The Line Unbroken – N40: Nightmare The Nin-in-Eilph

The Nin-in-Eilph I think would be most commonly described as frustrating, and the descriptor is difficult to argue. The transition to Nightmare certainly does nothing to change that. But at the same time, I’d say I’ve become better disposed towards the Nin-in-Eilph over time and playing it more. As much as it can be frustrating to deal with, for me it’s the kind of frustration which motivates me to keep trying to beat the quest. So it’s not a quest I’d want to play all the time, but I do appreciate the challenge it poses.

The Line Unbroken – N39: Nightmare Trouble in Tharbad

Trouble in Tharbad, like Encounter at Amon Din in Against the Shadow, was very much the easy quest of the cycle. However unlike Amon Din, the Nightmare transition did not turn Tharbad into a complete monster. In fact, while the Nightmare deck throws in some interesting points, the quest ultimately remains on the easier end of things, certainly by Nightmare standards.

Deck: The Wizards’ Champions

Pretty much as soon as hero Radagast was first spoiled I knew I was going to end up putting him with Gandalf for a two wizard deck to see what I could do with that idea. Obviously a fair amount of time has passed since that point, but I recently sat down and actually built the deck as planned. This is that deck.

The Line Unbroken – N38: Nightmare The Three Trials

The Three Trials, while it has its finicky aspects, is definitely my favourite quest from the whole of the Ring-maker cycle. The Nightmare deck accentuates some aspects of it which were less widespread in the original and adds additional enemies so it’s not as much of a pure card game boss rush sort of deal, while still retaining the focus primarily on that aspect of it. So without really playing it, just looking at the cards, it looks pretty good to me.

The Line Unbroken – N37: Nightmare The Dunland Trap

The Dunland Trap was one of my favourite quests from the Ring-maker cycle, though it was also one of the more difficult quests in the cycle, so it’ll be interesting to see how it changes going into Nightmare. Though sometimes the already difficult quests don’t get changed that much in the Nightmare transition, presumably because the difficulty is already there and therefore doesn’t need to be specifically added.

Keywords, Card Types and Other Cycle Themes

Throughout the life of this game, every cycle (except the first) we’ve gotten something which plays with the mechanics in some way, including the introduction of a couple of significant keywords and additional card types. This is the sort of thing which I tend to talk about in Line Unbroken cycle wrap-up posts, but I figure it’s pretty good to have a more centralised post looking at all of them, and also I may go into a bit more detail here on the quality of the implementations.

The Line Unbroken – N36: Nightmare Into Fangorn

While To Catch An Orc is a potentially very frustrating quest and that is exacerbated by the Nightmare deck, Into Fangorn was always disappointingly easy, and the Nightmare deck doesn’t really do enough to change that. Not to mention the biggest challenge presented in the Nightmare deck is to remove the quest’s central unique mechanic.

The Line Unbroken – N35: Nightmare To Catch an Orc

To Catch an Orc is a quest which I have come to like less and less the more I’ve played it, and as is generally the case, the Nightmare deck emphasises what was already there, which exacerbates the things I don’t enjoy about it, to whit, that it has huge scope for things to randomly screw up based on the shuffle of the out of play decks; and while it’s interesting that we’re able to stave off the Time effect on stage 2, that’s counteracted by the fact that particular Time effect is generally just too harsh for you to ever let it happen.

My Pet Peeves in this Game

As much as I love this game, there are inevitably still some things about the game and the community around it which still irk me on occasion. These can vary from widespread tendencies to just individual incidents. I’m sure you reading it feel similarly about some things, which may or may not be the same as mine. Anyway, I think it’s worth talking about at least a little, so these are my pet peeves about the LotR LCG.
As some of my pet peeves do relate to the community as well as the game itself and FFG/Asmodee, I should stress that just because these things annoy me doesn’t mean you can’t continue doing them. I’m just one person, same as you, so you needn’t take it to heart.

The Line Unbroken – N34: Nightmare Fords of Isen

While last time on the Line Unbroken I was getting started on a Nightmare campaign, there was a whole additional cycle between the Nightmare decks for Black Riders and The Road Darkens, and in that cycle we got all of Nightmare Ring-maker, so that’s where I’m going now. This deluxe wasn’t the best in terms of quests, though with hindsight Fords of Isen is my favourite of the three. Let’s see how it works out in Nightmare.