Apologies for the gap in posts. I guess when you look at how frequently I updated the post on FFG’s forums you’re probably not surprised. Nevertheless, I finally found time tonight to sit down and iron out the quest “The Blood of Gondor.” Two victories against it this week in fact.
I wouldn’t actually count the first try, I was at work during a stretch of downtime and I fired up on Tabletop Simulator, just to see how far I could go. While the Rohan Hunters are indeed valiant, in every physical attempt thus far they had struggled to get up and running against this quest. Amazing situations of perfect timing with the encounter deck sprung up again and again. Gondor’s Outland Rangers tried to help, but as Faramir is an objective ally he was replaced with (leadership) Prince Imrahil, and while he was certainly welcome in the deck, leadership Faramir was missed in the failed 2-handed endeavors.
You can imagine my surprise when I beat this scenario on TTS, pure solo with the Rohan Hunters. However, in going over the cards again I realized I had done something wrong. I hadn’t killed the Black Númenorean until the 3rd or 4th turn. While I was carefully managing my hidden cards I had not been remembering to raise my threat per the Black Númenorean’s forced effect. In spite of that, with the knowledge that I could possibly etch out a true-solo win I decided to get the cards out and give it a go. I’m also much more confident in my ability to trigger enemy effects when I can see the cards in front of me.
Highlights during this quest include the following fun moments:
- Tactics Éowyn nuking the Black Númenorean on turn 1 (don’t ask why I wasn’t doing that from the get go in the previous failed games).
- Dunhere charging out most turns with two copies of Spear of the Mark and a Rohan Warhorse for 7 attack each turn.
- Éowyn taking the copy of spear of the mark and a war axe, as well as Fastred later taking Windfola so that I could actually flip the contract…right as we encountered the second stage of the quest (battle questing). I can’t help but notice I find more success when I focus on flipping the contract instead of optimizing each character with the specific attachments I put in the deck for them.
Battle questing actually ended up working really well for the deck. By the time the contract flipped, Éowyn was rocking a spear of the mark and a war axe. She was reliably battle-questing for 4. Fastred had a steed of the mark, and while he had no weapons he could still contribute 2 every turn. Dunhere was also battle questing for 4 for a total of 10.
When an enemy drew, I would engage and block with Fastred, pushing the enemy back to the staging area. The next turn I was able to play one of my favorite Tactics/Spirit combo cards, Battle Fury. With this Dunhere was wiping out the enemy from a previous turn, then could commit to the quest as I had ample resources for the combo. Dunhere was also readied via Rohan Warhorse as he had destroyed an enemy. In this way, he was able to quick strike the next enemy that flipped, allowing the full 10 battle-questing power to go through unchecked. That put me at 14 progress, one shy of what I needed to win the quest. I decided to quest all-out next turn and sealed the win, canceling the paltry shadow effect that attempted to trigger with A Test of Will. Failure that round would have ensured a 5th hidden card, and a nasty ambush (4 enemies) would have sprung!
For all the times I have doubted needing Battle-Fury in the deck, it sure felt validated tonight! This was still a very tense quest with some scary moments, but it felt good to come out on top after the few fails against this quest.
I am inspired to finish the Against the Shadow cycle and restore peace to Gondor. The storyline in the inserts with each quest has been very enjoyable. I also need to make another post on here before I forget too much: Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure to participate in a (much delayed) 2020 fellowship event at my FLGS. My store was lucky enough to get the kit for the event, which features the custom-scenario “Escape from Khazad-Dum.” I’m very excited to share about that event, as I took a very unique deck to it and had an absolute blast watching the new deck go to work yet not fire at the same time. Look for that post in the next few days!
The Morgul Vale is next!
All That Shuffles Is Not Dealt 