Journey Along The Anduin Solo 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

A solo deck capable of beating Journey Along The Anduin with regularity, using only core and Shadows of Mirkwood cycle cards.

Heroes

Éowyn always quests. Attach Celebrían's Stone if it surfaces to boost her questing ability. Also Song of Battle and Steward of Gondor would be attached to her ideally.

In theory Théodred always quests too (then distribute his bonus resource token as required).

Dúnhere's role is the attacker, ideally into the staging area (which works well if we're keeping the threat low, also stage 2 doesn't have engagement checks). Boosting Dúnhere damage is a priority strategy (Dúnedain Mark, Dwarven Axe and Blade of Gondolin). Once he has at least one of the first two of these attachments he can break through the Hill Troll's defence and start putting damage on him while in staging. If Unexpected Courage surfaces, put it on Dúnhere asap. He will then be able to attack multiple enemies in staging which is really powerful and incredibly useful in stage 2 when the staging area can get busy (note, we can't attack the same enemy when re-readying).

Stage 1

We want one or two meat shields (Snowbourn Scout or Wandering Took) into the hand very early to protect against low threat attackers (e.g. Dol Guldur Orcs, Misty Mountain Goblins etc). This is key, as we are ideally putting Théodred and Éowyn onto questing which only leaves Dúnhere as a potential defender.

The focus should be on getting a solution to deal with the Hill Troll before the threat hits 30. Therefore ensure there is always good willpower going into questing and use any The Galadhrim's Greeting asap. Gandalfs should be used strategically to aid in taking down the Hill Troll (either as a defender or attacker). When using Gandalf, always use the threat reduction option of his entering play abilities.

In terms of tactics for taking down the Hill Troll: because of excess damage increasing threat we only want him attacking once (or not at all if possible). To defend the initial Hill Troll attack, the preferred strategy is using Feint. Failing this, we look to a Winged Guardian to soak up 5 damage, the fall-back is using Gandalf as a defender. Although, ideally we'd use Gandalf as an attacker for the Hill Troll to boost our output. If we've managed to use The Galadhrim's Greeting once or twice that should buy us plenty of time to build up allies capable of helping to take him down.

Regarding killing the Hill Troll, in a worst case scenario we need to be able to put 12 damage on him in a single combat phase (ideally this will be less if Dúnhere has been hitting him in the staging area). Damage is not a strength of this deck so we will need a few allies. As I mentioned earlier, Gandalf really helps here with his 4 damage if it's possible.

Once we are capable of taking down the Hill Troll, engage him asap. We want the staging area to be as empty as possible going into stage 2.

To summarise, building a decent array of allies asap is key, as is getting some damage boosting attachments to Dúnhere.

Stage 2

Put as much willpower as possible into questing as soon as possible. Getting through this stage as quickly as possible is our aim. Enemies and particularly locations can build very quickly in the staging area. Locations especially can get out of control very quickly - especially if there is a Brown Lands stuck in the staging area (a Snowbourn Scout or Northern Tracker can help in this situation). Northern Tracker is an incredibly useful ally for stage 2 - removing locations in staging without travelling to them (ideal for horrible locations such as Gladden Fields which we want to avoid travelling to).

If things have gone to plan, Dúnhere should be hitting for about 5 damage into the staging area by this point. We want to avoid bringing down enemies from staging ideally, using Dúnhere to pick them off (Unexpected Courage is incredibly useful here if it's possible to get it). Since one of the rules for this stage is skipping the engagement step, this should be entirely achieveable.

Faramir, Éomund and West Road Traveller are perfect allies for this stage. Enabling us to quest with serious willpower.

If we are fortunate enough to be able to calculate at which round we will likely get the 16th progress token down, we should try to keep one or two allies readied as we will enter stage 3 immediately. This brings potential for a few more enemies into staging. More importantly, once we flip into stage 3 engagement checks will begin again - therefore the enemies will potentially charge down from staging (depending on our threat level). We need some defenders to prevent undefended attacks on our heroes.

Stage 3

If things have gone to plan, we should have some decent allies out ready to soak up any enemies dropping down from staging. If things have gone really well, our threat has also been kept reasonably low too. Below 30 going into stage 3 is a real boon - as most enemies are threat 30+ in this encounter deck - we can therefore engage them when we're good and ready (or let Dúnhere do his thing in the staging area).

Events

Dwarven Tomb should be used to bring The Galadhrim's Greeting back into our hand.

Sneak Attack should be used with Gandalf in the combat phase.

A Test of Will should not be used lightly (unless we have 2). Save it for when a Necromancer's Reach, Evil Storm or Dol Guldur Orcs is going to potentially kill a hero or do something else horrific.

Will of the West is to be used once both The Galadhrim's Greeting and a couple of Gandalf are in the discard pile.

Fortune or Fate is a luxury/"get out of jail free" card if a hero is somehow killed.

General tips

In stage 2 and stage 3 try and keep our threat under 35 if possible. There are several cards in the encounter deck which punish us specifically for being threat 35+ particularly Evil Storm. If we are running with a high threat, hold onto A Test of Will for dear life for the eventual game ending treachery reveal.