QOTW: Challenge of the Wainriders

The Wainriders were a people, or a confederacy of many peoples, that came from the East; but they were stronger and better armed than any that had appeared before. They journeyed in great wains, and their chieftains fought in chariots. Stirred up, as was afterwards seen, by the emissaries of Sauron, they made a sudden assault upon Gondor, and King Narmacil II was slain in battle with them beyond Anduin in 1856.
–Lord of the Rings Appendix A

Challenge of the Wainriders Stats

Groups registered: 8
Total attempts: 13
Most attempts: 3
Average attempts per entry: 1.6

Total number of wins: 6
Win-rate: 46%

Average opinion on the quest: 3.1

Achievements

Here are the achievements we had for this quest:

Photo-Finish

Complete the scenario with The Wainriders on stage 6B during their second circuit.

Fetch My Horse

The players as a group control 3 per player Mount attachments at the same time.

Encounter Card Opinions

Receiving just over half the votes, the favorite encounter card for this quest was the Narrow Pass. A mid-threat location with no negative effects and a positive effect while it’s the active location? That seems like a no-brainer. I believe it also is the only card in the whole set that actually rewards you for attacking the indestructible Wainrider Champion.

The only card to get votes in both categories this week was the Ravine Ledge. I’m honestly surprised that anyone voted this as their favorite card–not only does it make racing tests more difficult to pass, but also it is technically still in the staging area when you have to pay the Travel cost, so it makes its own racing test harder as well. If you voted this as your favorite encounter card, let me know why in the Discord. I’d love to hear your perspective on it.

And taking just as many nay-votes as the Narrow Pass took yay-votes, is our overall least-favorite encounter card for this quest: Rocky Outcrop. This quest incentivizes you in many ways to have as few characters as possible and to make those characters’ stats as high as possible. This one pesky location is the major roadblock for builds like that. Having location control in your deck just for this one location is not a bad idea.

Things worth sharing from the games

It was a tight fight over the finish line after the Champion was really ahead almost the whole race. I drew Crowded track on the turn before, holding me back. we were both at the end stage. Someone had hidden all of galadriels stuff in the bottom of the deck…

Was cruising along my second game, but got stuck in the “home stretch” for four or five rounds, just unable to find a TURN or WILD card. Super bad luck, but it just made the quest feel kind of super cheesy because there was literally nothing to be done, as a player, to improve the situation or improve my odds (since Race Tests are limited to a single hero). You have to slog through all the motions of an entire round just to see if you maybe get to move or not, which was a bit evocative of some Mirkwood Cycle vibes. I really appreciate the novel design of the quest, but I don’t replay it much and this reminded me of why. Having a racetrack with an “OOPS, YOU NO GO!” square sure was a choice.

I had to reveal Painful Fatigue while Rocky Outcrop was in the staging area, but with Three Hunters who cares? 🎉

Crowded track hit me a couple times for a massive staging threat increase, but most memorable was the final test. I knew there was one card in the deck that would pass, and I was drawing 5/6 cards. The passing Wild card came on the final draw.

We left an almost-completed Scout Ahead in the staging area for one of the Blue Wizards to take out on our last turn so we could set up the racing icons for the final racing tests.

Decklists used

Dale

The recommended Rohan FtTH (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/632016)

Valour rekindled-TacTheoden, Hirgon & Erkenbrand Doomed mirror – Galadriel, Grima, Loragorn

[Ld-Eomer + Sp-Eowyn + T-Theoden 3 Hunters] [Thranduil + Celeborn + MotK-Gimili Mono-Ld ally Gandalf Spam]

Recommended Rohan 3 Hunters (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/632016)

SEowyn/LGimli/SLegolas (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/627303)

https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/619028

I played Blue Wizards Three Hunters (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/587542), Birdman137 played a Rohan Three Hunters deck, Matt played a council of the Wise deck, and Mitch played a Beorning deck.

This week we mill our decks into oblivion in Under the Ash Mountains. Once you have finished playing it, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/tXFMPufQcKXDhjZcA

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