The Lonely Mountain Solo Progression 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

DECK NAME - Steward of Erebor

https://youtu.be/upGkH2FcUu0

NOTE: I do not use treasure/campaign cards in my decks, but I will use the treasure cards attached to this quest because it's part of the encounter deck specifically.

OVERVIEW - Much like Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim, this quest requires a deck built in a very specific way. If you want to pass burgle attempts you will need plenty of cards in your hand that are alike in the these ways (from most important to least): 1) type 2) sphere 3) and cost. Beravor gives us the kind of card draw we will need to have these cards in our hand. Additionally, when facing Smaug the Magnificent it's important to manipulate the encounter deck so that his shadow card has no Burgle effect. Thus, we will need Denethor and 3x Unexpected Courage. This means we have two heroes so let's be sure to load up on 2-cost lore allies to be able to successfully pass the Burgle attempts in 2B. And which hero do we want in order to give us access to 3x Unexpected Courage? Glorifindel does the trick nicely since he quests (stage 2b) and attacks (stage 3b) for 3. Additionally, we can give him Asfaloth and eliminate locations more quickly.

HEROES

• Beravor - draw cards every round
• Denethor - attach Blood of Númenor, Song of Kings, Song of Travel, Steward of Gondor, 3X Unexpected Courage and The Arkenstone; use him to bury cards you don't want to face during stage 2b and then to bury cards with Burgle keyword during the encounter phase of 3B; boost his w Arwen Undómiel
• Glorfindel - attach Asfaloth, 3X Dúnedain Mark, Light of Valinor, and Thrór's Battle Axe; quest with him out of the gate, even if you don't have LoV as threat is not a factor in this quest
• Bilbo Baggins - he can quest in 2B and attack in 3B, but his best use by far is the Action on The Lonely Mountain location for Burgle attempts

OVERVIEW

• SETUP - no specific cards needed; maybe Light of Valinor
• ROUND ONE - nice to get a free round with no questing; this makes Beravor and Denethor all the more valuable vs heroes that don't have actions like they do
• EARLY STAGE 2B - it's better to fail 3 or so quests so that you can get your hand nice and full; only issue with failing the quest is threat increase but threat is not a concern in this quest; if you try and quest successfully (1 or more progress) you will likely fail the Burgle attempt so fail the quest purposefully
• LATE STAGE 2B - Faramir helps us to quest successfully; having cards in hand means we will pass each Burgle attempt before Smaug has 6 progress on him; it's okay to discard cards you want in order to successfully pass the Burgle attempt; you can get attachments back from Erebor Hammersmith and you'll eventually play Will of the West; don't ever opt to move on from 2B until you have all 5 treasures
• STAGE 3B - we will never have to worry about 4B if we handle 2B correctly; when we move on to 3B remember we can now travel to The Lonely Mountain as well as Asfaloth it
• DEFEATING SMAUG THE MAGNIFICENT - make sure to use Denethor during the encounter phase to bury any cards that have a Burgle effect; Denethor can likely block his attack using Blood of Númenor at this point; be sure to keep a few allies ready for attacking Smaug as well as chumping in the unlikely possibility that Denethor can't find a card with no Burgle for Smaug's shadow card; once Smaug has attacked, Sneak Attack Gandalf in and lower your threat; attack Smaug with all you have; you should be able to discard him after questing successfully the next round; one final round to get the needed progress to win
• Hunter of Lamedon - don't use his response; he's included because he's a 2-cost ally
• Miner of the Iron Hills - use him to remove Dragon-Spell condition
• Will of the West is included for stage 3b just to give you the ability to recur your cards discarded from Burgle attempts