Lothiriel : Speedrun at Amon Din (true solo) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Here is a semi-thematic deck that completes this relatively simple scenario in 1 and a half turns on average.

Lothiriel is sent to Amon Din in Gondor, to lend a hand to Lord Alcaron, facing a group of mad Orcs led by Ghulat.

The strategy, simple, will allow you to win before the end of the quest phase of round 2 (or that of round 3 if you really had no luck in the draw), that is to say in less than 5 minutes watch in hand (brewing time !) :

1) Attach the The One Ring to Éowyn.

2) Make a mulligan for Wait no Longer and an ally who has 3 willpower.

3) Pay a resource from Sam Gamgee to attach Power of Command to Éowyn.

4) Do not spend any resources during the organization phase of turn 1. Only play Elrond's Counsel and/or Galion if it is present in your hand in two copies.

5) Engage the three heroes and Lord Alcaron on the quest (and Galion optionally). Trigger Lothiriel's response by putting an ally with 3 willpower into play. Engage him on a quest.

6) Exhaust the One Ring and increase your threat by 1 to give +1 willpower to all unique characters, until the end of the phase.

7) Whatever the draw during the staging step, you will obtain a quest success with such a comfortable margin that the active location and the quest will be passed before the end of this phase 3. Move the 9 resource tokens to Rescued Villagers. Proceed to step 2A, add Ghulat to the staging area. Proceed to step 2B. At the end of the quest phase, shuffle the ally used into your deck, as required by Lothiriel's ability.

8) In phase 4, do not travel to any location. Engage Ghulat in phase 5. Trigger Sam's response : he is ready to defend at 2.

9) In phase 6, deal a shadow card to Ghulat, let him initiate his attack and place a damage token on Dead Villagers. Sam generally defending here against a 1 attack, he will not take any damage. (If a shadow effect were to damage him, his 3 life points would still allow him to survive). During the last action window of the Ghulat attack step, trigger Éowyn's action. Readied her up and increase its attack level to 10 until the end of phase 6.

10) During the Declare Attackers step, declare an Éowyn attack against Ghulat. Its 10 attack points destroy one-shot Ghulat.

11) Straighten the characters and attachments, increase your threat by one point, then start turn 2.

12) If Wilyador is in your hand, pay it with Sam's reserve. If you have Arwen Undómiel, pay her with Lothiriel's reserve. If you have Dúnedain Hunter, play him.

13) At the beginning of the quest phase, play Wait no longer. Engage an enemy in the first 5 cards of the encounter deck. By doing so, you will not draw a card during the staging step of this phase.

14) Engage all quest characters and trigger the Power of Command action. Increase your threat level by one point and the willpower of the characters involved by one point.

15) At the time of the quest check, the threat in the staging area is exactly the same as during the previous round. The difference is that there are five more quest points to cover (15 instead of 5 + 5). But the presence of an additional ally hired during the current turn, plus the probable margin of will which already existed in turn 1, is most often enough to win the game during phase 3 of this turn 2.

Among the imponderables likely to hinder our plan, there is the enemy Craven Eagle (particularly annoying when it appears during setup). However, a copy of A Test of Will will prevent you from discarding three cards and sacrificing an ally.

Even if you draw one of the encounter cards affected by the Doom keyword, either during setup 1A or during the staging step of turn 1, you will not be engaged by any additional enemies during that turn, because your threat level before the engagement against Ghulat remains on average around 22 (initial level). You have a 2 in 33 chance of drawing the Cursed 2 treachery during setup, then a 1 in 32 chance of drawing another during the staging step of turn 1. If you draw both turn 1 those treacheries, you will be able to always avoid the Surge effect and therefore the only enemy close to the engagement (Marauding Orc at 25). If you draw Trapped Inside and Marauding Orc, you will have a threat level of 24, which is one point less than the automatic engagement threshold against this enemy. Furthermore, you have three copies of Elrond's Counsel in the deck, which will also be useful for improving your willpower.