Some links on LotR deckbuilding

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I'm super tired today, so just hanging out around the house mostly reading some LotR forums. I've had pretty good luck with the game using Leadership and Spirit decks, and combinations of Leadership and Spirit, but not much luck with Tactics at all. Lore seems to work ok with Leadership, not too well on its own.

At the moment, I'm working a 2 core set Leadership/Spirit deck, and looking for information on building a Tactics/Lore (or Lore/Tactics) deck. The two core sets means I'm able to provide 3 Gandalf for each deck.

Spefically, I want to roll in Bilbo for Hunt for Gollum AP.

Spirit and Spirit/Tactics

Here's link on BGG with a claim that the 2d and 3rd scenarios can be beaten with base Spirit and Tactics decks. That's a pretty bold claim for the 3rd scenario. I wish I knew whether it was valid.

Escape from Dol Goldur

This person used a four sphere deck from the core set. That's pretty interesting, might well be worth a shot.

Tactics mono on Mirkwood

According to this thread on BGG, it's definitely possible to win the Mirkwood scenario with a Tactics deck from one core set. Given this information, I'm thinking that the 2 or 3 core set might well be workable.

Reading another thread, yet another new player crows about winning with Tactics mono deck. Pretty lucky.

Stand Together

"Stand Together" does not seem to be a popular card in many decks, but I think it might have a good role in a Tactics mono deck. Here's some Stand Together discussion.

The way Stand Together works is by allowing several defenders to combine their defense factor against a single enemy. The defenders still exhaust. Any left over damage has to be dealt to a single defender.

In the Passage Through Mirkwood quest, this card could be the difference between saving allies for another turn instead of using them as meatshields. That could be incredibly useful in cases where the enemy cannot be taken out in a single turn. I think this card is more useful than people think, especially with enemies having low attack value where the attacks can be completely defended against. I guess I'll see how it works when I'm able to get it into play.

Threat 0?

Somehow, this person is claiming to be able to get Threat down to 0. That's quite a trick, and might be worth seeing if I can do the same.

Tricolor deck for fast cycling

This sounds too good to believe, cycling full deck nearly twice in a game.

I don't use card pulling well enough. It's probably worth it to do more of it.

Single hero? Ledership can do it

Same dude with the tricolor deck, here's the session report. A single hero can leave enemies in the staging area for a long time, long enough to build up loads of useful allies. I'll have to play the tricolor deck again more carefully.

Refresh Actions

It turns out that there is an Event window at the end of the Refresh Phase. Check out the discussion on Gandalf and Word of Command combo.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.