I wrote this article a while ago (that is, On the doorstep was just being released), but I keep reading about Into Ithilien being a nightmare, so I thought I share my thoughts on this quest. In the meantime, a lot of fine player cards were released, so if you include some of those, the quest may become even easier. Let's go:

I admit that I was quite frustrated when I first tried to win 2-handed solo against Ithilien (with some not very well-balanced decks, I have to say). I then stepped away from it for a while to tackle The battle of Laketown and succeeded at building 2 decks that can constantly win against Smaug. Shortly after I came back to Into Ithilien and made up my mind about how to beat this scenario and deal with its special requirements. I then had the idea of playing a series of sessions against it and refine the decks on the way. To decrease the luck factor at least a bit, I decided that whichever side would be the first to win 10 games would automatically win the challenge. I recorded the challenge games and finally chose 3 games to comment on, because they seemed interesting in one way or the other. You will find these games in my next post (the result of the challenge can be found at the end of the third session review).

So let’s start with some considerations concerning the encounter deck and the quest stages which finally will lead to the specific deckbuilding which you can find below.

Side note: I hope this article will be enjoyable for both beginners and advanced players; suggestions for improvement are always welcome. Feedback is especially appreciated concerning any potential rule violations you might notice.

I. About the Encounter deck

1. The Ithilien deck features some nasty treachery cards (10) and high threat locations (7, +1 due to setup), which will soon kill you in one way or another if you hover in the 3 stages for too long. So we need to play this quest FAST; because there are battle, siege and normal quest stages, however, we won’t be able to finish in less than four rounds. Typically, we should aim for 5-7 rounds to complete it. For this reason, we need a majority of cards which a) are useful in almost every constellation of encounter cards that the scenario throws at us (rather than building up a huge force over time, which you won’t be able to pull off in most of the cases anyway in this scenario), and b) can be played at almost any time, which means there should be a lot of event cards, and c) should also be rather cheap. This is why I propose two decks which are weighted quite particularly: 23/24 event cards, very few allies (15/14) and a low average cost (most of the player cards cost 0 or 1, some cost 2 and only 9 cards cost 3 or more (3x Gildor’s counsel, 6x Gandalf). Because half of our deck cards are events (meaning they can be played whenever an action window opens), you will probably be facing a lot more decision making than usual. As with most strong encounter decks, some of the treachery cards demand opposing things: Lost companion punishes you for having too few characters quest, Watcher in the woods (and Blocking wargs to some extend) punish you for having too many characters quest.

Fast playing also requires a steep progress curve, so you do not only need strong questing, but again cheap cards that provide some quest point boost, be it directly (e.g. Durin’s song) or indirectly. Would you be willing to pay 1 res for a card that gave one of your characters +3 or +4 questing power for the current quest phase? If the answer is yes, you should embrace cards like Radagast’s cunning and Secret paths. Although there are only 4 targetable locations for the latter (3x Overgrown trail, 1x Ithilien road) which besides must be in the staging area for Secret paths to work, we still want to include both copies of the card because our decks don’t offer many ways to deal with high threat locations. Talking about locations: Overgrown trail offers the possibility to exhaust a ranger to put 3 progress tokens on it. Besides the rangers in the encounter deck, there arent’ many player cards who have the ranger trait: There are Northern tracker, Damrod and Dunedain wanderer, but they are all too expensive in a deck where the respective sphere only has a single hero. Ithilien tracker, on the other hand, offers 3hp for only 2 cost (useful when assigning archery damage) AND provides an alternative version of Radagast’s cunning. In conjunction with Denethor, Henamarth Riversong and Rumour from the earth, Ithilien tracker has proven very useful.

2. All of the enemies (14, + 2 due to setup) in the deck are pretty strong (except Forest bat) and have a rather high engagement cost (exceptions again are Morgul spider and Haradrim elite) and high hit points. Besides, there are some nasty shadow effects: Out of the 33 cards that remain in the encounter deck after setup, 25 have a shadow effect. 2 of them are Ithilien guardians (allies in the encounter deck whose traits and shadow effects (deal 2 damage to attacking enemy) resemble the Ithilien rangers from Massing at Osgiliath). 6 shadow cards add threat (4x Forest bat, 2x Watcher in the woods) which is usually not a terrible thing in this scenario. That leaves us with 17 shadow cards (which is half of the encounter deck) with effects like att +2/+3, deal 1 damage to defender, enemy attacks again, remove progress tokens and so forth.

This means we are facing strong enemies AND numerous unpleasant shadow effects in this scenario. Up to now, we still have few ways to cancel shadow cards. So both these facts yearn for ways to kill enemies without having to engage them. You’ve already guessed it, we will see a reappearance of Dunhere (hopefully boosted with Dunedain Mark/Unseen strike) and also Legolas (with Hands upon the bow and Great yew bow, preferably with Light of Valinor, functioning as another Unexpected Courage at the cost of 1 res). A lower starting threat (around 25) is also beneficial to provide enough time for your staging area attacks even if you are facing an early Watcher in the woods.

That being said, we also want to use some cards that offer Encounter deck control, e.g. Denethor’s special ability and Gildor’s counsel (this card may be the most powerful card in both decks; preferably combined with Denethor/Shadow of the past). Keep in mind that up to now, there has been no ruling about the order in which shadow cards are discarded. So as long as you abide by the rules, always arrange the order in which shadow cards and/or encounter cards are discarded in your favor. The next card you draw from your deck might be Shadow of the past.

Luckily, we also have access to some cards which provide Engagement control: Fresh tracks (which also provides direct damage) and Ranger spikes (which also provides threat reduction in the staging area).

Finally, we’d like to include some ways to deal direct damage (Thalin, Gandalf the old; his entering play-condition can kill Southron Elite and Southron Mercenaries instantly, but remember that he damages Celador when he leaves play), Fresh tracks, Expecting mischief, Hail of stones). A copy of Infighting allows for a little more flexibility here.

All revealed enemies get 1 damage from Thalin, so against 1 def enemies with 5 hit points (3x Morgul spider, 2x Southron company) you normally need two unmodified shots from Dunhere/Legolas or Gandalf’s direct damage to kill them.

Sometimes you can just leave Morgul spider, Southron company or Southron elite in the staging area if Ranger spikes reduces their threat to one.

If you use the mentioned cards wisely, you should only occasionally be forced to engage an enemy. As a backup, we will also include Henamarth Riversong and Rumours from the earth in our decks. This way, even if we’ve already used Denethor’s ability to put the topmost card under the deck, we can still peek at the new topmost card and adjust our plans accordingly.

How to tackle Mumak: You don’t face this card often if you control the encounter deck as described above. If Mumak appears: keep calm, don’t bother attacking it, just leave it in the staging area. Use Radagast’s cunning on it if you have it in your hand. Often the game will be over before Mumak engages you, or there will be just one round of attacking. I have included two game reviews (no. 2 and no. 3) which feature an early Mumak reveal. Gandalf the new in play can kind of neutralize Mumak and can finally be exhausted to take 1-2 hits from Mumak before he dies, which should be enough time to meanwhile finish the quest. Besides, the fact that Gandalf the new doesn’t exhaust to quest also constitutes an insurance against Southron elite attacks from the staging area or other enemies who engage spontaneously.

Side note: In my opinion, it’s a pity that the designers didn’t allow for a bit more variety to deal with Mumak; if it couldn’t take more than FOUR damage a round, for example, I would be much more inclined to actually fight it.

3. Player Threat is usually not a big problem in this quest, so there’s little need for cards like Galadhrim’s greeting or Elrond’s counsel. If you use the new Gandalf for several rounds, however, who is included in the Tactics/Spirit deck just for this reason (relatively low threat), your threat can end up in the high forties. From time to time, Watcher from the woods/Southron support + shadow card effects can also boost your threat.

II. Thoughts about the 4 quest stages:

Quest stage 1:

You will often be able to complete this stage within the first three rounds. Speed is mandatory because you want to bypass quest stage 2 (see below), so you want to put into play every attack/quest point boost possible. Remember that once you reach quest stage 3, enemies become relatively weaker: Southron elite and Morgul spider don’t pose an engaging threat anymore, and Southron Companies’ threat is reduced by two.

Quest stage 2: Avoid it if you can. This stage means more engaging enemies and 2 archery damage per round which can be a pain in the ass if you don’t have Warden of healing in your hand. Besides, your siege questing is probably not at a high level because of little time to draw cards to support the heroes’ questing (Winged Guardian, Protector of Lorien, Gandalf).

Quest stage 3: This is the way to go. Our decks are partly designed to tackle this very stage efficiently. The first player takes control of all Ranger objectives, which is especially beneficial if you have Overgrown paths to explore.

Don’t be afraid if there are 3-4 enemies in the staging area during stage 3. Try to nail at least one of them with Ranger spikes to reduce their threat. Note that Southron companies only contribute 1 threat in stage 3. Often, it is not even necessary to kill the enemies in stage 3: It is worth the risk to have two or three enemies engage you and use chump blockers/Dain to defend (a copy of Hasty stroke is always welcome here), thus cleaning the staging area and hopefully win the next round by letting all characters quest. Remember, we have some very good siege questers in our deck.

So don’t hesitate to finish the last two stages quickly; if you try to kill all enemies before advancing, it often means more nasty encounter cards to come, which will make your life much harder in the end.

Quest stage 4: Sometimes you arrive at this stage quite early, so keep in mind that you are must be able to quest with willpower if you enter stage 4 with 33 or less threat. Usually, you shouldn’t need more than two rounds to get through this stage. No matter if the stage has already become siege or not, Protector of Lorien is a nice card in stage 4. If you have one copy or both copies in your hand, attach them wisely so that you are able to discard the maximum number of cards possible (3 per copy, see FAQ).

III. Hero choice

In order to meet the special requirements of this scenario, especially the new questing mechanics (battle, siege), all our heroes must be able to serve multiple purposes at a time, or we won’t be able to progress fast enough. Also, we don’t specifically aim at including certain spheres in our decks, but rather choose our heroes with regard to their stats and unique abilities.

The first hero to be assembled won’t be a surprise: Dain. He has strong defense stats for siege stages and boosts dwarves’ questing points in the remaining stages. Besides, if he’s undamaged, he can take an unmodified undefended hit from Southron elite (particularly important if they attack the first player from the staging area and you have no one ready to defend).

Keep in mind that if you have possibilities to ready Dain after committing him to the quest, he will boost himself which results in +2/+3 questing points. There are 2 copies of Erebor record keeper in the deck to enable readying Dain as often as possible.

The next hero we call to arms is Bifur, who has good overall stats and a very low starting threat.

Being a dwarf, he also profits from Dain’s bonus and grants us access to at least 2 lore ressources a round.

The first deck and the lore faction will be completed with Denethor, who, together with Bifur, lets us play Gildor’s counsel in the same round we drew it, if we wish. Denethor’s unique ability is priceless when it comes to encounter deck control. Besides, he is also a strong siege quester.

The second deck features Thalin, whose unique ability provides for 4 “free” encounter cards (Forest bat) and many combo possibilities to kill enemies together with other direct damage cards. He also profits from Dain’s bonus.

Thalin is being accompanied by Legolas, whose unique ability has proven crucial time and time again because it enables progressing in tight situations. Legolas is a strong quester in stage 1 and can become a real killing machine afterwards: having the trait ranged, he has access to Great yew bow and Hands upon the bow. Being a Silvan also, Light of Valinor and Rivendell blade complete this all-round character.

The last member of our company is Dunhere, the master of staging area killing. Having a low starting threat, he also enables us to have both decks start at the same threat (26).

If deck 2 has the first player button, an undamaged Dunhere (or Legolas with Light of Valinor) can also defend against unmodified (you will often know the shadow card because you peeked at it) Southron elite attacks from the staging area. If you have the choice, always defend with Dunhere because he usually doesn’t quest and thus cannot be further damaged by Blocking wargs.

Besides, we include a lot of readying possibilities in our decks to have further access to the strengths of our heroes (Miruvor, Cram, Unexpected courage, Erebor record keeper, Light of Valinor).

IV. Final decks: “Snipers and spies”

Dain/Bifur/Denethor (threat 26)

Deck composition (53 cards – 30 lore, 18 leadership, 5 neutral): 23 events, 15 attachments, 15 allies.

Events: 3x Durin’s song, 1x Infighting, 2x Sneak attack, 3x Fresh tracks, 3x Expecting mischief, 3x Gildor’s counsel, 2x Radagast’s cunning, 2x Secret paths, 2x Rumour from the earth, 2x Shadow of the past

Attachments: 2x Steward of Gondor, 3x Cram, 2x King under the mountain, 3x Dunedain mark, 2x Protector of Lorien, 3x Ranger spikes

Allies: 2x Erebor hammersmith, 3x Warden of healing, 2x Gleowine, 1x Henamarth Riversong, 2x Ithilien Tracker, 2x Erebor Record Keeper, 3x Gandalf (old)

Thalin/Legolas/Dunhere (threat 26)

Deck composition (53 cards – 34 Tactics, 15 Spirit, 4 Neutral): 24 events, 15 attachments, 14 allies.

Events: 2x A test of will, 2x Hasty stroke, 3x Unseen strike, 2x Quick strike, 3x Khazad! Khazad!, 2x Feint, 1x Swift strike, 3x Hands upon the bow, 3x Hail of stones, 2x Foehammer, 1x Shadows of the past

Attachments: 1x Unexpected courage, 3x Light of Valinor, 3x Miruvor, 3x Great yew bow, 2x Gondolin Blade, 2x Rivendell blade, 1x Black Arrow

Allies: 3x Veteran axehand, 3x Winged guardian, 3x Vassal of the windlord, 2x Arwen, 3x Gandalf (new)

The decks experienced a lot of fine-tuning during the challenge. Among the cards that saw an appearance, but were finally dropped, the following may re-enter the decks in the future:

Grave cairn (nice after Gandalf or Vassal/Celador leave, because you can use their attack value to kill most enemies in one shot. Besides, it can prevent losing quest points due to character killing by Blocking wargs.

Common cause (can often be used on Dain to ready Dunhere/Legolas).

Dwarven axe (to be played on Thalin or Dunhere) – often there will be 2 free tactics resources to spend.

In addition, there are well-known cards which are always nice to have, but would only extend the decks further, e.g. We are not idle (very useful, but we are hardly able to exhaust more than 1 dwarf (Dain), meaning this card would only yield +1 res and +1 card), Daeron’s runes, Blade mastery (always usable, sometimes a life saver).

There is one thing to be said about Master of the forge: I included two copies of it in deck 1 for some games, but finally dropped both cards. However, considering Master of the forge proves to be useful every time he enters play AND can be used as a chump blocker if you use his ability only at the end of the round, I think it’s worth considering to let him reappear in deck 1 and exchange the two copies of Sneak attack (whose usefulness is rather limited) for two copies of Master of the forge.

So basically, our two decks feature:

3-4 questers (Thalin, Bifur, Dain, Legolas (note that the questers should be on different hands because of the encounter card Lost companion), 1-2 Snipers (Dunhere, Legolas with Great yew bow/Hands upon the bow; remember that they can’t attack enemies in the staging area together, but they can attack the same enemy consecutively) and a spy (Denethor).

V. General thoughts during setup:

In quest stage 1, your initial questing power in the quest phase will be at 10 (2 Dain, 1 Bifur, 3 Legolas, 2 Thalin, 2 Celador). As soon as you have put an ally into play from the Leadership/Lore deck, don’t let Dain quest anymore because you are now safe against Lost Companion and still get Dain’s +2 questing power because you have at least two dwarves in play (Bifur, Thalin).

There are 6 threat in the staging area and an active location with 4 threat. If no further cards were revealed, the questing power would just be high enough to clear the active location. But as 2 more encounter cards will be revealed, you must consider both starting hands carefully. Examine how the cards in both hands are able to interact with each other to make sure you are able to clear Ithilien Road first turn. Gildor’s counsel is always a good card during first turn (pay 1 res to Bifur to be able to afford it). If you don’t have it, look for staging area threat reduction (Radagast’s cunning, Secret paths, Ranger spikes) and for cards which provide additional attack(=questing points) (e.g. almost all allies, Khazad!, Dunedain mark, Durin’s song, numerous ways to exhaust and immediately ready Dain for +2/+3 questing power). If this doesn’t seem possible either, sometimes you are able to insta-kill an enemy at low cost (e.g. Expecting mischief + Thalin to kill Haradrim elite, Expecting mischief + Thalin + Fresh tracks to kill Southron mercenaries). If all else fails, it means you have to mulligan even if you drew Steward of Gondor or Unexpected courage, because the topmost priority is to clear the active location.

VI. General thoughts during the planning phase:

Always start with using Denethor’s unique ability to peek at the encounter deck. An exception to this may be the siege stages where you might want to use Denethors +3 defense for questing.

Typical cards to put under the deck after peeking are Mumak, Southron support, Southron elite (if you aren’t able to defend properly) and, naturally, all treachery cards that have the surge trait (note: remember that since the latest FAQ, Blocking wargs aren’t shuffled back into the encounter deck anymore if the current quest card has a keyword).

Overgrown trail is a tough call because even if you are able to make it the active location the same round it was revealed, it still means it needs 10 questing points to be cleared. 2 rangers under your control make this choice a lot easier, of course.

Except when you have Stewart of Gondor in play (which should be attached to a lore hero), you almost always want to transfer one resource to Bifur to allow for buying more/better lore cards. Often the resource will be received from the other deck. If you don’t need the additional lore resource immediately, (e.g. if you plan to maybe play lore actions, but are not sure about that in the planning phase), you should always delay Bifur’s action until you actually need the lore resource (but don’t forget to do it at the end of the round). Warden of healing should be used in a similar way if he’s in play: if you don’t have to heal a character immediately, postpone the healing until the end of the round in case Celador gets damaged. This way, you always have a chump blocker available if things get out of hand. But don’t forget that it’s possible that you have to face two Blocking wargs in a row (3 in a row usually mean a loss), so try to keep your hero questers at low damage (ideally, they should have 3 more hitpoints than damage if possible, e.g. max. 1 damage for Legolas and Thalin, max. 2 damage for Dain (better keep him at 0 in case he must defend against Haradrim Elite). Keep Bifur at 0 if possible. Dunhere usually can take three damage because he almost never quests.

Keep in mind that you can’t prepare for every constellation that might arise in the combination of revealed encounter cards; during some rounds you will feel that your deck should include even more attack strength to make sure you can always remove the active location in the first round. Sometimes you face a lot of archery and wish for more healing options. Sometimes you won’t draw Winged guardian in the siege stages and long to include Defender of Rammas in your deck.

But in the long run, the decks must be well-balanced to deal with the vast majority of the possible constellations, so there is little point in preparing for a particular setup of encounter cards which doesn’t arise that often.

That being said, it’s still a fact that there’s almost no cure for combinations like three Blocking wargs in a row without A test of will in your hand, or a very early Mumak combined with cards like Southron support (if you’d like to see how such a devastating constellation might influence the game, session report no. 3 might be interesting for you). However, these happen very rarely if you use all provided means to control the staging area.

VII. General thoughts during the questing phase:

Never take the risk of letting Lost companion remove all of your questers. It means you will have to quest with Dain at least in the first round unless you put an ally into play from deck 1. If you know that Lost companion will show up, you can commit characters with 0 willpower only to have them removed without having to lower your questing points.

If you have an ally to commit to the quest in deck 1 (preferably a dwarf), don’t commit Dain. We only commit him if Bifur is the only other quester in deck 1 to counter Lost companion; in all remaining cases a non-exhausted Dain gives us either equal or higher questing power because of his bonus and can also serve as an emergency defender against Southron elite in every other round.

Remember to almost always play expecting mischief if you know an enemy will be revealed as the first card (except against Forest Bat and Mumak, of course). The same holds true for Ranger spikes and Gildor’s counsel: play them quickly if they are in your hand.

“The magical number four“: Often, you already know one of the upcoming encounter cards because of Denethor, Henamarth Riversong or Rumour from the earth. It’s good to know then that in almost any case (not taking into account character killing by Blocking wargs), +4 threat/-4 questing points is the highest possible staging area threat that one card can add/take away (e.g. Overgrown trail, Southron support (=2x Southron mercenaries, or 2x Southron company in stage 3), Mumak, Lost companion (it’s almost always possible to remove 2 characters and don’t lose more than 4 questing power).

If you accumulated enough quest power to ensure that even if the last card is a 4 threat card (which you might already know because you peeked at it), the questing will be still successful, you shouldn’t invest more questing power even if you can (e.g. Khazad!), except if it lets you finish the quest. Instead, spare it for the next quest phase, because we don’t want to risk questing unsuccessfully if two high threat encounter cards are revealed (because of Celador getting damaged due to unsuccessful questing).

Use Radagast’s cunning/Secret paths preferably to their maximum effect, that is, on 4 threat enemies/locations. Remember that Secluded glade can’t be targeted by Secret paths nor Legolas’ ability/Blade of Gondolin.

VIII. Transitioning between quest stages

Event cards that modify threat in one way or another let you plan more carefully when to transition to the next quest card; because there are battle, siege and normal quest cards in this scenario, accurate timing is crucial. E.g. once you know that you will finish stage 1 this round, you don’t have to worry about low threat enemies like the Morgul spider anymore, because they will remain in the staging area after progressing.

It has already been said that our decks are designed to prevent enemies from engaging. So we always aim at keeping Celador alive and transition to stage 3 in which enemies don’t make engagement checks and we can quest with willpower; on the other hand, stage 2 is no disaster either, because we have some good defense stats in our decks. Remember to find ways to keep enemies in the staging area though (Fresh tracks, Ranger spikes) or to directly damage them. Usually, we try to prevent enemies from engaging in stage 1 by keeping low threat and in stage 4 by quickly finishing the stage (usually 1-2 rounds). Stage 3 itself prevents enemies from engaging, so you only need to be a bit more careful if you enter quest stage 2 due to Celador death.

From time to time, when you have made nearly enough progress to advance to the nest quest card, Legolas allows you to finish a quest stage by killing an enemy during combat phase. This can be especially useful when transitioning from stage 3 to stage 4, because this way you prevent an enemy which remained in the staging area due to quest card 3 from engaging this round.

IX. General thoughts during the travel phase:

Not much to say here. Don’t travel to 2^nd copy of Ithilien road if you can’t deal with the enemies it will unleash. Also, don’t make Ithilien road the active location if you don’t have sufficient knowledge about the upcoming encounter cards.

Don’t travel to Secluded glade if you plan to have Legolas kill an enemy and get his +2 progress reward because that location is immune to player card effects.

X. General thoughts during the combat phase:

If you have to assign archery damage, you usually should damage the characters evenly (Dunhere and Denethor first because they almost never quest, then allies who have more than 1 hitpoint, than Thalin,Legolas and Dain).

If both Dunhere and Legolas are able to attack enemies in the staging area, remember that you always let Legolas do the killing because of his special ability (if they both attack the same enemy one after another, it means Legolas should take the final shot).

If an enemy manages to engage, use Feint, Quick strike or Swift strike if you have them in your hand; Hasty stroke can be a life safer against an unforeseen Southron elite attack that goes undefended.

XI. Some reoccurring combos:

Dunhere + unseen strike (+ Cram/Unexpected courage/Miruvor) à kills enemies in one shot (except Mumak); with this combo, Dunhere is often able to wipe out the staging area completely, as far as enemies are concerned. Especially useful against setup-enemies who haven’t already been damaged by Thalin.

Legolas + Great yew bow /Hands upon the bow + Black arrow à kills an enemy in one shot (with hands upon the bow = even possible outside the combat phase; also good if you need to quickly kill an enemy who managed to engage a player).

Thalin + Expecting mischief kill Haradrim elite before they can attack from the staging area (or you draw Ithilien ranger as shadow card if you are lucky).

Thalin + Expecting mischief + Fresh tracks kill Southron mercenaries

(Add Hail of stones to the combos above, and you will even be able to kill 5hp enemies without attacking them).

Thalin + Expecting mischief + Engagement + Swift strike against enemies who have 4-5 hit points.

Thalin + Engagement + Swift strike against Southron Elite

and so on.

These are 3 games I played during my challenge against Into Ithilien (whichever side is the first to win 10 games wins the challenge).

You will find the result of the challenge at the end of the third game review.

If you haven’t played Into Ithilien a lot, you might enjoy replaying the provided games with your own cards and ask yourself what you would have done in a particular situation.

Abbreviations:

r = resource

Legolas (Xr) – Legolas pays X resources

qp = questing point

thr = threat

pt = progress token

dmg = damage

att = attack

x = starting player

deck 1/player 1 = Lore/Leadership

deck 2/player 2 = Tactics/Spirit

First deck: Dain/Bifur/Denethor (threat 26)

Deck composition (53 cards – 30 lore, 18 leadership, 5 neutral): 23 events, 15 attachments, 15 allies

Events: 3x Durin’s song, 1x Infighting, 2x Sneak attack, 3x Fresh tracks, 3x Expecting mischief, 3x Gildor’s counsel, 2x Radagast’s cunning, 2x Secret paths, 2x Rumour from the earth, 2x Shadow of the past

Attachments: 2x Steward of Gondor, 3x Cram, 2x King under the mountain, 3x Dunedain mark, 2x Protector of Lorien, 3x Ranger spikes

Allies: 2x Erebor hammersmith, 3x Warden of healing, 2x Gleowine, 1x Henamarth riversong, 2x Ithilien Tracker, 2x Erebor Record Keeper, 3x Gandalf (old)

Second deck: Thalin/Legolas/Dunhere (threat 26)

Deck composition (53 cards – 36 Tactics, 13 Spirit, 4 Neutral): 24 events, 15 attachments, 14 allies.

Events: 2x A test of will, 2x Hasty stroke, 3x Unseen strike, 2x Quick strike, 3x Khazad! Khazad!, 2x Feint, 1x Swift strike, 3x Hands upon the bow, 3x Hail of stones, 2x Foehammer, 1x Shadows of the past

Attachments: 1x Unexpected courage, 3x Light of Valinor, 3x Miruvor, 3x Great yew bow, 2x Gondolin Blade, 2x Rivendell blade, 1x Black Arrow

Allies: 3x Veteran axehand, 3x Winged guardian, 3x Vassal of the windlord, 2x Arwen, 3x Gandalf (new)

First session report: Snipers and spies

This was game no. 2 of the challenge. It shows one basic strength of deck 2: the power of the two snipers when you draw an early Great yew bow or multiple copies of Hands upon the bow. Besides, Denethor and Henamarth enjoy spying together and stage 4 turns into siege during the questing phase.

Initial card draw:

Deck 1– Inifighting, Protector of Lorien, Warden of healing, Fresh tracks, Erebor Record keeper. No downright awesome card, so let’s mulligan: Radagast’s cunning, Henamarth Riversong, Fresh tracks, Gandalf, Cram, Durin’s song.

Deck 2 – Swift strike, Foehammer, Quick strike, A test of will, Light of Valinor, Khazad! This hand is average. Test of will is always nice to have in hand, so we’ll stick to it.

Round 1: Threat 26x/26.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Gildor’s counsel, Deck 2 draws Great yew bow.

Denethor peeks at Forest bat; it stays (lucky first card, especially paired with Gildor’s counsel). Dain (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=0r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1r): Cram on Dunhere.

Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Dunhere (1r) for Light of Valinor on Legolas, Thalin (1r) and Legolas (1r) for Great yew bow on Legolas.

QUESTING PHASE: Bifur (2r) and Denethor (1r) for Gildor’s counsel. Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp)

STAGING PHASE: 1. Forest bat (1thr, Thalin autokill). Khazad! Khazad! (+3qp) for Dain. THREAT 13:6 clears active location, THREE pt on quest card.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Southron company I (2 dmg), readies with Cram, att Southron company II (2 dmg). Legolas + Great yew bow att Southron company I (4dmg).

Round 2: Threat 27/27x

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Durin’s song, Deck 2 draws Light of Valinor.

Denethor peeks at Southron Elite; put under deck (no decent defenders). Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=0r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Legolas (1r) for Quick strike: Dunhere kills Southron company I. Note that we can’t use Legolas here to get his +2 pt bonus because Great yew bow usage is restricted to combat phase.

Deck 1(Dain=1r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r) for Henamarth Riversong (peeks at Overgrown trail).

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Overgrown trail (4thr), 2. Lost companion (remove Legolas, Bifur (-4qp)). Dain (1r) for Durin’s song (Dain +2qp), Bifur (1r) for Radagast’s cunning (Southron Company II=0t). THREAT 8:4, SEVEN pt on quest card.

TRAVEL PHASE: Overgrown trail

COMBAT PHASE: Legolas + Great yew bow att Southron company II (4 dmg)

Round 3: Threat 28x/28

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Gandalf, Deck 2 draws Hail of stones.

Denethor peeks at Blocking wargs; put under deck. Henamarth peeks at Morgul spider. Dunhere (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1(Dain=1r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1r): nothing

Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): nothing

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Morgul Spider (3thr; 1dmg Thalin); Dain (1r) for Fresh tracks (Morgul Spider (2dmg), 2. Blocking wargs (1 dmg to questers), 3. Ithilien Guardian (+2qp), 4. Southron Mercenaries (2t; 1dmg Thalin). THREAT 12:8, FOUR pt on active location.

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Dunhere. Dunhere att Morgul Spider (4 dmg). Legolas with Great yew bow kills Southron company II, active location clear.

Round 4: Threat 29/29x

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Stewart of Gondor, Deck 2 draws Miruvor

Denethor peeks at Ithilienroad; it stays. Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =2r): Thalin (1r) for Hail of stones (exhaust Legolas to kill Morgul spider).

Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=5r, Denethor=2r): Bifur (5r) for Gandalf (kill Southron Mercenaries)

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Gandalf, Thalin, Legolas, Celador, Ithilien Guardian (=16qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Ithilien road (4thr), 2. Overgrown trail (4thr). THREAT 16:8, quest stage 1 clear.

Celador and Ithilien ranger join deck 2.

TRAVEL PHASE: Ithilien road.

Henamarth peeks at Morgul spider. Gandalf leaves play and deals 1dmg to Celador.

Round 5: Threat 30x/30

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Warden of healing, Deck 2 draws Gondolin blade

Exhaust Celador and Ithilien ranger to put 6pt on active location (clear)

Dunhere (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Dec k1 (Dain=2r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=3r): Dain (2r) for Stewart of Gondor on Denethor (+2r), Bifur (2r) for Warden of healing (heals Celador, Dain), Denethor (5r) for Gandalf (card draw: Gildor’s counsel, Erebor Record keeper, Infighting).

Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=3r, Dunhere =1r): Thalin (1r) for Gondolin blade on Legolas

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Gandalf, Legolas (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Morgul spider (3thr; 1 dmg Thalin), 2. Lost companion (remove Legolas, Bifur (-4qp). THREAT 6:3, THREE on active location.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Morgul Spider (3dmg), Legolas with Great yew bow kill Morgul Spider (Gondolin blade clears active location, Legolas puts 2 pt on quest card. Foehammer exhausts Gondolin blade to draw Hail of stones, Hands upon the bow, Hasty stroke.

Denethor peeks at Mumak (put under deck). Henamarth peeks at Southron company. Gandalf leaves play and deals 1dmg to Celador.

Round 6: Threat 31/31x

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Warden of healing, Deck 2 draws Miruvor.

Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=0r, Legolas=4r, Dunhere =2r): nothing.

Deck1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1+2r): Bifur (1r) for Erebor Record keeper

QUESTING PHASE: Denethor (3r) for Gildor’s counsel

Quest with Bifur, Erebor record keeper, Thalin, Legolas, Celador, Ithilien guardian (=12qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron company (1thr; 1 dmg Thalin).THREAT 12:1, quest stage 3 clear.

You could play Hands on the bow now, followed by Swift strike to safely kill Southron company. However, because we want to get Legolas’ 2 pt bonus and have Hasty stroke in hand, we’ll choose the other path.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Deck 1 engages Southron company.

COMBAT PHASE: Dain defends (Legolas (2r) for Swift strike on Southron company (3 dmg), shadow card is Secluded glade which has no effect. Legolas kills Southron company and puts 3 pt on quest card.

Warden of healing heals Celador and Bifur.

Denethor peeks Southron support; it stays. Usually, siege questing tends to be somewhat easier than normal questing in stage 4, so Southron support/Watcher in the woods would often be welcome to deliberately raise threat. In this game though, it doesn’t matter much because we have a lot of allies in play who will accumulate enough qp for both kinds of questing.

Round 7: Threat 34x/34

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Erebor Record keeper, Deck 2 draws Rivendell blade.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck1 (Dain=2r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1+2r): Bifur (2r) for Warden of healing II (both Wardens heal Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere, Celador), Denethor (2r) readies Warden of healing I, Denethor (1r) for Erebor record keeper II.

Deck 2 (Thalin=0r, Legolas=4r, Dunhere =2r): nothing

QUESTING PHASE: Dain (discard Miruvor : readies/+1r), Bifur, Denethor, Thalin, Legolas , Dunhere, Celador, Ithilien Guardian (=15 qp). We don’t quest with other characters because we know the qp will be calculated in defense. Besides, we have Durin’s song in our hand.

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron support (thr=37/37), Dunhere (1r) for Test of will to cancel When revealed, 2. Southron Mercenaries (2thr). Warden of healing I heals Dunhere. THREAT 15:2, final quest stage clear.

Second session report: Mumak! Mumak!

This game was game no.3, so there are no gaps between the first and second session report. After their defeat in the last round, the Southrons return with double Southron support and Mumak.

Initial card draw:

Deck 1 - 2x Secret paths, Fresh tracks, Infighting, Erebor Hammersmith, Cram. Few cards for encounter deck control, no outstanding cards. So we’ll mulligan this one: Gildor’s counsel, Shadow of the past, Fresh tracks, Secret paths, Sneak attack, Dunedain mark.

Deck 2 - Vasall of the windlord, Khazad!Khazad!, Swift strike, A Test of will, Arwen, Unexpected courage. Good questing boost, besides two very powerful cards (Unexpected courage, Test of will).

Round 1: Threat 26x/26.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Durin’s song, Deck 2 draws Veteran axehand.

Denethor peeks at Overgrown trail; it stays. Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1r): Dain (1r) for Dunedain Mark on Dunhere.

Deck 2 (Thalin=0r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Legolas (1r) for Vasall of the windlord.

QUESTING PHASE: Bifur (2r) and Denethor (1r) for Gildor’s counsel. Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador, Vasall (=13qp)

STAGING PHASE: 1. Overgrown trail (4thr). Khazad! Khazad! (+3qp) for Dain. THREAT 16:10 clears active location, TWO pt on questcard.

TRAVEL PHASE: Overgrown trail.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Southron company I (3 dmg)

Round 2: Threat 27/27x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Expecting mischief, Deck 2 draws Gandalf (new).

Denethor peeks at Lost companion; it stays.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =2r): Dunhere (2r) for Unexpected courage on Dunhere; Legolas (1r), Thalin (1r) for Veteran Aexehand.

Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1r: nothing.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere (ready with Unexpected courage), Vasall, Veteran Axehand, Celador (=18qp)

STAGING PHASE: 1. Lost companion (remove Veteran Axehand, Bifur (-3qp), 2. Morgul spider (3thr; 1dmg Thalin; Dain (1r) for Fresh tracks on Morgul spider (2 dmg). Bifur (1r), Denethor (1r) for Shadow of the past (returns Lost companion).THREAT 15:9 clears active location.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere kills Morgul spider.

Round 3: Threat 28x/28.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Warden of healing, Deck 2 draws Miruvor.

Denethor peeks at Lost companion; it stays.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1r): Bifur(1r), Denethor (1r) for Warden of healing.

Deck 2: (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): nothing.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Warden of healing, Thalin, Legolas, Vasall, Veteran Axehand, Celador (=18qp). Blocking wargs would kill Celador now, but we have A test of will in hand.

STAGING PHASE: 1. Lost companion (remove Warden of healing, Vasall (-3qp), 2. Mumak (4thr; 1dmg Thalin; Dain (1r) for Durin’s song on Bifur (+2 qp). THREAT 15:10, SEVEN pt on quest card.

Good thing we have the new Gandalf in hand; with him in play, we’ll have three more rounds before Mumak engages (not counting possible encounter cards/shadow cards which raise threat).

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere kills Southron company I, readies with Unexpected courage, att Southron Company II (3 dmg). Denethor peeks at Secluded glade; it stays.

Round 4: Threat 29/29x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Erebor Hammersmith, Deck 2 draws Rivendell blade. Dain (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =2r): Thalin (2r), Legolas (2r), Dunhere (1r) for Gandalf (new).

Deck 1: (Dain=1r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1r): Bifur (2r) for Erebor Hammersmith.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Vasall, Veteran Axehand, Erebor Hammersmith, Celador (=18qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Secluded glade (3thr), 2. Southron support (add 2 Southron mercenaries from the encounter deck). THREAT 22:14, quest stage 1 clear. Celador joins deck 2.

TRAVEL PHASE: Secluded glade.

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Legolas, 2 archery damage on Dunhere. Dunhere att Southron mercenaries I (2dmg), readies with Unexpected courage, att Southron mercenaries II (2 dmg). Warden of healing heals Legolas and Dunhere. Denethor peeks at Ithilien guardian; it stays.

Round 5: Threat 33x/35.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Cram, Deck 2 draws Black arrow. Dain (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1: (Dain=1r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1r): Cram on Dain.

Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =2r): Black arrow on Legolas, Dunhere (1r) for Miruvor on Dunhere . Arwen would be tempting here, but we don’t want to deal with a treachery card like Watcher in the woods or Southron support now without being able to cancel it.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain (discard Miruvor : readies/+1r), Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Veteran axehand, Gandalf, Erebor Hammersmith, Celador (=18qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Ithilien guardian (+2qp), 2. Overgrown trail (4thr), 3. Southron support (thr=36/38), Dunhere (1r) for A test of will. Bifur (1r) for Secret paths (Overgrown trail=0thr). THREAT 19:9 clears active location, SEVEN pt on quest card.

TRAVEL PHASE: Overgrown trail

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Thalin, 2 archery damage on Denethor. Dunhere kills Southron mercenaries I, readies with Unexpected courage, kills Southron mercenaries II, discard Miruvor : readies/+1r), kills Southron company. Warden of healing heals Denethor and Thalin. Denethor peeks at Forest bat; it stays.

Round 6: Threat 37/41x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Dunedain mark, Deck 2 draws Feint. Celador exhausts to put 3 pt on Overgrown trail.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =2r): Dunhere (2r) for Arwen.

Deck 1: (Dain=2r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=3r): Dain (1r) for Dunedain mark on Dunhere.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere, Veteran axehand, Gandalf, Arwen (gives +1def/sentinel to Dain), Erebor Hammersmith, Celador, Ithilien guardian (=20qp).

STAGING PHASE: The card we don’t want to see in the next two rounds is Watcher in the woods.

1. Forest bat (1thr, Thalin autokill), 2. Southron company (1thr). THREAT 20:5 clears active location, quest stage 3 clear.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Player 2 engages Southron company. Mumak engages player 2.

COMBAT PHASE: Legolas (1r) for Feint on Mumak (Shadow card=Forest bat). Southron company attacks Vassal of the windlord. If the shadow card is Blocking wargs now, a hero will be killed and Celador will receive 2 dmg. But losing Gandalf would be much worse; if the shadow card is the last copy of Southron Mercenaries and Gandalf defends, he is dead. Although this is quite unlikely, I won’t take the risk. The revealed shadow card is Secluded glade (removes nothing). 1 dmg on Celador. Dunhere readies with Unexpected courage and kills Southron company together with Gandalf. Warden of healing heals Denethor and Celador. Denethor peeks at Morgul spider; it stays.

Round 7: Threat 40x/46.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Erebor Hammersmith, Deck 2 draws Great yew bow. Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1: (Dain=2r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=4r): Denethor (2r) for Erebor Hammersmith (returns Miruvor from deck 2’s discard pile).

Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =2r): Dunhere (1r) for Miruvor on Dain. Warden of healing heals Dunhere and Thalin, Denethor (2r) readies Warden of healing, Warden heals Legolas and Ithilien guardian, Bifur (2r) to ready Warden.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with everybody except Warden of healing (Dain: discard Miruvor to ready/+1r; Arwen gives +1def/sentinel to Dain) (=24qp).

STAGING PHASE: Bifur (1r) for Expecting mischief. 1. Morgul spider (3thr, 1 dmg Thalin + 2 dmg Expecting mischief), 2. Overgrown trail (4thr). THREAT 24:7, final quest stage clear.

Third session report: A new devilry

In the final featured round (challenge game no.6 ), we are up against with one of the most evil encounter card combinations this scenario has to offer. Thalin and a couple of allies will meet their fate when they face Mumak . And this time, Gandalf won’t be there to make up for it…

Initial card draw:

Deck 1 - Ithilien tracker, Shadow of the past, Gleowine, Erebor Hammersmith, Radagast’s cunning, Proctector of Lorien. Cards a little above average, probably I should have kept them. Instead, I went for a mulligan: Expecting mischief, Shadow of the past, Fresh tracks, Sneak attack, Gleowine, Protector of Lorien.

Deck 2 - 2x Light of Valinor, Khazad!Khazad!, A test of will, Gandalf, Hail of stones. Same thing here: In the game before this one, I couldn’t accumulate that much attack strength against the staging area, so I wanted some stronger combo possibilities like Great yew bow and Light of Valinor or Miruvor and Unseen strike. Again, I guess I should have stuck to the first draw. Mulligan: Arwen, Foehammer, Rivendell blade, Hail of stones, Khazad! Khazad!, Test of will.

Round 1: Threat 26x/26.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Ranger spikes, Deck 2 draws Hasty stroke.

Denethor peeks at Blocking wargs; put under deck.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=1r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r), Bifur (1r) for Ranger spikes.

Deck 2 (Thalin=1r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): nothing.

QUESTING PHASE: Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Forest bat (1thr; Thalin autokill), 2. Southron support. Threat 29/29, Dunhere (1r) for A test of will. THREAT 10:6 clears active location.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Southron company I (2 dmg)

Round 2: Threat 30/30x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Proctector of Lorien, Deck 2 draws Feint. We’ll wait and see how the game evolves before we decide on where to attach the two Protectors.

Denethor peeks at Watcher in the woods; put under deck. Legolas (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): nothing.

Deck 1 (Dain=2r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=1r): Bifur (2r) for Gleowine. Gleowine exhausts, player 2 draws Hasty stroke.

QUESTING PHASE: Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Ithilien road (4thr), 2. Mumak (4thr). This is one of the few encounter card combinations you never want to see. If you draw it this early, a loss becomes quite probable. Besides, we don’t have Gandalf the new in hand. If there were no other enemies in the staging area, we could play Fresh tracks and travel to Ithilien road, but in this case, there is almost no cure except getting to stage 3 as fast as possible. However, this will be hard to accomplish because we don’t have many quest point/attack boosting cards in our hands, which in turn makes it harder to keep Celador alive.

Khazad! Khazad! on Thalin, THREAT 13:14 (player threat 31/31), 1 dmg on Celador.

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Southron company I (4 dmg).

Round 3: Threat 32x/32.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Secret paths, Deck 2 draws Gondolin blade.

Denethor peeks at Southron mercenaries; it stays. Thalin (1r) pays Bifur. Gleowine exhausts, player 2 draws Light of Valinor (when Deck 1 is the first player, you can exhaust Gleowine at the beginning of the round as long as we have a way to deal with a revealed Southron Elite or Morgul spider (e.g. Ranger spikes, Fresh tracks, non-exhausted Dain). If we don’t, Gleowine should be exhausted at the end of the round in case we need a chump blocker.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=3r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=2r): Nothing.

Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =2r): Dunhere (2r) for Arwen, Legolas (1r) for Hail of stones (Arwen exhausts to kill Southron company I).

QUESTING PHASE: Denethor (1r) for Expecting mischief. Quest with Dain, Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Celador (=10qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron mercenaries (2thr, Ranger spikes =0thr, 1 dmg Thalin, 2dmg Expecting mischief, Dain (1r) for Fresh tracks kills Southron mercenaries. Ranger spikes are wasted now, but we can’t help it), 2. Overgrown trail (4thr). Denethor (1r) for Secret paths on Overgrown trail (thr=0). THREAT 10:11 (player threat 33/33), 1 dmg on Celador (2 total).

TRAVEL PHASE: Overgrown trail

COMBAT PHASE: Dunhere att Southron company (2 dmg).

Round 4: Threat 34/34x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Erebor Hammersmith, Deck 2 draws Miruvor.

Denethor peeks at Lost companion; it stays. Thalin (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=2r, Dunhere =1r): Dunhere (1r) for Light of Valinor on Legolas Legolas (2r) for Blade of Gondolin and Rivendell blade on Legolas.

Deck 1 (Dain=3r, Bifur=4r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r), Bifur (1r) for Erebor Hammersmith (returns Ranger spikes from deck 1), Bifur (2r) for Ranger spikes. Dain (2r) for Shadow on the past (returns Southron mercenaries).

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere, Arwen (gives +1def/sentinel to Dain), Erebor Hammersmith, Gleowine, Celador (=14qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron mercenaries (2thr; 1 dmg Thalin; Spikes = 0thr), 2. Lost companion (remove Gleowine, Arwen). THREAT 14:11, THREE pt on active location.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Player 1 engages Southron company.

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Dunhere. It is tempting to let Dain defend against Southron company, but we couldn’t stand a shadow card that removes progress tokens (let alone att +3). Although Feint would also be very valuable for one “free” combat round against Mumak, it is too early to go for broke. Thalin (1r) for Feint (shadow card=Ithilien guardian). Legolas kills Southron company, Gondolin blade and Legolas clear active location. Exhaust Rivendell blade for Foehammer: draw Vassal of the windlord, Quick strike, Hail of stones.

Round 5: Threat 35x/35.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Fresh tracks, Deck 2 draws Rivendell blade.

Denethor peeks at Blocking wargs; put under deck. Dain (1r) pays Bifur. Gleowine exhausts, player 2 draws Unseen strike.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=1r, Bifur=3r, Denethor=1r): nothing.

Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Dunhere (1r) for Miruvor on Dain, Legolas (1r) for Vasall of the windlord.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain (discard Miruvor : readies/+1r), Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Arwen (gives +1def/sentinel to Dain), Erebor Hammersmith, Vassal of the windlord, Celador (=18qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Forest bat (1thr; Thalin autokill), 2. Blocking wargs (kill Vasall, Celador (-5 qp), other questers 1 dmg each) – our dream of getting to stage 3 to deal with Ithilien road ends here. 3. Secluded glade. THREAT 13:11, TWO pt on quest card.

TRAVEL PHASE: Secluded glade. Even though we plan to have Legolas kill Southron mercenaries, it’s still better to travel to secluded glade now than leave it in the staging area.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Player 2 engages Southron mercenaries (Ranger spikes are discarded).

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Denethor, Thalin. Dain (sentinel) defends against Southron mercenaries, shadow card=Watcher in the woods (threat player 2=36). Legolas kills Southron mercenaries (no pt are put on Secluded glade because it is immune). Do not use Unseen strike on Dunhere here to damage Mumak; you won’t kill it most of the times, and you will need all cards available for Protector of Lorien in the siege stages.

Round 6: Threat 36/37x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Rumour from the earth, Deck 2 draws Arwen. Denethor (1r) for Rumour from the earth: peeks at Southron mercenaries. We need any questing points available, and because we have plenty of lore resources, Rumour from the earth is a better choice at the moment than Denethor (it may still be inevitable that we use his unique ability after peeking with Rumour from the earth). Thalin (1r) pays Bifur. Gleowine exhausts, player 2 draws Black arrow.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Black arrow on Legolas .

Deck 1 (Dain=3r, Bifur=5r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r) for Protector of Lorien on Denethor. Now that we have Rumour from the earth in hand, Denethor can sometimes stay ready to be prepared for Southron elite (both copies are still in the deck) or he can just quest. Attaching Proctector of Lorien to Dain is worse because if he had to defend against Southron elite, he would have to exhaust, meaning we would lose about four questing points. The second reason why it should go on Denethor is that in case he stayed ready and isn’t needed as a defender, we can still use his unique ability.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Erebor Hammersmith, Dunhere, Denethor (=13qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron mercenaries (2thr; 1 dmg Thalin), 2. Forest bats(1thr, Thalin autokill).

THREAT 13:10, active location clear.

TRAVEL PHASE: Ithilien road. Finally, after six rounds and 2(!) pt on the first quest card, the time has come to clear the staging area and try to race through the remaining stages before archery damage and/or Mumak will kill us. We can sacrifice Arwen twice against Mumak, and if we don’t draw another ally or Feint, we may have to sacrifice a hero as well. There are some dangerous cards left in the encounter deck: The second copy of Southron support would reshuffle the cards we put under the encounter deck with Denethor (2 Blocking wargs, Watcher in the woods), and there are still 2 copies of Southron Elite which are terrible both as encounter cards and shadow cards. We may also have to deal with the last copy of Blocking wargs and some location card shadow effects which remove progress tokens (good thing we still have 2 copies of Hasty stroke in hand). Still, it needs a bit of luck to win this round.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Player 2 engages Mumak, Southron mercenaries engage player 2. Legolas (1r) for Quick strike on Legolas (kills Southron mercenaries, Gondolin blade and Legolas put 3 pt on active location).

COMBAT PHASE: Arwen defends against Mumak (shadow card=Southron company), Arwen is killed.

Round 7: Threat 37x/38.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Ranger spikes, Deck 2 draws Veteran Axehand. Bifur(1r) for Rumour from the earth: peeks at Southron mercenaries. Gleowine exhausts, player 1 draws Radagast’s cunning.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 1 (Dain=4r, Bifur=5r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r), Bifur (1r) for Ranger spikes.

Deck 2 (Thalin=3r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =2r): Thalin (2r) for Veteran Axehand, Dunhere (2r) for Arwen.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Bifur, Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere, Erebor Hammersmith, Veteran Axehand (=15qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron mercenaries (2thr; 1 dmg Thalin, Ranger spikes (thr=0), 2. Southron Elite (3thr, 1 dmg Thalin, Dain (1r) for Fresh tracks (2dmg on Southron Elite). Elite attacks, Denethor defends, shadow card =Morgul spider, discard Sneak attack for Protector of Lorien to give Denethor +1 defense. Legolas (1r) for Hail of stones, Legolas exhausts to kill Southron Elite. THREAT 15:0, active location and quest stage 1 clear. We have to peek now with Rumour from the earth (Bifur (1r) because we must know if we can safely put 1 archery damage on Arwen (we won’t do it if the shadow card will be Blocking wargs). Rumour from the earth peeks at Overgrown trail.

COMBAT PHASE: 4 archery damage on Gleowine, Arwen, Legolas, Erebor Hammersmith (remember that we always try to keep our questing heroes’ damage on [total hitpoints -2] as long as at least one copy of Blocking wargs is in the encounter deck. Arwen defends against Mumak (shadow card=Overgrown trail), Arwen is killed.

Round 8: Threat 38/39x.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Dunedain Mark, Deck 2 draws Khazad! Khazad! Bifur(1r) for Rumour from the earth: peeks at Southron Elite. Dain (1r) pays Bifur.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=2r, Legolas=1r, Dunhere =1r): Nothing.

Deck 1 (Dain=3r, Bifur=4r, Denethor=1r): Denethor (1r) for Protector of Lorien on Legolas.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain, Bifur, Denethor, Thalin, Legolas, Dunhere, Erebor Hammersmith (=13qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Southron elite (3thr; 1 dmg Thalin, att Veteran axehand, shadow card=Southron company, Veteran axehand dead, 2. Secluded glade (3thr). Bifur (1r) for Radagast’s cunning on Southron Elite (thr=0). THREAT 13:3, quest stage 2 clear.

TRAVEL PHASE: We won’t travel to Secluded glade because Legolas is going to kill Southron Elite. Besides, our next card draw could be Hands upon the bow, which together with Thalin could immediately kill a revealed enemy (Morgul spider). Secluded glade as an active location would prevent us from putting progress tokens on it in both cases because it is immune to player card effects.

ENGAGEMENT PHASE: Player 1 engages Southron elite. Bifur (1r) for Rumour from the earth: peeks at Blocking wargs.

COMBAT PHASE: 2 archery damage on Bifur, Dain. Who is going to defend vs. Mumak now? Dunhere provides access to two Hasty strokes if needed, Thalin is a little better at siege questing than Dunhere and may combo with a sneaked Gandalf or Hands upon the bow next round to kill a morgul spider. Legolas must be kept to kill Southron Elite for +3pt. Against the Elite, we don’t fear any of the remaining shadow effects (which remove progress tokens), but let’s hope the last Ithilien ranger is not wasted as a shadow card. The best choice will be to have Dunhere killed (you can either let this attack go undefended and let him take the damage, or have him defend).

Dunhere defends against Mumak (shadow card=Blocking wargs (1 dmg on Dunhere), Dunhere is killed. Southron elite attacks Gleowine , shadow card=Southron support, Gleowine is killed. Legolas kills Southron Elite, Gondolin blade and Legolas put 3 pt on quest card.

Both shadow card draws were lucky, because we don’t want to see these cards as normal encounter cards.

The setup looks good now: There are only 2 Morgul spiders, 1 Secluded glade, 1 Overgrown trail, 1 Lost companion and 1 Ithilien Guardian to draw from the encounter deck (not counting the 2 Blocking wargs and 1 Watcher in the woods which we put under the deck). With 2 copies of Protector of Lorien and being able to discard 5-6 cards, we will win against most encounter card combinations now. It is also possible that we draw some good cards, e.g. Durin’s song, Gandalf, Ranger spikes, Ithilien tracker, Gildor’s counsil or Winged Guardian.

Round 9: Threat 41x/42.

RESOURCE PHASE: Deck 1 draws Durin’s song, Deck 2 draws Winged guardian. This draw gives us more questing power than we actually need.

Bifur(1r) for Rumour from the earth: peeks at Ithilien Guardian.

PLANNING PHASE: Deck 2 (Thalin=3r, Legolas=2r): Legolas (2r) for Winged guardian.

Deck 1 (Dain=4r, Bifur=2r, Denethor=2r): nothing.

QUESTING PHASE: Quest with Dain (Dain (1r) for Durin’s song for Dain), Bifur, Denethor, Thalin, Legolas, Erebor Hammersmith, Winged guardian, player 1 discards Dunedain mark, Rumour from the earth for Protector of Lorien (+2qp), Player 2 discards Khazad! Khazad!, Hasty stroke and Rivendell blade for Protector of Lorien (+3 qp) (=23qp).

STAGING PHASE: 1. Ithilien guardian (+2 qp), 2. Morgul spider, 3. Lost companion (remove Thalin, Erebor hammersmith). THREAT 22:6, final quest stage clear.

Result of the challenge: (spoiler) During the challenge, the Southrons were only able to pull off a single win against these two decks. The score was 10:1. I had been leading 9:0 when an early Southron Elite with the Shadow card being another Southron Elite (Enemy attacks again) killed off a hero and finally got the best of me.

Some notes about the other games:

I was always able to clear Ithilien Road in the first round.

I had to enter quest stage 2 two times due to Celador death.

In two games, quest stage 4 didn’t turn into siege after the round I entered it.

Average number of rounds in stage 1/stage 3/stage 4: 3/2/2 (stage always checked at the beginning of a round)

I lost a hero three times, due to multiple attacks of Haradrim elite, direct damage from multiple copies of Blocking wargs and raw Mumak power.

6 of the games were relatively easy wins, the games no. 3 and 6 (game reviews 2 and 3) were the closest.

1 of the games brought up a location flood (7/5/7/7 threat in the first four rounds) which was at least as nasty as an enemy flood. This was the second game that took me 9 rounds, especially Secret paths was of great help here.

In 3 of the 10 games, Dunhere (with Unseen strike/Dunedain mark, sometimes also with readying options) and/or Legolas with Great Yew bow killed enemies left and right and kept the staging area clean after almost every round.

Lost companion never removed all of the questers because I had two characters quest per hand nearly every single quest phase.

As you can see from the session reviews, the encounter card drawing wasn’t extraordinarily lucky, so the decks were really put to a test.