The Haradrim cycle concludes with The Crossings of Poros. This cycle is full of great and challenging quests, and this to my mind serves as a great capstone both in terms of difficulty and quality.
So first off, quick player card impressions:
Quickbeam revolutionised the game by being the first hero to lack the unique symbol. That notable printing error aside, he’s OK. Native 4 attack is nice but it’s hard to boost since he can’t have Restricted attachments, inherent readying is a strong ability, but the cost in damage requires building around, and it generally has less utility on a primary attacker than other hero roles.
Halfast Gamgee is potentially solid enough just as effectively 2-cost for 2 willpower in Leadership, and obviously becomes even more cost-effective if you’re doing side-quests.
Bulwark of the West slots neatly into the category of condition removal – it’s good if you need to remove conditions and useless otherwise. And Leadership has enough cheap expendable allies that it’s generally not too punishing.
Beorning Guardian was honestly pretty bad on release. Better when Beornings got expanded in the next cycle, though the he’s still not the best and Beornings remain kind of a weird archetype.
Followed and Emyn Arnen Ranger are both great, and really offer a lot more flexibility for Trap decks to be more useful in questing. Obviously they work really well together, though they don’t have to.
Flight to the Sea/Wind from the Sea I really like. The debate remains as to the consistency of encounter player cards since there’s no guarantee you reveal them (though on the plus side Wind from the Sea has a positive shadow effect), but regardless of your opinion on the objective power level, they’re just fun.
The Dam Bursts I was initially skeptical of for the required setup (having a unique Hobbit and Ent, plus only working on damaged Ents), but it does synergise with standard Ent stuff and Ents are a powerful selection of characters to be readying, so it’s pretty good in the right deck.
Magic Ring feels at first glance like it should be used a lot more than it ends up being. A few extra points of threat isn’t usually that bad a penalty, and it’s like a neutral Unexpected Courage which can also do other things. But ultimately, aside from the Limit 1 per deck which means you can’t generally build around expecting to find it, the threat can be a problem (especially in combination with some other later cards, both player and encounter), and all the things it provides aren’t always useful and can be got from other cards.
On to the quest. By and large it’s an “All the standard things but more difficult” sort of quest. It has a certain amount of effects which cause problems for allies and a location which scales threat with character count, so I want some strong heroes and not too many allies. The quest has branching paths through different possible quest stages causing different problems, so generally best to be prepared for whatever. Oh, and the final stage causes somewhat of an instant enemy swarm.
Of course I have to use Quickbeam, who kind of fits into the strong heroes thought; and it being the last quest of the cycle I kind of like to use things which have been developed in the player cards through the cycle – I did Harad and side-quests in the last quest, which leaves all the multi-trait stuff. I can’t fit in all of it, but I can definitely fit in some.
The Will of the Free Peoples
Heroes:
Cirdan the Shipwright
Gandalf
Glorfindel (Sp)
Allies (12):
Galadriel’s Handmaiden x3
Arwen Undomiel x3
Bilbo Baggins x2
Ceorl x2
Faramir x2
Attachments (20):
Gandalf’s Staff x3
Narya x3
Wizard Pipe x3
Light of Valinor x3
Unexpected Courage x3
Fearless Scout x2
Shadowfax x2
Hobbit Pipe x1
Events (18):
We Are Not Idle x3
A Test of Will x3
Elrond’s Counsel x3
Well Warned x3
Desperate Defence x3
Hunting Party x2
The Free Peoples x1
Thoughts: Having put together the other deck first, I was considering this one and struggling to find a Leadership hero who really fit. Further consideration revealed that there wasn’t much I wanted from the Leadership sphere at all, and it’s not like I need much convincing to build a deck with Gandalf. He also has good willpower, which was a definite concern since the other deck is much more focused on combat. That also led me to the 4 willpower Cirdan (whose deck acceleration is also handy) and the 3 willpower Glorfindel (whose low threat is very welcome given the other two).
The allies are pretty much all willpower. Arwen’s defence boost can be handy as usual, Bilbo’s pipe-fetching can slightly speed up this deck. Ceorl’s readying means he can potentially add a little extra combat power as well, and his Scout trait may be relevant as well.
The attachments start out very obvious. Gandalf’s Staff and Pipe of course, and Narya can do a lot for my combat capabilities, or get me more healing, while simultaneously giving me Leadership access which doesn’t require the card to be on top of my deck. Light of Valinor for Glorfindel, Unexpected Courages are probably primarily for Gandalf and Beravor. Shadowfax also for Gandalf. Fearless Scout is another way I can get the Scout trait onto this deck, and will handily draw me an extra card as well, and the Hobbit Pipe can potentially further speed up the deck both because Bilbo can dig it out of the deck and because once it’s attached it can draw me a few extra cards.
Test of Will of course is standard and too good to omit. We Are Not Idle to make the deck that little bit more efficient. A couple of free threat reduction events – albeit Well Warned will only be playable once I have a unique Scout, either Ceorl or the Fearless Scout attachment on a hero. Desperate Defence was actually the final edit to the deck after I cut something else, just a bit more combat insurance. Hunting Party is again only playable once I have a unique Scout, but then for most of the quest I don’t think discarding an enemy will be worth the extra reveal – it’s mostly intended as an option for when I get swarmed on the final stage, so I’ll have time to get that Scout trait. Likewise the one speculative copy of The Free Peoples is also expected to be an end of the quest thing, so I’ll have time to play enough allies (and possibly Fearless Scout) to have 9 traits – I can potentially get up to 10: Noldor, Noble, Warrior, Istari (from heroes); Silvan, Hobbit, Gondor, Ranger, Rohan, Scout (from allies and attachments.
Does a Bear Maul With the Woods?
Heroes:
Quickbeam
Beorn
Beravor
Allies (15):
Dori x3
Ioreth x3
Warden of Healing x3
Defender of Cair Andros x3
Honour Guard x3
Attachments (12):
Asfaloth x3
Elf-stone x3
Ent Draught x3
Vigilant Guard x3
Events (23):
Daeron’s Runes x3
Coney in a Trap x3
Feint x3
Wait No Longer x3
Hope Rekindled x3
Fierce Defence x2
Horn’s Cry x2
Hour of Wrath x2
The Houses of Healing x2
Thoughts: As noted, Quickbeam is high base attack but boosting that attack is difficult and he’s not enough by himself to kill enemies, so I want more. I also want defence, and healing to handle Quickbeam’s ability – that could go in a separate deck, but putting Lore in the deck with Quickbeam allows for easy Ent Draughts. Beorn gets me attack and defence, and if I have a bunch of healing that can help with effects which siphon damage away from him. Beravor’s all-round stats and card draw make her potentially helpful for whatever I need. And the high starting threat I don’t care too much about because I want this deck to take all the enemies and it sets me up for Valour in the late game.
Ioreth and Wardens of Healing help keep Quickbeam and everyone else healed up. Dori and Honour Guards can take damage away from Beorn. Defenders of Cair Andros serve as replacement defenders, and since I plan to get into Valour they’ll be pretty good ones.
Asfaloth will be played cross-table onto Glorfindel to help keep the staging area clear. Elf-stones mostly for the expensive allies like the Defenders and Dori, and Faramir in the first deck. Ent Draughts allow more use of Quickbeam’s ability before healing, allow Dori to siphon more damage in a single hit without dying, and synergise incredibly well with Vigilant Guard. Vigilant Guard is just a phenomenal card for dealing with unwanted damage so long as you have healing as well – particularly with Beorn, but also just in general.
In events, standard draw and attack cancellation, including Coney in a Trap since I have a Warrior (Beorn) and a Ranger (Beravor). Wait No Longer will help keep things under control since this deck is really geared towards being ready for combat at all times, and less reveals is always good. Houses of Healing is a potential option for reviving Beorn if he dies, since I have a bunch of healers available to cheapen it. And then we have a bunch of Valour events, primarily intended for the swarm of enemies on arriving at the final stage but also for other emergencies. Reducing everything’s attack with Horn’s Cry could obviously be huge for Beorn; Hour of Wrath can cover for a potential shortage of actions on either side of the combat equation; Fierce Defence can reduce the requirements by just deleting an enemy, and Hope Rekindled can facilitate the whole thing by either making the other events more affordable or digging them out of the deck.
https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/11671/thelineunbroken-crossingsofporos
https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/21872/thelineunbroken-crossingsofporosdeck1-1.0
https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/21873/thelineunbroken-crossingsofporosdeck2-1.0
Warden of Arnor 