Mega-Campaign! – Part 2 – Mirkwood Paths – The Dark of Mirkwood

It’s time for part 2 of my Mega Campaign as I have now progressed through and beaten all of Mirkwood Paths including The Oath and The Caves of Nibin-Dûm. I have not played these quests in a long time and have very likely only ever played both a few times each when I first received the Collectors Edition Set they were originally released in.

The Oath is a very easy and straightforward quest that is more or less on the same rough difficulty level as Passage Through Mirkwood, perhaps a tiny bit tougher. The Caves of Nibin-Dûm while more challenging than The Oath is also a bit of a cakewalk especially with the entire player card pool. This combined with the fact they are rather self contained and not a part of any cycle or campaign, originally that is, is likely why I have rarely revisited these quests. Now that they can be played as part of the Mirkwood Paths campaign, and for me as a part of my Mega Campaign, I was rather excited to revisit and replay them to see how improved they are in Campaign Mode.

I actually had a blast playing these two quests for several reasons. Firstly it had just been a long time since I’ve played them so they were fairly fresh. I also upped the difficulty slightly for both quests choosing to start The Oath with Goblin Troop in the staging area instead of set aside and starting The Caves of Nibin-Dûm with a copy of Great Cave Troll in the staging area to make things more challenging. The Burdens I’ve collected thus far are now starting to impact and change the encounter deck and my Boons are starting to pick up giving me further gameplay options and strategies I can employ. Stalking Goblin and Ungoliants Swarm I have noticed both still enter play even when revealed as shadow cards so I think its safe to say I’m going to be seeing a LOT more of these guys throughout the Mega Campaign!

The Oath

Thoughts and Experience

This was by far the most exciting experience I’ve ever had with this quest. The fact that I started the game off with the copy of Goblin Troop in staging rather than set aside so that I would have to take it down twice, the fact that both Burden Enemies appeared multiple times and just that the quest really brought it’s absolute all and actually challenged my decks slightly lead to a much more fun and memorable play of this quest than ever before.

The amount of Goblin Snipers I took down was crazy as they kept either appearing on their own, were added to play thanks to Stalking Goblin or I chose to put them in play from various Encounter effects such as Goblins Are Upon You. Putting them into play directly engaged with you feels pretty great as you can avoid their special ability this way although multiple Snipers did stay in the staging area across multiple turns at one point pinging my heroes for damage. Valor basically completely nullified this however as four heroes in play were able to heal simply by attacking. I was even able to take an undefended attack at one point, place 2 damage on Gandalf as a result, then counter attack with him against the same enemy allowing him to both kill the enemy and instantly heal that two damage via Valor and Elrond boosting all healing. Pretty ridiculous to be completely honest but it felt pretty great pulling this off.

Goblins Are Upon You appeared multiple times including on the very first turn and I chose nastier enemies at times just to keep giving the game a bit more excitement and the encounter deck more of an edge. Taking on the Goblin Troop twice by adding it to the staging area at the start of the game meant that I had to deal with it far earlier than usual and obviously had to defeat it twice instead of once as per normal in this quest.

Goblin Trail actually provided a bit more bite than you’d think by revealing an enemy both times I traveled there. I also ignored the Response effect on it allowing you to place 6 progress on the current quest when you clear it. The Eaves of Mirkwood also appeared multiple times but as I did not draw a single copy of test of will this didn’t really impact the game at all and I was able to safely travel there each time with no real repercussion.

The Spiders of Mirkwood are actually a fairly nasty enemy even in such an easy quest. They get plus one attack for every exhausted character you control which can get pretty out of hand if they are engaged with The White Council deck. What I basically did was the opposite of what I’ve been doing with the Burden enemy, Ungoliant’s Swarm, every time Spiders of Mirkwood appeared I made sure to optionally engaage them with The Three Hunters so that they would only get boosted by a single point of attack if at all. It was cool having two Spider enemies that basically had to be engaged by each specific deck to avoid nasty effects from triggering. This meant I couldn’t optionally engage other foes I may have wanted to at times adding a little more complexity to combat and engagement.

Now even though it was slightly challenging and very fun, both decks absolutely sang and were able to get multiple combos and/or engines going. Towards the end my board state was pretty incredible and it was a shame that there was not more to challenge me at the end of the quest. I also won on the sixth turn avoiding adding the potential new Burden card, Guilty Conscience, to my campaign pool due to exactly 5 resources being placed on the Campaign Card.

The Permanent Setup Boons that I’ve earned by beating this quest are absolutely incredible and will be a huge help for the rest of my Mega Campaign. I chose the Power of Spirit and the Might of Tactics attaching Power to Gandalf and Might to Gimli. Gandalf now having an actual sphere at all times for all intents and purposes is huge and I chose spirit as this allows him to play Test of Will even if it is in my hand rather than on top of my deck and it is also the most prominent sphere in the deck. Placing three progress on a location instantly once per Campaign* (once per Campaign Block for my Mega Campaign) doesn’t seem huge but might be fairly useful against some of the hardest quests in each section of the Campaign. Providing Gimli with the tactics sphere lets him help pay for various tactics attachments and events chiefly Hour of Wrath. It also gives him access to War Axe allowing him to gain as much as four bonus attack strength from a single weapon attachment if he has four restricted attachments. This boon also has possibly the best once per Campaign effect on all four of the possible Boons you can choose from for my decks. There is an absolute ton of healing included in my decks especially with the multiple copies of the Valor Boon I have earned so doing a single point of damage to a hero means more or less nothing in the long run especially for The Three Hunters with the constant healing from the flipped contract. Dealing three points of damage to an enemy instantly however is huge and between this effect and Valor I now have multiple direct damage effects at my disposal. I predict these will come in handy in a big way later down the line and I believe I may pull off a few clutch uses of Might of Tactics throughout my Campaign allowing me to take down an additional enemy during a crucial combat phase possibly turning the tides. Valor has already proved extremely useful and powerful in the three quests I have had it for so far.

Stalking Goblin while fairly tame as far as stats are concerned will always add a Goblin Sniper to the staging area when engaged which may potentially lead to some pretty bad situations when combined with other encounter card effects or even quest stages. The Stalking Goblin has officially joined the Mega Campaign, alongside Ungoliant’s Swarm, and I will be seeing much more of him in the future. Stalking Goblin is a fantastic target for Hands Upon the Bow and this will definitely be a strategy I employ in the future when possible.

The Campaign Pool is starting to get really interesting now with multiple Burden enemies and multiple Permanent Setup Boons. My head cannon for each Burden enemy is that the colony of Giant Spiders living in Mirkwood and the Goblins of Nibin-Dum REALLY didn’t like my group of heroes messing with them and are now sending out scouts and warriors to pursue and harass me. As these enemies see my heroes encounter other foes or hurdles across the lands they decide to take advantage of these opportunities and also join the fray hoping to overcome and finally bring my heroes down.


End of Game/Board State

Decks were on 38 and 40 Threat, No damage on heroes, no allies fallen in battle or to encounter card effects. Two copies of Goblin Trail in the victory display. I didn’t really keep track of a rough amount of enemies defeated but I certainly took down two Goblin Troops instead of the singular copy you normally need to face, at least two Spiders of Mirkwood and at least four Goblin Snipers possibly more.

Campaign Pool/State

On Resolution of the Campaign Card the Burden Guilty Conscience is added to the Campaign Pool if there are 6 or more resources on the Campaign Card. Luckily I narrowly avoided this by achieving victory on the 6th turn with only 5 resources on the Campaign Card. The previous Setup instructions on the front side of the Campaign Card also adds each chosen Adaptation Boon and Stalking Goblin to the Campaign Pool.
Honestly Guilty Conscience isn’t too bad and it would not have been much of a big deal had I earned it, it is obviously always nice to avoid additional Burdens when possible though.

Stalking Goblin is going to be rather interesting, sure he has rather low stats but he brings a Goblin Sniper into play (staging area specifically) any time he engages a player/deck. Goblin Snipers aren’t the biggest threat but do ping you for damage every turn if you can’t get them out of staging. The actual wording on Stalking Goblin however is certainly not a singular or one time event so if he eventually appears in a quest during the Mega Campaign that has mechanics allowing enemies to engage other players/decks this could be problematic. I’m imagining a situation in which Stalking Goblin receives a shadow card that results in him engaging a different player/deck and making an additional attack against them and then receiving a shadow for that attack that returns him back to the staging area. This would bring two Goblin Snipers into the staging area with a third appearing the second he re-engages a player/deck the following turn.
Multiple Goblin Snipers in staging results in the players/decks not being able to optionally engage any of them and they will sit in staging continuing to provide direct damage. Hands Upon the Bow has just become so much more useful and valuable all of a sudden! Not only to kill Goblin Snipers but also to take out Stalking Goblins before they can even engage and bring Goblin Snipers into play in the first place. Considering the low stats on both enemies Hands Upon the Bow would allow Legolas to destroy either without a single attachment boosting his attack power.

Current Campaign Pool

Boons:
–Mendor’s Support (1x Copy for each deck) – Currently not included in either deck
-Valor x4 – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Glorfindel, Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas during setup at the start of each Quest
-The Power of Spirit – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Gandalf during setup at the start of each quest
-The Might of Tactics – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Gimli during setup at the start of each quest

Burdens:
–Ungoliant’s Swarm – Shuffled into the Encounter deck at the start of each Quest
-Stalking Goblin – Shuffled into the Encounter deck at the start of each Quest

Additional Notes:
–The two new Permanent Setup Boons are extremely useful for resource smoothing and will make both decks run even smoother and better than ever. The additional once per campaign effects are also pretty useful, especially considering I am house ruling them to once per campaign block instead and can use them more than just a single time.

The Caves of Nibin-Dûm

Thoughts and Experience

I had even more fun playing The Caves of Nibin-Dûm given its slightly higher difficulty than The Oath and similarly it was easily the best experience and playthrough I’ve ever had with this quest. I decided to start the game with a copy of Great Cave Troll in the staging area (as well as the two locations that you add to staging during setup of course) to ramp up the difficulty a little bit and this certainly worked as within a turn or two the only other copy appeared resulting in me having two Great Cave Trolls to contend with.

Gimli came within a single hit point of death valiantly defending both Troll attacks in one turn. I was able to both heal him to full and provide him with boosted defense before having to then defend both Troll attacks a second time the following turn. I was then able to take a Troll down that same turn and give myself a little breathing room.

I almost got location locked but some tricky and clever plays as well as Asfaloth appearing at a key moment got me out of a potentially very sticky situation and maybe even a loss. Azain Silverbeard was a bit of an MVA (most valuable ally) in this quest taking down two Goblin Snipers with his ability alone alongside the multiple enemies he helped to take out in combat. Mid to late game when you have spare tactics resources to pay for his ability he can be a very strong and useful ally to have in play.

It was actually a somewhat tough game due to bad luck with reveals and the encounter deck really bringing its all. Both of the Nightmare Burden enemies appeared once each but they weren’t that bad and were easily dealt with. All enemies (except the Great Cave Trolls) were relatively easy to defeat and fairly weak stat wise there were just so many of them constantly popping up that combat was still dangerous and exciting. The new Burden Shiny Distraction did not appear but it will be interesting to see it in the future and whether I may even be able to use it to my advantage rather than detriment. If I’m close to victory and have relatively low-ish threat then a bunch of additional resources may give me the exact boost and edge I need.

I ended up having to take on the Goblin Troop on the very last round alongside the Goblin Chieftain but both were slain with ease between Legolas and Aragorn pumped up with weapons, a Marksman of Lorien and the use of a copy of Swift and Strong.

There are a few locations in this quest that can potentially give you trouble such as Lightless Passage, Collapsed Mine or Goblin Dungeon but to me all of these are a breeze compared to Branching Paths. Branching Paths honestly has to be one of my most hated locations in the entire game. As with many of the Encounter cards in these two quests Branching Paths is actually a reused encounter card that originally appears in the Khazad-Dum Deluxe Box and is used in multiple quests throughout that deluxe and the corresponding Cycle (Dwarrowdelf) so I am very familiar with it already.

While in the staging area it gives all Dark locations +1 threat (including itself) which honestly is already quite nasty, even with just three Dark Locations in play that’s an extra three threat in the staging area. Then once you actually explore Branching Paths you must look at the top three cards of the encounter deck, choose one to reveal and add to the staging area and you place the other two at the bottom of the encounter deck. Now you do get to choose which card you reveal and add to staging and the other two do disappear to the bottom of the encounter deck so at first glance this really doesn’t seem that bad. You can even avoid certain Encounter cards by placing them at the bottom of the Encounter Deck (not as good as discarding them but still puts them off for a while). In all honesty it is really not that bad of an effect it is just the fact that clearing Branching Paths doesn’t actually reduce the amount of Encounter cards in play/the staging area as it essentially just replaces itself with another card albeit one you get to pick from three option. Due to this I find myself basically never wanting to travel to Branching Paths because to me I am not really improving my board state if the encounter card is literally just going to replace itself no matter what. Instead Branching Paths often just sits in the staging area for the vast majority of or even an entire quest boosting the threat of all Dark locations.

To be fair Branching Paths can actually be a completely different beast when playing some of the Khazad-Dum/Dwarrowdelf quests it is featured in, especially when playing Nightmare Mode, as these quests are much tougher than The Caves of Nibin-Dûm. They also may feature various mechanics that will for example stop you from travelling to dark locations without the use of a Cave Torch or you may only be able to use your Cave Torch a limited amount of times to travel to Dark locations before it goes out when playing a specific quest in Nightmare mode.. Basically Branching Paths is on its best behavior here in The Caves of Nibin-Dûm!

Crumbling Ruin is another Encounter card that is reused from Khazad-Dum/Dwarrowdelf that has the potential to be rather deadly. It isn’t quite as strong or nasty as something like Deep Fissure, which is very similar, but it still has the potential to instantly discard a character from play. The White Council obviously has a big advantage against this Treachery by knowing what the top card of its player deck is and The Three Hunters has very few high cost cards and no cards that cost 5 or more so you can choose Gimli or Aragorn (on full health that is) without any worry of them possibly being discarded.

Lastly I just want to add that the unique location: Cracked Pillar has one of the most interesting and clever mechanics on any location in the game. I don’t think there is any other location in the game that you are forced to declare attacks against during the Combat Phase in order to place enough damage to be able to travel there. The way that the mechanics and story telling combine to show that you must attack and bring down a giant Cracked Pillar in order to make a bridge across a chasm is just so wonderfully and masterfully done. There are plenty of other unique locations in the game with their own special interactions and abilities but few come close to how well Cracked Pillar merges mechanics and story/flavor.

End of Game/Board State

Decks were on 43 and 46 Threat, No damage on heroes, no allies fallen in battle or to encounter card effects. Faced two Great Cave Trolls, a Goblin Troop and the Chieftain boss, a Stalking Goblin, at least four Goblin Snipers, Goblin Runners and Scavengers and Ungoliant’s Swarm and slew them all. Legolas specifically is racking up a rather impressive kill count so far! I’m starting to wish that I kept an actual proper kill count for the Mega Campaign to see just how many enemies each Hero and unique ally take down throughout my journey. Implementing some sort of house rule for Keeping Count would have been pretty cool too although had I based it on kills throughout the Mega Campaign rather than each individual quest then Gimli would end up on like 50+ Base attack due to Legolas racking up a very high number of kills.

Campaign Pool/State

So as per the Campaign Card’s resolution Ranger Sense is earned and added to the Campaign Pool if both decks are under 40 threat at the end of the game. As both decks were well over 40 threat at the end I did not earn any copies of this Boon. I’m really not concerned by this at all as it isn’t a game changer and is one use per campaign block (per my modified rules) anyway. Each copy of No Time to Waste added to each deck’s starting hand are both added to the Campaign Pool as well and so is the Burden Treachery Shiny Distraction.

Current Campaign Pool

Boons:
–Mendor’s Support (1x Copy for each deck) – Currently not included in either deck
-No Time to Waste (1x Copy for each deck) – Currently not included in either deck
-Valor x4 – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Glorfindel, Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas during setup at the start of each Quest
-The Power of Spirit – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Gandalf during setup at the start of each quest
-The Might of Tactics – Permanent Setup Boon – Attached to Gimli during setup at the start of each quest

Burdens:
–Ungoliant’s Swarm – Shuffled into the Encounter deck at the start of each Quest
-Stalking Goblin – Shuffled into the Encounter deck at the start of each Quest
-Shiny Distraction – Shuffled into the Encounter deck at the start of each Quest

Additional Notes:
–The Power of Spirit so far is proving extremely useful for resource smoothing for The White Council. The Might of Tactics has not been quite as useful just yet but its direct damage effect will potentially come in clutch against certain bosses and situations later on.

So that’s it for now, The Core Set and The Oath + The Caves of Nibin-Dûm have all been completed thus far in my Mega-Campaign which means the first ‘Block’ of the Mega-Campaign: Mirkwood Paths, has been successfully completed!

Any Boons I have earned that have abilities that are one use per Campaign are refreshed and the one off effect can be used again. I did not actually use either Adaptation Boon’s once per campaign abilities during Mirkwood Paths in the end so really I am not refreshing anything at this point. Worth making a note that this occurs so I remember to do the same after each new Block of the Mega-Campaign as I will definitely be using and utilizing these effects moving forward.
I also have the option to change heroes without any penalty, however I will not be doing so.
At this point in time none of the Boons or Burdens I have earned and added to the campaign pool seem like they will in any way interfere with game rules or create issues in The Lost Realm or Angmar Awakens so I will not be making any changes to the Campaign Pool.

Join me next time for The Lost Realm! The Mega-Campaign is about to get rather difficult especially if I take on the whole Deluxe and Cycle in Nightmare mode.