by rwinder
Once more for those of you who can't get enough play-by-play (errors and all) of the apocryphal tale of how Radagast wandered Mirkwood looking for Gollum aided by a Rohan princess, a Silvan prince, and everyone's favorite member of Thorin Oakenshield's company Thalin (who was never mentioned by Tolkien purely by accident I am sure), the adventure continues into the drudgery and slog of the Dead Marshes. I continue with my post-Rhosgobel deck, which I think is a bit better balanced, even though Lore really doesn't come into play in this game.Radagast and Friends Deck
Heroes:
Eowyn (S)
Thalin (T)
Legolas (T)
Neutral Cards:
Radagast x 3
Song of Wisdom x 3
Spirit Cards:
The Favor of the Lady x 2
Hasty Stroke x 2
A Test of Will x 2
Power in the Earth x 2
The Galadhrim’s Greeting x 2
The Riddermark’s Finest x 3
Unexpected Courage x3
Ancient Mathom x 3
Tactics Cards:
Horn of Gondor x 1
Landroval x 1
Descendant of Thorondor x 1
Feint x 2
Support of the Eagles x 2
Winged Guardian x 2
The Eagles of the Misty Mountains x 3
Vassal of the Winglord x 3
The Eagles are Coming x 3
Blade Mastery x 3
Lore Cards:
Gandalf's Search x 2
Lore of Imladris x 3
And the game...
Initial Hand: The Eagles are Coming!, Vassal of the Windlord, Feint, A Test of Will, Favor of the Lady, Blade Mastery (Mulligan)
Initial Threat: 27
Staging Area: Gollum, Wargs
Turn 1
Resource
- Draw Lore of Imladris
- Eowyn1, Thalin1, Legolas1
Planning
- Play the Eagles are Coming!: Vassal of the Windlord, Landroval, Eagles of the Misty Mountain
Quest
- Quest with Eowyn (4W)
- Add Fens and Mires to staging area (4T)
- 0 progress
- Escape Test: Commit no one 0W, draw 5E, Gollum2R
Travel
- Travel to Fens and Mires (Gollum3R)
Encounter
- Wargs engage
Combat
- Wargs attack, play Feint to stop them. (Legolas-1) question for the observant...so when you feint against the wargs does that prevent them from returning even without a shadow card ... these fellows had one so it doesn't nullify the game, but just curious
- Legolas, Thalin attack Wargs, kill them, add two progress to complete Fens and Mires
Refresh
- Threat = 28
Turn 2
Resource
- Draw Radagast
- Eowyn2, Thalin2, Legolas1
Planning
- Play Radagast (Eowyn-2, Thalin-2, Legolas-1)
Quest
- Quest with Eowyn, Thalin (5W)
- Add Nightfall to staging area (Escape Test: Commit no one (0W), Draw 4E, Gollum4R, Threat = 30
- Add 5 progress to quest
- Escape Test, Commit Legolas, Radagast (3W), Draw 1E, Pass!
Travel
- NA
Encounter
- NA
Combat
- NA
Refresh
- Threat = 31
Turn 3
Resource
- Draw Unexpected Courage
- Eowyn1, Thalin1, Legolas1, Radagast1
Planning
- Play Vassal of the Windlord (Radagast-1)
- Play Vassal of the Windlord (Thalin-1)
Quest
- Quest with Eowyn, Thalin (5W)
- Add Pursued by Shadow to staging area (Threat = 35)
- Add 5 progress to quest (10P)
- Escape Test, Commit Legolas, Radagast (3W), draw 2E, PASS
Travel
- NA
Encounter
- NA
Combat
- NA
Refresh
- Threat = 36
Turn 4
Resource
- Draw The Riddermark’s Finest
- Eowyn2, Legolas,2, Thalin1, Radagast1
Planning
- Play Eagles of the Misty Mountains (EotMM) (Radagast-1, Thalin-1, Legolas-2)
- Play Unexpected Courage on Eowyn (Eowyn-2)
Quest
- Quest with Eowyn,Thalin (5W)
- Add Pursued by Shadow to the staing area (Threat = 41)
- UE Eowyn
- Add 5 progress, advance to 2b
- Escape Test: use EotMM, Eowyn, Radagast, Legolas (9W), draw 2E, PASS
Travel
- NA
Encounter
- NA
Combat
- NA
Refresh
- Threat = 42
Turn 5
Resource
- Draw Winged Guardian
- Eowyn1, Thalin1, Legolas1, Radagast1
Planning
- Play Riddermark’s Finest (Eowyn-1, Radagast-1)
Quest
- Toss Lore of Imladris to boost Eowyn’s will
- Quest with Eowyn (5W)
- Add Impassable Bog to staging area (1T) (Gollum5R)
- Add 4 progress to quest, defeat 2b … almost … Still have to do the final escape test!
- Final Escape Test: Exhaust Eowyn+1, Legolas, Thalin, EotMM, Radagast, Riddermark’s Finest (12W), draw 5 cards for 5 resources on Gollum for 1E, PASS
VICTORY!
Score: 42 + 50 (5 rounds)
92
NOTES: A fun and quick game, but it looked like we'd win once we got enough questing allies out there to assure victory in escape attempts. Even with all the threat surging, I thought it better to build up to get Unexpected Courage on Eowyn. I don't think I had to do two escape attempts at the end (as we're still in the questing phase by my often erroneous reckoning), but please correct me if I am wrong on that. I've not played this scenario much, but I have won it every time, so ... makes me think I am doing something wrong.