How to Survive in Journeys in Middle Earth

[@julianpearce218]

Thank you for the video. Observations after playing just a few games: Use Bilbo/Burglar and/or Berevor/Pathfinder if you can. A ranger (Hunter) is also very useful. Gilmi acting as a tank(Guardian) would appear to be a natural choice but, (so far) in this Campaign, it has not proved essential. Same with Aragorn/Captain (although the extra scout when next to him is VERY useful). Remember, you will have to fight in Middle earth but, it is not the ONLY thing you have to do to in order to succeed. Avoid those counter-attacks whenever possible: Bilbo (as Burglar) sneaks & hides; Beravor stuns; Legolas uses range (and can use inspiration to move one space away from target WITHOUT provoking). Explore as much as you can. Exploring is not an action, it is an automatic result of moving so, you can often remove more than one exploration tile in a single move action. Removing exploration tiles (1 point of threat each) and gaining inspiration is (usually) more efficient than interacting with Threat tokens. Picking the right TIME to deal with threats is VERY important. If your scout phase does not increase your chances of success, then don't Fight or interact with Threat tokens. instead explore (or just retreat). Search and Person tokens are a little different, we have found that (so far) you get more than one go at these. 12:45 This is a very common theme in all the chapters my group has played so far, we have so nearly failed several times, Clever scouting and saving an inspiration for the right moment is very important Skill cards (skill cards 3, 7 and 12xp) Consider trading in your 3xp skill cards for 7xp and then 12xp cards when you camp, this adds one fate and one success to your deck respectively. (and removes one "fail" card) 16:12 Tip 5 -take notice the clues are there: Objectives, Person tokens, Search tokens, Threat tokens, unclaimed Exploration tiles. There is text you can read in the App both from the tiles and the Chronical BEFORE you commit to an action. take time to read all relevant text before making a rash decision.

[@Zerot2009]

Great video! BUT none shall stop my Bilbo Captain!

[@jasonnonis6862]

This is a really great summary. One contribution I can make is to clarify the odds. If you have 4 successes out of 16 and need to draw 2 out of 2 attempts, the odds are 4*3/16*15= 12/240 or 1 out of 20, much lower than 1 out of 8. Would love to hear some advice on any of the following: 1. We are not playing with Bilbo. Is that a mistake? Is he kind of a key player? 2. We have lost five games in a row. Do you think the cumulative losses put us at a disadvantage for future scenarios? That is, maybe we are not getting as many experience points and it will just get harder and harder, so we are thinking of re-starting even though we know a bit what to expect. 3. How important is it to deal with threat tokens? Would you prioritize that over the story line? It sounds like no. 4. Anyone try the game with both 2 and 5 players and find it is easier or harder? We are playing with 5... Recognize this is a super old thread, but would love to hear any feedback...

[@GawainSSB]

I would say that deviating from the recommended roles can actually make the game significantly easier. For example, having a pathfinder will increase your odds significantly purely by benefit of all those sprints giving you more actions, even if you aren't using Berevor or whatever. Its one of the best roles on pretty much anyone. Same thing with Captain and the powerful group scouting stuff.

[@rickcarson591]

Played last weekend (2 players, Pathfinder Legolas with bow, Hunter Aragorn. First map -> overland exploration = lots of inspiration, we felt like Kings. Second map. No inspiration. No way of getting inspiration. Enemies have armour. Need to hit them twice, since 5 points from the bow isn't enough (and the armour regens). Even if I spend my whole turn attacking I need 2 successes on each attack. There are only 4 successes in my deck of 16 cards. Ergo on average from 4 cards I will have 1 success per attack with the bow, which won't even get through their armour. Ergo I need to spend inspiration. But I don't have any, and there doesn't seem to be any way of getting more. (Another way of looking at it: after scouting *all* the successes need to be in the top 8 cards of my deck. Even with stacking from scouting this is a tall order ... and that just lets me kill one monster. Having spent my entire round doing so (and getting _very_ lucky)) Huh. Maybe I can hide in the bushes? But no, apparently elves aren't even good at _that_. (Or climbing trees, which was amusing in the first mission when neither the Ranger nor the Elf could climb a tree....) First three rounds, both heroes repeatedly whiff (e.g. not doing enough to actually penetrate armour). Which is awesome, because each round another 1-3 minions spawn. Finally scrape together enough inspiration somehow to do an alpha strike on the big bad and take him down in front of his minions (who now outnumber us 3:1 because we've been whiffing so much). Whereupon he teleports to me (????) and does enormous damage. Roll to save. Oh great, it targets an attribute with 2 cards with a test which requires 2 successes. Fantastic. Not surprisingly, I fail. Oh and now he has _3_ armour. Well sheeeeeit. Oh and the remaining one character has a single round to alpha strike him or we auto-lose. But because he teleported to me (????) my fellow adventurer now has to spend an action to move. And then .... whiffs on his attack. Urge to play ... fading ... Maybe we're doing it wrong. Maybe he wasn't supposed to teleport to me (I took him down with a ranged attack). Maybe there was some super obvious way to generate lots of inspiration on the battlemaps which we missed. I keep wondering if the bow was supposed to have pierce. Otherwise it's terribad vs armour. But I don't want to play anything else, because they get even fewer attack cards, and hence more misery. From map 1 to map 2 all that happened was I got a title and bought a level 2 ability. But because both of them were fate cards, they might as well have been extra flaws, because without inspiration they were useless. The only way to win, is not to play?

[@Henry-lk5pm]

I feel your pain. My first bit of advice is that legolas and aragorn are not a great pair. Mainly because of the inspiration generation problem you describe unless you switch roles to gain access to different cards. One other key strategy is to pass inspiration over to the next player (yet to play) whenever possible which involves not splitting up - esp on battle maps. try to ready skills that can help the other player where possible but never ready a skill with a success. Ready your weakness if you can to help strengthen you deck. When spending xp you should prioritise cards with a success, especially in a 2 player game. Better to save up xp than dilute deck in most cases. The game is harder for 2 players and you often have to ignore enemies or certain tokens that dont progress the quest. It plays better at 3. Adding Gimli or Elenor to your original pair will help. Good luck.

[@CaseyHuebner]

Great video. I would add that if you are not using the individuals special powers at every opportunity then you are making it hard on yourself. The game assumes your are taking every advantage they give you. For example I have a cloak that ignores the first face down damage. If I forget and just take the damage that would be detrimental. And each hero has abilities as well

[@gcn9]

Thanks so much for imparting your experience with the game system. I plan on employing many of your strategies.

[@NathanTalbertWoodworking]

I'm a little behind having just purchased the game and expansions, but this feels like solid advice. The playthroughs I watched seemed like trying to do everything was a terrible idea and a trap.

[@mightymickey8879]

Legolas is actually a far better pathfinder due to his synergy with scout.

[@spencerbeard3904]

1/20/21. The game seemed easy, before I learned that each character has a max inspiration pool (not just a starting value) Presently, with all content, there is 4 campaigns, 11 heroes, and 11 roles.

[@MD-mk3lh]

I don't have any trouble so far, but I guess in a 2 player game the threat level is less important. It makes a huge difference if the level rises by 4 +x or 10 +x each round and the 6 additional actions maybe don't make up for this disadvantage. For example, in chapter 5 I explored every marker and tile and still had around 20 points (5 rounds) left. Even if your strategies weren't completely new to me, it was still a helpful video.

[@grumbla1]

Great video. Watched it to prep for the last episode of the campaign.

[@GreyWizardInsights]

What did you think? Have you played the new campaign/expansion yet?

[@grumbla1]

@@GreyWizardInsights We failed! We could not kill Atarin. But it was very close. Now I am even more motivated for the second campaign.

[@TheLvsKIRA]

Drawing more cards although increasing your chance of success x being greater also makes cards like time or need and future test near auto fails. Althoguh it still makes sense to give legolas something like the bow figuing he would be the best to comabt it pigeon holes him to only serve a an agility dps that in reality doesnt out pace other players combat potention especially given that anyone can have hunter and pump their damge with strikes

[@JakieToJestPojebane]

Very detailed, very helpful. Thank you!

[@alklomion]

thanks for the tips this might rly help

[@b-vos]

Great video. I just started playing this yesterday, and it's been incredibly frustrating because I've lost each chapter I've played (I made it up to ch. 5). The game is punishing and it always feels like it's impossible to succeed. For example, why on earth would they recommend ring mail for Gimli if it lowers his agility to 1? You make a great point, though -- if you pay attention to what the text might be hinting about which test it'll use, you're more likely to avoid using the least-effective character. I'm restarting the campaign, and I'll be thinking about these suggestions. Thanks!

[@GreyWizardInsights]

Brandon, on your next play through, I'm curious if you do better, let me know! We dominated this game after we got a rhythm going

[@toddjacksm]

Because with Gimli you can test might instead of another ability.

[@daniellebackus819]

@@toddjacksm only when negating damage

[@Ailurophile900]

GEEKS think that they can survive middle earth 😂. My boi Bilbo is secretly a Chad

[@axisofthewheel]

You should always have a bear and an otter

[@TheFluffyDuck]

ThIs is a super boring game:(