Challenge Accepted #4: Solo Samwise

Play Journey Along the Anduin using a Hobbit deck.

Deck Summary

Here it is, a Hobbit deck (emphasis on singular Hobbit). For this challenge, I was reminded of an old BGG thread, back in the early days, where OP managed to build a single hero deck to go against each core set quest. That hero had been Sam Gamgee, so I was curious to try my hand at something similar with a modern card pool.

Originally tried to make Sam an ultra defender, but the pieces just weren't coming together quick enough. The difficulty lies in card draw, which relies on spending resources, which are an extremely precious commodity when you only generate 1 a round! Sneak Attack-Gandalf is there for the classic card draw, We Are Not Idle is pure thinner, A Very Good Tale and Timely Aid help get out the higher cost allies quickly.

This is no power deck by any means. I'm not sure how many scenarios it could realistically beat, but it's (mostly) an enjoyable puzzle trying to really scrape out the best you can those first couple of rounds with only a single resource and 3 . Once the resource engine is going, cards really become the limiting factor.

Quest Summary

As I was iterating on this deck, I had several defeats against Journey. But this latest version was handling it fairly well. Early on, you are obviously looking for Steward of Gondor and/or Resourceful. Strider and various allies (either paying full cost or Timely Aid) can hopefully get you to match/outpace the staging area within a couple rounds. The Shirefolk is there to help keep threat below some of those pesky 15-20 engagement costed enemies. Saruman is immensely useful in this quest, as you can use him to move past Stage 1 without ever defeating a Hill Troll. Sure, you may need to take it out later to win but that's nothing another copy of Saruman can't handle!

I did end up in a humorous situation in one game: I am on round 12, still at Stage 1 with only a Hill Troll in the staging area. I have 7 progress on the stage. In the first action window of the quest phase I use Timely Aid (why then and not during planning? because I can) to pull out Saruman. The Hill Troll is considered out of play and after committing characters I use Longbeard Elder to find a location on the top of the encounter deck, which puts the 8th progress on Stage 1 and advances me to Stage 2, great! I quested hard enough, with the help of Faramir, to completely fly through Stage 2. Stage 3 reveals me two cards, neither of which is an enemy, so I....just win. Never touched a Hill Troll, I just went from Stage 1 - done in a single phase!

The other plays against this quest were similar, where Saruman helps me move past Stage 1, either paying full cost or using Sneak Attack, and I inevitably camp at Stage 3 long enough to build up the I need to take out any Hill Trolls or other various boss-type creatures in the staging area. (Or I camp long enough to get another Saruman to end the game quickly!)