Doomed Fate 6.1 The Breaking of the Fellowship

Legolas won out! After looking at the Treason of Saruman rules, I decided to pick Legolas because Aragorn will be replacing Frodo in the next quest, and I didn’t want to make a Leadership/Tactics/Lore deck for the next scenario, only to make a Tactics/Lore deck for the one after. I suppose laziness was the ultimate tie-breaker.

I removed my Gandalf-y cards from the deck, and added my Legolas-y ones, like Hands Upon the Bow and Gondolin Blade. I chose the Leaf-Wrapped Lembas for my boon from the Lady Galadriel. All of the gift options seemed powerful, but you can only use them one time and then they are removed from the campaign pool. So I need to save this for a critical hour of need!

I’m a little bit skeptical of my heroes and deck for this particular scenario. It’s been a while since I last played The Breaking of the Fellowship, but I feel like it will be more location-heavy than combat heavy. Hopefully Halfling Determination, the Wandering Ents, and the Fellowship of The Ring will pull me through!

Heroes:			Campaign Pool:
Current:    Gimli    Legolas, +1 threat    Pippin    Frodo Baggins (TBR)   Previously Used in Campaign:    Aragorn    Sam Gamgee      Gandalf (defeated)			Boons:    + Leaf-Wrapped Lembas    Anduril    Gildor Inglorion    Glamdring    Mithril Shirt    Noble Hero (Frodo Baggins)    Sting   Burdens:    + Overcome by Grief    + Shadow of Fear    Gandalf’s Delay
Deck (50)
Allies (23):		Attachments (16):			Events (11):
x2 Barliman Butterbur x3 Elrond x2 Erebor Hammersmith x1 Gleowine x1 Henamarth Riversong x1 Master of the Forge x3 Wandering Ent x1 Beorn x2 Boromir x3 Farmer Maggot x2 Gondorian Spearman x2 Vassal of the Windlord		x2 Fast Hitch x2 Protector of Lorien x2 Self Preservation x2 Blade of Gondolin x2 Citadel Plate x2 Dwarven Axe x1 Horn of Gondor x3 Fellowship of the Ring			x3 Halfling Determination x3 Hands Upon the Bow x2 Quick Strike x3 Frodo’s Intuition
Legend
Allies	Allies put into play during the Planning Phase this turn			Activity log. ED: Encounter Deck EE: Enemy from ED EL: Location from ED ET: Treachery from ED EO: Objective from ED SA: staging area >>: engages #: Event card played PA: Player A +: enters play -: exits play ===: Quest Card completed QC: Quest Card //: defeats CA: Character Abilty
Attachments	Attachments put into play during the Planning Phase this turn
Threat	Staging Area threat / player threat at beginning of round
Engaged Enemies	Engaged enemies at the beginning of turn (damage tokens on enemy)
Location Log	Location at beginning of turn >> location traveled to this turn during Travel Phase
Setup
Allies	--			SA: + Gandalf’s Delay SA: + Overcome By Grief SA: + The Argonath SA: + Sarn Gebir +1 threat for hero replacement
Attachments	+ Leaf-Wrapped Lembas (Pippin)
Threat	4 /26
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 1
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			ET: Black Feathered Arrows
Attachments	+ Glamdring (Legolas)
Threat	4 / 27
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Sarn Gebir
Turn 2
Allies	--			EE: Uruk-Hai Captain Frodo uses his CA to redraw EL: Wooded Shoreline
Attachments	+ Citadel Plate (Gimli)
Threat	1 / 28
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Sarn Gebir
Turn 3
Allies	--			ET: Black Feathered Arrow SA: + Uruk-Hai Hunter
Attachments	+ Blade of Gondolin (Legolas) + Protector of Lorien (Pippin)
Threat	4 / 29
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Sarn Gebir >> Wooded Shoreline
Turn 4
Allies	--			EL: River Anduin
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 30
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Wooded Shoreline >> River Anduin
Turn 5
Allies	--			EL: Shores of Amon Hen # Frodo’s Intuition
Attachments	+ Self-Preservation (Legolas)
Threat	3 / 31
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin >> Slopes of Amon Hen
Turn 6
Allies	--			ET: Growing Threat EE: Uruk-Hai Captain
Attachments	+ Fellowship or the Ring (Frodo)
Threat	3 / 32
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Slopes of Amon Hen >> The Argonath
Turn 7
Allies	--			EL: River Anduin ===QC 1 COMPLETE=== Uruk-Hai Captain >> PA Uruk-Hai Hunter >> PA # Quick Strike (Legolas) PA // Uruk-Hai Hunter (Gimli took the Captain’s attack undefended, but is now up to 11 attack! Thank you, Citadel Plates.) ===QC 2 COMPLETE=== (I chose The Seat of Amon Hen for QC 3.) EE: Uruk-Hai Archer Wandering Ent is discarded
Attachments	+ Citadel Plate (Gimli)
Threat	5 / 35
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Argonath
Turn 8
Allies	+ Elrond + Farmer Maggot			EE: Uruk-Hai Hunter ET: Ill Fate Pippin gains Ill Fate EE: Uruk-Hai Tracker # Quick Strike (Gimli) PA // Uruk-Hai Captain Uruk-Hai Hunter // Farmer Maggot Pippin Gains Overcome by Grief
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 36
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Captain
Location Log	>> River Anduin
Turn 7
Allies	+ Gondorian Spearman			ET: Black Feathered Arrows PA uses Leaf-Wrapped Lembas Uruk-Hai Hunter // Gimli (I was trying to chump-block, but a Shadow Effect made me take the hit undefended.)
Attachments	--
Threat	1 / 37
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Tracker Uruk-Hai Hunter
Location Log	River Anduin >>
Turn 8
Allies	+ Henamarth Riversong			ET: Growing Threat Uruk-Hai Hunter returns to SA Uruk-Hui Hunter >> PA Uruk-Hai Hunter // Henamarth Riversong Uruk-Hai Tracker // Gondorian Spearman PA // Uruk-Hai Tracker
Attachments	--
Threat	1 / 38
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Tracker Uruk-Hai Hunter
Location Log
Turn 9
Allies	--			EL: Slopes of Amon Hen Uruk-Hai Hunter // Pippin PA // Uruk-Hai Hunter
Attachments	--
Threat	1 / 44
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Hunter
Location Log
Turn 10
Allies	+ Boromir			EL: Slopes of Amon Hen PA threat exceeds 50.
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 49
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
===DEFEAT===

 

Reflection

Oh boy… this scenario felt like a struggle from the beginning, but I thought I had a chance of victory until that nasty shadow card effect on Turn 7. Once I lost Gimli, it was just a slow bleed out.

What happened? I think the biggest thing that worked against me was my lack of allies in the beginning. Once Frodo left, my main questing character was no longer available. I only had one ally for the longest time, the Wandering Ent, who pulled their weight, but then I drew the Uruk-Hai Archer which makes the play discard an ally you control. With Wandering Ent being my only ally, I was forced to discard them.

 

Most Valuable Cards (MVC)

MVC #1: Quick Strike (Core Set). With two heavy-hitting heroes (Gimli and Legolas), I was able to use two of these cards to kill an enemy before they could attack me. The attack power of the enemies in this scenario are all mid-level, and there are a lot of them, so this was most welcomed.

MVC #2: Citadel Plate (Core Set). I was able to get two of these bad boys on Gimli, so he could absorb a lot of the archery damage that is so common among the Uruk-Hai (archery damage is automatic at the beginning of the Combat Phase; it requires to deal X damage among characters controlled, which for me was almost always heroes, given my lack of allies).

 

Most Valuable Hero

Gimli. Being able to have a hero absorb so much archery damage is great, but it also beefs him up so I was able to use Quick Strike with him quite effectively. His willpower of 2 also made him a quester, if needed.

 

Looking Forward

I don’t think I’m ready to tweak my deck just yet; I think if I had better ally draw I could have beaten this scenario.

One lesson I did learn was to be more liberal with questing in the beginning. In Quest Card 1 enemies cannot engage you, but I kept keeping someone back just in case there was a nasty treachery card. I found my reserve hero or two was not needed.

If I struggle to beat this again, I may consider swapping Legolas for Aragorn for access to the leadership sphere (and more allies).