No Allies Deck 1.0

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• 1.0

Hey all, just wanted to post the deck that I am using to get the 'No Allies' Achievements, namely;

• Loner: Complete 10 Quests without playing an Ally.

(For obvious reasons I haven’t yet achieved 'Solitary', 'Recluse' & 'Misanthrope' (50, 100 & 500 quests respectively)

It seems to me that the best Quest to grind this achievement on is Quest 1: 'Attercop, Attercop' of The Shadow's Reach campaign. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this quest felt like it was almost designed for minimal ally placements, as evident of Gloin, Grimbeorn and Wilelk's involvement during the quest.

It's worth mention here and now that, as of the time of writing this guide, I don't yet know if Gloin, Grimbeorn or Wilelk effect the achievement in any way, so I've written this guide under the assumption that you cannot use them. Therefore the method found within this strategy is truly Ally-free. I will further test but honestly don't know if any of the Fate/Quest allies will make that much of a difference. I also chose this Quest because it's one of the only quests that doesn't force you to use an ally (looking at you Bilbo and Smeagol).

UPDATE: After doing some further testing, it appears that ANY ally that hits the field will absolutely nullify progress towards the achievements. Testing was done on both Quest 1's fate/objective allies as well as forced allies in other quests. Therefore it goes to say that, as of the Early Access period, Quest 1 & Quest 4 are the ONLY quests that progress on the 'no ally' achievements can be achieved. Quest 1 is the better option as it's easier than Quest 4

Here goes:

For those not wanting a full play-by-play strategy, here's the basic idea of how this deck functions with the Attercop, Attercop quest. Everything important to achieving a successful clearing of the quest revolves around the initial set-up during the first Scenario. It's during 'A Journey Begins' that all the hectic and scary stuff happens and because you can't play allies, it's important to spend a few rounds building up both Gimli and Éowyn to be absolute powerhouses, so be prepared to take ALOT of damage here as you load up your heroes with attachments.

You're looking for the cards Dwarven Axe and Star Brooch in your opening hand, also helpful are Round Shield and Warrior Sword.

Hold off of travelling to the second Scenario until you hit Threat Level 33 and spawn the three Forest Spiders. This is the only threat event to worry about, but with clever use of the Fate meter, even this is trivial. Once you clear 'A Journey Begins', and assuming you built up your heroes with a handful of good attachments, the rest of the quest should mostly be a cakewalk.

For those wanting a more detailed look at the entire Quest, and a play-by-play guideline, please enjoy the rest of this guide.

Scenario One: 'A Journey Begins'

• As I stated before, this is where you'll spend most of your time building up your heroes. Aim to get Dwarven Axe, Star Brooch and one of the armour cards on Gimli (preferably Raiment of War). This should bring his average attack strength to 4-6.

• Éowyn gets the second Star Brooch, or if unavailable, Unexpected Courage. Eowyn also gets Sting once you obtain it. Up until you get Sting, feel free to chuck Warrior Sword onto Éowyn if you have one available. Any leftover Armour cards go onto her as well.

• Arwen essentially gets the rest of the leftovers, whatever is available. I like to give her a Self-Preservation so that I can use her healing ability on the other two heavy lifters. She can also make decent use of a Warrior Swordand Unexpected Courage.

• Delay, delay, delay. Be sure to build up your Fate meter with Arwen! Aim for the 'Attercop' Attercop fate. You can spend a few rounds here, if fact the only time you need to leave is immediately after the 3 Forest Spiders enter, which is when you'll trigger the Attercop, Attercop fate event you exhaust two of the three (killing the third with Gimli or Eowyn) Feel free to grab the 'Bilbo's Pack' fate even too for extra healing.

• If you score A Watchful Peace or two here, this is the best time to use them as they will buy you more time to setup.

• Once you've hit Threat level 33 and have have defeated the Spider(s), allow Sauron to pass his turn and travel onward to Scenario 2.

Scenario Two: 'Mysterious Stream'

• Immediately kill the bear! And then deal with the remaining enemies/hazards.

• It is rather important that you gain the Mirkwood Water from the Fate Meter as this will be super useful in the next scenario.

• Use Will of Steel or the Ulahid Herbs Fate Event to clear the quest hazard allowing you to travel to Scenario 3 (hopefully on the first round).

Scenario Three: 'A Fresh Dilemma'

• Immediately use the Mirkwood Water to exhaust Kirous and proceed to beat him up with Gimli and Eowyn.

• Travel as soon as you can (hopefully on this first round!) Remember, it's always a good idea to wait until Sauron passes first.

Scenario Four: 'A Timely Rescue'

• If you have it and the resources to play it, now is the time to use Spear Wall.

• The quest ends once you defeat all enemies, so put your three (wo)man army to good use. Don't worry about freeing the trapped spider hostage.

• It's not unusual to have a hero become disabled due to one of Sauron's event cards so it's probably best to be prepared for this by utilising Gimli early in the round or use him to block so you get the reciprocal damage on an enemy.

• That's about it! This Scenario should only take 1-3 rounds to beat.

That's it! I've been able to successfully replicate this guide several times and feel that it's a solid strategy to tick up some of that no allies progress. Feel free to ask any questions or make and suggestions on the deck or the guide.

Oh and one last thing! Chuck on some headphones and listen to some music/podcasts, or watch some Netflix in the background!