QOTW - The Black Gate Opens - Mildly Thematic

A Fellowship to tackle the quest The Black Gate Opens 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.

In this quest Aragorn leads the remaining forces of Gondor and Rohan to draw Sauron's forces out of Mordor, buying time for Frodo to complete his quest. For these thematic decks there are quite a few characters who need to be present. For heroes, Aragorn is accompanied by Gandalf in one deck and Éomer in the other. Beregond was also part of that force. He and Gandalf are joined in the deck by Éowyn, who as ever is great, especially when there are Nazgûl to slay.

Bond of Friendship is one of the strongest cards in the game and so is very appropriate for this tough quest. This contract deck sees Éomer joined by Beravor, Glorfindel and Sam Gamgee, which keeps the threat level somewhat manageable while also including the heroes with Permanent Boons.

For other characters present, there are Legolas and Gimli, Elladan and Elrohir, Prince Imrahil, Pippin and while it's not quite clear in the text, Mablung is mentioned so I've included him also.

There is a new version of Aragorn for this quest, who's pretty handy, especially when given the right tools.

This quest has an interesting start with potential trade offs with extra encounter card reveals for free player cards. I did okay with this, taking 3 cards in exchange for an ineffective treachery plus two low threat locations.

On the other hand, despite decent-seeming opening hands, I wasn't able to get going very quickly. I faced a lot of enemies early and never felt like I got on top of things. Beregond was key to surviving early, as well as traveling a lot to the locations Beleaguered Hills and Reeking Moat. However, these early enemies included the Wraith on Wings, and these were both dealt with by mid-way through, meaning they were removed from the Campaign Pool - a huge boost for the next quest.

In one turn where things were looking pretty bleak, I was able to play both Need Drives Them and Oath of Eorl. This was a big swing, as I barely raised my threat from questing, and I was also able to defeat a Nazgûl of Mordor and a Gorgoroth Hill-troll before they attacked, giving me the huge break I needed to continue for a few more rounds.

I only once got close to questing successfully, and my poor performance in that area was ultimately what lead to defeat after accruing 7 tokens on The Black Gate. Back-to-back reveals of The Hour of Doom also cost me about a token's worth of extra threat.

So the final tally was 7 tokens for the next quest, with both Wraith on Wings successfully dealt with. Unfortunately I wasn't able to end with Gwaihir. He only showed up twice as a shadow card, both times to no effect. One final positive is that I was able to keep all of the single-use Boons for the final quest. If I thought I could have bought and extra round with one in this quest I would have tried it, but that didn't come up. So instead I have these very powerful tools available for the final quest.

Results:

Boons/Burdens: 2x Wraith on Wings removed from the campaign pool

Score: n/a as you cannot win the quest

Campaign Log:

Heroes - Beregond, Éowyn, Gandalf, Beravor, Éomer, Glorfindel, 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, 2x Wraith 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

Resources on the Black Gate: 7