Continuing on my way through the Against the Shadow quests for The Lord of the Rings card game, I’ve reached Encounter at Amon-Dîn. This pack took a very long time to arrive at Goodgames Ballarat – some months, in fact after it was meant to. Despite being extremely impatient for it to arrive, I haven’t gotten around to playing it until now. The story of this quest is that on the way back from the Druadan Forest, the group discover that orcs have been attacking the villages of the area. You need to save as many villagers as you can, whilst fending off the orcs. It’s a two-stage quest, the first stage giving you a chance to save villagers, the second stage bringing you against the leader of the orcs. It is a fairly location-heavy deck, so I wondered if I’d need to include Northern Trackers in my deck. As usual, I used my previous deck for my initial attempt at the quest.

Once again, an early Light of Valinor allowed Glorfindel to do double duty; Elrond also quickly gained Vilya, and we were away. A few villagers perished as the combination of having both Burning Farmstead and Gondorian Homestead meant I couldn’t save villagers from both of them at the same time with Lord Alcarion – a pair of surging Treachery cards making that certain. However, I wasn’t being pressed by enemies. Beravor blocked the first, with Elrond and Glorfindel finishing it off, and after I found an Unexpected Courage with the Imladris Stargazer, Elrond was doing double duty.

Once a Sylvan Guide and Asfaloth came out, the locations were quickly being explored and villagers rescued. The leader of the orcs, Ghulat, came out, but was swiftly dispatched. Gandalf came by simply to reduce my threat and go questing. Arwen aided Elrond in withstanding Ghulat’s attacks, who potentially could do a significant amount of damage, but he didn’t get the chance.

I’d ended up saving 18 villagers and losing 7. That was enough for victory!

All in all, this was a pretty easy quest, completed on my first play-through. My score isn’t anything to write home about, but I won’t worry about it too much at the moment.

The Deck:

Heroes: Elrond, Glorfindel (spirit), Beravor
Allies (25): Gildor Inglorion, Warden of Healing (x3), Gandalf (core, x3), Miner of the Iron Hills (x3), The Riddermark’s Finest (x3), Imladris Stargazer (x3), Lorien Guide (x3), Master of the Forge (x3), Arwen Undomiel (x2), Haldir of Lorien
Attachments (11): Unexpected Courage (x3), A Burning Brand (x2), Vilya (x2), Asfaloth (x2), Light of Valinor (x2)
Events (14): Elrond’s Counsel (x3), Stand and Fight (x2), A Test of Will (x3), The Galadhrim’s Greeting (x3), Hasty Stroke (x2), Will of the West

Final Score: 93 (7 turns, 28 threat, 1 wound, 6 victory)