Happy #MiddleEarthMonday Adventurers! If you have been looking to try out Lord Of The Rings LCG, now is the perfect time to get stuck in. I will be walking through each release and campaign solo to journey through one of the hardest and most challenging solo card game experiences that I have come across. This all starts with the core set.

Flies And Spiders // Passage Into Mirkwood

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Today, we are going to approach our first quest in The Lord of the Rings LCG. Heading through a cobweb-filled, orc infested route as players take to the beaten track in Passage to Mirkwood delivering an important message between Galadriel and Thranduil.

Heading into the dark corners of Mirkwood, I head into the tree-shrouded environment with three heroes at my disposal - well, I am not stupid enough to dispose of my heroes willy-nilly! Keeping my threat level under control and building a deck that utilises three Spheres of Influence - and some dirty cards along with it.

Just a heads up - there was a lot to pay attention to so I may have missed some images where I was to draw from my pile and move the threat level up. I did move it, but didn't want to keep spamming you with images that say, "Pick up again!" or "Add One to the Threat Level".

Setup

Heroes, Quest And Staging Area Preview // Lord Of The Rings: LCG

To kick off the game, players will be provided with the first scenario of the Core Box - Passage into Mirkwood. Whether you are a new player or a veteran of Lord of the Rings LCG by Fantasy Flight Games, this quest encourages players to have a bit of freedom (not too much though - you are not supposed to be having fun on the savage warpath!) when creating their deck.

I did play a test game with the pre-build Leadership Influence Deck but found I was relying on the luck of the draw a bit too much. I wanted something that was just as unforgiving as the game itself, that can rake in my resources that will allow me to build a fearsome deck that help me hack and slash my way through cobwebs and conflict through Mirkwood.

Whether you are going into the dark forest solo or cooperating, although described to be the easiest scenario in the game - do expect to be scratching your head. Also, it might take you two tries to beat this before you find a deck you are comfortable with.

Card List

• Heroes -
  Beravor, Éowyn & Théodred
• Allies -
  3x Gandalf
  3x Guard of the Citadel
  3x Snowbourn Scout
  2x Miner of the Iron Hills
  2x Northern Trackee
  2x Erebor Hammersmith
  2x Faramir
  2x Gléowine
  2x Daughter of the Nimrodel
  1x Beorn
  1x Henamarth Riversong
• Attachments -
  2x Forest Snare
  2x Steward of Gondor
  1x Unexpected Courage
• Event -
  3x Stand and Fight
  3x Lore of Imladris
  2x A Test of Will
  2x Hasty Stroke
  2x Sneak Attack
  2x The Galadhrim's Greeting
  2x Will of the West
  1x Lorien's Wealth
  1x Beorn's Hospitality
  1x Grim Resolve
  1x Dwarven Tomb
  1x For Gondor!
  1x Fortune or Fate

Now we've gone through the card list, it's time to dive in and play through the quest!

Flies And Spiders Playthrough

First things first, let's get our heroes ready for battle (or if you are anything like me - for questing!)

It seems the first enemy for me to contend with in LOTR LCG is a pesky little spider. I will need to defend my heroes and characters, or I could just pop them straight onto a merry quest.

So, although we did get some attacks in and one of the Spiders have rushed off. We did get some incoming attacks too.

As I decided to not defend any of my characters, I presume the next few cards were going to hurt!

No Damage Done! Luckily! However, we do need to add +1 damage to one of our heroes.

As that is the end of the round, our threat level is rising and we have boosted it up to 28.

Time to give my heroes their well-deserved resources! Resources mean more cards, and more cards mean a choice of a wealthy hand.

Pay two cheeky resources for Gléowine...

Time to commit our heroes to the quest. Committing Theodred.

Along with Eowyn.

And reap in the rewards for resources and more cards, please!

Before we can journey on, we must clear our way through the new location!

Readying our ability for more cards, time to pick up two more!

Need to take some damage - but I don't want to put any of my heroes in Danger - sorry Gléowine; you are going to have to jump on your horse, back to Rohan and retire via sacrifice due to more important people needing to survive this leg.

Off into that Discard pile you go!

A new enemy has arisen! And he looks pretty tanky.

Nasty damage is done to me and the new mordor recruit, but luckily he has run back into Mirwood before he cuts up another one of my heroes!

Of course, another round which means another Threat Level rise!

Let's ready those Heroes! Looking a bit thin on the ground for resources, best fix that whilst I start hoarding money with Eowyn and hoarding cards with Beravor.

Ready up our heroes and sort out their heath before going into the onslaught.

Steward of Gondor has now been activated, this means more resources - and the chance for us to get pretty stacked.

New entrée on the staging area!

Time to get my defend on!

Must draw after though.

Because this little dirty guy decided to come out of Sauron's Dark army when nobody is defending - we get +8 added to our threat level!

Taking the threat up to 39 - Don't forget, that when this reaches 50 - you will lose.

And of course, my knight in shining armour, my tank, Theodred - taking slashes and bites like there is no tomorrow takes on the most of the brute force.

Now it is time for me to restore everybody back to their stance - and I took out another card. Why am I always travelling?! Forest after forest... More enemies and another roadblock in the way from us to meet our objectives. Classic Mirkwood.

I do love a healer to buff my tank! Now that my damage is removed from Theodred - can go out hacking, and slash with no chinks in his armour.

Exhausted my usual two cards - One to heal and one to pick up MOAR CARDS!

Steward of Gondor is now in play behind Eowyn. Exhausted and adding x2 resources to her lovely little pile - This is where you should see all the money fly in!

Heroes are readying up for the next wave. How much worse could it get?

I have six resources to spend - now that I know that I have a steady income of resources, I can start bringing out the cards I have been sitting on!

No defence again - I am gonna get wrecked and a bit beat up - but my priorities are to quest! I have some tricks up my sleeve.

Got some progress in on that Staging Area and cleared off a few locations.

Well, this is a nice surprise - two damage to one of my champions! Certainly wasn't expecting a hard hitter anytime soon... not! Must be careful with Beravor before I can heal her up.

And I have nearly lost a hero. Was scratching my head at the best tactic, and if I were to sacrifice any - it would be my card generation card. For now, and for reasons!

Draw, ready heroes and resource restock to stack up and mentally prepare for the worst!

Exhausting my healer to get my hero health-ed up - that is a bit better!

Let's exhaust this hero and gain two more cards! Build that deck as much as I can before it gets worse.

Heroes and allies are ready for the next onslaught!

Discard another card, no gain - and Threat Level up by one.

Progress has been made, which means I can clear off some of my tabletop! Goodbye Locations!

A nice looking Dol Guldor Orc Comes Down gets moved into the battle.

Defend with Theodred - two straight Damage to him! As expected, do it for Rohan!

I CAN'T LOSE YOU THEODRED - You are the one character that is taking the brute force!

Nothing to add with this card - Need +1 Damage to add to our team though!

Some minor damage to my resource generator - this round is getting quite hairy!

Considering that one of my heroes were going to die - I made the tactical decision to let my card generator go. At this point, I have a pretty good hand and I need to keep my healer and resource generator in for as long as I can.

But we do not have time to mourn! There is more battle to engage in!

Put my resources back in! As I anticipate I am going to use a fair few cards to get me out of trouble!

Well, it's lucky I had five resources sitting around - because I want my hero back!

Welcome, all of my heroes!

I got slapped around a bit in that round, but at least all my heroes are alive! And clear off the Mountains of Mirkwood Location and progress that.

Search the top five cards and keep one.

There might be nothing in the Staging Area right now, but I have three enemies to take down.

Just before I traverse any deeper, let me just have a quick health up.

And gain a little more cards! Hey, if you have abilities and resources - use them!

Use a cheeky little Sneak Attack that I have been hiding in my deck since early on!

And bring out Gandalf! He takes down my threat by 5 - and that is just for showing up!

And time to ready those heroes, do my maintenance and get ready to polish off this quest!

Another card for my ever-growing deck! And Gandalf truly has that threat under control.

Committing all of our spiritual champions to the quest - Quest Complete!

That is Flies and Spiders complete, now we ready ourselves for the next quest heading towards 2a and 2b where there is a suspicious Fork in the Road.

Conclusion

When approaching the first quest solo I wanted to use three series of influences for my deck, so I felt like I wasn't locked behind certain cards I felt synergised with my play-style.

Enemies in the first quest are relatively easy but can surprise you with their shadow effects. Be wary that there are some surprisingly strong monsters and attacks that's can come from seemingly the most insignificant of cards/enemies! Meaning a simple Orc has the ability to - when undefended - insta-gib/one-shot any one of your heroes without any thought.

Although I will be seeing out the rest of this scenario with the deck that I have chosen, I anticipate that tweaks will be made to cover up any glaring holes in my deck.

The first scenario solo is not necessarily difficult if you know how to build a deck. However, for newcomers, this scenario is perfect to get to learn the game mechanics and to try out a variety of different heroes. To customise and build a deck for you. And I still have a few Gandalfs up my sleeve...

Pascal The Hangry // Sauron's Minion

Although I did attempt finishing the scenario, a minion was sent from the depths of Mordor to antagonize the heroes...and not move and/or stop meowling until grub was up.

Check Out More From The Lord Of The Rings: The Card Game

Join me every Monday where we continue our Passage Through Mirkwood as part of #MiddleEarthMonday. I will be continuing the adventure with the heroes above, and hopefully, I do not lose any more in the deep tangles of Mirkwood!

Next week we will be completing our Passage Through Mirkwood, journeying on to a suspicious and problematic Fork in the Road which takes us on to Beorn's Path.

Have you been playing along too? How did you find your opening journey through Mirkwood?!