leptokurt said:

I REALLY wanted to try and run with dwarves as well for the Leadership part of this challenge, but I wasn't sure how well the deck would work once I started rotating the dwarves out for other heroes… so I chickened out… glad it worked for you!

On to Leadership!

Round 1 heroes: Aragorn, Theodred, Prince Imrahil- won

I didn't take as many notes this time around for Leadership as I did for my Spirit run, but I will say this: Leadership obviously handled the defending and attacking a lot easier than the "blues" did, and while questing was a bit tougher for sheer numbers, Leadership doesn't really suffer in that area either. Faramir made up for any "shortages"… This first game was crazy fast. I started with Steward of Gondor, Sword that was Broken, Sneak Attack, Snoburn Scout, Warrior of Lossarnach, and Shadow of the Past (now that I remembered to use this card)… Since both "s" and "w" have a decent chance of popping up in this encounter deck, I knew I already had a good chance of winning the Door Riddle, I just needed to quest my way to site 2B. Long story short, StwB on Aragorn pretty much cruised me through all the questing and Shadow of the Past helped me set up a win with Sneak Attack and Striking Tentacle.

Round 2 heroes: Aragorn, Theodred, Balin- won

This was a nail-biter with me ending up on 49 threat on the final turn, facing the possibility of threating out of the game… I had a For Gondor in my hand for multiple turns but kept turning out the Bitter Wind that dicarded all my resources to keep me from being able to play it… finally got enough resources on that final turn, engaged the Watcher, burned a chump defender, then hit him with my heroes and allies boosted with For Gondor for the win…

Round 3 heroes: Boromir, Theodred, Balin- won

This was a good starting hand again… Path of Need, Shadow of the Past, SoG, Sneak Attack, and a few others… I thought the addition of Boromir with a bunch of my Gondor allies would definitely lead to a defeat of the Watcher again, but in the end it was Shadows of the Past plus a Snoburn Scout/Striking Tentacle combination that let me win this one relatively easy. Getting SoG out first turn led to being able to play Faramir a few turns later when I drew him, and the questing was ridiculously easy from there on out… I think if I had needed to, I could have easily taken on the Watcher eventually, there just wasn't any need to once I got the right tentacle to pop out… killed it… recycled it to the top of the deck… activate the doors. Probably my easiest hand in this challenge as of yet.

Thoughts: Leadership definitely was able to handle a lot of the nastiness of this deck a bit more directly than my previous Spirit decks. With that being said, I was pretty fortunate in all three games. Decent starting hands, and nothing particularly nasty in the setup or initial encounter cards. By the time anything difficult DID pop up, my table was pretty much established already. I would like to think that it came down to my superior playing ability… but the reality is that I just got real decent draws to start, and didn't do anything to shoot myself in the foot…. These games made it apparent how Shadow of the Past would pretty much be the make or break for most games/decks for this encounter…

For some dang reason, the enter key on my home computer doesn't function here on FFG's forum (or any of the text options), but the rest of the keyboard does. Weird. So "cut and paste" all of my structure from my Leadership post, then edit all the text… annoying… lol…. ON TO LORE!

Round 1 heroes: Denethor, Beravor, Glorfindel- won

The setup draw for this was Black Uruks… which seemed appropriate given how much I've documented my hatred for them… lol. I mulliganed my first hand into a draw of Erebor Hammersmith, Daeron's Runes, Gleowine x2, Haldir, Dori, and Shadow of the Past… Daeron's Rune pulled out Mithrandir's Advice and Burning Brand (discard Gleowine), and Mithrandir's Advice pulled Forest Snare, Rumor from the Earth, and a Warden of Healing. Can't complain with that starting hand! After that, this hand turned into a steady rhythm of Denethor defending the couple Black Uruks that popped out for no damage (and they kept discarding tentacles for their shadow cards! that alone was probably a pivotal part of the success this hand)… and I just kep using Rumor and Henmarth to check the deck to see what was coming, Denthor to defend… everyone else to quest or draw cards (Beravor and Gleowine)… Finally had enough minions on the table to engage the Watcher head-on. Denethor + Burning Brand + Protector of Lorien made it possible to engage him without him doing any real damage, then I attacked him over two turns with Glorfindel, Beravor, and a small army of 1/2-attack allies… lol.

Round 2 heroes: Denethor, Beravor, Aragorn- won

This was pretty much an identical story to the one above. Aragorn easily replaced Glorfindel (who didn't use his healing at all the first round) as the attacker in the party, Denethor defended everything thrown at him (with the help of PoL and BB again), and the rest was just questing, using a couple Ranger Spikes and Forest Snares advantagiously, and then going after the Watcher. Went a little quicker this hand after seeing the "flow" of how the fiorst one worked…

Round 3 heroes: Denethor, Bilbo, Aragorn- lost

Just on of those games where you are reminded that strategy is great…. but CARD DRAW is king… lol. Basically, all I nned to say is that my hand started with NO allies in it… and the opening setup was a Mountain Warg, followed by a Wrapped on Bilbo (tying up Denethor to exahuast to fre him), followed by draws of 2 Balck Uruks, Warg Lair (that pulled out Mountain Warg), and a second Warg Lair (and another Mountain Warg)… and a Striking Tentacle. I actually nearly survived… I was able to get Gandalf and a couple Forest Snares out to snag some of the Wargs… but it was just too much. Bilbo went down to the Tentacle, and with no other allies left and short a resource in a deck with expensive toons… just was done.

Thoughts: Lore is definitely a good sphere to handle this challenge.… as long as you are getting the adequate card draw, using resources wisely, and being able to scout the encounter deck to anticipate what's coming. Game three I had none of that going. Easy to see the outcome there. I WAS surprised that neither of my two wins were via the doors, which I assumed would have been the primary way for this sphere to win with its ability to get cards in hand. Not saying I couldn't have… it was just a more satisfying way to win by taking out the Watcher. I believe I actually had the cards I needed in game 2 to use the doors, but it was on the same turn as I knew I would kill the Watcher, so chose to finish that way… All in all, I felt like Lore offered me the most "flexibility" of the spheres so far. (Leadership would be close, but their specialty lies in being able to pay for the cards, whereas Lore just filled my hand with options…)

1^st attempt: Eowyn, Glorfindel, Frodo

WIN

Started with a Thrashing Tentacle and a Warg Lair. The additional Warg stayed in the staging area while Frodo (supported by Arwen and, later, Unexpected Courage) kept the tentacle busy. Ancient Mathom rewarded me with three extra cards, plus I got some early Resourceful and Elrond’s Counsel, so I had both resources and cards. However, I didn’t get Shadow of the Past, but after a while of traveling locations and killing a Striking Tentacle I had enough allies out to fight the Watcher successfully.

2^nd attempt Eowyn, Glorfindel, Dwalin

WIN

Got a really bad start with wrapped and Grasping Tentacle plus Striking Tentacle on turn 1. Fortunatly I had 2 Elrond’s Counsels to lower my threat to 17. I didn’t realize though that I didn’t have to engage Striking Tentacle (engaged it out of habit). I was able to play Bofur for 1 resource and the Stargazer for 2. Stargazer took the hit while Glorfindel soaked up the 4 HP by Striking Tentacle. The latter was killed immediatly. After that I got a lot of enemies (4 tentacles) and some locations. I was back against the wall for about 4-5 turns, but lowering my threat level really helped me to play the new Gandalf. Once I got Shadow of the Past I finished stage 1, opened the Doors and made it through (after 12 turns!)

3^rd attempt: Eleanor, Glorfindel, Dwalin

LOSS

Wow, Mountain Warg, Warg Lair plus Mountain Warg on turn 1 plus two locations afterwards made quest progress impossible. Not having Arwen or LoV (or Eowyn, that is) made things even worse. One location was Stagnant Creek, and this time I got a Striking Tentacle – game over after 5 turns!

New to the forums, and new to the game (only been playing since March and have a fairly limited cardpool), but the challenge looked fun so I gave it a go. Also, thanks to the other players on the forum. Reading the playthroughs really helped me develop my deck/strategy.

Tactics:

Attempt 1: WON

Heroes: Legoals, Gimili, Boromir

This was the closest and most difficult game. Started with locations being revealed from the encounter deck and struggled to make progress. Eventually, some enemies showed up and I eked out the first stage because of Legolas. A hulked out Gimli plus ally-Beorn and his ability killed the Watcher, and I finished the stage the next turn when Legolas put his hands on the bow and killed the Stirking Tentacle that had been revealed from the encounter deck. Finished with 49 threat in the nick of time.

Attempt 2: WON

Heroes: Legolas, Boromir, Thalin

The MVP of this game was Hobbit Gandalf, who showed up early and carried the questing. Thalin's ability plus a spear of the citadel on Boromir helped kill enemies quickly. I stayed aggressive, let my threat skyrocket, and charged quickly to stage 2. Killed the watcher, quested past the doors, and finished with 46 threat in only a handful of rounds (forgot to keep track, I rarely score my games).

Attempt 3: WON

Heroes: Legolas, Beorn, Thalin

This attempt was my luckiest one. Had an Uruk and a Mountain Warg early on, but killed them in the first couple of turns. Then I hit a run of 5 straight treacheries, that kept the threat in the staging area low and kept my questing going. By the time I got to the watcher, I had no enemies out, one location, and an army of allies to take him down. Quested past the doors and won easily.

Overall, it was a fun experience. I played aggresively, took lots of chances, and most of them paid off (Worst thing that happened was that I ended up with a grasping tentacle on Legolas in the second game which stunk, but Gandalf covered for that. Worst thing that could have happened was threating out in the first two games, which nearly happened). Looking forward to the other spheres.

Oof, Spirit, my limited hero selection led to some interesting combinations.

Attemp 1: LOST

Heroes: Glorfindel, Eowyn, Nori

I learned a lot on the fly through this playthrough. I went through stage 1 too quickly, and so I didn't have enough allies out to take on the Watcher. I stalled for several turns, hoping for a Gandalf, but when he finally came, I had lost too many allies, my threat shot up so that I got overwhelmed by enemies and died from damage. Nori+Arwen was a pretty good defender.

Attempt 2: WON

Heroes: Glorfindel, Eowyn, Dunhere

I took my time, questing slowly on purpose to make it through the first stage. Gandalf showed up, my army of allies took the Watcher down, and I finished relatively easily. Glorfindel got grabbed by a tentacle that he was trying to destroy, which meant that he was only good for question and soaking up damage. He valiantly sacrificed himself so that his companions could make one more attack on the Watcher and win the game.

Attempt 3: WON

Heroes: Glorfindel, Dunhere, Dwalin

Dwalin + Arwen defense boost made a great defender against regular atttacks. Turned over severl thrsahing tentacles and black uruks, but was typically able to take one down each turn. Once Gandalf showed up, I pressed on to stage two, Unfortunately, I was stuck with a thrashing tenatcale that kept killing my allies and prevented me from engaging the Watcher. Eventually, I got a good break and killed it, engaged the Watcher next turn and took another two to kill it. Sadly, Glorfindel died again, as he defended against the Watcher so that his comrades in arms could take the Watcher down.

Spirit was tough, but patience and Gandalf carried the day. Glorfindel suffered a lot of abuse: he died in every playthrough, the Black Uruk discarded Light of the Valinor in every playthrough (I should have seen that coming), and he had a grasping tentacle attached to him in the last two. Still, Spirit did better than I thought it would; it

Hi and welcome, Glowwyrm! Glad you're enjoying the challenge so far.

Here is my final runthrough with lore:

1^st attempt: Elrond, Denethor, Beravor

WIN

I wasn’t convinced of these Masters of Lore, but I have to say that they can be pretty useful. I was able to play two of them during turns 2 and 3 and could thus play one card for 2 resources less each round afterwards. Setup was a Black Uruk and round 1 wrapped one of my heroes. I could kill the Uruk with Mirkwood Runner, and afterwards I used Beravor’s ability pretty much every turn. Progress was slow, but as I got no tentacle enemies I was quite safe. However, just when I wanted to enter stage 2 I got a Striking Tentacle which killed Denethor, but Rumours of Earth told me the secret of Durin’s Doors so I could enter Moria before the Watcher could hurt my fellowship. I didn’t even have the time to play my two Gandalfs.

2^nd attempt: Glorfindel, Denethor, Beravor

WIN

Lore is playing this scenario like a fiddle. The Spikes keep the tentacles away and the numerous ways of manipulating the encounter deck make openeing the Doors very easy. A very uneventful game, especially as I had two Warden of Healing to heal all the damage afflicted to my fellowship.

3^rd attempt: Glorfindel, Denethor, Aragorn

WIN

Ok, so lore is probably the best mono sphere. Another game with no problems at all. I got lot of locations and treacheries, but like I already said, lore offers so many opportunities to avoid nasty encounters while providing you with cheap allies and synergies all over the place – it’ simply amazing! Denethor is the champ of this scenario. A good defender with a totally useful power was key to all three wins.

RESULT: 11 / 12 (highest starting threat: 32)

With hindsight I probably should have made this scenario harder instead of easier. I’d like to hear some input from those who have been playing how hey felt about the scaling of this challenge. Would you prefer a challenging challenge or a more relaxed approach?

leptokurt said:

I found them pretty useful in 2 of my Lore attempts as well… particularly in a mono-sphere deck where there wasn't any Leadership to lend its resource-generating abilities. I think it would be hard to see time in a normal deck for me, but for those encounters where you need to stick to one or two colors (say, a Lore and Spirit deck), I caould see it making it in there to help with the cost of those spendier green allies…

For this scenarios, I found that it truthfully meant the difference between playing only one ally on a turn while sitting on extra resources and being able to get a second ally out on the same turn, which really helped with the Tentacle control for this encounter…

Not able to continue this due to only 3 leadership heroes (well I have 4 but its Elrohir so…..) I just happen to not have the packs with leadership guys.

Sorry. I am prob getting a bunch more packs soon. Currently I have over half the expansions so i'm catching up.

Khamul

So, I've thoroughly enjoyed this challenge, and look forward to the next! …. (but I also will probably not play through the Watcher in the Water encounter again. For a year or two.. lol)…

For my final sphere, I end where it seems everyone else is starting…. Tactics!

Round 1 heroes: Legolas, Gimli, Beregond - won

The setup draw for this was Disturbed Waters (+5 threat), Ill Purpose (no effect), and Grasping Tentacle… and then pulled a Thrashing Tentacle for the first quest pull. Crappy way to start, but not the worst. Fortunately, my opnening hand (after a mulligan of an all-ally inital draw), was a Feint, a couple of Gandalfs, Defender of Ramas, Winged Guardian, Beorn, and Dwarven Axe. Beregond defended the Grasping, and I let the Thrashing go undefended to get the wounds on Gimli… Legolas and DoR attacked the Grasping to get 2 progress tokens (Legoals ability) and a resource (challenge reward). This was pretty much the cycle this entire hand fell into. Beregond (and defensive allies) defend; Gimli quests (occasionally attacks), and Legolas attacks for progress tokens. Eventually, I was able to get Beorn, Gandalfs, and some Eagles into play to handle the questing to free Gimli up.

What made this game interesting to me was: 1) It was the first time I've ever mono-sphered anything with Tactics. In fact, it was the first time I've ever used more than a single Tactics hero for an encounter (so I was a little unsure if I had put together a deck that would flow well). 2) Because of Tactics inability to get willpower on the table, I had to get creative (read: lucky), in that I never really pulled any more locations or enemies than what I could handle with the allies on the table….

In fact, the end of this hand was the single most interesting end of this encounter (and possibly any encounter) I have had yet… When I hit the second quest site, I pulled the Watcher into engagement immediately. Beregond (with the Spear of the Citadel) was able to keep the Watcher minimized, and Gimli (plus wounds and a Dwarven Axe), Legolas, Gandalf, and a couple allies were able to take the Watcher down pretty easily. Legolas placed my first 2 progress tokens on the Doors of Durin (which get transferred to site 2B). I thought I would have no problem questing out the remaining 3 progress tokens I needed to win… But by that time my threat was sitting at 41 (Gandalf had already lowered my threat TWICE in the encounter), and I knew I needed to get it done quick. But out flopped Perilous Swamp and Stair Falls (for 6 threat) into the staging area, and I realized that I was gonna have a hard time questing with my few characters that actually had willpower to end the encounter. My threat had creeped back up into the mid 40's and I couldn't risk another Disturbed Waters creeping out… fortunately, I drew up a second copy of Shadow of the Past, killed a Striking Tentacle with Legolas (which gave me another 2 progress tokens), played SotP, and riddled my way past the doors to move it to the victory display. Now I had BOTH the Watcher and the Doors defeated, and STILL hadn't enough progress tokes to win!! I ended that round at 47 threat… In a way, I was almost hoping to draw Disturbed Waters, since it would have been a crazy to say that I had beaten both the Watcher and the Doors in the same game… AND STILL LOST… lol. But, as fate would have it, I quested everything I could that had willpower (Gimli, Legoals, Beorn, and some Eagles) and got the needed final progress token when a Bitter Winds dropped out…

Round 2 heroes: Legolas, Gimli, Bard - won

After the lengthy synopsis of the last hand, this one will be quicker… This one started out nasty: Warg Lair + Mountian Warg for setup; Stagnant Creek + Striking Tentacle for first quest pull. BUT I had a decent opening hand, I travelled to the Creek, played Feint to hold the Warg in place (with no attack), let the Tentacle go undefended to get the 4 wounds on Gimil, and then had a Rivendell Blade on Legolas to get rid of the Tentacle. After that, things settled back into the "quest for little, defend, attack for progress tokens" routine. Questing was a tad easier this time with Bofur and Eagle of the Misty Mountains in play…. End result: Gandalf, Gimli, Bard, EotMM (plus a few eagle pumps) take out the Watcher (no questing tricks needed this time).

Round 3 heroes: Gimli, Bard, Hama - lost

Honestly, I think this game was lost more because I chose to keep Gimli over Legolas more than anything. I was really thinking I needed him for the Watcher confrontation…. Hama actually saved my bacon repeatedly by pulling back Feint into my hand. But it was just one of those hands that started off shaky and didn't get any better. My initial hand draw wasn't great, so I mulliganed… and didn't get much better. I dropped a Ring Mail on Gimli and that was about all I could do for the first round, which saw me start with a Stagnant Creek pulling out a Thrashing Tentacle, then Black Uruk popping out during questing and discard my Ring Mail… When it came down to it, I just couldn't get the cards I needed into my hand to do ANYTHING in the questing area… I was able to get Feint and Blade Mastery that Hama kept pulling into my hand. But I got absolutely NO allies into my hand for questing purposes, or ones that I could decently rely on to defend/attack for my heroes to commit to the quest all the time. I went 5 or 6 rounds getting only a single progress token (which then insultingly got removed with a shadow effect, after all that work to get it!), just spinning my wheels to keep Hama pulling those events to save my bacon. But then Bard went down to a Tentacle attack that went unguarded (after it pulled another tentacle for that result) and it was just a downhill slide from there…

Thoughts: Tactics is definitely the "fight the world" sphere, that's no news on here… what impressed me was good it was at not only defending/attacking it was, but the ability to really manage when even outnumbered decently… of course, offset by the fact that there's virtually no willpower in the sphere (again nothing new). I think what the last hand really showed me was how amazing Legolas' ability is; definitely in a mono-sphere deck, but then paired in a non-Spirit deck (Leadership or Lore) could really help close that questing gap and help esacpe that blue addiction and safety net… lol

@Khamul:

If you don't have enough heroes, you could proxy some of those you don't have to complete leadership.

@ Benhanses:

I really like your game descriptions. Keep it on, you got a talent for this!

leptokurt said:

Thanks! The reality of it is… I'm not the best gamer in the world… I'm probably pretty average, if anything. This is the only game of its nature that I am into, so people who have spent years playing Magic, L5R, what-have-you really pick up how these card games fit together a lot quicker than I do (or at least I assume so, by hearing how they all beat nightmare mode single handedly… 50 times in a row… with only one hero in play… while limiting themselves to cards that only start with the letter "Z"… from another game)… So I'm quite content getting 9 out of 12 for this particular challenge… Moreso because I really felt like I tried something I never had before (mono-sphere), found that I could be successful with it, and felt like I took the time to learn some of the internal workings of each of the "colors". Did I build the best decks possible… probably not. But part of the enjoyment of doing multiple attempts with the same spheres was learning from what mistakes I had early… tinkering with the decks a bit to correct those and allow for changes in the heros. And in the process of focusing on the mono aspect of this game, I actually started thinking of how some of those mechanics would fit in well with other spheres from time to time. I really enjoy the self-educational part of this game!

As for the "descriptions" part… I'm simply "blessed" with the proverbial "gift of gab".

Looking forward to the next challenge!

Lore

Attempt 1: WON

Heroes: Denethor, Aragorn, Glorfindel

This game was a piece of cake, and I was never in serious danger. I started with a mountain warg at the beginning of the game (a recurring them for my lore playthroughs), played a ranger spikes, and got a stair falls for my first encounter card in staging. I defended the mountain warg, he got a shadow card with no effect, and so he jumped back into the staging area and right into my ranger spikes. It was awesome, and I didn't worry about him the rest of the game. I got locations on the next few turns, which gave me an opportunity to play some allies, and I chraged through the locations with glorfindel on Asfaloth. I played it slow, trapped a Black Uruk in some more ranger spikes, then cruised on to stage two. I survived the damage from the Watcher, learned the password to the Doors of Durin with Denethor, opened them, the quested to victory the next turn. Piece of cake. I thought lore was going to do really well at this challenge.

Attempt 2: LOST

Heroes: Denethor, Aragorn, Berevor

My first attempt was seriously misleading as to how the rest of my lore attempts would go. Starting encounter card was a Mountain Warg again, but I didn't have any ranger spikes this time. First staging card was a warg lair, which brought out another mountain warg, and I was pretty much sunk. I was questing unsuccessfully as my thrwat went up, and the mountain wargs never stuck around long enough for me to kill them. Eventually I drew a striking tentacle that took out beravor (aragorn was maxed on damage from the warg attacks), and I was sunk. I played it to the finish, my heroes and allies were overwhlemed by enemies, and that was it.

Attempt 3: LOST

Heroes: Denethor, Elrond, Berevor

Same story as the last game. Mountain warg was revealed during setup, mountain warg was the first encoutner card. I didn't draw any ranger spikes despite my best attempts. I struggled to quest because I had to hold back defenders, and I kept drawing more enemies from the encounter deck. Got overwhelmed by damage and lost in the first few turns.

Lore was a massive bummer. Going in, I though I'd be able to open the doors on almost every attempt. But I struggled with constant early pressure from enemies. I probably should have started with lower threat heroes, but I didn't have many options in that regard. My only successful playthrough was the only one I got a Master of Lore and Ranger Spikes out. The first one helped me save a resource a turn, which added up to a lot, and the second dealt with those pesky wargs.

Leadership

Attempt 1: LOST

Heroes: Aragorn, Theodred, Gloin

This was a tough one to lose. I had a great setup up going in to the Watcher, with an army of allies ready to go and take him down. Then, on the turn when I quested to defeat stage 1, I flipped a Thrashing Tentacle from the encounter deck. I couldn't engage the Watcher because of the tentacle, and for three turns attacking it, I flipped over a tentacle enemy and ended up taking out an ally. Between that and the damage from the Watcher, my army of allies dwindled. By the time I engage the Watcher, I struggled to get enough attack power to do lasting damage on him. I made a desperation attempt to open the doors, but failed. I eventually succumbed to the damage and lost.

Attempt 2: WON

Heroes: Aragorn, Theodred, Balin

The only time I won with leadership came on the playthrough when it was least likely. I flipped over 5 straight tentacle enemies from setup and my first few turns. I defeated most of them, but a striking tentacle took down Theodred and a grasping tentacle ended up on Aragorn. I was questing well, with a Sword that was Broken and Faramir on the table, and I had good card draw going with King Under the Mountain out, but I had a dead hero and the other two had damage pile on them. So I charged to stage two and discarded and extra copy of the Sword that was Broken plus a few extra crads from hand in an attempt to open the doors. I discarded a Stagnant creek from the encounter dec, opened the doors and cheered! I quested to victory the next turn and won.

Attempts 2: LOST

Heroes: Aragorn, Boromir, Balin

This was a tough game to lose. I drew an ideal starting had, with Steward of Gondor, King Under the Mountain, Sword that was Broken and A Very Good Tale. I started drawing cards and pumping out resources and allies from the first turn and felt great. However, my setup card was a Stagnant Creek, and I discarded a tentacle enemy from the top of the encounter deck. Threat jumped from 32 to 37. My first encounter card was Disturbed Waters, so my threat was all the way up to 43 at the end of turn one. A fairly uneventful turn two, which set me up to move on to stage 2 the next turn. I was set with a Gandalf plus Sneak attack in hand to damage the Watcher this turn, then take the Watcher down on turn four and quest to victory….but I flipped over ANOTHER DISTURBED WATERS!!!! 49 threat and I was sunk. I was set to cruise to victory, but I ended in defeat, threating out after 3 turns.

Overall, it was a fun challenge, but tough, and I'm looking forawrd to the next one

That sounds like an unbelievable series of misfortune, Glowwyrm! I'm glad that you still had some fun!

And the winner is….

*drumroll*

ME! ME! ME!

*celebrates*

No seriously, I have to admit that I had a big advantage, especially with leadership and tactics, as I've been testing these two spheres against TWitW to find a good balanced challenge for you. Nonetheless I am quite impressed how good the mono decks worked in this scenario. There certainly has been an ongoing power creep during the Dwarrowdelf cycle and HoN.

Tactics and Leadership are tied for being the best mono sphere in this scenario while Lore has been surprisingly ineffective compared to these two. I already saw Spirit taking the last place before the challenge started. That's why the next challenge will be something more related to questing.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Ileimmoen for kindly pointing out some rule errors that I missed.

very fun challenge and i'm looking forward to the next one!

also…for the next quest that is "more related to questing"…dont pick the hills of emyn muil

sincerely, everyone

Or actually you could do THoEM but change the rules to make it harder and more fun. That would be really cool I think.

Khamul

Khamul The Easterling said:

I'm currently working on Road to Rivendell. I have a few ideas to make this scenario tougher and to handle Sleeping Sentry. Have to do some gameplay testing yet, but I hope I will be able to start the next challenge next weekend.