until (thump!) one disappears,…. another goes to investigate (Whump!) that one disappears into the shadows. So on and so forth until all 4 have been neutralized.

One scenario I would try with an all hobbit deck when pippen comes out.

Pickles said:

I believe that flightmaster means is not changing cards from your deck and not leave the table as it is…

CJMatos said:

true, I remove damage and reset threat and reshuffle the player deck. I just mean that I want to use the same player deck for the entire journey.

Hello,

I've started yesterday playing this game, lost the first time in the first quest but the second time as I understood more, it was pretty straightforward (shame I didn't count the points though!)

anyway I read this and thought about it while I was playing, to do the same thing, organise two decks and play by meself, but how do you organise your cards on the table efficiently without getting confused?

ultra_slb said:

there is a table setup in the instructions that I try to stick to. Encounter deck in the middle, two sets of heroes on either side.

PArea1 ED. EDISC. PArea 2

H1. QC. AL. H4

Allies. H2. Staging. H5. Allies

H3. H6

Disc. Deck. Deck. Disc.

counter 1. Counter 2

***Update***

In case anyone cares I finally got through the Carrock two handed. It seemed much simpler with a single deck. I got throught 1B in one turn and had a low threat and didnt draw a bunch of enemies so I was able to get allies out and squash trolls one at a time with the help of Legolas, Support of the Eagles, and well… eagles. I also drew Gandalf and sneak attack along with a couple forest snares. So all in all it took a near perfect draw on player cards and encounter cards. I even managed to get through a Hill Troll thanks to forest snares on the Louis and Morris.

I did make it to JTR which I ***almost*** won on the first run. I has 11 tokens on 2B and 12 damage on Wilyador when my draw (I kid you not) was: Athelas, Athelas, Exhaustion, Athelas, Festering Wounds, Hummerhorns. Killed Eowyn, Brand son of Bain and Denethor. Game freaking over

I think I need some treachery cancellaiton for JTR which by my estimation means that expert mode (as its called in the rules) is not even possible in the chapter pack series.

And my appologies, but I have been calling "expert mode" "story mode". So sorry for the confusion.

ultra_slb said:

this is how ive always played (imagine you are behind the cards as you read)

quest deck encounter encounter

deck discard

pile

STAGING AREA

ENGAGEMENT AREA/ TRAVEL AREA

Player discard pile player deck player deck player discard pile

player hand player hand

hero 1 hero 2 hero 3 hero 1 hero 2 hero 3

attatched cards attatched cards

allies allies

ME

flightmaster101 said:

I would not have known what that was either I was just being a bit dim. But it is possible to do the first 9 quests that way as I have done. A second core sure helps if you do not have a lot of other cards but bloodymindedness would too as I did it fairly easily so there is some margin.

I too find the Carrock is easiest if you hit the trolls with a lowish threat & take them one at a time. You do not want to rush though as you want a decent number of guys to stil quest & block while killing them fast. You also can do it by taking the whole thing very slowly & having a vast legion when you get to the Carrock, with Grimbeorn at its head (I have not got him out in SP but he's sometimes there MP).

Another tip for playing 2 handed is to sleeve your player decks in different sleeves so that its immediately obvious what pile of cards is what. Other than that left hand vs right hand with the bad guys in the middle works fine.

Once I realized the game was primarily being designed for 2-players I decided to play double-fisted exclusively. I found too many of the AP's were very random when played truly solo; a victory or loss was too dependant on luck of the draw.

I also really like the synergy betwen two decks and cards like "ranged" and "sentinel" that make character like Haldir more meaningful.

ive been playing for a few months now and always play 1 handed solo. I tried playing 2 handed once when i first started but it was way too much to keep track of. At the begining i was always forgetting to increase my threat at the end of the turn then halfway through the turn i would forget if i put resources on my heroes and all sorts of things.

There is a lot to keep track of if your playing solo in this game, but now that ive been playing for awhile i want to try 2 handed solo. None of the quests right now are particularly hard… ive had a lot of luck with HoN, if i played it more itll probably start to beat my up but i got a few lucky turns. anyway I think itll make the game easier, which isnt necessairly what im looking for but its also not necessairily bad. Playing two handed will give access to 6 heroes instead of just 3 (i hate being limited to 3 heroes! i wanna try them all) and access to sentinel and ranged cards or "give to another player" cards that are useless right now. Itll change the complextion of the game which is good every once in awhile.

***Update***

With the same deck I have now made it through CAC, JRT and HEM. I did make it throught HFG but I had to make changes to my deck for CAC so I am going to go back for HFG. I think there is so much luck that goes into CAC that "expert mode" is out of the question almost right away.

But off to Dead Marshes and RTM! I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and if I can in fact get through all of Mirkwood using "expert mode" rules.

***Update***

Dead Marshes went without much of a fight. The only issue was having to do an escape check with enough power left over to fight off a marsh adder. RTM got me though. Pretty exciting game; I even thought I was going to win. One deck had a 48 and the other had 49 threat on the last turn. Quested almost everyone, but pulled hill troll. Got 15 will to 3 threat but didn't have enough power to beat the troll in the combat phase so the turn ended an I lost due to high threat.

I would really like to see some of these decks people are using to play 2 handed solo. Would anyone be willing to post them?

hendersondayton said:

i havnt time now to post decklists but my general idea when approaching two handed is split each deck into the 2 obvious needs- questing/healing and fighting/defense with card draw and resource draw split between the two

one deck is usually single tactic with hama/legolas and other….beregond at the moment. i have thicket of spears so this with hamas recycle cant really keep enemies back. then the heros get through them easily enough

feint is in there for when i dont want to use all 3 resources. usual weapons….rivendell an gondolin blades and bow for legolas. citadel spear and plate for beragond. hama i usually leave as is.

the other deck changes but i was using my flight to the ford deck- frodo/glorfindel spriit/ strider lore

sometimes i switched frodo for elrond to give more ally options.

the deck is pretty much noldor with all the dwarrowdelf power cards in.

after that it really comes down to using ranged and sentinel effectively so that the questing deck need rarely be ready. once allies are out the killing power can get quite high

im currently working on two decks that are gondor and rohan to be able to use all the new cards along with the event with the banners on. it should be a nice theme deck

rich

I will try to work thru your suggestions. I also look forward to seeing your deck build.

lol @ thread title.

***Update***

RTM has been defeated! It seems like if you don't make it in 6 turns forget it. I have to repeat HFG since I changed the decks radically to beat CAC. I don't foresee any problems, but I will post a list after I make sure I can do HFG.

Ran through HFG very quickly beat it on the first try with this deck. So as requested here are the decks I used to beat every scenario without changing a single card (using all 6 Mirkwood chapters and 1 core set):

Deck1: Deck 2:

Heroes: Heroes:

Eowyn/Frodo Baggins/Theodred Brand son of Bain/Denethor/Legolas

Spirit Allies: Lore Allies:

Elfhelm x1 Gildor Inglorion x1

Northern Tracker x2 Haldir of Lorien x1

Lorien Guide x3 Miner of the Iron Hills x2

Eomund x1 Tactics Allies:

Westfold Horse Breaker x3 Landroval x1

Escort from Edoras x3 Decendant of Thorondor x1

The Riddermark's Finest x3 Eagles of the Misty Mountains x2

Leadership Allies: Veteran Axehand x3

Snowbourn Scout x2 Gondorian Spearman x3

Neutral Allies: Winged Guardian x3

Gandalf x3 Vasal of the Windlord x3

Spirit Events: Neutral Allies:

Ride to Ruin x3 Radagast x1

The Galadrim's Greeting x2 Lore Events:

Mustering the Rohirrim x3 Gildor's Council x3

Astonishing Speed x3 Lore of Imladris x3

Leadership Events: Tactics Events:

Sneak Attack x2 The Eagles are Comming x3

Spirit Attatchments: Meeldor's Flight x3

Ancient Mathom x3 To the Eyrie x3

Leadership Attachments: Lore Attachments:

Stewart of Gondor x2 Self Preservation x2

Dunedain Signal x2 Forest Snare x2

Dunedain Warning x3 A Burning Brand x2

Dunedain Mark x3 Tactics Attachments:

Neutral Attachments: Support of the Eagles x3

Son of Kings x2 Blade of Gondolin x1

Song of Travel x1 Horn of Gondor x1

Neutral Attachments:

Song of Wisdom x2

Song of Battle x1

Hope any of this helps. Also any ideas for improvements are welcome. Also please keep me posted if you try to duplicate my results. My games were (wins/total/score) HFG 1/1/119, CAC 1/12/165, JTR 1/2/150, HEM 1/2/184, DM 1/2/163, RTM 1/4/128. Pretty good scores but my win rario is terrible in CAC.

The final verdict I think is that "expert mode" as defined in the rules is not possible. I think it is just too unreasonable not to reset your threat after each chapter. So I propose a "story mode" since it is not used yet. Follow all expert mode rules except clear damage and reset your threat after each quest. The catch is you cant change your heroes or deck from adventure to adventure.

I dont know if anyone will particularly care, but if enough people are interested I will give the same type of update to the Kazad-Dum and Dwarrowdelf cycles. Also more stuff as it comes out. I can also go back and redo the core set if anyone is clammoring for it.

Dont know if anyone is still reading but I'll post this anyways.

I have finished Kazad Dum actually very easily. Single handed it was always close and you could get overwhelmed very easily. With a deck for questing and defense and another for fighting and healing I actually breezed through it two handed. I will admit on "Flight From Moria" I was extremely lucky and found the abandon tools on the initial staging and got "Escape from Darkness" as my third quest card, which enabled be to beat the quest in 5 turns. The hardest quest was actually into the pit for me due to bad draws in the initial staging. So my record for going through Kazad Dum (using only 1x Core + all 6 Mirkwood chapter packst + 1x KD expansion) is:

Quest (Win/Total Games/Score)

Into the Pit (1/3/153), The Seventh Level (1/1/151) and Flight From Moria (1/1/122).

For the Deck I wanted to make a Dwarf themed deck so I totally started over. In hindsight the Rohan runner deck I have listed previously would have worked better because of Eowyn's willpower, but storywise you cant explore mines with horses so I changed it up. So for my decks I have a Leadership/Spirit and a Tactics/Lore, the idea being Quest and defense in one and fighting and healing in the other. The decklist is:

Deck 1: Deck 2:

Heroes: Heroes:

Dain Ironfoot/Dwalin/Gloin Bifur/Gimli/Thalin

Allies (Leadership then Spirit then Neutral): Allies (Tactis then Lore):

Snowbourn Scout x3 Horseback Archer x2

Faramir x1 Gondorian Spearman x3

Longbeard Orc Slayer x2 Veteran Axehand x3

Silverlode Archer x2 Veteran of Nanduhirion x3

Guard of the Citadel x3 Miner of the Iron Hill x2

Zigil Miner x3 Daughter of Nimrondel x3

Lorien Guide x3 Events (Tactics then lore):

Gandalf x3 Stand Together x1

Events (Leadership then Spirit): Feint x2

Sneak Attack x2 Khazad! Khazad! x3

Durin's Song x3 Blade Mastery x3

Untroubled by Darkness x3 Quick Strike x2

Will of the West x2 Ancrestral Knowledge x3

A Test of Will x2 Gildor's Council x3

Hasty Stroke x2 Lore of Imladris x3

Strength of Will x2 Attachments (Tactics then Lore):

The Galadrim's Greeting x2 Dwarrodelf Axe x3

Dwarven Tomb x1 Citadel Plate x1

Attachments (Leadership then Spirit): Dwarven Axe x2

Celebrian's Stone x1 Horn of Gondor x1

Stewart of Gondor x1 A Burning Brand x3

Dunedain Warning x3 Forest Snare x2

Dunedian Mark x3 Self Preservation x2

Unexpected Courage x1

Favor of the Lady x2

The first thing that jumped out at me was how few dwarves there are up to this point. So to get to 50 I did have to add some men and elves and of course never travel without the grey wizard. It is not the best dwarf deck thematically, but oh well. I have alwaysed used Eowyn as a crutch because of her high will and basically been good to quest with her, but Dain Ironfoot is fantastic to help others quest. Also Dwalin kicks @$$, his threat reduction is so amazing I used him mainly to attack orcs. I think these excersises in minimalism, using only what is released up to the point of the quest publication has helped me discover much about this game and how different cards work. Playing two handed has also expanded the card pool and helped me see value in teamwork cards like "wandering Took" and "Gildor's Council".

I hope this helps anyone who plays solo and encourages them to play two handed. I was afraid it would be to complex at first, but now I dont think I will go back to single deck playing. It has also helped me beat "Return to Mirkwood" and "Escape From Dol Guldur" for the first time and made it a truly enjoyable experience.