I finally started to play TSL today after enjoining ItP for several weeks. One reason for waiting so long was the difficulty level of TSL. Only a 3, so it shouldn't be to hard. But then I lost 12 games in a row. Only in two of those I made it to stage 2B. I used my beloved dwarfen deck (Dwalin, Dáin, Bifur) that could handle ItP quite good, but somehow it has only a small chance against TSL. Either I'm doing something wrong or the difficulty is more like 6 or 7 instead of 3 (I do think it is harder than JdtA and RtM). I won my last game due to some lucky encounter draws and getting Sneak/Gandalf.

One thought is that you apparently need the tactics sphere. I think about swapping Dwalin with either Gimli or Thalin (tending to the latter) and using Gondorian Spearmen and Dwarven Axe Warriors as my line of defense against the enemy hordes. Feint, Quick Strike and some Weapons should also help to handle the fighting stuff, but I fear that I will get problems during the quest phase if I completely give up the spirit sphere.

Is anyone facing the same problems as me? Who is playing TSL with tactics? Who isn't? What is your strategy beside exploiting the Ziggy and Beravor mechanics? Am I the only on who has to face more than one enemy per round on average?

Edit: I'm playing with one core set and all expansions.

i think i won this one best using spirit/lore with eowyn denethor and bilbo

i got burning brand on as quick as i could to stop those add to staging area shadow effects

at the 2b, i basically flew through it, with ALOT of questing power, i also used mirkwood runner to kill the orcs ignoring their defense

i do think its harder than 3 though, however the diffuclty isnt as wierd as flight from moria, which is either really hard and drawn out or short and sweet

i can not stand ewyoen... complete waste of hero slot, i haven't used her once since about Journey..

I started off 1-4 and was foaming at the mouth, I was seriously pissed off. Difficulty 3, GTFO! I was about ready to put Seventh Level into the top-3, right after Return to Mirkwood and Dol Guldur on the most difficult scale (although Osgiliath probably goes there once I get to playing it for the full rotation). It was just annoyance after annoyance. Block with ally, enemy gets discard ally shadow effect and boom, dead hero to boot since the goblins (GOBLINS) for some reason attack for 4 or 5 undefended. Or block with hero, enemy gets +3 attack and bam (or attacks again, then gets +3 attack), dead hero. Or like one game, five enemies attack, four (4!!!) get "add Goblin X to the staging area". Or those early turns when I brought out Winged Guardian, first one died to the Treachery that deals X to an ally, second WG was blocking Chieftain and it got discard ally shadow card and bitch-slapped Boromir for 8. Orc Horn Blower during setup or turn 1 pretty much auto-loss, especially when he calls a Cave Troll and then you get Upper Hall (doomed 2) or the Treachery that adds threat = # of enemies in the staging area.

Still not sure how I finished off 4-1 to end at even 5-5 on this quest. I think Seventh Level is Dunhere's Finest Hour without a doubt. Dunhere was getting UC over Beravor every single time. Most the wins I got, I entered stage two with nothing in the staging area, you really want to spend no more than two turns there, questing like mad. Legolas + UC probably would also progress you along like crazy in this quest, there never seems to be no enemies in play.

what always annoys me is the shadow effect- if attacking enemy is a goblin they get +3 attack- THEYRE ALL GOBLINS aarghhhh!!! i know that they did this so the troll doesnt get +3, but its still damn annoying

Dont forget difficult 3 is fit 2 players game. For solo this quest is really much harder. I love it is quite cool!!! But in 2 player game is really easy....

And again I misread a card - this time the Book of Mazarbul. I somehow interpreted the card text that the hero would not be able to quest.

Now that Dáin is able to commit to a quest without exhausting himself I have 2 extra WP each round.

It also payed off to switch Dwalin with Thalin. Once you have a Gondorioan Spearman you're able to defat most of the enemies without triggering their shadow effects. The Goblin Archer also poses no problem anymore. Feint and Qucik Strike can be .used if for some reason an enemy is still ready to attack you. With Thalin/Dáin/Bifur I managed to win 9 out of 10 games, although the results are less spectacular as it takes more time (but not if you have the Mapmaker and Steward of Gondor, that is).

I like this quest as it's perfectly playable without using the spirit sphere.

leptokurt said:

Yeah, whenever my Dwarf deck was in play, Dain was basically autoholder for the Book. Not being able to attack doesn't really hurt since Dain is mainly supposed to be a wall in addition to questing.

Toughest choice I faced was when Leadership/Tactics (Aragorn, Theodred, Legolas) and Tactics/Spirit (Brand, Boromir, Dwalin) were paired together, who do you leave out of attacking?

leptokurt said:

Northern Trackers were basically the hitters in the Spirit/Lore deck, no real need/use for them to quest but their defense and attack come very handy given the weak spirit combatters in general.

Dam said:

Of course spirit is still a strong alternative (it always is), but it isn't a must here. If you look at the different spheres and their advantages, I think the other three come off better:

Tactics: Made for battle. And there is a lot of battle going on, so it's almost a must have. Cheap allies, cheap equipment. Feint and Quick Strike are very useful (and cheap).

Lore: Has A Burning Brand and Miner of the Iron Hills, the two mosthelpful cards in this scenario. A must have sphere if you're playing a Dwarven deck (Archivar/Dáin combo). The Mapmaker is also handy when you want to speed through stage 2B.

Leadership: Dáin! Longbeard Orc Slayer! And if you don't like Dwarves, this sphere provides you with quick resources (Theodred, Glóin) to build an early defense against your enemies.

Spirit: Quick questing usually means less enemies, but the second stage is long and if you get dealt two enemies and you're not prepared for it... Especially  Orc Horn Blower will crush a rabbit strategy. Unexpected Courage and Ziggy are helpful cards (more so if you own more than one core set), not to mention the nice event cards. As already mentioned, Dunhere is at his best in this scenario when you get dealt enemies through shadow effects.

leptokurt said:

what card is archivar?

richsabre said:

Ooops, I meant the Erebor Record Keeper.

(I translated it 1:1 from German into English)

ah i see!.......................

As others have mentioned, Thalin + Gondorian Spearman is a fantastic combo in this scenario. If you can get two or three Spearmen on the table, those goblins will just evaporate. 

Dain is a fine bookkeeper, but I prefer Bifur. 3 willpower and 2 defense each round is pretty handy

starhawk77 said:

Bifur only packs 3 hit points so I'm leery against defending with him, especially with the stupid shadow effects in KD, especially since the Dwarf deck really needs him to collect resources for Erebor Record Keeper and/or Narvi's Belt to utilize the Spirit cards splashed into the deck. With Dain holding the Book, he quests for 2 and defends for 3 with 5 hit points, while Bifur still quests for 3. With Book on Bifur, Dain just sorta stands there . I'm much more willing to lose Dain and Gimli and keep Bifur is heroes need to die (not that I'd want them to die).

To me, Bilbo and Thalin was critical to winning this scenario.

Shadow effects were what gave me most trouble in this quest,

so I used Bilbo + fast hitch + burning brand / Thalin + Gondorian Spearman to deal with them (I only have 1 core set, but if you have multiple copies of Unexpected Courage, maybe some other lore hero can replace Bilbo).

I had success using either Frodo or Eowyn as my last hero,

I must say Eowyn was a better choice due to willpower. (There is no reason not to quest as fast as you can with this quest.)

This one is a piece of cake with multiplayers and a bear solo.  The swarm capabilities that can cream you solo just do not scale up with the additional capacity to handle them that you get with multi player.

Having said that, I've won around 40% with my primary deck of Purple - Blue Heroes with green healing splashed in: Aragorn, Imrahil and Eowyn.  Get allies out,; Quest and Kill!  Assume just about every goblin is +3 when you decide defenders...

I've also had some real fun games with my second deck - Boromir, Gloin and Bilbo.  My personal record for creatures taken out with Boromir's sacrifice ability happened with T7L - He managed to take out SIX creatures with his ability.  Alas no songs will be sung of his sacrifice as the remaining heroes were killed just short of the finish....unless there are some good forensic detectives in Middle Earth of course.