After the major difficulty with completing The Steward’s Fear, The Drúadan Forest proved a much simpler animal to tame. I went into it with the same deck that I used in the previous scenario, and after one game where I was entirely destroyed within three turns due to a particularly nasty draw, the next game saw my band of Elrond, Glorfindel and Beravor easily defeat it.

Key to winning the game was an early Burning Brand, which I played on Elrond, and shortly thereafter Arwen and Unexpected Courage made Elrond a brilliant defender. The Woses of the forest were very good at stripping away my resources and dealing archery damage, but a Master of Healing – when coupled with Elrond’s ability – kept that in check. Being able to exhaust a character to heal two characters for two wounds each is pretty good!

In the middle of the game, in Stage 2, when Archery damage must be assigned to allies, I had a big run of locations. Glorfindel gained the services of Asfaloth, I played a Lorien Guide, and it was pretty easy to navigate the threats the Encounter deck threw at me. Meanwhile, Elrond revealed Vilya, his ring, and used it to put into play a lot of allies.

By the time Stage 3 came around, I was facing only a Drúadan Thief and Drû-buri-Drû, the leader of the Woses. Interestingly, playing Gandalf – who was sitting on top of the deck thanks to a Imladris Stargazer – and dealing damage to the Wose leader wouldn’t help me win the game. Instead, I had to attack him in the attack step – with Willpower, as we were trying to persuade him to stop attacking. Gandalf instead lent his useful Willpower to the cause, and in the second turn of Stage 3, I was able to put enough questing power and willpower together to stop the Woses from attacking.

I made sure to play two Elrond’s Counsels and The Galadhrim’s Greeting in the last turn to lower my Threat to 21.

As you can see, a lot of allies made it to the battlefield!

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: 151 (13 turns, 21 threat)