Raid on the Grey Havens progression

Description

Raid on the Grey Havens is my new favourite scenario - it has just about the right amount of both challenge and complexity. To succeed, you need to be capable of heavy questing and combat since turn 1, while some location control and direct damage are also quite handy.

General gameplan: Erestor gives you the monster starting hand of 10 cards which should enable you to surpass the huge amount of threat turn 1. Tactics should be able to deal with the starting enemy that burns your locations faster. Éowyn / Protector of Lórien let you discard for additional or when you need to get rid of events to protect yourself from Na'asiyah.

Quest hard with the Erestor deck. Dispatch enemies with the Tactics deck. Build the board a little so you can time the advancement on stage 2 right and be ready for the bosses. Win.

Erestor deck - notable cards:

Éowyn is a strong quester and her discard further boosts your willpower, Arwen is also a strong quester and lets you convert cards into resources of both spheres where necessary. Erestor provides your draw engine, although as you only get to see every card for one turn, this is one of the rare fellowships where I completely omit any sort of effects cancellation.

Protector of Lórien is a great card to see on turn 1, as you can now quest really hard with all the additional cards in your hand. Elven Jeweler has a similar purpose, helping you burn the surplus cards on the beginning.

Besides strong questing provided by the many allies, the other strength of this deck is location control that pairs nicely with Legolas on Arod. Explorer's Almanac, Steed of Imladris, Thrór's Key and Northern Tracker make your staging life mostly managable, as does The Evening Star once you got its first copy in the discard pile.

Unexpected Courage goes on Beregond, the second possible copy could go on Legolas.

Warden of Healing is a must once you have quested past the initial madness.

Mulligan for: Protector of Lórien. Elven Jeweler is also great to see. On the other hand, you might not want to immediately see Will of the West or Gléowine as your resources are usually better spent elsewhere during the first round.

Tactics - notable cards:

The heroes are chosen so as to be able to immediately deal with Sahír's Ravager with a little additional 2 help you can get either from a weapon or an ally. Your characters usually don't quest with the rare exception of Bofur/Treebeard.

Beechbone, Gondorian Spearman, Spear of the Citadel (goes on Beregond), Galadhon Archer, Rúmil, Goblin-cleaver and Skyward Volley (which once again gets more helpful once you'd discarded its first copy to Éowyn) all support the direct damage theme that solves many problems the big bosses (especially Na'asiyah) present.

Bofur fetches your weapons fast if you don't have them yet; otherwise he can attack/quest as necessary.

Legolas on Arod further helps you out of location lock with the direct progress.

Rivendell Blade / Spear of the Mark boost your attack and let you use Foe-hammer / Goblin-cleaver.

None of the enemies is immune to Feint, which can buy you some time even against the bosses.

Mulligan for: A way to boost your attack to be able to dispatch the Ravager on turn 1. No card is an absolute must in that regard, however the Rivendell Blade is probably the card I am happiest to see, as are Foe-hammer and Gondorian Shield.

Don't expect to win on your first attempt, I won with this fellowship about 50% of the time given the tougher nature of the scenario. Once you manage to stabilise the situation though, the bosses are usually a two turn affair. On average I needed 6 complete turns for the whole game.

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