Riding on a sudden wave of pride, I was wondering what is your best score (solo or coop, but especially 2-player) against the second Heirs of Númenor quest Into Ithilien. I've just had and excellent (though probably lucky) 2-player game against the quest, finishing with threat levels of 29 and 25, with the total of three damage, on round 4. The original score would have been 57, the updated 87. I usually care little about score but this one is a bit special for me. I don't think the quest can be won sooner than on round 4 (thus only adding 30 points to the new score system). As I said it may have been lucky but through the combination of Risk Some Light, Denethor, and a copy of A Test of Will, I got rid of three copies of Blocking Wargs without them hitting my characters (and thus utterly blowing my chances). I also didn't need to use heroes to quest on the final round. The Outlands and (Leadership) Boromir (him especially on round 1 & 2) were key to the success.

If you want to know the line-up or decks, I am happy to provide.

Into Ithilien is a quest that we tried really hard to win, managed to pull out one victory, and then haven't come back to try it again.

Looking back at my quest log, I see that the final score when we won was 76 (old system) or 106 (new) -- we won during turn 4, as did you. I didn't record the individual players' threat levels.

Thalin questing with a Dwarven Axe attached to him helped immensely. We canceled one copy of Blocking Wargs on turn 1. Gloin took advantage of the Archery keyword on an enemy in the staging area and made a little cash. Beregond was a key player for being able to block and survive over multiple turns. He was almost killed by a Morgul Spider, but a timely play of Blade Mastery pushed his defense up and spared his life. The last round was scary. Threat was low so we were using Willpower to quest. During Staging, another copy of Blocking Wargs came out, and this time we were not in a position to cancel. Several allies were wiped out, but we still had enough willpower committed to win.

lleimmoen said:

Happy for you but i think Outland is so broken deck here is nothing to proud really……….Maybe if you play with one hero yes. Looks like a Outland idea was create for the ones who cannot deck build and play well so take it play and win every quest and dont complain anymore the game is difficult.

Yes sure we can play with this deck but my proud as a veteran player is not allow me to use such a concession from designers maybe only in case 1 or 2 heroes decks, yes.

Much more interesting with a mono decks and cards from Druadan Forest.

Just my opinion.

GrandSpleen said:

Oh thanks for that interesting input. I have had a few wins on round 5, this was the first on round 4 also. I used to run Thalin here a lot, always hoping for the Forest Bats, haha.

I did get the Bats this time (without Thalin) and it was the only three damage the heroes received (2 from the ability, 1 from the undefended attack). It was also the only enemy engaged throughout the game. I like the Beregond approach also but somehow I feel safer in running through the quest (via stage 3). Outlands really shine here, yes, but (Leadership) Boromir also. However, it was the two copies of Risk Some Light that allowed us to quest without risking much, without it all the Knights of the Swan (together with other Outlands) would have been destroyed.

Hmm, Glaurung, it is a bit weird what you write here. I've heard you saying Dwarves had been broken for about a year, yet you post a ton of videos playing with them. And you seem plenty proud in those, at least you don't forget to mention the videos in every other post you write. But now you think one shouldn't be proud of a good result, just because you didn't make a video of it? I also saw you glorify an Outlands deck on bgg. Do you suffer some sort of dual personality problem that you are so incosistent with your opinions, or you just cannot take the fact someone does better than you?

Glaurung said:

Someone might say that you can substitute the word "Outland" with the word "Dwarf". Just wondering what the actual difference is to make your dwarf decks more legitimate than the new outlands?

Nerdmeister said:

Yes you right. My dwarfs decks is not more fair then this Outland decks. Actually i try Outland deck against SF and i cannot win. Every time you Z Traitor he kill all of my allies. Maybe i still dont have experience. Sounds is not that easy as i thought before…………

And is really interesting to play. So i was wrong about it. Is not that easy.

I think it is no shame to lose a game. And I believe with some encounter card combos, one is bound to lose some games no matter how much experience he's got or how good his deck is.

I also believe the designers do a pretty good job of preventing some deck strategies from developing, especially on the newer quests. Thus, an untimely Zealous Traitor, Blocking Wargs, or the Master's Malice can ruin the day.

However Outlands do get the nice safety cushion with Anfalas Herdsman, a legacy that most of the other factions do not have right now.

Congrats! I was also pretty happy when I beat this quest. I posted my success as well. I don't use Dwarves, so that was even better. I have been working on Siege of Cair Andros, and it is proving to be just as challenging. These Heirs of Numenor quests have been great in their design, but brutal in their encounter cards. It's almost not fun, tbh. I tried doing easy mode Into Ithilien, but it removed half the deck. I haven't tried Outlands yet, so I'll have to see how they do.