I have tried both solo and multi-player to beat these quests over several occasions, and not once have I/we won. In fact, it's not just a function of loosing, it's a function of getting SPANKED! by the encounter decks. I mean, these quests (which suppossedly have difficulty ratings on the same scale as other quests we have seen) are so much harder, that to rate them on the same scale is a joke. Peril in Pelargir is so much harder than any quests in the Core Set, KD, and all the subsequent adventure packs that I feel like the designers were trying to play a mean joke on us. Into Ithilien is no different, it is extremely hard, Siege of Pelargir is the only quest I/we have made even a slight amount of progress winning (it's still very hard).

My main beef is this: I think any new set to this game that includes 3 fresh scenarios should logically include 3 new quests that gradually get harder, thus providing a quest that is beatable at least 50-60% of the time, one that is beatable 30-40% of the time, and another that is beatable 20-10% of the time. is this so hard to design? Rather, what they keep giving us is a conglomerate of varying quest difficulties with no rhyme or reason. I want to be able to beat at least one quest in the newest boxed set, is that too much to ask?

Thanks for listening to my rant you all. Finally, are any of you having success with these HON quests so far? If so, HOW are you being successful with them? Also, is anyone else as annoyed as me? It's not "fun" to me loosing every 29 out of 30 games in a row, and I have yet to have odds this good with this set.

I haven't played the third scenario yet, but I posted two decks that are quite successful against "Into Ithilien" in the strategy thread. Haven't tried them against PiP so far (well, the first deck is a modificated version of my PiP deck), but I think they should work against this scenario, too. Dwarf decks also seem to have a good handle of the new scenarios.

If you want to build your own deck, try the two new Gondor heroes. Tactics offers a lot of opportunites, and the Gondor synergies offered by Boromir are just awesome.

If you play against PiP, you should play with Thalin. Add three copies of Citadel Spear and Gondorian Spearman . Take Hail of Stones and Fresh Tracks to eliminate enemies while they are still in the staging area. My biggest problem in PiP was threat management, as Gandalf was my only card which could reduce my threat. I awlays played him ASAP in case I would loose my resources or all my cards.

Include as many cheap Gondor allies as possible. Add A Very Good Tale to get even more allies. Use the tactics Bofur to grab a Citadel Spear.

I did always attach the objective to Boromir, engaged the Harbor Thug and let him hurt Boromir. I only recovered the objectice when I was about to end stage 2B. If you don't have the objective, all the negative effects that are related to it won't trigger.

Great points there leptokurt! Thank you! I will give this a try!

I had similar difficulties when I first played the set, but once you crack the puzzle it isn't that bad and you can win about 80~90% of the times.

My personal hero line ups are Beorn / Eleanor / Elrond.
Featuring lots of 1~2 cost tactics allies, spirit cancel events and threat reductions, Lore healing, and Vilya + 1 copy of 4~6 cost allies.

PiP is about losing the scroll ASAP, then carefully balancing your major cards between play area / hand / deck so you don't lose them all in one bad encounter effect.
Don't put all your allies on table unless you need it to deal with an enemy or plan or power questing, as they can all be wiped by one effect.
Don't put draw cards unless you have too many resources and nothing to spend them on, as they can be all discarded by single effect.

I take different approach to Ithilien quest then most. I actually don't attempt to clear the Ithilien Road. In fact I don't even commit characters to quest for first 2~3 turns depending on how many enemies I need to deal with, deal with those enemies, then reduce threat / power quest.
Don't block the enemy with 1 hp allies if you can't survive an undefended attack from that enemy as there are shadows that could cause this,
Don't block Haradhrim enemy with hero as there are shadows that will boost their attack by).
Don't quest unless you mean to make massive progress or need to stop locations from filing because then you might lose those characters to Blocking Wargs and make it that much harder to powerquest later.

I haven't really played Cair Andros enough to crack it yet, but general opinion seems that it is easier than the second quest.

To me it seems like tactics is more important then strategy in these quests as I drastically improved my win ratio without modifycing my deck by changing the way I play. Just assume worst possible card will show up when you flip a card and prepare for it.

Ellareth said:

Interesting points. You'r right about 1HP allies as defenders. This only works if you have Gimli with a Citadel Plate (one day I will build a deck around the mighty dwarf).

You're also right about the questing. It's good to have some cards in your deck that allow you to manipulate the encounter deck. I usually quest carefully and try to build up my ranks, and when I know that there are no Blocking Wargs I sent everyone questing. However, when you've got Eleoanor you really shouldn't worry about that. Drawing two BW in a row is very unlikely.

Not exploring the Ithilien Road might is risky. With Beorn (and Beregond) it should work, but other than that - ouch!

I find that strong starts are very important with HoN. Therefore leadership and cheap allies are good. Also mono- sphere helps you get going quicker. Mono-tactics is the best deck usually with lots of eagles. For two player, I've had luck with mono tactics and mono lore. We beat Ithilien with mono tactics and Lead/Spirit with Imrahil/Eleanor/boromir.

I went for an Eagle Deck with some Gondor (Gondorian Spearman, Envoy of Pelargir). My heroes were Beregond, Boromi (tactics) and Imrahil. I got to defeat all three scenarios three time (though I lost a couple times while beating each of them…three times when playing into ithilien)

Thanks again for the tips you all! I did finally beat this PIP (once, mind you) in a two player game. I played what I like to call the "classic" Dwarf line-up, Dain, Gloin and Gimli. My friend played Elrond, Glorifindel (broken version) and Bearavor. We beat it on our first attempt with these two decks by a combination of good draws from the encounter deck and our own decks.

Narsil0420 said:

would u mind posting your deck list for the Leadership/spirit? Shortly after HoN was released I tried making a deck with these heroes with a goal of abusing "blood of numenor" but didn't feel it worked out terribly well and would be interested to see your take on it