With another month coming to a close, it is time to look back at the poll that I have had up on the blog for the last 30 days. This poll asked everyone what their top 2 scenarios from the Ringmaker cycle are. The cycle is a little controversial, as the Time mechanic wasn’t well received, and a couple of scenarios suffered for it. But there were also a couple of gems in the cycle, and the player cards rank among the best to this day. So I wanted to see what the community considered to be the best quests among all nine of the Ringmaker cycle, and here are the results!
In total, the poll received 115 votes, and all scenarios got at least one vote. Not sure why some quests received votes at all, but it is nice to see that the community likes different quests, so none of them are complete duds. The results are as follows:
I very much like that the THREE Trials won by three-three votes in the poll, though it sadly wasn’t 33.3% of the votes. Players seem to enjoy this quest in higher player counts, where it is a continuous boss-rush while you try and beat the Guardian spirits to claim the three different keys. The constant pressure of this quest makes it a tough one to beat, but specializing your deck for this quest makes it a little easier. It also becomes a lot easier in higher player counts, though locations tend to pile up in that case. An excellent quest, though it might be a bit scary for newer players who are attempting a solo progression series.
In second place is the very first quest of the cycle: The Fords of Isen. In this scenario you have to rescue Grima from a Dunlending army, and try to fight your way out. The quest is a great testing quest for decks that don’t rely too much on card draw, but can instead quest and do combat very well. This quest introduced the Dunland enemies and their hatred for you drawing cards. The quest isn’t too tough, especially in solo when you can keep a lid on the enemies. The time mechanic in this one brings out more enemies and can even cause you to lose at the first stage, so you need to be quick in this quest from the very start. I really like this quest, and often test my decks against it for something different every now and then.
Not far behind is Celebrimbor’s Secret, missing second place by just one vote. This quest is probably my favourite, as it rewards you for being able to clear locations as quick as possible. During this quest, the locations can be damaged and will disappear under The Orc’s Search when they are destroyed. This puts extra pressure on your deck to quest well, and clear the board of encounter cards before time runs out and you have to trigger 30 Scour effects at once! The quest also still requires you to do well in combat, as some of the enemies hit pretty hard, and Bellach’s Scour effect keeps the enemies coming. A well-balanced quest that might take a few attempts to understand, but feels rewarding to complete.
I was surprised that Nin-in-Eilph got 9 votes, meaning it was just 2 votes away from fourth place. Appearantly people quite like the quest, or were trolling the poll. The quest isn’t loved by many, since the quest cards require you to quest hard, or you have to reset the quest deck and start with a new restriction on your deck. It can be pretty tough to get through, though the enemies aren’t as bad. The quest does conclude with a big battle against a Watcher-style enemy, which not many people have fought, as it takes quite some time to get through. In my opinion the least favourite quest of the pack, but it seems 9 people disagree.
In final place, with just one vote, we have Into Fangorn. FFG quite likes to name their Forest quest “Into [insert forest name here]” as Into Ithilien had the same sort of name. Regardless, this quest is quite forgetable for most people, but its premise is quite interesting. Instead of having a normal combat phase, the Huorn enemies don’t attack you. Instead, engaged enemies remove progress from the quest and do something nasty at the beginning of each resource phase. They are also pretty tough enemies to deal with, having a lot of defence and hitpoints. The quest can be beaten pretty easily though, if you tank the Huorn enemies and prioritize willpower above anything else. This can get you through the quest in as little as 3 turns, well before Mugash gets the chance to escape. The quest can also be quite a slog if you let time run out, as the objective flees into the encounter deck, and you have to try and find it again. I understand why this quest is in last place, though I will encourage people to give it another shot some time.
The new poll will take place over the month of July, and will continue the trend of me asking everyone to pick favourite attachments of a certain trait. This time, it will be the Mount attachments that you get to vote on. The new Tireless Thoroughbred is also on the list, even though that Mount will be released in the final AP of this cycle. This will future-proof the poll a little bit, and it is nice to have even more options. If you haven’t seen the card yet, check out this link for its effect. If you don’t want it spoiled, just vote for 3 other Mount attachments. I’m looking forward to the results, as there are quite a few powerful Mounts in this game, and I look forward to see which one comes out on top.
Vision Of The Palantir 