Thursday, January 26, 2012

A long break

I put a lot of thought in this decision, but I have decided to take a break. Since I don't think that I have a lot of reader, I'm going to revise my strategy and maybe I will come back later...

Thanks for your interest.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Massing at Osgiliath in solo

I had this crazy idea to try the quest Massing at Osgiliath in solo, since I didn't have anyone to do it with me. The result? I beat it 2 out of 3. I must admit that I was suprise by this result.

I use a Rohan deck with Eowyn, Theodred and Dunhere. Like most rohan deck, my tactic was to lower my threat and to attack the ennemy directly in the staging area with Dunhere (boosted with some dunedain mark).

A big asset in my deck was the fact that I use ride to ruin and The riddermak's finest to remove location in the staging area without having to actualy travel there. My biggest suprise was the card astonishing speed which allowed me to bypass the Lich King special ability.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Holydays...

Since I have a lot of thing to do for the holydays, I don't have much time for this blog. So I will probably come back only in january. Have a nice Holydays

Thursday, December 1, 2011

My challenge part 4 : Gloin the resourceful

Sorry for the lack of activity, but some problems in my family had taken a lot of my time.

This last deck is about abusing Gloin ability - Draw to have cards to play, heal Gloin so he can take more damage and your defend with Gloin so that he gets some wounds and resources and the same time so that you can use more cards. I didn't have time to test it, but since I just get the last two chapters in the Mirkwood cycle, I am ready to pass to something else.

So there the deck list:

Gloin the resourceful
Hero (3)
Aragorn (Core) x1
Gloin (Core) x1
Beravor (Core) x1


Ally (26)
Brok Ironfist (Core) x2
Faramir (Core) x2
Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core) x2
Silverlode Archer (Core) x3
Snowbourn Scout (Core) x3
Son of Arnor (Core) x3
Guard of the Citadel (Core) x3
Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core) x3
Longbeard Map-Maker (CatC) x3
Gandalf (Core) x2


Attachment (14)
Celebrian's Stone (Core) x2
Dunedain Mark (THfG) x2
Dunedain Quest (AJtR) x2
Dunedain Warning (CatC) x2
Dark Knowledge (Core) x2
Self Preservation (Core) x2
Song of Wisdom (CatC) x2


Event (10)
Campfire Tales (THfG) x2
Common Cause (Core) x1
Grim Resolve (Core) x2
Sneak Attack (Core) x3
Valiant Sacrifice (Core) x2

Saturday, November 19, 2011

My challenge part 3 : The way of Tactic

This is my third installment in my personal challenge in which I must build four distinct deck. There is my third decklist :

Hero (3)
Gimli (Core) x1
Legolas (Core) x1
Eowyn (Core) x1


Ally (28)
Beorn (Core) x1
Descendant of Thorondor (THoEM) x3
Gondorian Spearman (Core) x3
Horseback Archer (Core) x3
Landroval (AJtR) x2
Winged Guardian (THfG) x3
Wandering Took (Core) x3
Lorien Guide (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x2
Radagast (AJtR) x2
Veteran Axehand (Core) x3


Attachment (8)
Blade of Gondolin (Core) x2
Born Aloft (CatC) x2
Citadel Plate (Core) x2
Horn of Gondor (Core) x2


Event (14)
Feint (Core) x3
Swift Strike (Core) x2
To the Eyrie (AJtR) x2
Quick Strike (Core) x3
Meneldor's Flight (THoEM) x2
Stand and Fight (Core) x2
First, I must tell you that I don't like the tactic sphere, for now. I think that this sphere is too much focus on combat. Personally, I prefer more a balance sphere. But I still see some potential in it so I tried to build a deck anyway.

How did it work?
I try the deck four times against a Journey down the Anduin

Game 1
I killed the troll easily after I had block it with Gimly once, But by doing so, Gimly had become an easy prey to the Treachery card evil storm. I lost at the second stage because I had flip two times the brown lands while I had an active location

Game 2
The second time I had quest with everyone on my first turn, but I failed leading the field wide open for an undefended attack by the troll. I gave up

Game 3:
Like game 2, it was a complete disaster because of bad decision from my part.

Game 4
I was in control until I flipped a second Hill Troll.

My final thought about the deck
The deck is great at fighting for sure, but still have some problem when dealing with location. I might be able to pass the quest without changing the deck, but I would mean that I would have to learn more about using a tactic base deck.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

My challenge part 2 : The lore deck

Let's start with the decklist :

The power of Lore

Hero (3)
Denethor (Core) x1
Glorfindel (Core) x1
Thalin (Core) x1


Ally (25)
Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core) x3
Erebor Hammersmith (Core) x3
Gildor Inglorion (THoEM) x2
Gleowine (Core) x2
Haldir of Lorien (AJtR) x2
Henamarth Riversong (Core) x2
Miner of the Iron Hills (Core) x3
Gondorian Spearman (Core) x3
Veteran Axehand (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x2


Attachment (5)
A Burning Brand (CatC) x3
Forest Snare (Core) x2


Event (20)
Beorn's Hospitality (Core) x2
Gildor's Counsel (THoEM) x2
Infighting (AJtR) x2
Lore of Imladris (Core) x3
Lorien's Wealth (Core) x3
Secret Paths (Core) x2
Strider's Path (THFG) x3
Blade Mastery (Core) x3
Strategy
The deck is kind of simple. I use the Lore's strength to draw cards and to heal my characters,

How did it workout?
I try this deck twice against the Journey to Rhosgobel adventure,

Game 1
I had some problem dealing with the flyers. So I had to block with Wilyador and to attack with Haldir. But I lost Denetor around the third turn and Gonfindel at turn 6.

Game 2
I was holding a little better this time thank to Denethor and Henamarth for deck management, But I finally lost because of the death of Wilyador.

My final though
I think that the deck was doing well, but it was missing some ranged character to deal with the enemy. I think that it would be a good support deck.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

My Challenge part 1

The Challenge

I have a personal puzzle to solve and I think that it might be interesting to write about it. So there it is: I have to build 4 deck since I am the only player that have cards in my playgroup. So what the problem? There is some rule that I want to respect.

First, I want that each deck feel different.

Second, each deck must be strong on his own.

Third, I must take in consideration that I only possessed 2 core set, 1 hunt for Gollum, 1 conflict to the Garrock, 1 journey to Rhosgobel and 1 Hills of Emyn Muil. And since I'm not sure when I will get the new adventure pack, those are the only one I can rely on (sorry, no Boromir),

With those restrictions, I have chosen a strategy to achieve my goal. Since every sphere have a different feel, I first thought that I could build mono sphere deck. But since my card pool doesn't really allow it, I have chosen to build 4 deck each based on a respective sphere with a little splice for another one. Also, I have chosen to not include unique cards in more that 1 deck to allowed the player who has it to play it when he wants. The only exception to this rule is Gandalf. Each deck will have 2 Gandalf in it.

The deck

So today I'm going to show you the first of these 4 deck. You might recognise it since it is a variant of the deck I already posted, Imrahil Rohan's commander.

Hero (3)
Dunhere (Core) x1
Frodo Baggins (CatC) x1
Prince Imrahil (AJtR) x1


Ally (24)
Lorien Guide (Core) x3
Northern Tracker (Core) x3
Escort from Edoras (AJtR) x2
The Riddermark's Finest (THoEM) x3
Westfold Horse-Breaker (THfG) x3
Eomund (CatC) x2
Keen-eyed Took (THoEM) x3
Snowbourn Scout (Core) x3
Gandalf (Core) x2


Attachment (7)
Unexpected Courage (Core) x2
Ancient Mathom (AJtR) x3
Steward of Gondor (Core) x2


Event (19)
Fortune or Fate (Core) x1
Will of the West (Core) x2
Ride to Ruin (THoEM) x2
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x2
Hasty Stroke (Core) x3
Stand and Fight (Core) x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x3
A Test of Will (Core) x3

The strategy

Like the last time, this deck focus on lowering your threat level and to use your cards to sacrifice your ally when you need it to ready Imrahi.


Does it work?

I try this deck solo again the Conflict at the Garrock adventure. I had a good board to beat it. When I enter the Garrock, my threat level was lower than 34 and my board had a good amount of ally. So I decided to engage Stuart. I didn't kill him on the first turn, but it only had 2 wounds left. But on my next turn, I flip an orc with surge and then a hill troll join the party. Since my threat level was high enough to get the troll and the orc attention, I had been overwhelm. I still kill Stuart and the orc, but even with Gandalf help, the troll ability to increase the player threat level had been my downfall. On the twelfth turn, I wasn't able to quest successfully and my threat level increase over 34 and the 3 others troll joined the fight which leads to a slaughter.

Overall, I think that this deck works well. If it wasn't for the hill troll, I'm sure that I would have been successful.

Stay tuned for next week deck when I will explore the possibility of the Lore sphere,