Bilbo Baggins is the new hero, and it is quite appropriate that he be the first mandatory use character. He is somewhat controversial in the game, as some people feel he is overpriced while others feel his special ability justifies his threat level. Nonetheless, he is the first hero in our expedition. His card is as follows:
The next thing to determine is whether the game will be played with 1 deck or 2 decks. Bilbo's ability is enhanced card drawing, which enables exhausting significantly more of the deck than otherwise would be possible in the game without other card abilities. However, in a 2-deck game, his ability trades off between players. For this reason, Bilbo is often viewed as being stronger in a Solo game, and that is how the first quest will be tackled.
Being an inexperienced deck builder, I make no claim that the choices that follow are optimal. However, based upon a personal desire to attempt to make use of new cards in the expansion to some degree, the decision was made to have a dual sphere Lore + Leadership deck. Leadership was chosen to complement Lore due to the presence of the Song of Kings, which grants a leadership icon to a hero. For this reason, I chose to run 2 Lore heroes (Bilbo and Denethor), along with 1 Leadership hero (Aragorn), for a total combined threat of 29, just shy of the magic 30 mark that players recommend you avoid if you are relatively new to the game like I am. The complete deck may be viewed on RingsDB here: http://www.ringsdb.com/decklist/view/986/hunt-for-gollum-ldr-lore-deck-solo-1.0
The initial card draw consisted of: Grim Resolve, Sneak Attack, Silverlode Archer, Valiant Sacrifice, Snowbourn Scout, and Forest Snare. This isn't a bad card draw, but there is a problem since 5/6 of the initial cards are Leadership, and I only have a single Leadership hero. I did not draw the song to grant Leadership to other heroes, nor did I draw Steward of Gondor to place on Aragorn to generate massive amounts of resources. So, I opted for a mulligan.
The starting card hand then became: Sneak Attack, Common Cause, Dunedain Mark, Gleowine, Protector of Lorien, and Miner of the Iron Hills.
This was a better starting deck as far as card sphere, with 3 in each sphere. Dunedain Mark is nice, and Gleowine complements a serious card drawing strategy nicely.
During quest setup, the Flooding encounter card was drawn, raising threat to 30 and surging another threat into the play area. Treacherous Fog was then drawn, which had no effect--dodged a bullet there! Turn 1 was now ready to begin.
TURN 1
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 1, Bilbo 1
Card Draw: Sneak Attack and Forest Snare
Preparations: Gleowine was played for the card drawing ability, and to help to some degree with questing if not drawing cards. Dunedain Mark was played on Aragorn, who is the primary attacker in the group.
Quest: Aragorn, Bilbo, and Gleowine were committed to the quest, for a total of 4 willpower.
Encounter: Old Wives' Tales was drawn. Denethor exhausts, as he was unable to pay a resource and was not yet exhausted for the quest. The impact was relatively minor--the only loss is not being able to look (and possibly bury) the top encounter card.
Quest Progress: 4/8.
In this segment of the adventure, after a successful quest, the top 3 cards are drawn from the encounter deck and one is chosen by the first player to add to the staging area. In this case, the top 3 cards drawn were Hunters from Mordor and both copies of Pursued by Shadow. The Hunters from Mordor are notoriously difficult later in the game and the effect of Pursued by Shadow was relatively small, so Pursued by Shadow was chosen. Only 1 player didn't commit to quest, raising Threat to 31.
All cards were then refreshed, threat set to 32, and the turn was complete.
TURN 2
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 1, Bilbo 1
Card Draw: Rivendell Minstrel, Dunedain Mark.
Preparations: Another copy of Dunedain Mark was drawn, an excellent card. This time, it was placed on Denethor.
Quest: Aragorn, Bilbo, and Gleowine again committed to the quest, for a total of 4 willpower.
Encounter: Gladden Fields (Treat of 3) was drawn. One additional progress token was placed, bringing the total for this segment of the adventure to 5/8 progress tokens.
After a successful quest, an encounter card must be chosen from the top 3 cards of the deck. The top 3 cards were: Eastern Crows, Signs of Gollum, and Goblintown Scavengers. I chose Signs of Gollum, as a clue card is needed at some point. This is a guarded card, so another card must be drawn. I drew Evil Storm (no effect, as threat was under 35).
Travel: Time to go to Gladden Fields, although threat is rising much higher than expected!
Denethor was still active, so he uses ability: Massing at Night. This card has no effect in solo, and I put it at the bottom of deck. (For Solo play, it effectively has no effect and "Surge 1".)
All cards were then reset, and threat was raised to 34 due to Gladden Fields.
TURN 3
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 2, Bilbo 2
Card Draw: Daughter of the Nimrodel, Valiant Strike
Preparations: The Rivendell Minstrel was played as an ally to obtain the inspiring Song of Kings, and to provide a boost to questing. Denethor was immediately inspired by the Song, inspiring him to be a leader for this quest. It is a shame his leadership would not last beyond this quest!
Quest: Aragorn, Bilbo, and Rivendell Minstrel committed to the quest, for a total of 5 willpower.
Encounter: Evil Storm, which thankfully still had no effect. Our will was strong enough to fully explore the Gladden Fields, while still making some progress on the quest. We had a total of 7/8 progress on the current part of the quest. At this point, a Clue to Gollum's location was claimed and placed on Aragorn.
After a successful quest, the top 3 encounter cards were revealed: Misty Mountain Goblins, Eaves of Mirkwood, and West Bank. Eaves of Mirkwood were chosen as our next destination, which we headed toward immediately. Denethor used his ability to observe the Misty Mountain Goblins were lurking ahead, but it seemed better than the uncertain alternative so it was kept on the top of the deck. Gleowine exhausted to draw a card, and it was Gandalf! Cards were then reset, and threat raised to the deadly level of 35.
TURN 4
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 2, Bilbo 1
Card Draw: Gleowine, Strider's Path.
Preparation: Daughter of the Nimrodel joined the band of allies to add her willpower to our quest.
Quest: Bilbo, Rivendell Minstrel, Daughter of the Nimrodel, and Gleowine joined the quest, for a total willpower of 5. This was known in advance to be exactly the amount required to complete the progress, thanks to Denethor's skill.
Encounter: Misty Mountain Goblins (2 threat), as expected. The Eaves of Mirkwood were fully explored, and a progress token was placed on the quest, completing it. (At this point, I was unsure whether I do the 3-encounter draw again or not, but decided to err on the side of caution and do it. I am not sure whether technically the progress tokens come first, or the quest-specific draw 3 encounter cards occurs first, but I went with the more difficult option.) The cards drawn were Evil Storm, Eaves of Mirkwood, East Bank; we chose to continue to slog through the Eaves of Mirkwood. Quest 2A was revealed, but had no effect. Quest 2B was then revealed, with progress of 0/10.
Travel: Eaves of Mirkwood.
The Misty Mountain Goblins attacked at this point. Denethor was well-suited to defend against them, and their attack was poor (West Bank shadow card with no effect), so the attack was completely parried. Aragorn then was in a prime opportunity to strike them down completely (thanks to his Mark of the Dunedain). The goblin threat was pacified. All players were reset, and threat was set to 36.
TURN 5
Resource distribution: Aragorn 2, Denethor 1, Bilbo 1
Card Draw: Protector of Lorien, Dunedain Mark.
In this part of the quest, there is a quest setup phase that triggers prior to choosing people to quest. Two cards are drawn, one is chosen to enter the staging area, and one is discarded. We drew Gossip and a Clue token. The debate was tough, as one Clue was already known, but it could be discarded should Aragorn take any damage. However, Clue tokens do increase the strength of Hunters from Mordor. This early in the quest, though, it seemed wise to obtain another Clue in case the first proves fruitless; this Clue token was chosen. Its guard was Gladden Fields.
In the quest phase, Sneak Attack Gandalf, Threat reduced to 31. Gandalf, Daughters of the Nimrodel, Rivendell Minstrel, Bilbo, Aragorn, and Gleowine all quested, for a total of 11. Aragorn spent a resource to ready.
Encounter: Hunters from Mordor drawn. Gandalf made his appearance just in time, true to the books! Due to there being 2 clues, there was 9 Threat total in Staging Area. The Eaves were now completely explored, but with 0/10 quest progress. Gandalf disappeared, although he remained close by (in the hand).
Travel: Gladden Fields.
Engage: Chose to tackle Hunters from Mordor. That is too much threat in the staging area!
Gandalf made an appearance yet again, via Sneak Attack! (The resource came from Denethor via the Song of Kings). Gandalf laid a significant blow on the hunters, inflicting 4 damage. Gandalf then defended against their counterattack, taking 2 damage. Shadow: Eaves of Mirkwood (no effect). Gandalf takes 2 damage. Aragorn and Denethor retaliated, causing the remaining 2 damage required to put the Hunters to rest. Threat was raised to 32.
TURN 6
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 1, Bilbo 2
Card Draw: Faramir, Rivendell Minstrel. (Very nice of Faramir to appear!)
Preparations: Protector of Lorien attached to Bilbo. Gleowine was exhausted to draw 1 card: Steward of Gondor! This is a very timely draw yet again; the card-drawing abilities are very useful. Between Bilbo and Gleowine, much of the deck has already been explored. The card was attached to Denethor, as he can pay for either leadership or lore cards. It was used immediately, and will be used immediately on each subsequent turn.
Quest Start: Flooding, Banks of Anduin. Chose Banks of Anduin to add to the staging area.
Quest: Daughter of the Nimrodel, Rivendell Minstrel, Bilbo (discarding from the hand the extra copy of Gleowine, Strider's Path, and Protector of Lorien), and Aragorn committed to the quest, for a total of 9 willpower.
Encounter: Old Wives' Tale. Denethor and Bilbo lost 1 resource. Threat staged: 1. Gladden Fields was completed, and progress increased dramatically to 5/10. Signs of Gollum left in staging area (in case all heroes get damaged due to a treachery card). However, it was now available to snag after a successful quest down the road.
Travel: Banks of Anduin. Denethor used his ability to view the next encounter card: River Ninglor, placed on bottom of deck. Cards were refreshed and threat was increased to 33.
TURN 7
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 4, Bilbo 1 (after using Steward of Gondor)
Card Draw: Gandalf's Search, Ever Vigilant
Preparations: Denethor shows he is master of the house by single-handedly calling Faramir to his aid...Dad's privilege? Denethor does not send Faramir to his doom yet, nor does he try to burn him to death in a murder-suicide. Look at Denethor's face--would he ever do something devious like that?
Next, one of two Shadow cards is added to the encounter deck, per this quest segment's special text. Eastern Crows and Hunters from Mordor are on the horizon. Despite the surge, the Eastern Crows are chosen, in hopes that the surge is anything except another Hunter from Mordor. It turns out the surge is the Misty Mountain Goblins, so a bullet has been dodged there! Faramir exhausts to give +1 to willpower heroes that commit to the quest. Daughter of the Nimrodel, Rivendell Minstrel, Gleowine, Bilbo (discard Gandalf's Search), and Aragorn all will to complete the quest, a total of 13 willpower. Aragorn uses a resource to ready.
Encounter: Hunters from Mordor! It is a very good thing the previous one was skipped. This is a total of 9 threat, so progress is now at 6/10.
Engage: Eastern Crows and Misty Mountain Goblins both are attacking. Eastern Crows attack unblocked, Shadow: Eastern Crows for +1; this damage was assigned to Denethor. Then, the Goblins are defended by Denethor. The Eastern Crows Shadow card was Goblintown Scavengers (no effect). All damage was blocked. In retaliation, Aragorn defeats the Misty Mountain Goblins. (Dunedain Mark gives enough to kill them. Threat rises to 34.
TURN 8
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 4, Bilbo 2 (after using Steward of Gondor)
Card Draw: Grim Resolve and Erebor Hammersmith were drawn.
The Daughter of the Nimrodel exhausted to heal Denethor, as his defensive abilities are highly desired in the attack phase!
In preparation for the turn, Gandalf was called. The Hunters are dealt 4 damage. At quest start, the Banks of the Anduin and Old Ford Road are drawn; the Banks of the Anduin are chosen. Faramir is then exhausted to grant +1 willpower to all quest values.
Quest: Gandalf, Rivendell Minstrel, Gleowine, Bilbo (discard Common Cause), and Aragorn commit to the request, for a combined 16 total willpower.
Encounter: East Bank (3 threat) drawn, for a total threat of 11. Progress on quest was 11/10 now, so this section is now complete. At this point, the additional Signs of Gollum card is claimed by Bilbo as backup in case the other clue proves fruitless. Quest 3A was revealed, then Quest 3B followed. At this point, there were 2 clue cards attached to heroes and 0/8 progress on the final leg of the quest. No new location was pursued, as focus was given to the quest.
Next, the Hunters from Mordor were engaged. Aragorn paid a resource to play Ever Vigilant, activating Gandalf for another phase of action. Eastern Crows went through unblocked, and had River Ninglor as the shadow card. River Ninglor had no effect, as there was no progress on the current quest. Aragorn took 1 damage, which meant his clue card was placed on top of the encounter deck. Bilbo still has another clue, so this was not a bad move. The Hunters from Mordor were defended by Denethor; treacherous fog was the shadow card, and Denethor took 1 damage (as there was only 1 clue in play). Gandalf then attacked and dealt the 2 remaining damage required to take out the Hunters from Mordor. Having done his job, the elusive wizard then disappeared, others were readied, and threat was set to 35.
TURN 9
Resource distribution: Aragorn 1, Denethor 3, Bilbo 1 (after Steward of Gondor)
Card Draw: Forest Snare, Valiant Sacrifice.
Gleowine was exhausted to convince another Rivendell Minstrel to join my hand.
Preparations: This new Rivendell Minstrel joined the band, and another copy of Song of Kings was retrieved.
Quest: Faramir exhausted to give +1 willpower to others. Both Rivendell Minstrels, the Daughter of the Nimrodel, Bilbo (discard Song of Kings, Valiant Sacrifice, Forest Snare), Aragorn, and Denethor all quested, for a total willpower of 18. Aragorn spent a resource to ready, in the unlikely event this was not enough to complete the quest. As will be seen shortly, this was nearly required!
Encounter: Obviously, a Clue card was drawn. Its guard was another Clue, so now 2 more cards need to be drawn as guards! The Old Ford and Banks of the Anduin were drawn. There was now 10 threat staged (5 from The Old Ford), so it was fortunate that so much questing was performed! Progress on the quest was now 8/8, just barely successful!
QUEST SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!
In this adventure, I went through over half the deck, but only found 1 Gandalf, so 2 were still left in the deck, and never got Celebrain's Stone, which would have been great on Bilbo. Having 2 Sneak Attacks did really help, though! Ever Vigilant made Gandalf even more potent. Additionally, I went through most of Encounter Deck. This quest was tough, in part due to limited available cards to build the deck and yet still requiring a 50-card deck be built due to my personal rules for this playthrough. Without Bilbo's card draw, this quest would have been lost.
I am impressed by Bilbo on this quest. His utility suffers greatly if there are easy ways for him to damage, and/or if getting his quest numbers up is difficult, but he can essentially take 2 actions per turn. He always gets to do a "Gleowine" action for free. Then, he can commit to the quest or join an attack (most likely). Although his initial quest value is only 1 and attack is only 1, this could be bolstered by Celebrain's Stone (which I never got) or Protector of Lorien (which added quite a bit to the quest due in part to having a large number of cards in my hand to discard--a self-serving ability with Bilbo around). Between Faramir and discards, Bilbo got up to 5 quest power alone, plus got an extra card draw (which helped boost questing). If Celebrain's Stone came out, this could have been boosted to 7 quest power.
This quest would have been doomed with the same card draw and no Bilbo, at least considering heroes up to this point. The massive card draw is what won the quest.
As for the debate whether Bilbo's ability is "overpriced" (worth the 3 extra threat), that remains to be determined--I will revisit this later in the game. However, I do believe it to be more powerful than the base game abilities since it does not require the hero to exhaust. Bilbo should be played with plans to boost questing (most likely), attack, or defense, but it is certainly a powerful strategy if you are counting on needing a certain small number of cards in your deck for your strategy to work--likely an issue with few cards in your game to choose from up to this point.
