The Wainriders had mustered a great host by the southern shores of the inland sea of Rhûn, strengthened by men of their kinsfolk in Rhovanion and from their new allies in Khand…
Minohtar took command [of the forces of Gondor]. He was a man both valiant and war-wise. The first fury of the onslaught was spent, with far less loss and greater success than the enemy had looked for. The cavalry and chariots now withdrew, for the main host of the Wainriders was approaching. In such time as he had Minohtar, raising his own banner, rallied the remaining men of the Centre and those of his own command that were at hand.
–Unfinished Tales
Wrath and Ruin Stats
- Groups registered: 11
- Total attempts: 18
- Most attempts: 4
- Average attempts per entry: 1.6
- Total number of wins: 12
- Win-rate: 67%
- Average opinion on the quest: 4.0
Achievements
Here are the achievements we had for this quest:
I Own These Streets
When faced with the option to return a location to the staging area, always choose the other option.
Tourists
Each location in the staging area gains the text: “Immune to player card effects.”
Encounter Card Opinions
Every vote this week for favorite encounter card was for either Contested Square or Ransacked House. Ransacked House edged out the win with 2/3 of the votes, though. This location essentially allows you to convert extra combat ability into an extra location clear, which can be very useful (especially in higher player-counts, where you can still only travel to one location per turn). The fact that it also can be easily lost back to the staging area gives this location a nice bit of theme, as it feels like there is particularly intense fighting over these ransacked houses.
There were no cards that received votes for both categories this week.
There was a four-way tie this week for least favorite encounter card between Darkness In the East (which can instantly threat you out on the last turn when the Gate of Dorwinion is the active loaction), Fury (which can combo with some of the enemies to essentially make them impossible to kill), Makeshift Fortification (which gives us turn 1 archery if you don’t immediately clear it), and Ulchor’s Revenge (who doesn’t love a treachery that makes the boss enemy attack everyone who has control of a location?).
Things worth sharing from the games
I managed to not draw any copies of Traffic from Dale until the final two rounds of the quest. I took my 22 useless resources (10+12) as a moral victory.
Played a Burglar’s turn deck and since there is no unexpected courage then I instead got to do other things, such as a full on Skyward volley, that was fun. I got out both Orcrist and Glamdring on Thorin Stonehelm so I was pretty flush. Fun!
This quest can be a bit of a slog in 4 players, so it ended up taking us quite a while to beat. By the last couple rounds we had every enemy in the deck in play, as well as every location except one. That meant that the encounter deck/discard was all treacheries and one location. That was a pretty funny moment realizing that.
We finally got parity with staging locations after using Thror’s Key and engaging more enemies for the Ransacked House.
I can see the appeal of this quest and it’s absolutely an improvement over Assault on Osgiliath, but at 4 players there’s just a few too many triggers and the push and pull starts to overstay its welcome.
I consistently had 6-7 enemies engaged with my Dunedain deck: 3 in Forest Snares, one with 0 attack, and 2-3 more. I was about 6 cards away from playing my entire deck by the end of the game. After pulling out a bunch of enemies for the stage 2a effect, the encounter deck only had treacheries and a single location left in it.
The quest can get bogged down at 4p, but at 2p it plays great. Picking a favorite and least favorite card is hard because I think they all contribute to the quest in interesting ways.
Decklists used
https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/619028
It’s time for the dwarves to (mine and) Burgle! Dain Spiritfoot, Thorin Stonehelm, Gandalf (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/628031)
Seastan’s Dale Force Wins, https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/53822/hobbitsandtheirhelpers-3.0 (non-Saga)
An Isengard Gifts of Galadriel deck: https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/627135
Autumn’s recommended fellowship (https://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/20726)
Legolas/Chaldir/Argalad (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/603087)
Doomed mirror- Galadriel, Grima, Loragorn Valour rekindled – Tactics Theoden, Hirgon, Erkenbrand
Gondor Swarm, Dwarf Swarm, mono-spirit location control, mono-lore three Hunters
Dunedain Traps (plus 3 others at the Con) https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/51608/dunedainofthenorth-1.0
Blue Wizards/Burglars Turn and Gondor
Minstrels
This week we are continuing on in the cycle by venturing to the south shore of the Sea of Rhûn to visit the lovely City of Ulfast. Once you have finished sneaking about trying not to get by the fearsome city guards, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/1WNz36hUeGBZwQjYA
And for achievements for this quest, this is what we have:
I’ve Had Worse
Defend 3 or more attacks from City Guard without losing a character.
Causing Trouble
Stage 1B gains: “This stage cannot be defeated unless City Guard has 15 remaining hit points.“
Stage 2B gains: “This stage cannot be defeated unless City Guard has 10 remaining hit points.“
Stage 3B gains: “This stage cannot be defeated unless City Guard has 5 remaining hit points.“
Vision Of The Palantir 