QOTW - Fog on the Barrow-downs - Mildly Thematic

A Fellowship to tackle the quest Fog on the Barrow-downs for the Cardboard of the Rings Quest of the Week.

My "Mildly Thematic" campaign means the only thematic condition for deckbuilding is that the key characters need to be present. That's it. The Fellowship for A Shadow of the Past can be found here and has a few more details on the campaign plans. The other campaign Fellowships can be found by searching for "Mildly Thematic" once they are published.

So for this quest, I need to make sure Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Merry and Pippin are all present (as heroes or in the decks, or otherwise), as these are the characters who make the journey across the Barrow-downs. Tom Bombadil is in the encounter deck and, since he is still here from previous quests, Fatty Bolger can be a stand-in for Fatty Lumpkin.

The other hero choices carry over from the previous quest, so Aragorn and Glorfindel are included as they will be needed to fulfil the thematic requirements for later quests. Éowyn and Círdan the Shipwright are chosen solely for mechanics. After the fifth quest there will be an opportunity to change heroes with no penalty.

For this playthrough I elected to use the Mountain of Fire version of Frodo Baggins - with no punishment for exhausting the Ring, his excellent ability is hard to pass up.

The quest ended up going much more smoothly than it might have done. There were a few obstacles - the Forth, The Three Hunters! deck did not end up flipping the contract until turn 4 (Fellowship never flipped). I also saw more combat than expected, especially early on for the Hobbit deck. Defensively there were no issues - in fact the only point of damage I took in the whole game was the one Quickbeam dealt to himself. On the other hand, was a little lacking, particularly since I didn't include any Ranged capability.

What did go well, was that I didn't see many of the really nasty treachery effects. Both Chill Fog and Frozen by Fear have the potential to end games, but I only revealed them once each, both duly cancelled.

The end of the quest was a real highlight - I quested somewhat conservatively in case Great Barrow showed up. Luckily it didn't, but I ended up 1 shy of victory. My last out was to play Drinking Song, and it gave me the Elrond's Counsel needed for victory.

No choices are needed in the resolution of this quest, you are always awarded the Ho! Tom Bombadil! Boon, which will hopefully remain as discard fodder until one of the final quests.

Results:

0 Fallen heroes.

Boons/Burdens earned: Ho! Tom Bombadil!

Score: 141

9 full turns (90)
29 + 43 threat (72)
0 damage on heroes (0)
21 Victory Points (-21)

Campaign Log:

Heroes - Aragorn, Éowyn, Glorfindel, Círdan the Shipwright, Fatty Bolger, Sam Gamgee.

Boons - Mr. Underhill, Old Bogey-stories, Ho! Tom Bombadil!

Burdens - The Ring Draws Them