LotR 22 - Mirkwood 16

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Mirkwood again, this time with a Lore mono deck from 2 core sets.

Time: 4:37.

Initial draw:

  1. Forest Snare
  2. Hennamarth Riversong
  3. Self Preservation
  4. Lore of Imladris
  5. Dark Knowledge
  6. Gleowine

No mulligan.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Exhaust Beravor, draw Henamarth Riversong & Gandalf, play Henamarth Riversong, Necromancer's Reach is next, will sacrifice Henamarth this round and keep it.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel and Denethor, net +1 P on Flies and Spiders. Draw Necromancer's Reach, each take 1 D. Henamarth eliminated.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, ready Glorfindel.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Glorfindel defends, Shadow none, Glorindel +2 D.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Time: 4:49.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Play Lore of Imladris and Henamarth Riversong. Henamarth finds next encounter Dol Goldur Orcs, put on bottom of deck. Draw Ungoliant's Spawn. Crap. I don't have enough Resource to play Forest Snare. At least with nobody committed to quest, no loss of will. FWIW.
  3. Quest: none. Threat 34.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Ungoliant's Spawn.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends against Ungoliant, Shadow none, net +3 D, Denethor is 3 D, dead. Glorfindel defends, Shadow Hummerhorn, 1 D on every character which kills Henamarth, +2 D on Glorfindel. Beravor does net 1 D on Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: 35.

Time: 5:01.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Beorn's Hospitality.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Ungoliant's Spawn.
  3. Quest: none.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Beravor defends, Shadow none, no effect. Glorfindel attacks net +2 D on Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: 36.

Time: 5:04.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 3, draw Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: none, draw King Spider. OFFS. Exhaust Glorfindel.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: engage King Spider, play Forest Snare.
  6. Combat: Beravor defends against Forest Spider, Shadow discard attachment, boohoo, don't have none.
  7. Refresh: 37.

Time: 5:09.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 2, draw Beorn's Hospitality.
  2. Planning: Play Gleowine.
  3. Quest: Gleowine, draw King Spider. Dang. Exhaust Glorfindel. This is probably the game here.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: King Spider.
  6. Combat: Beravor defends Forest Spider, Shadow none, no damage. King Spider is undefended, Shadow none, net +3 D on either Beravor or Glorfindel, choose Beravor.
  7. Refresh: 38.

Time: 5:14.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 2, draw Secret Paths.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: none, draw Forest Gate.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: all in.
  6. Combat: Glorfindel is dead.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Time: 5:16.

AAR

Lore seems to me to be as hard as Tactics to play mono deck. This is my second play of it, and it's as bad a loss as my first IIRC. Lore really suffers from lack of resources and combat. With a location-heavy encounter play, it could probably quest to victory pretty well. Had this been a Tactics deck I almost surely would have won it by now with so many enemies and so few locations.

Score:

  • Rounds: -60
  • Heros: -30
  • Victory Points: 0
  • Damage: -
  • Threat: 39

Total: -129.

Time: 5:22.

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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.