QOTW: Raid on the Grey Havens

Beyond the Lune was Elvish country, green and quiet, where no Men went… At the Grey Havens dwelt Círdan the Shipwright, and some say he dwells there still, until the Last Ship sets sail into the West. In the days of the Kings most of the High Elves that still lingered in Middle-earth dwelt with Círdan or in the seaward lands of Lindon. If any now remain they are few.
-Lord of the Rings Appendix A

Raid on the Grey Havens Stats

Groups registered: 15
Total attempts: 31
Most attempts: 5
Average attempts per entry: 2.1

Total number of wins: 19
Win-rate: 61%

Average opinion on the quest: 4.1

This quest has an additional alternate lose condition: The Havens Burn. Since most players were playing true solo, they were trying to prevent more than 3 locations from being destroyed and placed under this objective.

Campaign Mode

For that one player who defeated Graxar and claimed his Throwing Axe, I expect you to spend the 5XP on upgrading the axe and then post pictures in our discord of your best axe throws!

Achievements

Here are the two achievements we had for this quest:

Not Even a Scratch

Complete the scenario with 0 cards underneath The Havens Burn.

Raider’s Paradise

Forced: At the end of the round, add 1 resource to each Raider enemy in play.

Encounter card Opinions

Taking 9 out of 15 votes, the winner for favorite encounter card is Elven Wave-runner. This is one of those beneficial locations that we all love to see. This one is extra interesting because it has the lowest Aflame value in the quest, so it is the quickest to be destroyed if you are not proactive about exploring it. Just three rounds of it sitting in the staging area and it’s gone, not to mention all the other effects that add damage to locations!

The one card to appear on both lists this week was the White Ship. This card has gorgeous art, and can be useful for controlling when certain Corsairs pop out of the encounter deck, but it is also very high threat, high progress, and has two potentially very annoying effects.

There was a three-way tie for least favorite encounter card this quest, each with three votes: Na’asiyah, Sahír’s Ravager, and The Fires Spread. Each of these three things are cards that you absolutely have to think about and have a plan for before even starting the quest. You need a plan for dealing with Sahír’s Ravager within the first couple turns, you need a plan for dealing with Na’asiyah in the last few turns, and in the mean time, you need to keep all the fires under control! I like these three cards as a microcosm of the major challenges that players face in this quest and what makes it so difficult. I also very much enjoy that our big boss enemies in this quest aren’t immune to player card effects. One core set Gandalf play and Na’asiyah is knocked out!

Things worth sharing from the games

Lost an entire BoF deck and went on to win the game anyway.

Could put the first aflame location in vd the first round with Galdor’s counsel. It let me get ahead of the fires, very helpful.

Having to perfectly balance losing aflame locations and completing others via questing while dealing with the enemies was a thrill. Cirdan the „ship’s captain“ readying my strong allies with Narya for some nice damage felt thematic.

I chose to invest 6 XP in upgrading the Spirit and Tactics versions of Galdor’s Counsel so that I could clear the staging area quickly (the Ravager took 1 damage from Tactics Bilbo and the other 4 from Galdor’s Counsel before ever attacking). When Graxar appeared in my first game, I defeated him using Glorfindel w/Lords of the Eldar + Legolas 2/double Unseen Strike. In my second game, I fetched him with White Ship, put a bit of damage on him, then quested through Gather Information to pull the Unseen Strike I needed to combo w/Black Arrow and allow Legolas to finish him off. I used Feint & Feigned Voices to avoid attacks and never lost a location. Na’asiyah dumped 5 events from my direct damage deck, but Rumil dropped in to immediately take her out -> Sahir was also dropped by an army of Silvan archers (Legolas, Rumil, 2x Marksman, Greenwood Archer).

Sahir enterer play with 8 resources and Na’asiyah with 9, but Tactics Eowyn (using her ability to attack twice) with some allies were able to defeat both that turn.

This quest has always been difficult for me, and I spent some xp upgrading The Havens Burn and Galdor’s Counsel. It made the game trivial. Between Denethor and Galdor’s Counsel I had 9 resources turn 1, which let me get 5 Gondor allies into play including 2 Citadel Custodian, which I used with A Very Good Tale to get a Gandalf to restock my hand (and use with a second A Very Good Tale to end the round). The quest simply wasn’t a challenge as a result. I could’ve won on turn 4, but kept Sahir alive for a bit to milk out some experience. Graxar wasn’t something my deck could kill sadly though, so no boon for me.

I defeated the quest on Nightmare without declaring a single attack the entire game (everything was killed with direct damage). I love that neither of the bosses are immune to player card effects so you can do fun stuff like that.

I really enjoyed being able to use the combo of Mariner’s Compass and Lindon Navigator to effectively get rid of damage tokens. I’ve always like the idea of the compass but it’s finally proved its worth to me.

Initial Sahir’s Ravager defeated by Beorn + Vassal of the Windlord in round 1. Na’asiyah has been defeated thanks to Gandalf’s response.

I used Long Lake Trader to remove Black Key from Calphon (in campaign), which made the story for the quest resolution funny. “What do you mean the key was stolen? I grabbed it from Calphon in the second round!”

The round I knew I was going to progress to stage 2 (and face Na’asiyah), I discarded 2 copies of a Test of Will along with 2 other events to help pay for Glorfindel. By the time she engaged, I had no events in hand.

Black Arrow and a double Bow of the Galadhrim on Legolas let me murder Graxar with ease in one go. An upgraded Calphon (R.I.P.) saved my bacon by giving me accelerated tutoring, letting me quickly find my weapons and Silver Harps.

Decklists used

Played a Rohan Fellowship first game and an “Oops All Silvan” Fellowship second time through

Caldara on a bit of the voyage, https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/599149

Noldor Dreams of Discard https://ringsdb.com/questlog/view/58083/raidonthegreyhavens-1player-2025-05-22

Got wrecked twice using a Burglar Bilbo deck (what was I thinking?). Swapped to an End of All Things Radagast & Gwaihir build and breezed through the quest – https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/601604

Mormegils Classic Caldara: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/45459/classiccaldaramd-caldarasolo-1.0

Storm-Chasers (https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/43973/stormchasersrco-1.0) – an #RCO Noldor deck featuring Cirdan, Erestor, and Arwen & “(Skyward) Volley!!!” (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/597751) – a direct damage deck designed to take advantage of Skyward Volley and some other lesser-used direct damage effects.

Bond of Fellowship good stuff

Mono Leadership Gondor (Denethor, Boromir, Faramir)

Lore and Larceny https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/19550/loreandlarceny

https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/524262 Arwen Undómiel Dáin Ironfoot Galdor of the Havens Last aliance Ally swarm.

The Oliphaunt in the Room (Eagles and Bears): https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/45537/theoliphauntintheroom-3.0

Perilous Dale and Noldor https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/520090

Starlight on the Western Seas

Haldir/Legolas/Argalad (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/603087) Cirdan/Galadriel/Arwen (https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/13573/starlightonthewesternseas-1.0)

Hoist the mainsail and batten down the hatches! We’re in pursuit of the corsairs this week! Once you have completed the quest, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/wLbp3ATXJkskx84q7

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

Mutiny

Whenever an effect gives a choice, always choose to go off-course.

Let the Storm Rage On

Stages 2B, 3B, and 4B gain: “When Revealed: Search the encounter deck and discard pile for a copy of Raging Squall and reveal it. Shuffle the encounter deck.”