Hi

Me and my friends just bought this game and had our first run at it. We had a blast but realized we pretty much all played without any specific strategy haha. But I can see the potential of the strategy complexity in the future when we get more familiarized witht he game.

Anyway, there was one situation which became a bit wierd. which I couldn't find any answer to in the rules or forum:

1. During Saurons action move, he moves one of his minions into a hero location.

2. During the heroes turn he can't rest since minion on his space and he now get's ambushed by the minion.

3. The hero does not defeat the minion, (they both fight until they get exausted). The hero is left with 0 cards in his hand and can't move away from the location.

4. So Sauron keeps the minion on the same space. The question is will the hero be ambushed again his next turn?

- If yes, and the hero knows he will loose next fight can he just declare defeated and get teleported to a heaven so that he can play his turn normally next turn?

Also 2 more questions:

1. In hero travel step, he goes to a location with a monster/minion and fights but neither wins the fight (both fights until exhausted). Does this mean that the hero is defeated and his turn ends?

2. If a hero gets ambushed and again neither wins the fight (they both fight to exhausted) does this mean the player can continue exploring the location?

Regards

Pers

Persiatic said:

1-4: Note that the hero doesn't have to play all his cards, he can declare himself exhausted in order to move away (assuming he is not defeated by the minion). Yes, if the hero sticks around, he will be ambushed again. No on the declaring to be defeated. You can defeat yourself by moving with your last card or playing your last card in combat though.

Additionals:

#1: Yes, unless said hero is Thalin whose ability lets him continue his turn.

#2: Yes, he takes his turn normally after the Ambush step.

Tnx a lot for the quick reply Dam, nice to see a familiar gamer from the Talisman forums here as well =D

One more question I need verifying. If I connect two shadow strongholds with influence chain do all the spaces with influence now have the influence size of the stronghold with the most influence in it?

Meanning if I conencted stronghold A and B, and A have 2 influence in it and B have 4. Now I can put 4 influence on all spaces as long as I can trace that space back to stronghold B ?

Persiatic said:

Correct. Though most of the time, Sauron doesn't really need or benefit from having 4 influence, I tend to max at 3. That's the limit at Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad and Mordor doesn't need or benefit from having all that influence (only a couple of Plots, heroes won't be moving in there that much) and it's enough to get Peril against all but Eleanor, who is better being hindered with monsters/minions. If you do get the RWs or 6 influence to Shire, you can put in the groundwork in otherwise, just leaving enough to do that you can use 1-2 influence actions the turn before the Finale to get Barad-Dur to 6, have a chain from there to Shire and Shire at 6. Sadly, it's really, really easy for the heroes to sever that chain since influence removal comes before the Story Step (when the Finale begins). Best bet for that Mission, winning by mission is "They Are Terrible" Shadow Card.

Cool tnx for the tip. Also it says in the rules that the heroes can discuss tactics openly as long as Sauron player gets to hear the conversation but they are not allowed to look at eachothers hero cards. So:

1. Can the heroes look at eachothers quests?

2. If I understood this correct they can pretty much talk about anything like giving eachother hints on how to play their turn etc as long as it is open to the sauron player?

Persiatic said:

#1: All Quests are face-up, so open knowledge for heroes and Sauron.

#2: Yep.

Does this mean you also have the advanced quests faceup before the starting quests are done? If so do you do all the setup steps of the quests if there are any even for advanced quets?

No, but that's only because the reward for the SQs say reveal AQ. Granted, it isn't outright stated that the quests in play (let's put it like that) are face-up, but picture of the Setup on page 9 has them thus. And since there is placement involved in the S and AQ, have to verify that it is indeed that quest. Further, having them face-down wouldn't really make a difference after the first couple of games, the requirements are quickly memorized, it's just less hassle to have them face-up. Similarly, Encounter deck quests, you have to verify that the quest you drew indeed had the lowest number of the encounters that you could potentially resolve, not to mention:

"However, if the term “Quest” appears in italics at the top of the text box, the hero player places the card faceup in his play area (see “Quests” on page 25)." (p. 24)