Doomed Fate 7.3: The Uruk-Hai

I had a little bit of hiatus with my recent move, but I’m back at it! I didn’t adjust my deck; I’ve been itching to play so I want to just jump in and see how it goes.

The Uruk-Hai (easy mode; campaign), attempt 3
Heroes:			Campaign Pool:
Current:    Treebeard    Gimli    Pippin, captive    Aragorn (TToS), +1 threat   Previously Used in Campaign:    Frodo Baggins    Gandalf (defeated)    Sam Gamgee			Boons:    Anduril    Gildor Inglorion    Glamdring    Leaf-Wrapped Lembas    Mithril Shirt    Noble Hero (Frodo Baggins)    Sting   Burdens:    + Followed by Night    Gandalf’s Delay    Overcome by Grief    Shadow of Fear
Card Pool
Core Set (old edition) Celebrimbor’s Secret (AP) Shadow and Flame (AP) + The Treason of Saruman (Saga)			The Black Riders (Saga) The Dead Marshes (AP) The Road Darkens (Saga)
Deck (50)
Allies (21):		Attachments (11):			Events (18):
x3 Elrond x1 Erebor Hammersmith x1 Henamarth Riversong x2 Quickbeam x3 Wandering Ent x1 Beorn x2 Boromir x2 Farmer Maggot x2 Legolas x3 Vassal of the Windlord x1 Veteran Axehand		x2 Ent Draught x2 Protector of Lorien x2 Self Preservation x2 Arod x2 Citadel Plate x1 Horn of Gondor			x2 Entmoot x2 Radagast’s Cunning x2 Secret Paths x2 Feint x2 Hands Upon the Bow x2 Quick Strike x3 Frodo’s Intuition x3 The Three Hunters
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 Ability
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: + To Isengard! SA: + Ugluk Pippin placed under To Isengard! ED: + Followed by Night ED: + Shadow of Fear Glamdring and Anduril added to PA’s deck +1 starting threat for hero replacement Mulligan
Attachments	+ Leaf-Wrapped Lembas (Aragorn)
Threat	3 / 24, PV: 10
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Eastemnet
Turn 1
Allies	--			EL: Banks of Entwash Quest: +3
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 25, PV: 10
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Eastemnet >> Banks of Entwash
Turn 2
Allies	+ Boromir			ET: Saruman’s Orders ET: Shadow of Fear EL: The Wold Quest: +2
Attachments	+ Self Preservation (Treebeard)
Threat	3 / 26, PV: 12
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Banks of Entwash
Turn 3
Allies	+ Quickbeam			EL: Plains of Rohan Quest: +5
Attachments	--
Threat	5 / 28, PV: 15
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Banks of Entwash >> The Wold
Turn 4
Allies	--			EL: The Wold Quest: +5
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 29, PV: 18
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Wold >> The Wold
Turn 5
Allies	--			EE: Isengard Uruk Quest: +8 PA >> Isengard Uruk PA // Isengard Uruk
Attachments	+ Protector of Lorien (Aragorn)
Threat	4 / 30, PV: 21
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Wold >>
Turn 6
Allies	--			EL: The Wold # Secret Paths Quest: +11 (1 away…)
Attachments	+ Ent Draught (Treebeard)
Threat	4 / 31, PV: 23
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> The Wold
Turn 7
Allies	--			EE: Ugluk’s Uruk-Hai ET: Plains of Rohan Quest: +4 (still 1 away!!) PA >> Ugluk’s Uruk-Hai Ugluk’s Uruk-Hai // Boromir PA // Ugluk’s Uruk-Hai
Attachments	+ Anduril (Gimli)
Threat	4 / 32, PV: 26
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Wold >> Plains of Rohan
Turn 8
Allies	--			ET: Strange Weariness Quest: +5 PV hits 30.
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 33, PV: 28
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Plains of Rohan
===DEFEAT=== Pursuit Value hit 30

 

Reflection

I was close to catching up, but couldn’t quite make it. I did not get much early game willpower allies, but Protector of Lorien and Treebeard’s ability helped me get close. Unfortunately, this left Treebeard quite damaged the entire game (which if we made it to part 2 would have been a problem) and forced me to thin my hand to the point at the end where I had none left. Indeed, I even sacrificed 2 of my Wandering Ents for the immediate +1 willpower through Protector of Lorien.

The Location cards kept me busy and absorbed a lot of my questing, which I did successfully throughout. I didn’t get either Citadel Plates for Gimli, so he was not up to his full power when I lost. This means that I likely would have lost anyway, since Ugluk has a whopping 5 attack power, plus 1 defense and a toughness level of 3 (which basically acts as defense, except it also defends against direct damage so it’s even worse).

Once again, I did not draw a single Fellowship sphere card. I shuffled 7 times!!

It feels like I could win if I get ideal card draw, but otherwise things don’t seem too hopeful.

 

Most Valuable Cards (MVC)

MVC #1: Protector of Lorien (Core Set). As mentioned, this helped me get willpower up, but at the cost of my hand. I used it liberally because I was desperate, but I discarded some useful combat cards that would have been helpful if I would have made it to Ugluk.

MVC #2: Ent Draught (Treason of Saruman). This only costs 1 Lore resource, but allows me to add +2 HP to a character (limit 1 per character). This could have been helpful for Gimli, but I used it for Treebeard to add additional willpower.

 

Most Valuable Hero

Treebeard. He was my best quester, which was most needed for the first part of the quest. His character ability allowed him to get a willpower of 4 consistently with Self Preservation.

 

The Biggest Nasty

Ugh… this whole quest? I guess the biggest nasty for this playthrough was probably the Plains of Rohan. It seems harmless by itself, since its threat level is X, where X is the number of locations in the staging area. I kept it in the staging area, but when I drew locations it went up to 2 threat. When I drew the second Plains of Rohan, that jumped up to 4 for both, and would only get worse. It takes 4 progress tokens to explore it, which ultimately absorbed my quest power and preventing me from continuing on to Quest Card 2 in my last turn.

 

Looking Forward

I’m not sure where to go from here, but I should re-evaluate my deck. I was going to do this before this playthrough, but it has been so long since I played I wanted to just jump in.

I’m also considering stopping the progression style play and just adding all my cards to my pool to make the best deck possible. I’ve heard many players say having a larger card pool is a must to succeed in some quests, and this is the first instance in the Saga Expansions where I may be encountering that.

Or maybe I’ll replace Treebeard with someone else? Who knows, but it feels like my current situation is just banging my head up against a wall.