Turn by Turn Report – Raid on The Grey Havens

Time for another turn by turn report! I have decided I’ve been playing it a little too safe with these and taking on quests that pose little to no challenge to my decks. To remedy this the quest I am taking on today is Raid on The Grey Havens. A fairly recent quest that is the third in the Grey Havens deluxe box and is by no means  on the easier side. It features two strong boss enemies as opposed to the usual one and you must also concentrate on stopping the Grey Havens from burning down all around you! Anytime a location or ship is destroyed by flames there is usually a nasty effect that triggers and you have to reveal an additional encounter card due to the effect on The Havens Burn as well. The enemies in this quest are no joke either and have some very nasty effects. It is definitely a step up from the quests I have been playing (excluding the Nightmare quests) so it will be fun to challenge the decks a bit more and report on what will hopefully be a tense and exciting game.

Now advancing to the second stage of this Quest places you in direct combat with Captain  Sahir and Na’asiyah and to win you must not only fend them off but need to clear all damage from locations in play via the questing effect on Stage 2B. If you advance to Stage 2 too fast you can be easily overwhelmed by the two bosses but to stop you from taking your sweet time not only is the Dream Chaser constantly taking damage but for each point of damage it takes it increases the strength of the enemy bosses at Stage 2! I am going to need to carefully balance how long before I advance to Stage 2 and I hope that I can get the board state under control quickly so that I can advance when I wish to rather than when I have to. Enough strategy for now, time to dive in!

Setup and Opening Hands

I am going to need some great starting hands for this game as playing with subpar starting hands has a very decent chance of resulting in a loss. I hope for the best and draw my opening hand for each deck. The Three Hunters draws: Armored Destrier, Feint, Unlikely Friendship, Sneak Attack, Sterner than Steel and Steward of Gondor. This isn’t the best hand but is still pretty decent. I can use Unlikely Friendship to play both Steward and Armored Destrier on Gimli first turn and I can use Feint to stop the copy of Sahir’s Ravager (that starts the game in staging during quest setup) from attacking on the first round and hopefully then destroy it as well to stop its nasty effect from placing extra aflame tokens right away and potentially burning down a location early in the game. I won’t be able to use Sterner than Steel until I draw Shield or Elven Mail but hopefully it will be of use later in the game. I decide to keep this hand and hope for some great draws early on with this deck to compliment it. The Last Elven Host draws Elronds Counsel, Elven Light, Silver Harp, Northern Tracker, Unexpected Courage and Burning Brand. This isn’t exactly an optimal starting hand either and there isn’t even a copy of Vilya and/or Stargazer. I can play UC and Burning Brand on Elrond first turn though (discarding Elven Light to put a resource on Arwen) which should set him up as an excellent backup defender for the rest of the game. If I can get the Northern Tracker out fairly early he will help clear locations while in staging which will be extremely helpful in this quest. Silver Harp should help with healing and card draw later when I get a Caregiver. I keep this hand as well and have to say I am fairly surprised I did not have to mulligan with either deck. Lets hope I made the right decision not doing so!

For quest setup I place Captain Sahir and Na’asiyah aside out of play and add The Havens Burn and The Dreamchaser to the staging area. I also add one copy of Sahir’s Ravager to staging. I then have to discard cards from the encounter deck until 2 locations with Aflame are discarded and add them to the staging area. This adds Elven Wave-Runner and Burning Piers to the staging area. I then shuffle the encounter discard (a copy of Corsair Infiltrator) back into the encounter deck and get ready for the first turn!

Round 1: Stage 1B (0 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Foe Hammer and The Last Elven Host draws Dwarven Tomb. Both fairly horrid cards at this point as I have no weapons in hand or spirit cards in my discard… Looks like I am depending on my starting 6 cards for the first round!

The Three Hunters
32 threat (First Player)
Hand: Armored Destrier, Feint, Unlikely Friendship, Sneak Attack, Sterner than Steel,  Steward of Gondor and Foe Hammer.

— Aragorn: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Gimli: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Legolas: 1 resource, 0 damage

Allies:

-none

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Empty

The Last Elven Host
31 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Elronds Counsel, Elven Light, Silver Harp, Northern Tracker, Unexpected Courage, Burning Brand and Dwarven Tomb

— Elrond: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Galdor: 1 resource, 0 damage

Allies:

-none

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Empty

Staging Area/Active Location

The Havens Burn is in staging with no cards underneath it.

Sahir’s Ravager, The Dreamchaser, Burning Pier and Elven Wave-Runner are also in staging (no aflame damage on locations yet)

Planning Phase

The Three Hunters uses Unlikely Friendship to start off and places a resource on Gimli and draws Guardian of Arnor (very handy as I will need all the defenders I can get later on). I then play Steward of Gondor on Gimli, exhaust it to add two resources to him and then play Armored Destrier with those two and attach it to Gimli as well.

The Last Elven Host discards Elven Light to add a resource to Arwen via her ability and I play UC and Burning Brand with all my resources and attach both to Elrond.

Staging and Quest Resolution

Alright this is already not looking great as there is a whopping 9 Threat in staging right now and I played nothing that will help with questing…
I use Elrond’s Counsel to lower the Last Elven Host’s threat by 3 and add +1 willpower to Elrond. I quest with Elrond, Arwen and Galdor for a measly 9..

I reveal Put to the Torch and choose to deal 3 damage to Galdor and Legolas hoping that I draw healing in the next few turns and also because damage to locations this early may just seal my doom. I then reveal another copy of Sahir’s Ravager… any other enemy would have been a more welcome sight. There is 12 threat in staging and so each deck raises threat by 3. The Three Hunters goes up to 35 just one point shy of having to take on both Ravagers right now! Things are looking grim… time to try and turn it around!

Travel

I travel to Elven Wave-Runner as this not only removes 3 threat from staging but when I explore this location it provides card draw for both decks which is a nice bonus.

Encounter

The Three Hunters optionally engages a copy of Sahir’s Ravager.

Combat

I feint the engaged Ravager and destroy it with Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn. Aragorn pulls the other Ravager down from staging and it engages The Three Hunters taking another 3 threat out of staging. Legolas places 2 progress on Elven-Wave Runner.

The forced effect on Stage 1B places a single point of damage on Elven Wave-Runner as there is one corsair enemy in play.

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on Burning Piers and The Dreamchaser due to the Aflame keyword.

Round 2: Stage 1B (0 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Faramir (need to get this guy out asap to boost my questing power) and The Last Elven Host draws another copy of UC which is actually pretty sweet.

The Three Hunters
36 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Guardian of Arnor, Sneak Attack, Sterner than Steel, Foe-Hammer and Faramir.

— Aragorn: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Gimli: 3 resources, 0 damage. Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 1 resource, 3 damage

Allies:

none

Engaged With:

-Sahir’s Ravager

Discard Pile:
Unlikely Friendship and Feint

The Last Elven Host
32 threat (First Player)
Hand: UC, Northern Tracker, Dwarven Tomb and Silver Harp

— Elrond: 1 resource, 0 damage. UC and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Galdor: 1 resource, 3 damage

Allies:

-none

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light and Elrond’s Counsel

Staging Area/Active Location

Burning Piers (1 damage), The Dreamchaser (1 damage) and The Havens Burn are in the staging area.

The active location is Elven Wave-Runner with 2 progress and one damage.

Planning Phase

The Last Elven Host discards Dwarven Tomb to put a resource on Arwen via her ability and I use her two resources to play UC on Gimi. The Three Hunters does nothing this planning phase (saving for Faramir!)

Staging and Quest Resolution

Elrond, Arwen, Galdor and Gimli quest for a total of 10 willpower. I reveal another Elven Wave-Runner and Elven Caravel both of which have 3 threat… this brings the total threat in staging up to 10 and I make no progress. Things are only getting worse and I am struggling to take overcome the encounter deck. At least I can clear the Wave Runner with Legolas..

Travel

I cannot travel as Elven Wave-Runner is still the active location.

Encounter

No enemies in staging.

Combat

Gimli readies with UC and defends against the Ravager and takes 2 damage in the process. The Ravager gains a resource and I do one damage to the active copy of Elven Wave-Runner bringing it up to 2 damage! Armored Destrier readies him and once again Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas band together and destroy the Ravager. Legolas places 2 progress and clears Elven Wave-Runner (and places 1 progress on Stage 1B). The card draw on the Wave-Runner triggers and The Last Host draws Miruvor (hell yes!) and The Three Hunters draws Steward (useless).

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on Burning Piers, The Dreamchaser, Elven Wave-Runner and Elven Caravel due to the Aflame keyword.

Absolutely love the artwork on this card

Round 3: Stage 1B (1 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Feint and The Last Elven Host draws Test of Will. Very happy to see a copy of Test of Will and Feint is also always handy. I do need more allies ASAP though…

The Three Hunters
37 threat (First Player)
Hand: Feint, Foe Hammer, Sterner than Steel, Steward, Guardian of Arnor, Faramir and Sneak Attack

— Aragorn: 3 resources, 0 damage
— Gimli: 6 resources, 2 damage. UC, Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 2 resources, 3 damage

Allies:

none

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Unlikely Friendship and Feint

The Last Elven Host
33 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Test of Will, Northern Tracker, Miruvor and Silver Harp

— Elrond: 2 resources, 0 damage. UC and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Galdor: 2 resources, 3 damage

Allies:

-none

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light, Elrond’s Counsel and Dwarven Tomb

Staging Area/Active Location

Burning Piers (2 damage), The Dreamchaser (2 damage), Elven Wave-Runner (1 damage), Elven Caravel (1 damage) and The Havens Burn are in staging.

No active location.

Planning Phase

The Three Hunters plays Faramir for 4 resources. The Last Host plays Miruvor on Elrond for 1 spirit resource. I then discard Silver Harp (begrudgingly..) to put a resource back on Arwen. I discard Miruvor to give Elrond +1 willpower and 1 resource. I play Northern Tracker for four resources. I did not save a resource for test of will as I REALLY need NT out and need to ramp questing power sooner rather than later.

Staging and Quest Resolution

I quest with Elrond, Arwen, Galdor, Northern Tracker and Gimli and I use Faramir to boost the willpower of The Last Elven Host. This brings the total willpower up to 16. Northern Tracker places a progress token on Wave-Runner, Caravel and Burning Piers.

I reveal Battle Hardened (which does nothing and gains surge as there are no enemies in play), Raid Leader and Burning Piers. 15 threat so only 1 progress is placed..

Travel

Once again I travel to Elven Wave-Runner as it has the lowest aflame value in play and provides card draw. I should even be able to clear it this round with Legolas!

Encounter

I engage the Raid Leader with the Three Hunters and it takes a resource from all 3 heroes bringing its armour up to 4.

Combat

I use feint on the Raid Leader, ready Gimli with UC and attack it with Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas providing exactly enough damage to destroy it (8 attack and minus 1 defense to 4 defense  and 5 hitpoints) which means I clear Wave-Runner with Legolas’s ability. The Three Hunters draws Elven Mail and The Last Elven Host draws Cloak of Lorien.

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on both copies of Burning Piers, The Dreamchaser and Elven Caravel due to the Aflame keyword.

Round 4: Stage 1B (2 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Unlikely Friendship and The Last Elven Host draws another Cloak of Lorien.

The Three Hunters
38 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Unlikely Friendship, Elven Mail, Sterner than Steel, Foe-Hammer, Sneak Attack, Guardian of Arnor and Steward of Gondor.

— Aragorn: 2 resources, 0 damage
— Gimli: 4 resources, 2 damage. UC, Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 2 resources, 3 damage.

Allies:

-Faramir

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Unlikely Friendship and x2 Feint

The Last Elven Host
34 threat (First Player)
Hand: Test of Will and x2 Cloak of Lorien

— Elrond: 1 resources, 0 damage. UC and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Galdor: 3 resourcess, 3 damage

Allies:

-Northern Tracker

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light, Elrond’s Counsel, Dwarven Tomb, Miruvor and Silver Harp.

Staging Area/Active Location

x2 copies of Burning Piers (1 and 3 damage respectively), The Dreamchaser (3 damage),  and Elven Caravel (2 damage) and The Havens Burn are in staging.

No active location.

Planning Phase

Time for The Last Elven Host to really get started. I play both copies of Cloak of Lorien (one on Elrond and one on Galdor). Then in what seems like a silly move at first I discard Test of Will to place a resource on Elrond and empty my hand and draw back up to 6 with Galdor. I draw: Dwarven Tomb, Galahadrims Greeting, Silver Harp, Vilya, Stargazer and Caregiver. I immediately play both Stargazer and Vilya with all four resources I have remaining. I exhaust Stargazer to look at the top five cards of my deck and reveal: another copy of Greeting, Burning Brand, Lindir, Wingfoot and Vilya. I put them back in the following order top to bottom: Lindir, Wingfoot, Greeting, Burning Brand and then Vilya.

I use Elrond and Vilya to play Lindir for free and then ready Elrond with UC.

The Three Hunters plays Unlikely Friendship and adds a resource to Gimli and draws Dagger of Westernesse. I play Guardian of Arnor for 3 leadership resources and play the Blade for 1 tactics resource and attach it to Legolas.

Staging and Quest Resolution

I quest with Galdor, Arwen, Elrond, Northern Tracker and Lindir (boosted by Faramir) as well as with Gimli and Aragorn. This is a total of 19 willpower. I reveal White Ship and Pillaged Ship. I choose to do 3 damage to Pillaged Ship rather than return an enemy to play. I figure a round with no combat will be a nice breather and opportunity to heal and regroup. A total of 17 threat so I place two progress on Stage 1B

Travel

I travel to Elven Caravel and do 1 damage to Northern Tracker and Lindir and 2 damage to Faramir due to its travel cost and effect.

Encounter

No enemies in staging.

Combat

No enemies in play at all!

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on both copies of Burning Piers, The Dreamchaser, White Ship and Pillaged Ship due to the Aflame keyword.

Round 5: Stage 1B (4 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Sword that was Broken  and The Last Elven Host draws Wingfoot.

The Three Hunters
39 threat (First Player)
Hand: StwB, Sneak Attack, Foe Hammer, Sterner than Steel and Steward of Gondor

— Aragorn: 1 resources, 0 damage
— Gimli: 5 resources, 2 damage. UC, Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 1 resources, 3 damage. Dagger attached.

Allies:

-Faramir (2 damage)

-Guardian of Arnor

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
x2 Unlikely Friendship and x2 Feint

The Last Elven Host
35 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Wingfoot, Greeting, Dwarven Tomb, Silver Harp and Caregiver.

— Elrond: 1 resources, 0 damage. Vilya, UC, Elven Mail, Cloak of Lorien and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage
— Galdor: 3 resourcess, 3 damage. Cloak of Lorien attached.

Allies:

-Northern Tracker (1 damage)

-Stargazer

-Lindir (1 damage)

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light, Elrond’s Counsel, Dwarven Tomb, Miruvor, Silver Harp and Test of Will.

Staging Area/Active Location

x2 copies of Burning Piers (2 and 4 damage respectively), The Dreamchaser (4 damage),  White Ship (1 damage), Pillaged Ship (4 damage) and The Havens Burn are in staging.

Elven Caravel (2 damage) is the active location (with 2 of 5 progress).

Planning Phase

The Three Hunters plays StwB for 3 leadership resources and attaches it to Aragorn.

The Last Elven Host plays Caregiver for 2 lore resources. I then discard Dwarven Tomb to put a resource on Arwen and I play Silver Harp. I discard Wingfoot and Greeting (and return Greeting to hand with Harp) to heal 2 damage off Gimli and 2 damage off Legolas.

I exhaust Stargazer to reveal: Greeting, Burning Brand, Vilya, Haldir and Caregiver. I put them back in the following order top to bottom: Haldir, Caregiver, Greeting, Brand and Vilya. Elrond plays Haldir for free with Vilay and I use UC to ready him.

Staging and Quest Resolution

I commit Gimli and Aragorn as well as Galdor, Arwen, Elrond, Northern Tracker, Caregiver, Lindir and Haldir (who are boosted by Faramir) for a whopping 27 willpower! This is more like it and should be the push that helps me get to the end! Also Northern Tracker places 1 progress on each copy of Burning Pier (clearing the one with 4 damage on it removing 5 threat from staging!!), White Ship and Pillaged Ship.

I reveal Battle Hardened (which yet again does nothing and just surges, thank goodness I have combat under control!), Corsair Arsonist (which then brings Pillaged Ship into the staging area as I cannot afford to place 2 damage on any location in play..) and Corsair Infiltrator. There is a total of 17 threat in staging so I place 10 progress 3 of which clears Elven Caravan and the other 7 is placed on Stage 1B bringing it up to 11 progress. I should be able to advance to Stage 2 the following turn and should probably do so sooner rather than later so that Sahir and Na’asiyah are not insanely strong.

Battle-Hardened or not these Raiders are falling to the prowess of The Three Hunters with ease

Travel

I travel to the copy of Pillaged Ship that has 4 damage on it to avoid it being destroyed by Aflame damage.

Encounter

The Three Hunters optionally engages the Corsair Infiltrator and then the Corsair Arsonist also engages The Three Hunters.

Combat

Gimli readies with UC and defends against the Arsonist. I pay 1 resource to use Gimli’s ability and ready Aragorn and then use Armored Destrier to ready Gimli and discard the Infiltrators shadow card. Gimli takes no damage and then the Guardian of Arnor defends against the Infiltrator and also takes no damage. Legolas destroys the Arsonist on his own and I use Foe Hammer to draw Gandalf, Steward and Galadriel. Aragorn and Gimli attack and destroy the Infiltrator. Looks like I have finally turned things around and it seems as though I have finally gotten the upper hand on not only the Aflame locations and threat in staging but Corsair enemies as well.

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on Burning Piers, The Dreamchaser, White Ship and Pillaged Ship due to the Aflame keyword.

Round 6: Stage 1B (11 of 18 progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Captain’s Wisdom and The Last Elven Host draws Imladris Caregiver. I use Captain’s Wisdom and place 2 resources on Gimli and exhaust him. I then ready him with UC.

The Three Hunters
40 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Galadriel, Gandalf, Steward x2, Sneak Attack and Sterner than Steel

— Aragorn: 2 resources, 0 damage. StwB attached
— Gimli: 6 resources, 2 damage. UC, Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 2 resources, 1 damage. Dagger attached

Allies:

-Faramir (2 damage)

-Guardian of Arnor

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
x2 Unlikely Friendship and x2 Feint, Foe Hammer and Captain’s Wisdom

The Last Elven Host
36 threat (First Player)
Hand: Galahadrim’s Greeting and Caregiver.

— Elrond: 1 resources, 0 damage. Vilya, Elven Mail, Cloak of Lorien, UC and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 1 resource, 0 damage. Silver Harp attached
— Galdor: 1 resource, 3 damage. Cloak of Lorien attached

Allies:

-Northern Tracker (1 damage)

-Stargazer

-Caregiver

-Haldir

-Lindir (1 damage)

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light, Elrond’s Counsel, Dwarven Tomb x2, Miruvor and Silver Harp, Test of Will and Wingfoot.

Staging Area/Active Location

Burning Piers (3 damage, 2 progress), The Dreamchaser (5 damage), White Ship (2 damage, 1 progress), Pillaged Ship (1 damage) and The Havens Burn are in staging.

The active location is Pillaged Ship (4 damage, 3 progress)

Planning Phase

The Last Elven Host plays Caregiver. Stargazer then reveals (from the top of the deck top to bottom): Greeting, Brand, Vilya, Test of Will and Galadrim Healer. I put them back in the following order top to bottom: Healer, Test of Will, Vilya, Brand and Greeting.

I use Vilya and Elrond to play the Healer for free (healing 2 points of damage off Galdor) and use UC to ready Elrond. Arwen + Harp discards Greeting and returns it to hand to place a resource on Aragorn.

The Three Hunters plays Galadriel with Aragorn’s 3 resources. She reveals the following from the top of my deck: Unlikely Friendship, Sneak Attack, Eldarhir, Rivendell Blade and Dunedain Warning. I attach Rivendell Blade to Legolas and put the following four cards back in this order top to bottom: Unlikely Friendship, Sneak Attack, Dunedain Warning and Eldarhir.

Staging and Quest Resolution

The Last Elven Host commits Elrond, Arwen, Galdor, both Caregivers, Haldir, Lindir, and Northern Tracker (boosted by Faramir) and The Three Hunters commits Aragorn and Galadriel (boosted by StwB) for a total of 30 willpower! Northern Tracker clears the other copy of Burning Piers and places a resource on White Ship and Pillaged Ship as well.

I reveal Put to the Torch and deal 3 damage to Aragorn and 3 damage to Pillaged Ship (which brings it to 4 damage). I then reveal another copy of White Ship. There is a total of 12 threat so I place 18 progress which clears both Pillaged Ship and Stage 1B with ease with 10 progress points to spare.

I immediately advance to Stage 2A and add Captain Sahir and Na’asiyah to the staging area and place 5 resource tokens on each of them. Sahir engages the first player (Last Host) and Na’asiyah engages the last player (Three Hunters).

Bring it on Pirate Scum!

Travel

I travel to Pillaged Ship which has 4 damage on it thanks to Put to the Torch so traveling here avoids it being destroyed at the end of the turn.

Encounter

No enemies in staging.

Combat

To kick things off with a bang The Three Hunters uses Sneak Attack Gandalf and Gandalf kills Na’asiyah outright before she gets to make an attack at 7 attack strength! Gimli defends against Sahir I use a resource to ready Elrond and I pray for no extra damage from a shadow effect (I could have defended with Guardian of Arnor and not risked a hero death but want to use Gimli’s ability to ready Elrond and deal some extra points of damage to Sahir). Thankfully there is no extra damage and it is instead a shadow that punishes you if the defending character dies so lucky I didn’t use the Guardian! Gimli takes 4 damage and barely survives. Sahir gets two resources from his attack and I then attack him with Legolas and Elrond doing 6 damage to him which instead removes 6 of his 7 resource tokens and prevents him from taking damage.

Refresh

All characters are unexhausted. Each deck raises threat by 1. No player actions are taken. I place one damage on both copies of White Ship and The Dreamchaser due to the Aflame keyword.

Round 7: Stage 2B (- of – progress)

Resource Phase

The Three Hunters draws Unlikely Friendship and The Last Elven Host draws A Test of Will which is a perfect card for the last round of the game. I can now hopefully stop any nasty treacheries that may put how close I am to victory at risk.

The Three Hunters
41 threat (First Player)
Hand: Unlikely Friendship, Gandalf, Sterner than Steel and x2 Steward of Gondor.

— Aragorn: 1 resources, 3 damage. StwB attached
— Gimli: 7 resources, 4 damage. UC, Steward and Armored Destrier attached
— Legolas: 3 resources, 1 damage. Rivendell Blade and Dagger attached

Allies:

-Faramir (2 damage)

-Guardian of Arnor

Engaged With:

-Captain Sahir (1 resource)

Discard Pile:
x2 Unlikely Friendship, x2 Feint, Foe Hammer, Captain’s Wisdom, Sneak Attack and Galadriel

The Last Elven Host
37 threat (Second Player)
Hand: Greeting and Test of Will

— Elrond: 1 resources, 0 damage. Vilya, Elven Mail, Cloak of Lorien, UC and Burning Brand attached
— Arwen: 2 resource, 0 damage. Silver Harp attached
— Galdor: 1 resources, 1 damage. Cloak of Lorien attached

Allies:

-Northern Tracker (1 damage)

-Lindir (1 damage)

-Stargazer

-Caregiver x2

-Haldir

-Galadrim Healer

Engaged With:

-nothing

Discard Pile:
Elven Light, Elrond’s Counsel, Dwarven Tomb x2, Miruvor Test of Will, Wingfoot and Silver Harp.

Staging Area/Active Location

There are two copies of White Ship in staging (one has 1 damage and the other has 3 damage and 2 progress), The Dreamchaser with 6 damage and The Havens Burn.

Pillaged Ship with 4 damage and 1 progress is the active location.

Planning Phase

The Three Hunters plays Unlikely Friendship and puts a resource on Gimli and draws Sneak Attack. The Last Host uses Stargazer and reveals the following: Greeting, Vilya, Brand, Stargazer and Guardian of Rivendell. I place them back in the following order top to bottom: Greeting, Stargazer, Guardian of Rivendell, Vilya and Burning Brand.

I play Greeting for free with Vilya and Elrond to drop The Three Hunters threat by 6 points. I then use Arwen + Harp to place a resource on Elrond without having to discard a card. I return Elven Light to hand to draw a card and draw Stargazer. I discard both to heal 4 damage off Gimli. I then also discard the copy of Greeting in my hand to heal 2 off Aragorn.

Staging and Quest Resolution

First off time for another Sneak Attack Gandalf and I do 4 damage to Sahir, 1 of which is absorbed by his single resource token so he takes 3 damage instead.

Time for another huge questing push to get all damage off locations and achieve victory! The end is definitely in sight and I just need to get this last turn right and I’m there!

I commit Gandalf, Gimli and Aragorn as well as Arwen, Galdor, Healer, both Caregivers, Northern Tracker, Haldir and Lindir for a total of 32 willpower.

I reveal Corsair Arsonist and deal 2 damage to the White Ship with only 1 damage currently. I then reveal Elven Caravel. There is a total of 15 threat in the staging area so I place 17 progress 3 of which clears the Pillaged Ship and the other 14 heals the 12 damage on locations in the staging area! Just need to defeat Sahir now!

Travel

All locations that are currently in the staging area have a nasty travel effect and I am literally about to win so I do not travel anywhere this turn.

Encounter

The Three Hunters engages the Arsonist optionally.

Combat

Gimli readies with UC. He defends the Arsonist and takes no damage and I pay 1 resource to ready Aragorn with his ability. Gimli also readies with Armored Destrier and discards Sahir’s shadow card. Elrond; who I specifically did not commit to the quest this round for this exact reason, defends against Sahir and takes 2 damage. Sahir gains 2 resources for attacking via his ability. Since I don’t need Test of Will anymore I discard it to heal 2 damage off Elrond to improve my score.

Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Guardian of Arnor attack Sahir doing 8 damage after his 2 resources are removed. He is added to the victory display and I win the game!

Turns out Pirate Scum are no match for The Three Hunters!

Conclusion

EDIT: Turns out I made a pretty silly error and did not trigger Na’asiyah’s effect that discards event cards from your hand which means I could not Sneak Attack and destroy her with Gandalf outright before she got to make any attacks. I have carefully looked over what I could have done differently had I realized my mistake and it makes absolutely no difference on the outcome of the game and I still 100% would have won but just would have done so the following turn (without any other encounter cards or shadow effects coming into play or effect so no risk of anything jeopardizing the win). It definitely would have been an even closer and more nail biting victory however with Elrond 1 hitpoint off death at both the end of the penultimate and final round !

So this has definitely been the closest and most exciting of my turn by turn reports so far!
I managed to turn the game around big time even though I quested unsuccessfully at the start and then only managed to break even while questing for a few rounds. The decks started off very weak but ended up dominating this quest once they got built up. Gimli never got his Shield or a copy of Warning and stayed at 2 defense throughout the entire game which was quite worrying but with Elrond as backup, all the healing I could muster towards the end and the two copies of Feint I drew this was not an issue in the end. There have been a couple of games lately where Gimli really doesn’t get the defense boost he is meant to. I am considering putting a third copy of Dunedain Warning back into the deck but am not sure what to remove to make room.

A hard earned victory especially considering in the first few rounds I thought I may have a loss on my hands. I am very happy in the end that I did not mulligan with either deck and just played with what I had in my original starting hands. Also very proud that I won without letting a single location get destroyed and without a single card underneath The Havens Burn! This is an impressive feat to accomplish and I am pretty sure I have not done this before. I made a couple of silly mistakes (not rules mistakes but rather just forgot to capitalize on combos or cards) one of which was not using Foe Hammer a round earlier and hanging onto it for no real reason. I also probably should have used that copy of Test of Will at the end on the Arsonist in case his effect had worse ramifications than it actually did. Neither of these errors affected my outcome though so not too bothered. I also took a big risk defending with Gimli against Sahir towards the end and just one extra point of attack from a shadow card would have resulted in Gimli’s death. Gimli was questing as well as defending so without him it may very well have taken an extra turn or two to win but I definitely still would have achieved victory even had he fallen as I was extremely close to the end and even without him had very strong defensive and questing power setup. I got very lucky that I did not see any copies of the following two cards (below) but had plenty of turns where I had pretty nasty reveals so I definitely don’t think I had an overly lucky or easy game playing this quest on this particular occasion. In fact I struggled quite a bit at the start and probably did not do as well as I normally do when playing this quest.

Going to take just a little bit of a break from Turn by Turn reports for the next few posts as I am going to focus on Nightmare Reviews when I get the new Nightmare quests in the mail. If you have any suggestions or requests for an upcoming quest though please let me know as I will be itching to do another turn by turn report in no time. As always hope you enjoyed the read and please leave any feedback if you have any!

Mithlond Harbour would have completely shut down Northern Tracker

If this treachery had appeared at certain critical points it would have destroyed multiple locations at once revealing extra encounter cards and triggering nasty effects. I did have Test of Will ready on a few turns but this easily could have appeared on a turn I did not have Test of Will in hand.