QOTW - The Battle of the Pelennor Fields - Mildly Thematic

A Fellowship to tackle the quest The Battle of the Pelennor Fields 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.

This quest is features the greatest battle of the War of the Ring - Sauron's assault on Gondor in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Aragorn and the other heroes fight alongside the armies of Gondor and Rohan. This quest is the most challenging to accomplish in terms of my thematic constraints because there are so many characters that need including. With that said, this Fellowship stretches the rules I originally set for myself, but I think it does meet the spirit of the theme and also allows me to stick wthin the Saga Campaign rules without issue.

So in terms of major characters, Éomer and Théoden are missing. This is an issue with them only having hero versions that I didn't want to bend around. I decided that the Rohan has Come! quest card suitably represented the presence of these characters and they had their time to shine in the Treason of Saruman quests. Éowyn is also here in her Nazgûl-killing form to stand-in for her people. There are also several minor Rohan characters who should be present, who have been included if they have an ally version. Gandalf also had to be here, and joins Éowyn, with Glorfindel continuing to provide his Boon-assisted help.

The other deck features Denethor, who has suitably prepared Gondor for battle, as well as Beravor (one of the Grey Company perhaps?) and Sam Gamgee. This deck includes Gondor's Faramir and Angbor the Fearless, with Prince Imrahil found in the deck with Gandalf. Notably missing on the Gondor side are the Outlands characters Hirluin the Fair and Forlong (the Fat), who again proved a bit too challenging to include.

Aside from these there are of course Aragorn's usual companions, Legolas and Gimli, Halbarad and the sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir.

As with all Aragorn quests, it's required to use the version specific to the scenario.

This quest can really demand of lot of your decks with all sorts of enemies and other nastiness to throw at you. Luckily my game went very well, starting with a great opening hand, which allowed me to put Treebeard, Steward of Gondor and Gandalf's Staff all into play on turn one. Beravor is also really great for this quest, getting a "free" use of her ability for the first turn and ensuring I was set up for success.

The beginning of the quest also has you choose an Esquire of Gondor and Esquire of Rohan. I gave Gondor to Glorfindel, both because he would likely benefit from the and so he could be passed resources by Denethor if needed. I didn't really have any great choices for Rohan and ended up giving it to Gandalf on the basis that he was the hero most likely to be attacking other than Glorfindel. I don't think he got any benefits in this quest though.

This continued into Stage 2, where one of the allies in staging was Firyal, giving me some leeway on completing the quest stage, having a few hitpoints to spare, and representing a great reward on advancing. It worked out that I could engage one of the Wraith on Wings immediately, killing it over two turns and ensuring my allies survived.

In the end I stalled for a few turns on Stage 2 with some side quests, including The Storm Comes, really helping out my ability to play the allies I wanted. By the time I advanced, Aragorn was in play and both Wraiths were in the victory display. This put me in such a strong position, I was able to immediately travel to Grond and clear it in the same turn thanks to the quest effect.

It took three rounds of combat to advance to Stage 4 with the board fully cleared during the following round. At Stage 5 I engaged The Witch-king and the pair of [Oliphaunts]() from the Cross-roads. I had just enough action advantage to hit back and kill the Witch-king on the same round, before questing to victory afterwards. I ended the quest with a huge force on the board and just three damage on Minas Tirith.

At the end of the quest, Glorfindel and Gandalf officially get to keep their "Esquire" attachments, and unfortunately we will also be followed around by that pair of Wraith on Wings for another couple of quests.

Results:

Boons/Burdens earned: Esquire of Gondor (Glorfindel), Esquire of Rohan (Gandalf), 2x Wraith on Wings

Score: 113

10 full turns (100)
22 + 30 threat (52)
0 damage on heroes (0)
39 Victory Points (-39)

Campaign Log:

Heroes - Éowyn, Gandalf, Glorfindel, Beravor, Denethor, Sam Gamgee

Boons - Old Bogey-stories, Ho! Tom Bombadil!, Noble Hero (Glorfindel), Tireless Ranger (Sam Gamgee), Andúril, Glamdring, Sting, Mithril Shirt, Leaf-wrapped Lembas, Three Golden Hairs, Beyond All Hope (Gandalf), Palantír of Orthanc, 2x Brace of Conies, Army of the Dead, Esquire of Gondor (Glorfindel), Esquire of Rohan (Gandalf)

Burdens - The Ring Draws Them, Panicked, Overcome by Grief, Ill Fate, 1x The Searching Eye, A Heavy Burden, 2xWraith on Wings

+1 starting threat penalty (+2 additional penalty for one deck)

Enemies under the Black Gate: 2x Oliphaunt

Resources on the Corsair Fleet: 5