QOTW: A Storm on Cobas Haven

And last and proudest, Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, kinsman of the Lord, with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver Swan, and a company of knights in full harness riding grey horses; and behind them seven hundreds of men at arms, tall as lords, grey-eyed, dark-haired, singing as they came.
-The Return of the King

A Storm on Cobas Haven Stats

Groups registered: 12
Total attempts: 24
Most attempts: 7
Average attempts per entry: 2

Total number of wins: 14
Win-rate: 58%

Average opinion on the quest: 4.7

Campaign Mode

It warms my heart that everyone who is playing campaign mode put in the 4 XP needed to make sure Gavin will return.

Achievements

Here are the achievements we had for this quest:

Armada of the Free Peoples

Have at least X ships under the players’ control at the end of the quest, where X is 2 more than the number of players.

Was That It?

Destroy the Raider Flagship before stage 3.

I’m on a Boat (or Five) [Dream-Chaser Campaign Guide Achievement]

Win A Storm on Cobas Haven while having one player control both Dol Amroth Warships and both Corsair Skirmishers at once.

Encounter card Opinions

The winner of favorite encounter card this week was Cobas Haven. Stunningly beautiful art (I wish I could find the full art piece somewhere), low threat, and very beneficial effect. This isn’t the only beneficial card in the encounter deck, and all of them got votes for favorite encounter card. There are the Dol Amroth objectives, there is the Belfalas Islet, and the Corsair Skirmisher (which can be boarded and manned by your own allies!).

There were no cards that appeared on both lists this week. I’m not surprised by this, there are way too many beneficial cards to choose a “bad” card for a favorite encounter card.

Taking 60% of the votes, the least favorite encounter card, for the second time this cycle, was the Corsair Warship. We discussed this card in our article on Voyage Across Belegaer, but it is a monster of an enemy that demands your attention. At least this time we have the Tower of the Heron to help mitigate the archery!

Things worth sharing from the games

An upgraded Calaerion boon was really helpful to shuffle the objective, Gavin, and Send for Aid cards back into the encounter deck. Na’asiyah cutting down Umbar Captains and Raid Leaders in a single shot was also a highlight!

Tactics Aragorn yanked Corsair Warship out of the staging area to dodge attacks from its 3 Boarded enemies. I ended up with a solid board state, turtling to gain maximum XP. In campaign mode, fully upgraded Send for Help (both Lore and Leadership) helped me get a good start. Keep Watch and Vigilante Dunadante helped defend many enemies for my combat deck. Thurindir ended up with 8 Willpower (thanks to side quests) and Herugrim (thanks to Last Alliance). Side Quests helped stall at Stage 1 while I freed Objectives, summoned Warships, and took over Skirmishers. I love this quest (second only to Pelennor Fields). It feels like you are fighting a great naval battle!

I kept my threat low while building up my crew and fleet. The Red Book of Westmarch was vital for controlling the quest phase. Once I had six ships under my command and a team of hobbits (plus some sailor Ents!), the Raider Flagship was beaten with relative ease in Stage 2. After that, Stage 3 was just a formality.

My first attempt ended ignominiously on round 1 when Ominous Fate surged into multiple ships -> I failed the quest and had to engage everything on round 1. My second attempt was much more successful, even though Raider Flagship ended up guarding Seaward Tower early on. I was able to use the Cobas Haven location multiple times to minimize boarding corsairs, Bilbo’s questing ability neutralized the high threat ships in staging, and Glorfindel jumped onto a Corsair Skirmisher to join with my two upgraded Dol Amroth Warships. Even when I lost three resources to an ill-timed Raid Leader, Thranduil used Parrying Cutlass (upgraded) to slowly recoup each of those resources. By the end of the game, I had enough of a fleet to one-shot the Flagship and was just waiting to see if Crowley or another Corsair Warship would show up (Thunderstruck had already been sent to the bottom of the sea). I love this quest! *One funny moment is that I chose to upgrade the Lore version of Send for Help prior to the quest. Gavin randomly shuffled that one into the deck on round 1…but it only showed up as a shadow card and I discarded it unknowingly w/Armor Plating both times (doh!). Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

I revealed a ton of ships at the beginning and didn’t draw my Elrond’s Counsels, so ended up with 3 engaged ship enemies and 2 or 3 raiders. I was holding on, my board state was just keeping up, and I was going to be able to defeat a ship that round, but then I turned over the leadership copy of Send for Help (upgraded) as a shadow. That let me defeat a ship and a raider and really helped me get ahead, especially as I soon revealed the spirit copy of Send for Help (also upgraded). I wasn’t able to reveal Gavin a second time, so those were the only copies that made it into the encounter deck, and I purposely didn’t use Gandalf’s Staff to discard shadows while they could be drawn. After that it was smooth sailing, and I got both Dol Amroth Warships plus commandeered a Corsair Skirmisher with three Ered Luin Miners who swiftly came back to my aid. I had a whole fleet, every non-unique ally in my deck, and all four objectives under my control by the time I defeated the Raider Flagship and then moved on to stage 3.

I really like this quest but it’s a lot to keep track of! I think a sign that a quest is fun is when I struggle to pick the favourite encounter card. I went with Belfalas Islet, but Corsair Skirmisher, Siege Ship, Taking on Water, and the 4 Dol Amroth objectives are all very cool cards.

I managed to use Cobas haven to great effect when I sailed off-course with 3 scouting ships in the staging area. I also managed to use gavins planning action to secure safe sailing test with minimal sailing characters twice. Really like him!

I used upgraded Calaerion’s ability to shuffle a Corsair Warship back into the encounter deck just so I could make sure to kill it for the xp! Lots of sidequesting to make sure I didn’t accidentally win by questing because I wanted to kill the raider flagship (which I managed to do while still at stage 1!). Managed to get both Corsair Skirmishers & Dol Amroth Warships under my control. Send for Help (Tactics) upgraded gave me Beorn and Quickbeam to be able to defend and murder an entire Corsair Warship + Heavy Cruiser

I managed the Free People’s event at the end and had 57 progress on stage 3b, wanted to see if I could kill the flag ship as well. So ran combat round and put 39 damage on the ship. Super epic win.

Decklists used

Cirdan, Arwen, Galdor & L Imrahil, Hirluin the Fair, Na’asiyah https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/22705

Riddle Game Dunedain https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/59013/riddlehowmanyattackscanyoutakewithoutexhausting-1.0 Last Alliance of Dunedain and Rohan for Side Quests https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/59014/weregoingonasidequest-1.0

Traveling Weedbuddys (Hobbits looking for adventure): https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/44693/travelingweedbuddys-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.

Arwen, Purple Dain and Galdor – Last Alliance ally swarm https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/524262

“This deck is mine” https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/57834/thespirityearnsfortheminesrcofriendly-1.0

Leadership Gondor (Denethor, Boromir, Faramir)

Caldara on a bit of a journey

Emmental’s EDH deck (with some slight tweaking): https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/565204

Noldor Dreams of Discard https://ringsdb.com/questlog/view/58762/astormoncobashaven-1player-2025-06-20

https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/575198 https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/29293/akingaprinceandashieldmaidenalliance-1.0

This week we play the last quest in this cycle and we face the ultimate LOTR LCG cliffhanger! Once you have completed the quest, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/EyfivPiojJDm611t7

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