Journey of Years 4 - Flies and Spiders

Welcome to the part 4 of my Tale of Years playthrough, where I aim to play through every scenario in chronology order. This series follows the thematic hero suggestions from the awesome fan made mega-campaign ruleset and also aims to only change up the party at the narrative pauses noted in that ruleset. All cards and scenarios are from the official and AleP releases.

We've had our first narrative pause and it brings some substantial changes to our party makeup. An alliance of dwarves and elves will push through the next four quests. And the first challenge this team will face is a trip through Mirkwood and a nasty host of spiders.

Flies and Spiders

Our main strategy here is to lean heavily on the duo of Dain and Glorfindel to squash the many arachnids we expect, with Dain standing in to defend with his mighty defense and Glorfindel to then one-shot the offensive with his incredible attack. Every one else pushes hard to quest. Think of a crazy action movie with the single dwarf and elf tag-teaming a cloud of spiders while everyone else scrambles to find the true path through the forest.

Be careful when questing during stage one and hold back while the combat team is first player. The aim is to have the supporting (questing) team be the one to advances to stage two so that the group gets split correctly. Once the split happens, the support team pushes through as fast as the can to rejoin both teams and finish off the scenario. Remember that extra spiders added from the glade in stage four aren't "revealed". Use this opportunity to pull the nastier when revealed enemies out of the draw deck so they won't trigger at all.

Spider Slayers

You are the star of this show and your primary focus is to keep all the enemies under control. Engage as many as you can handle ad sweep clear what you are capable of. Mulligan for the Rohan Warhorse, Unexpected Courage, or Light of Valinor.

On Offense: If you nabbed the treasure from the trolls back in Quest 1, use Bilbo's Magic Ring to fetch out Glamdring as soon as possible and have Glorfindel wield it. With his standard game text and weapon, he swings alone for a massive 7 strength, which is enough to fell any enemy in the deck. Pair that with two copies of Rohan Warhorse and he'll be equipped to down as many as three enemies each combat!

On Defense: A good number of the spiders can be taken down before they get an attack in. Crazy Cobs, Lazy Lobs, and Wicked Spiders all have only 2 or 3 hit points. Using Goblin-cleaver and Gondorian Spearman in combination will deal enough direct damage to avoid their venomous fangs altogether. Dain loaded up with an Unexpected Courage can weather a few hits as well. There are six shadow cancelling events in the deck, so you should be able to avoid the nastiest surprises.

Supporting Team

Mulligan for Steward of Gondor. Other good cards to open with are any of those that draw: King Under the Mountain, Deep Knowledge, and Daeron's Runes. Work to set up some silvan allies in preparation to bounce them during stage two - this will let you trigger you cards but also free them from webs to your hand without having to wait for Bilbo. Look to enhance your heroes when given the chance as priority targets to bring back into consciousness.