The Line Unbroken - Siege of Cair Andros

Description

The Line Unbroken is my Progression-style playthrough of the LOTR LCG - two-handed, going through each quest using only cards which were available at the time of the release (though following up-to-date rules/errata), and trying to show off as much of the card pool as possible, including for the vast majority of the quests, using the new hero(es) in the boxes where they were released.

These were the pair of decks for Siege of Cair Andros.

https://wardenofarnor.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/the-line-unbroken-24-siege-of-cair-andros/

Attempt 1: https://youtu.be/KQZipAZIstU Attempt 2: https://youtu.be/lE9Hk7CwgCs

8 comments

Sep 20, 2018 pd187540 22

Please avoid using these decks for this scenario. They are not good for it, even on easy mode. Why is this? If you do not fully explore The Banks location, you are stuck having to do Stage 2 of the quest. Stage 2 (Reinforcing The Banks) adds 1 additional encounter card to the staging area during the staging step. That's THREE total cards being added when playing with these two decks. Keep in mind that you need to use your Quest points to quest (not your defense like in Stage 1). SO many of these characters have 0 (ZERO) quest points! There are no other cards in these decks that can boost their quest value, so you're looking at an easy GAME OVER due to threats being raised. Again, please avoid these decks! Thanks! I will now try this guy's Nightmare Decks for this scenario and see if I can beat it on Easy Mode. Easy Mode certainly did not cut it with the decks given here. For this scenario, Easy Mode certainly was like Nightmare Mode.

Sep 20, 2018 MagicFlea 283

Dude you need to cut it out with comments like this. People aren’t idiots when they post decks that they used to beat something. That goes for people with zero reputation or people that happen to have a popular blog and video series detailing their attempts. You could try asking questions if you are having trouble.

Sep 20, 2018 Warden of Arnor 5764

@pd187540 A quote from the blog post linked in the description of the fellowship: "while in theory it contains all three different kinds of questing, in practice you plan to clear The Banks and thus never need willpower, because it makes it so much easier to build for the quest."

I have played Siege of Cair Andros many times, with these decks and others. I have never gone to stage 2 of the quest. If The Banks are destroyed, I will reset the game because I know my decks can't handle it. It's a strategic decision on my part. If you want to adopt a strategy which can handle going to stage 2 if things go wrong then firstly, your decks will be somewhat less focused and may have more difficulty with Battle and Siege; and secondly, build your own damn decks because mine are not going to help you.

Also, you are not the arbiter of other people's deck choices. If a deck/fellowship didn't work for you that's fine, say so, maybe someone will point out a strategic point you're missing. But you have no authority to tell other people not to use a deck just because you don't like it. It just comes off as mean-spirited.

Sep 20, 2018 Onidsen 1102

@pd187540cool it with the condescension. I don't know if you know this, but there are video playthroughs linked in the deck description that demonstrate that these decks are more than viable for beating this quest. I'd strongly recommend that you actually watch them and figure out how to pilot these decks before you pass judgement on them.

In fact, as part of the strategy for this quest, you have to plan what stages you will and will not go to. The fact that you fail to recognize this indicates that you might need to check for your own blind spots before calling out perceived weaknesses in others. If you can't beat this quest with these decks on easy mode, I don't know what to tell you.

Sep 20, 2018 pd187540 22

It's true. I just don't approve of the decks, and I am entitled to my opinion. I tried his Nightmare version, and it still failed twice in a row. This should NOT be happening. Nothing is wrong with my strategy either. I know to clear The Banks first, and it's an instant forfeit if you do not. I was able to clear both the Banks and The Citadel, and I still was overwhelmed in Stage 1. If a Nightmare-tuned decklist cannot even beat Easy Mode, it's totally useless. When you need 2 attempts, which is what is shown in the YouTube links, you know these are not the optimum decks to use for this scenario. This scenario is better served going solo with one deck, and fortunately, BGG has a lot of other decks to choose from.

Sep 20, 2018 Warden of Arnor 5764

50% win rate is certainly not optimum, but the reason it's 50% is because I stop after one victory. If I continued playing the quest more times I would have scored more victories.

If I can consistently beat the quest with these decks and you cannot do so even on Easy mode, I suspect there is something wrong with your strategy, but without seeing a recording or account of your games I can't say what it might be. The decks, however, are not at fault here.

Aug 04, 2020 sheldomar 1

For those following the comments, I play on easy mode using Warden's decks. I have only had to amend the decks significantly once (So far) by swapping a hero that wasn't doing much (In easy mode) for another that helped with the fact that in easy mode the encounter deck is reduced and the cards that remain cycle through more quickly (In this case treacheries). Warden puts a lot of time into putting the decks together, play testing them, then writing about them in his blog and even showing you how to play them with a YouTube run-through. If you can't pilot his decks then don't complain, amend them to your style of play (Because we all have a style) and to easy mode if you're playing these decks that after all are geared towards a normal game. Rant over, keep up the good work Warden.

Aug 05, 2020 sheldomar 1

Update having played the Siege of Cair Andros (On easy mode) I won after seven rounds with a score of (73/143) I took out all the 3 middle stages by successfully exploring the 3 battlegrounds and finished the fifth and final stage in one round with a massive 47 battle strength thanks to both +1 from Boromir and +2 from two copies of For Gondor!