QOTW: The Treachery of Rhudaur

It was in the beginning of the reign of Malvegil of Arthedain that evil came to Arnor. For at that time the realm of Angmar arose in the North beyond the Ettenmoors… In the days of Argeleb son of Malvegil, since no descendants of Isildur remained in the other kingdoms, the kings of Arthedain again claimed the lordship of all Arnor. The claim was resisted by Rhudaur. There the Dúnedain were few, and power had been seized by an evil lord of the Hillmen, who was in secret league with Angmar.
-The Lord of the Rings Appendix A

The Treachery of Rhudaur Stats

Groups registered: 11
Total attempts: 24
Most attempts: 4
Average attempts per entry: 2.2

Total number of wins: 15
Win-rate: 63%

Average opinion on the quest: 4.5

Campaign Mode

Who is Determined:

Arwen, Aragorn, Beregond, Faramir, Eowyn
Eowyn
Beregond, Lanwyn, Widfast
Aragorn, Beravor, Amarthiul, Halbarad
Eowyn, Grimbeorn, Radagast
Elladan, Elrohir, Celeborn, Legolas
Alatar, Pallando, Gandalf, Frodo, Rosie Cotton, Sam Gamgee
Scorpagorn, Tacrahil, Elrond & Rossiel

Achievements

Here are the two achievements we had for this quest:

Endless Spirits

Setup: Add Seal the Tomb to the staging area.
Seal the Tomb gains: “Cannot leave the staging area.”

Why Wait For the Treachery?

Complete all three The Treachery of Rhudaur side quests (Quiet the Spirits, Sift through the Debris, and Decipher Ancient Texts).

Encounter card Opinions

The winners for the favorite encounter card are the three Rhudaur side quests. Players enjoyed the unique mechanic of this quest, and how strategic it is to choose the correct side quest on any given turn. If you have not tried the Nightmare Mode of this quest, I highly encourage it. Each of these side quests has an encounter set associated with it that gets shuffled into the encounter deck if you don’t complete it.

There were no encounter cards this week that got a nomination in both favorite and least-favorite categories.

Taking 8 out of 11 votes, the winner for least favorite encounter card is Curse of Years. No surprise there! Not only is this a Necromancer’s Reach, but it also has kicker if your threat is above 35. And not just any kicker, but discarding all exhausted attachments! Youch! If you don’t have any cancellation on hand and your threat is above 35, you should definitely consider waiting to trigger attachments such as Steward of Gondor and Unexpected Courage until after the quest phase.

Things worth sharing from the games

Failed three times (first attempt stalled out on stage 2 thanks to three encounter side quests sitting in staging, second attempt ended early to a nasty shadow boost that killed Beregond, and the third attempt was doomed by a swarm of Cursed Dead and Dead Lords) before finding success. My fourth try was near-perfect: I snagged one Cursed Dead in Ranger Spikes and another in Forest Snare, completed all three Rhudaur side quests, took out Thaurdir w/Eowyn’s big attack, and never suffered any combat damage (Beregond w/Stalwart, Gondorian Shield, Unexpected Courage, and Orders from Angmar was more than enough to tank Thaurdir’s attacks).

I drew into The Free Peoples on my last turn enabling me to quest through the required 30 quest points on 2B and take out Thaurdir. I didn’t clear any of the side quests, though I would have cleared 1 if it weren’t for a Haunting Fog reveal.

Heirs of Earendil was great for the initial Ancient Causeway. Completing the Endless Spirits achievement added a fun layer of tension, requiring me to always be ready to fight multiple enemies. I was able to lower my threat enough to keep the Dead Lords in staging, which helped a lot. In a separate run through, I got spirit Elfhelm out and was able to completely ignore Eerie Halls once it came out, so he was essentially contributing 5 willpower and 2 attack each round, as well as other threat-reducing benefits.

Derp moment by using Amarthiúl as a damage sink and having a Curse of the Years finish him off

Determination was clutch. I timed my advance to stage 2 so it happened during combat. I first used Determination to ready Aragorn, Beravor and Amarthiul. I killed an engaged enemy and used T Aragorn’s ability to engage Thaurdir. I then had everyone attack Thaurdir (including two Northern Trackers which I held back because the staging area had no locations). The put enough damage on Thaurdir so that I could quest out and win the game quickly, before Sorceries overwhelmed me.

This one felt really swingy based on what the encounter deck played. Took me 4 games to win. One I got crushed, two I was on path to win until Cursed Dead (4 each time) overwhelmed me, and the third was a breeze. I particularly find I can never clear Decipher Ancient Texts, but I usually get the other 2.

This was my first time grabbing all three clues, which was aided by a tame encounter deck; only one enemy for all of stage 1. The victory felt more earned by the end: the stage 2 reveal, some chained Dead Lords and a Cursed Dead reveal gave me 8 enemies to contend with in the round 6 combat phase.

Eothain died during Combat in Round 1 in my loss.

I used Word of Persuasion to convert 2 of the Indestructible undead enemies.

Played twice, in both gos I started by drawing Tragic discovery, raising each players threat by 4. Both times I’ve also been lucky enough to reshuffle the deck in time for the second stage. So haven’t had to be afraid of filling the staging area with Cursed dead, besides dealing with Thaurdir the last rounds.

Decklists used

“Date Night Orc Hunt”, an #RCO version of an earlier thematic Faramir/Eowyn trap deck (https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/56737/qotw-datenightorchuntrco-1.0) + Aragorn/Arwen/Beregond (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/584172)

BoF – Beravor, Eowyn, Erkenbrand, Glorfindel

Scouting Burglars https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/581558

Last Alliance Dunedain-Noldor

Last alliance Noldor-Dwarf Nauglamir deck

Rainbow Dúnedain (T Aragorn, Beravor, Amarthiul/Halbarad)

Tactics Eowyn, Grimbeorn the Old, Radagast

Arwen/Elladan/Elrohir 3 Hunters Galadriel/Celeborn/Thranduil Into the West

Just the decks that I had built in my box at the time. – Gandalf Artifact+Ring of Barahir+Well Preserved – Thengel Eomer MOTKEothain ALEP Rohan – Last Alliance of Dale and Harad – Last Alliance Gondor Noldor

Istari 🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️: https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/22340

Tacrahil, Scorpagorn, MoneybagsGloin & Rossiel, Arwen, Elrond

This week we are playing The Battle of Carn Dûm, one of the most dreaded and notorious quests in the entire game’s life. Good luck everyone! Once you have completed the quest, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/XFfhvDTaSpAr8iTU8

And for achievements for this quest, this is what we have: