The following series comes to us from Carter, who will be going through the entire game in progression style, but with some additional rules to make the entire experience feel more like a cohesive campaign.
Ultra-Campaign Rules
Here are the rules I will be using for my ultra-campaign. I attempted to make things as fun as possible while still maintaining a degree of simplicity, so there are only six rules in total to keep track of. In general, the ultra-campaign is composed of many “mini-campaigns,” each of which is a grouping of specific quests. For example, the first mini-campaign is the Mirkwood Paths campaign, which consists of the five quests from the Core Set and Dark of Mirkwood Expansion. After Mirkwood Paths, the next mini-campaign will be the remaining 6 quests from the Shadows of Mirkwood Cycle. While some of my rules extend throughout the entirety of the ultra-campaign, the start of each mini-campaign also offers a checkpoint where certain rules reset. Without further ado, let’s jump right into the ultra-campaign rules!
- Hero Persistence: While you can rebuild your player deck at any time, your heroes must remain constant between quests, with some exceptions. If a hero is in the discard pile after successfully completing a scenario, they become a Fallen Hero. They are permanently removed for the rest of the ultra-campaign, and you must choose a replacement for the following quest. For each replacement hero that is chosen in this way, you must take a +1 permanent starting threat penalty in future scenarios.
- This rule essentially follows the hero persistence rules from the FFG campaigns, except for the fact that you cannot choose to change heroes in exchange for a higher threat level. My other rules lead to enough hero cycling that I didn’t think this option would be necessary.
- Mini-Campaign Rules: Within each mini-campaign, follow FFG’s standard campaign rules: apply boons and burdens as normal (if FFG has provided a campaign mode for that mini-campaign), and track starting threat penalties for fallen heroes. After completing a mini-campaign, all boons, burdens, and threat penalties are reset.
- I wanted to integrate the campaign rules from FFG’s revised content, but the game would very soon become broken if you had to carry starting threat penalties forward across dozens of quests, for example. Thus, FFG campaign rules are always reset at the beginning of each mini-campaign.
- Progression Style: You may only use player cards and heroes that were available when each quest was originally released.
- This makes the campaign more accessible to new players and encourages creative deckbuilding with a limited card pool.
- Exhaustion: After each victory, randomly select 1 hero (without permanents) and 5 player cards from your deck that become “exhausted.” These cards cannot be used for the remainder of the current mini-campaign. Exhausted cards become available again at the start of the next mini-campaign.
- Now we’re getting into some of my added rules to make things even more interesting. This exhaustion rule is intended to keep the players on their toes with deckbuilding throughout each cycle – you can’t just always rely on your best cards! Instead, you will be forced to be creative and adaptable with your deckbuilding.
- Failure Consequences: For every 5 losses, randomly select one hero you control (without permanents) to become a Fallen Hero. This hero can no longer be used in the ultra-campaign and you must choose a replacement. These Fallen Heroes do not contribute to starting threat penalties.
- This is where things get interesting. I wanted to make sure even losses mean something. Ever play a quest 10 times in a row before finally winning? Well, that should influence the narrative in a story mode. In the ultra-campaign, that would be two dead heroes right there. This incentivizes the player to build decks tuned to the specific quest, in an attempt to minimize losses. I anticipate this to get progressively harder and harder for myself, as I am most familiar with quests earlier in the game. Once I get through the first few mini-campaigns, I expect to be more surprised by the encounter decks, and it may take me a few attempts to tune effective player decks.
- Hero Revival: Track Victory Points across all successful scenarios. At any point, you can trade in 10 VPs to bring back a single dead hero of your choice.
- This is the light at the end of the tunnel. I expect to start losing many heroes due to losses to difficult quests, so an opportunity to revive dead heroes seemed necessary. But you have to earn it first!
Playthrough logs
| Passage through Mirkwood Journey Along the Anduin Escape from Dol Guldur The Oath The Caves of Nibin-Dum |
| The Hunt for Gollum Conflict at the Carrock A Journey to Rhosgobel The Hills of Emyn Muil The Dead Marshes Return to Mirkwood | Into the Pit The Seventh Level Flight from Moria The Redhorn Gate Road to Rivendell The Watcher in the Water The Long Dark Foundations of Stone Shadow and Flame | Peril in Pelargir Into Ithilien The Siege of Cair Andros The Steward’s Fear The Druadan Forest Encounter at Amon Din Assault on Osgiliath The Blood of Gondor The Morgul Vale |
| The Fords of Isen To Catch an Orc Into Fangorn The Dunland Trap The Three Trials Trouble in Tharbad The Nin-in-Eilph Celebrimbor’s Secret The Antlered Crown | Intruders in Chetwood The Weather Hills Deadmen’s Dike The Wastes of Eriador Escape from Mount Gram Across the Ettenmoors The Treachery of Rhudaur The Battle of Carn-Dum The Dread Realm | Voyage across Belegaer The Fate of Numenor Raid on the Grey Havens Flight of the Stormcaller The Thing in the Depths The Temple of the Deceived The Drowned Ruins A Storm on Cobas Haven The City of Corsairs |
| Escape from Umbar Desert Crossing The Long Arm of Mordor The Mumakil Race Across Harad Beneath the Sands The Black Serpent The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat The Crossings of Poros | Journey Up the Anduin Lost in Mirkwood The King’s Quest The Withered Heath Roam Across Rhovanion Fire in the Night The Ghost of Framsburg Mount Gundabad The Fate of Wilderland | The River Running Danger in Dorwinion The Temple of Doom Wrath and Ruin The City of Ulfast The Challenge of the Wainriders Under the Ash Mountains The Land of Sorrow The Fortress of Nurn |
Vision Of The Palantir 