Passage Through Mirkwood

Starting with the first Nightmare difficulty quest, Passage Through Mirkwood. This quest has a ton of spiders, and extra exhaustion effects to keep even the strongest heroes locked down. The nightmare setup adds 1 extra encounter card beyond the Forest Spider and Old Forest Road, and the first time I tried it, I got a treachery which exhausted all three of my heroes, so I had to play the first turn without any questing or defense. I still managed to win, eventually, so let's see how it goes.

My first hand:
Eric draws 'Hidden Cache'
Eric draws 'Elfhelm'
Eric draws 'Beorn'
Eric draws 'Vilya'
Eric draws 'A Test of Will'
Eric draws 'Beorn'

That has Vilya, which is an automatic keep every time. Some hands without Vilya are ok, but usually the mulligan choice is a simple Vilya or no?

The extra encounter card is Ungoliant's Brood, which will prevent my cards from reading the round I engage it. And, with 31 engagement cost against my 36 starting threat, I will be engaging it this turn.

First round:
Draw Nenya, top of deck is Gandalf's Staff. Total of 5 Threat in the staging area, and two 3-str attacks coming to engage this turn.

I chose to play the Staff off the top, revealing Faramir. I then exhaust the staff for +1 resource, play Vilya, and exhaust Elrond to get Faramir into play (revealing Warden of Healing). I'm planning on just taking all attacks undefended this round, but I also need to save characters for next round, since I won't be able to ready anyone. Therefore, I quest with Gandalf and Faramir (Faramir stays ready, thanks to Galadriel) for 5 total, against 5 Threat.

Forest Flies (4 Threat!) are revealed - they will also deal 1 damage to each exhausted character, and then make a 1 str attack. I fail in my quest, raising my Threat by 4 to 40!

I travel to Old Forest Road, and ready Gandalf. With all enemies engaging this turn, on the bright side the staging area will be clear next turn, so questing should be easy. I engage all 3 foes (my cards can't ready, and Elrond takes 1 damage), and deal out 3 shadow cards. Now the most dangerous time - taking undefended attacks!

First, one of the 3 attack - shadow card is Necromancer's Reach - yay! No effect, and a dangerous treachery gone. Galadriel takes 3 damage.
Next, Faramir defends the other 3 attack. Luky me - this is the one with a Shadow effect if Undefended! Faramir takes 1 damage.
Lastly, I take a 1 attack undefended. Again, no shadow effect. I escape mostly unharmed (Elrond takes 1 damage)
Gandalf then exhausts to attack and kill the Forest Flies, just to decrease the number of Shadow cards I will have to face next turn.

Refresh: raise threat, ready nothing.

Round 2:
Draw that Warden of Healing, revealing Gwaihir. I would like to play the Warden, and fortunately I've drawn Galadriel's ring, which will give her the Lore Icon to allow that. Spend all resources to play the Ring and Warden, and quest for 1 (without exhausting) against an empty staging area.

I reveal eyes of the forest, which forces me to discard my Hidden Cache and Test of Will, all-in-all not very damaging. I make 1 progress on the Old Forest Road, and move on to combat (saving Galadriel to draw a card and reduce my threat, which I do now to try for an Elrond's Counsel, but seeing Silvan Refugee on top)

Two attacks come my way, one at 3, one at 2, both going undefended. I'll take the 3 first (but first, exhaust the warden to heal Elrond and Galadriel, then use Elrond's response for each, healing both of them for 2 points). The Shadow effect is to resolve one from the discard, which is exhaust all characters (luckily, they are already exhausted). Gandalf takes 3 damage. The second effect is blank, Galadriel takes 2 damage.

Refresh, ready everyone, and raise threat back to 41.

Round 3:
Draw the Refugee (Hand is 2x Beoren, Elfhelm, Gwaihir, and a soon-to-be-played Refugee). Reveal Runes atop the deck. In the Resource phase, play the Runes with Gandalf. I draw Will of the West and Unexpected Courage, revealing Dwarven Tomb. I discard my 2nd Beoren.

I don't want to lose Galadriel to another Necromancer's Reach, so I use Gandalf's Resource to play the Tomb, getting back my Test of Will, and revealing an Expert Treasure Hunter. I still need to find something to Vilya, so I exhaust Galadriel to draw it (playing it on Gandalf), and use the Warden of Healing now to heal her (and Gandalf). The new card is Light of Valinor.

With no threat in the staging area, I abandon my search for a strong ally in my deck, and just play the Refugee, leaving one resource on Elrond. I quest with Gandalf and the (non-exhausting) Refugee for 5 total. The encounter card is Glade of the Spawn (4 threat), so I exhaust Faramir to add 2 willpower, allowing me to quest for 7 against 4, and clear the Old Forest Road (and 1 quest progress!). I take a wild guess and name "attachment" for Expert Treasure Hunter, and take the Light into hand.

Amazingly, I finally reveal something worth using Vilya on: Gildor Inglorion! Elrond exhausts, and I get a different 3/2/3 character, and one who comes with the ability to put the expensive allies in my hand back on top for future Vilyas. The new card is Unexpected Courage.

Now I again have a 3 and a 2 attack to deal with. I exhaust Gildor to block the 3 attack, and reveal the 2nd Necromancer's Reach as the shadow card - excellent! Gildor takes no damage. For the second attack, I use Gandalf's Staff to discard the shadow card, and just take the 2 damage undefended on Gandalf. The shadow card didn't have an effect, but better safe than sorry.

End of round, I refresh, return my threat to 41, and move on to

Round 4:
My hand is:
2x Unexpected Courage
1x Light of Valinor (which I immediately play on Elrond)
Will of the West
A Test of Will
Beoren, Gwaihir, and Elfhem.

I exhaust Gildor and see my top 3 cards are:
Danereon's Runes, A Burning Brand, and Flame of Anor.

I swap A Burning Brand for Beoren, Exhaust Elrond to play him, and then play Danereon's Runes from the top with Gandalf. I draw the Flame and an Elrond's Council. My new top card is Zigil Miner, and I discard the Will of the West (since I'm not Mining, I won't run out of cards in my deck any time soon, and I'm about to start questing much more heavily).

I attach and use Unexpected Courage to ready Elrond, and save one resource on Gandalf.

Gandalf, Elrond, Refugee, and Beoren all quest, for 9 willpower against zero threat. East Blight Patrol adds 3 threat, so I am currently making 6 progress. I want to advance quest stages this phase, which will require 11 total progress. I exhaust Galadriel to add 4, and play Elrond's Council (Threat to 38) for the last point. On to stage 2! Expert Treasure Hunter gets me the Miner, and I reveal the Ring of Brahir (+2 HP for Gandalf, to keep soaking those undefended attacks!).

I have 3 attacks coming, two 3s, and one 2. I have 4 ready characters, a 2/3, 1/2, 3/3, and a warden of healing. I also have Gandalf's Staff to discard a shadow card, and a Flame of Anor, so he could make a 4 str attack if desired.

Faramir defends the 2-attack. The shadow card would have discarded all attachments if undefended. No damage.

Elrond defends a 3-attack. The shadow forces me to exhaust my Warden of Healing. No damage.

I take the third attack undefended, discarding the shadow card, and taking 3 damage on Elrond.

Beoren activates his ability, and takes out the Brood, shuffling himself back into the deck.
Before that happens, I use Flame of Anor to ready Gandalf, and kill off the East Blight Patrol. I'm now only facing one 2-damage attack each round, which the Warden of Healing and Gandalf's Staff can handle (or any of my other defenders, of course). Refugee gets discarded

Refresh, and draw my second Flame of Anor, raising my threat to 39.

Round 5:
My top card is another Dwarven Tomb, which I draw with Galadriel (since stage 2 is only 2 quest points, and I have no staging area or active location). This reveals Elrond's Council, which I play in the Resource Phase, just for the threat reduction and card advantage.
Planning Phase, I play another Runes off the top, drawing Treasure Hunter and Elrond's Council, and discarding the Zigil Miner. Elrond gets the Treasure Hunter, Gildor exhausts to see Arwen, Hidden Cache, and another Miner. I take Arwen into hand, replacing her with Elfhelm.
I play Arwen naturally, and exhaust Unexpected Courage and Vilya to play Elfhelm. One resource stays on Gandalf, and we move to Questing

Arwen, Elfhelm, Elrond, and Gandalf all quest. The encounter card is The Spider's Web, which exhausts Elrond, and attaches to Galadriel. She will now take 1 damage whenever she readies (currently, she has 1 damage). With no threat, I finish quest stage 2, and move on to flip for Don't Leave the Path or Beoren's Path. I get Beoren's path, which means I will need to quest hard next Round. I take Hidden Cache and Miner into hand from Hunting Treasure, and get 2 resources on Elrond, since the Cache is technically discarded first.

For combat, Arwen defends, giving herself +1 defense, and Gandalf discards the shadow card so she takes no damage. Gandalf then readies with Flame, discarding Landroval, and smushes that Forest Spider that has been bugging me since initial setup. Warden of Healing brings all heroes to 1 damage each, and we move on to

Round 6:
My threat is 36, Galadriel takes an extra damage, I draw Miner of the Iron Hills, and my top card is Hasty Stroke (draw with Galadriel), then Unexpected Courage (play with Gandalf, on Gandalf), then another Gildor.

I quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen (+defense to Elfhelm), and Gildor. That is 11 willpower against zero threat, needing 10 quest points. I await the encounter deck...Enchanted Stream. This is only 2 threat, so I play Elrond's Council, get it back with Dwarven Tomb and play it again, bringing my Threat down to 29. I exhaust the Warden of Healing to heal Galadriel and Elrond, then spend Elrond's last 2 resources to ready him, and heal Gandalf and Faramir. I make 11 progress, winning the game!

Final Score: 5 full rounds + 29 threat + 0 damage/dead heroes - 2 VP (Flames of Anor) = 77 points.

That's about as good as this deck can do, as the primary driver is the number of rounds, and the likely pattern will be:

Round 1: full staging area, no progress
Round 2: Active location, lots of enemies, little progress
Round 3: Finish stage 1
Round 4: Stage 2
Round 5: Stage 3

In this game, having none of my stuff ready on Round 1 caused Round 2 to be just treading water, and pushed all future actions back one round. If I had gotten the other path, I would not quite have had enough attack to finish off the spawn in the same round, although if I had saved Beoren, I could have.