Solo Thematic Campaign: Shadow of the Past 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

The Campaign

I’ve been part of 2, 3, and 4 player campaigns but I’ve never sat down and run my own solo campaign. I won’t be recording or blogging this campaign as others have recently done that (I’m in the middle of a YouTube thematic campaign with Mr Underhill right now) and I want to play rather quickly through the entire set of quests but I will play in “strict” campaign mode and trying to build as thematically as I can.

I can’t promise the decks I publish in this series will be totally optimized or super teched against each quest for a 90% win ratio, but I hope they will be decent thematic decks that could provide a good experience for people looking to play the campaign in a thematic manner.

The Deck

This is a mostly standard Hobbit deck but I limited myself by excluding some standard cards like Sneak Attack, Gandalf and Bill the Pony as they weren’t present during the events covered in this quest.

My “concessions” include Fellowship of the Ring and (sort of) Merry. Merry actually travelled ahead of Frodo and company and met the other 3 Hobbits at Buckleburry Ferry. I don’t feel bad about either of these as “the fellowship” was already a thing at this point and Merry is actually in the chapter and he’s pretty necessary to drive away Nazgul. The Dagger of Westernesse is also a little out of place as the company didn’t obtain them until the Barrow Downs but the way combat works in the game meant I needed something!

It’s great to have some new cards to add to the classic Hobbit Deck. The Shirefolk makes it possible to leave out Sneaky Gandalf and still maintain a Hobbit-appropriate threat level. The Loyal Hound nicely represent Rip and Fang for Farmer Maggot. Drinking Song is the new Daeron's Runes and it makes a deck like this all the more consistent.

The Experience

I used the Black Riders Frodo for this quest but and used his ability once. This took me two attempts. The first was a quick scoop when I revealed a second Nazgul on the opening draw and failed my Hide test.

Fast Hitch, Fellowship of the Ring and a Sidequest are all excellent cards to see in your opening hand. I quested very carefully on that first stage to avoid progressing into another Nazgul too quickly. The balance of questing and reserved willpower for Hide Tests make this quest a real delight to play. Excellent quest design for sure.

Going Forward

I chose the standard Gandalf’s Delay for my Burden (The Ring Draws Them is sooo bad!) but I bucked the trend and went with Gildor for my Boon. I always forget to use Mr Underhill and I love that moment when a good card comes out of the encounter deck. He won’t be around forever but I hope I see Gildor a few times in my upcoming games.

On to the Old Forest!

You can see final board states to my successful games on my Twitter account.

Campaign Decks so Far

1. Shadow of the Past
2. The Old Forest
3. Fog on the Barrow Downs
4. Knife in the Dark
5. Flight to the Ford
6. The Ring Goes South
7. Journey in the Dark
8. Breaking of the Fellowship
9. The Uruk-Hai
10. Helm's Deep
11. The Road to Isengard
12. The Passage of the Marshes
13. Journey to the Crossroads
14. Shelob's Lair
15. Passing of the Grey Company
16. The Siege of Gondor
17. The Battle of the Pelannor Fields
18. The Tower of Cirith Ungol
19. The Black Gate Opens
20. Mount Doom