Hooray! Barely a couple of hours since I wrote of my week of failing to get through The Steward’s Fear, I’ve managed to complete it. Once. I’m not sure if the deck could do it again, but once is enough for now. Once I’ve succeeded at all the LotR quests, there’ll be time to go back and try and do them better. J
The deck ended up being one of heavy hitters: Elrond, Glorfindel and Beravor as the three heroes. There are few other characters as powerful in the game; Aragorn is one, but resource generation is always a problem with this deck. I had an early Light of Valinor which allowed me to quest with all three heroes in the first turn, getting the tavern out of the way that turn – and drawing another location to replace it.
After that, it was a case of layering several Unexpected Courages onto Elrond, with his ring, Vilya, and a Burning Brand – another one went onto Beravor. Arwen helped protect Elrond, but even so it was a close thing. The agents set Minas Tirith on fire, and I almost ran out of deck. I would have, but I had a lone Will of the West in hand, and I used that to reshuffle.
The combination of Elrond and Gildor Inglorion came out, only for Gildor to be discarded due to a traitor! An Imladris Stargazer told Elrond the best time to summon Gandalf with Vilya, and that put paid to the major villain – who was discarding even more cards from my deck when he attacked!
The deck definitely needed the additional card draw and playing power that the Beravor/Elrond combination gave, and Glorfindel + Light of Valinor kept the threat down and provided double duty on questing and fighting.
Without a doubt, one of the harder scenarios I’ve attempted. Yet not the hardest!
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: 134 (10 turns, 35 threat, 1 victory point)