The Hunt For Gollum was a fun and engaging adventure. It was a nice change to take a break from combat gameplay that we came up against in the Core Set. Into a wild goose chase for Gollum with some new mechanics in play, hunting down clues for the location of Gollum in the wildlands of Mirkwood Forest.

The Conflict At The Carrock Solo Playthrough // The Lord Of The Rings: The Living Card Game

Continuing on with our journey through the Shadows of Mirkwood phase, the next adventure on our list is The Conflict At The Carrock.

Whilst traipsing around Mirkwood in search of clues from Gollum, we were soon to find out that there were a group of trolls up to no good up the Anduin and causing a stir at the Carrock. Knowing that this land is often patrolled by Beornings, we hope to find Grimbeorn the Old, the leader for aid. To help take down not just one, but four trolls in a combat-heavy adventure pack.

The Conflict At The Carrock Adventure Pack // The Lord of the Rings: The Living Card Game

Order Your Own Updated Core Set!

If I have not made this obvious already, this adventure deck is loaded with trolls, meaning this adventure pack forces the player into conflict - whether they like it or not. It only contains two stages to the overarching quest which means this may seem simpler than other enduring scenarios. Until now though, the only time we have seen true conflict is down the Anduin!

Card List...

Heroes -

• Éowyn
• Elrond
• Arwen Undomiel

Allies -

• 3x Jubyar
• 3x Master of the Forge
• 3x Gandalf
• 3x Firyal
• 2x Treebeard
• 2x Warden of Healing
• 2x Northern Tracker
• 2x Gléowine
• 2x Eagles Of The Misty Mountains
• 1x Faramir
• 1x Elfheim
• 1x Glorfindel
• 1x Beorn
• 1x Yazan

Attachments -

• x3 Vilya
• x3 Miruvor
• x2 Steward Of Gondor
• x1 Unexpected Courage
• x1 Golden Shield

Events -

• 3x Elven-Light
• 2x A Test of Will
• 2x Galdrian's Greeting
• 2x Heed the Dream
• 1x Stand and Fight
• 1x Fortune Or Fate
• 1x Will of the West
• 1x Out Of Sight

The scariest thing up to this point that we have come up against realistically was one singular Hill Troll or a singular Nazgul. To get out of this conflict, all you need to do is wipe out four trolls. Potentially all at once.

Knowing what was coming up and not having combat-oriented champions certainly made me sweat. So I knew that I would have to find a different tactic rather than pure offensive, hack-and-slash dwarf mode!

Quest Card 1: Grimbeorn’s Quest – 7 Quest Points

Grimbeorn's Quest // The Conflict At The Carrock

The setup requires us to draw one card into the staging area - your standard setup. No interesting effects popped up and the first enemy to be brave enough to step up against our Mighty Middle-earthen Heroes is a mere Muck Adder.

I can comfortably finish the quest and move on to the next part, but if I do so, the trolls will stomp my party. The only way around that is to get Grimbeorn on my side so he can defend. Thanks to the enemy location Oakwood Grove, I can use my ample resources towards adding Grimbeorn to the party for this quest.

This is important as my current team does not contain this particular leadership sphere. Without this, I would never be able to add Grimbeorn as an ally. This is my only guaranteed opportunity!

I drew my second Steward of Gondor, but I cannot use it! So, I discarded it for Arwen's ability to give me more resources. Grimbeorn The Old joined the team after a minor tribute of eight resources. Let's hope this mighty skinchanger pulls his weight! One of the final steps of this quest was to bring in Gandalf to ensure we stay under the magic number of thirty-four when it comes to threat. This means we can pick and choose what Troll we want to kill and when!

Quest card 2: Against The Trolls – 1 Quest Point - All Trolls Must Be Dead!

At this point, we have chosen to engage three out of the four trolls. As a result of doing so, Jubayr took -2 damage and Grimbeorn The Old soaked the attacks from the other two trolls inflicting -6 damage. Due to his special ability, he is still in a position to fight back. We raise our threat by three and Eowyn gains a +9 attack and goes on a rampage alongside Grimbeorn. This means we murder Stuart The Troll with ease!

Yes, that is his name, his name is Stuart. This left Rupert and Morris in the Play Area engaged with the heroes and Louis waiting in the wings.

We spend +2 resources from Treebeard to ready him up for battle and discard Miruvor to ready Eowyn for the female-driven onslaught. Eowyn and Treebeard with the Lady-Wood combo turned poor old Morris into a Leaky piece of Meat. We pay +2 resources to ready up Treebeard again, and activated Unexpected Courage on Eowyn, bringing forward the third consecutive +14 damage strike. One-shotting three out of the four trolls with Louis currently looking for his brown trousers in the Staging Area.

Using Eowyn, took our threat up to 34 - the next round we will have to engage Louis...

That may be three trolls out the way, but I had a troll of my own more interest in being the centre of attention.

With the realisation that threat will be becoming an issue, I used 'Heed The Dream' in hopes that I could find some way to reduce my threat, allowing me to check the top five cards from the Draw Pile, and add one card to my hand. The fifth card was thankfully the Galahadrim's Greeting, allowing me to take my threat level down by six.

Louis was engaged but we could only hit him for nine damage so he was able to live to fight another day. However, every time he attacks, he takes our threat up by three. By the time we could kill him, the Galadhadrim's Greeting was rendered pointless. But one day more is all he lasted, as Grimbeorn and Jubaya teamed up to take down the final troll. Requiring only one more damage, it was a walk in the park.

In theory, if we apply everybody to the quest on the next turn, we have passed this quest.

Questing with fifteen Will Power, we draw a second Banks At The Anduin Location Card, bringing the total Threat in the Staging Area up to seven, allowing us to place +8 progress on the singular point quest. Win.

Final Thoughts

Thirty-four is the threat level of the trolls, so I figured out that as long as I stay under that, I can pick and choose when to fight them in the second quest. I had to be aware that as soon as I hit thirty-four, each one of those hard-hitting trolls would be coming down to the play area, regardless of whether there was one left or four.

My biggest problem was ensuring I had all of the resources to provide to Elrond. Readying cards like Unexpected Courage and Steward of Gondor, so Elrond can muster up a merciless woodland army. Before going into the mission that I anticipated I would need the likes of Gandalf and Galahdrim’s Greeting for Threat Control and some serious resource generation from Arwen. Once again, placing Elrond and Vilya in the forefront to take on some pretty nasty trolls. Adapting the mentality: kill them before they kill you. Something worth remembering in an unforgiving title such as this one!

The reason why we had to pick and choose the trolls is that they buff each other in a horde mentality. Splitting them up provides you with enough breathing space to tactically take them down one by one.

Frodo Baggins // The Conflict At The Carrock

Although Frodo Baggins was provided in this Adventure Pack, his special ability did not gel with our deck. However, I intend on playing with his unique mechanics another time. Especially when threat is less of an issue.

Against The Trolls // The Conflict At The Carrock

A Journey to Rhosgobel Adventure Pack // The Lord Of The Rings: The Living Card Game

We’re meeting up with my favourite Wizard, Radagast. After an eagle ally takes a lethal from the savage trolls in battle, our only hope is to seek out the Brown wizard to get our valuable ally back in action. It’s time to fully harness the power and witness the sheer strengths of the mighty eagles. See you next week in A Journey To Rhosgobel!

Once again, it has been proven that not everybody wants to make friends in Middle-earth!