Maybe i'm just personally late to realizing this, but has anyone else noticed how amazing Ithilien Tracker is in the Battle of Laketown Quest??
Once the tracker is in play, there is no reason to ever not put Smaug in the staging area rather than engaged with the first player because since by using ithilien tracker's power you can easily quest over him, and if your threat is low enough…not have to engage him much at all. This can allow you to build up an army until you are ready to engage him, or if you are in a multiplayer match, the best prepared player can choose to optionally engage Smaug each turn if necessary.
anways, going back to finish my game…i got so rilled up over realizing this i had to stop and make a post about it