Aragorn had a vision from the Palantir. He saw a fleet of Corsairs about to reach the coast of Gondor. The only possibility to get there before the White City falls is the most direct route through the mountains to Pelargir: The Paths of the Dead.
A name of dread among those who dwell near to its entrance, The Paths of the Dead were said to be haunted by the ghosts of men from the second age of Middle-earth; Oathbreakers who refused to join war against Mordor. Cursed for their unfaithfulness and doomed linger in the shadowy hills until their oath was fulfilled.
The Game
Switching to Aragorns part of the story, playing with my Hobbit deck isn’t (again) not that much thematic. Nontheless, I wanted to challenge my Hobbit deck with this quest. Because of Aragorn, The Shirefolk cannot be used. Previously, I got Palantir of Orthanc as a boon and the campaign card of this quest gives the option to search your deck for Andúril. These two boon cards are my replacements. With a fitting artifact it is obvious which version of Aragorn to choose.
I took the additional resource from stage 1b. After the planing phase, I had Rosie Cotton in play, Aragorn had said Andúril and Merry was prepared with Fast Hitch, Horn of the Mark (which did trigger only once during this game) and Thorongil. What a good start.
It took me 35 long and exciting minutes to win with a threat of 47 within 9 rounds. In the last stage I could not gather enough willpower to get 5 progress tokens on the quest, so I had an extra round, which I successfully used to eliminate the Army of the Dead. I managed to have Overcome by Fear out of play, so my quest resolution is one boon card, no burdens.
Heroes | |
Sam Gamgee, Pippin, Tom Cotton, Merry (Valiant Warrior) Threat 28 |
|
Fallen Heroes | Threat Penality |
- | - |
Boons | Burdens |
Valiant Warrior (Merry) | The Ring Draws Them |
Sting, Mithril Shirt, Glamdring, Andúril | Eaten Alive! |
Palantir of Orthanc | Overcome by Grief |
Army of the Dead | Ill Fate |
The Searching Eye | |
A Heavy Burden | |
Cards under The Black Gate | |
1x Oliphaunt, 1x Man of Harad, 1x Haradrim Archer | |
Statistics | |
games played: | 15 (2 lost). |
win ratio: | 86.7% |
time spent (actual playing): | 8 hours, 2 minutes |