Ok, I know this is basic stuff for most of you, but be patient with me, I'm a slow learner!

I am trying to test out deck building with this simple scenario. I have constructed a Lore/Leadership deck from the core set using Gloin, Theodred and Beravor. This generates loads of cards and plenty of resources but I find it very difficult to progress with the questing. Even with loads of Allies out (like Citdal Guard) the number of locations makes progress very hard.

If I am lucky and draw Gandalf or Celebrains stone early then I can romp home, if not I tend to be stuffed. I have used Beravor's ability and drawn additional cards but I cannot keep her away from the quest for too long or things get even worse!

My questions really are:-

1. Am I just not playing well and need more practice

2. Is this the wrong deck combination for this quest (Perhaps Spirit and Leadership

3. Have I missed something obvious?

Sorry to trouble all you experts out there but a coup,e of pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

Philip

leadership is a particularly hard sphere to mix with others i think...its because it is neither great at questing, or fighting.

that isnt to say it doesnt work. as someone who played only solo since the game began until around a year ago i would say this

any solo deck needs questing. all else comes second. you can take damage, or snare enemies, you can hope for a good card draw, but you need that quest power with a solo deck, unlike in multiplayer where you have more heroes to play with

your hero line up isnt bad at all. you have theodred- a must have quester in this deck for resources, and you have 2 other 2 willpower heroes.

my question to you is this....are you creating and settin up 'card combos'? what i mean by this is that a deck can be put together with good cards, but still not work right together becuase they dont compliment each other.

i will go on a search for an old thread i did to explain this better

rich

EDIT. i looked but could not find the thread i wanted. here is what i mean.

you have gloin who is a nice quester and not a bad fighter with an axe or something on him, but he can also be used for a combo in which you let him take damage off a low attack enemy (say 2 attack) in which he gets 2 resources for the damage. then get self preservation on him and he can wipe that damage away. he can do this each round withuot even exhausting if you let him take it undefended. thats 2 extra resources

....now your problem isnt resources im guessing, but questing perhaps. so you need to ask 'how do i make these resources into questing power'?

well a very obvious way is out of your reach at the moment as you wont have him in your card pool, but longbeard mapmaker can spend 1 resource to to +1 willpower. however gloin is leadership, so to complete the combo you need song of wisdom on gloin to make him lore

that is a rather long drawn out combo, an easier one which you will be able to make is protector of lorien + your large card draw....sounds just right for your deck....remember that protector has been changed so you can only discard 3 per turn (or is it phase...i need to check that). but you can put 3 on a character, or one on each giving you a potential +9 willpower in the quest phase.

your deck will run out quickly here so you need either will of the west which is spirit so you wont have that, or you can add extra cards...not great as you need to get the key cards out quickly.

its sort of a case of strategic thinking...try out different combinations and see what works

That's one of those decks where its only going to work well if you get Celabrains stone (attach to gloin or theodred) or you just play two player with another deck that can handle questing better. Darnit now I see Rich posted above. Let's see what he says......Yes, you should always include Lore or Spirit questing characters in a solo deck otherwise its just aint gonna do good. You're going to want to always mulligen for Celabrians stone or maybe a sneak attack and a gandalf. If you quest with Theodred and Gloin with celabrains stone plus lets say a 1 willpower ally, that's 6 willpower which its usually about enough for solo play. But like I said this isn't a bad deck, one of the best you can get without using Spirit or Lore (asuming your only using Core set cards) but the most fun and the best results tend to come from a deck that involves Spirit or lore questing characters.

Like Rich said, questing is your first priority, staying alive second, all the rest third.

Feel free to ask more questions,

Khamul

yes...in addition to needing spirit in solo, you also need them literally for the test of will....which has been annoying since core set era

Thanks for the replies. I am using combo's but perhaps not PLANNING enough for them.

It sounds to me as though this deck would work if the cards fall right (which is what I am finding). Your comments on teh need for Questing is very helpful.

My early notions tended to be that I should be able to succeed on this quest with almost any deck, but perhaps that is not true if I want to succeed consistently.

Again many thanks. I shall keep plugging away and pestering with questions.

Phil

not pestering at all....indeed these forums are too quiet sometimes

as for mirkwood- there is a lot of 'this quest can be won with 1 hero and 2 cards' type comments you will see...but this is from players who, like myself, have every single player card out and know just about every combo available..... card pool has a big effect on this game and only having core set is tough.

so, i would say, with core set, you cannot expect to win even mirkwood everytime, so i wouldnt worry about it. i lost A LOT when i first got the game

rich

I have just tried Mirkwood again with the same deck and won without too much trouble (didn't even need Gandalf!)

The Gloin/Self Preservation combination is awesome! Also had Celebrians stone on Theored.

To top it all I got Ungoliant's Spawn stuck in a forest Trap!!

Brilliant

Am I brave enough to try the Anduin again!

Cheers

Phil

well done

have you won anduin yet? if not i can point you to some good threads or give more advice

rich

Yeah he won it once. Talked to him in private message. I actually think that unless you go to the forums for trouble, its best to try on your own to beat the quests and build different decks. So I think it's better (and more fun) to learn how to beat certain scenario's on your own (which he has) without resorting to forums, if you know what I mean. No offense Rich. Maybe that's not what phil thinks at all though, but that's my opinion and maybe it's his too.

no - thats exactly what i think as well. its far more satisfying to win a quest on your own initiative, though looking at it the other way its almost as satisfying when you help a gamer win...

rich

It seems to me that with this game there are no magic formulas you can learn, especially with just the core set. Every game turns out to be different in some way and while knowing a few good combo's is great you can never guarantee these and you need to be able to make the best of what is presented.

I like to try the scenarios with a deck of my own construction, but it is also nice to “talk” to others about different approaches and so speed up the learning curve. For example the advice about needing to concentrate on Questing in the solo play was great. I would probably have got there on my own, but a LOT later and I can only take so much frustration!

It also gives ideas that you may not have thought of yourself. Like most games/hobbies it is great to have others to “talk” to and discuss with. I haven’t looked for local players yet, but after a bit more experience I am sure I will.

I hope to try Anduin tonight with my deck. Not hopeful about that Troll, but we’ll see!

Phil