LotR 27 - Passage Through Mirkwood 21 (Lore mono)

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Last game was a pretty quick loss, just got too overwhelmed with enemies at the last stage.

As mentioned in that writeup, this game uses extra cards from a second core set to get a bit more horsepower. Specifically, extra Forest Snare, Secret Paths, etc. Just a few cards, 6-8 or so, but it really should help.

After a mulligan, here's the initial draw:

  1. Self Preservation
  2. Forest Snare
  3. Beorn's Hospitality
  4. Secret Paths
  5. Miner of the Iron Hils
  6. Radagast's Cunning

Time: 12:54

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Radagast's Cunning.
  2. Planning: None, save R.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel, Beravor, Denethor for 6 W, draw East Bight Patrol. Dang. If I didn't have some card to negate the Threat, this would pretty much be the end of the game right here. Pay 2 and play both Radagast's Cunning to negate East Bight and Forest Spider, net 5 P.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road. Ready Glorfindel.
  5. Encounter: East Bight and Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: have to take these both as undefended, no choice. I maybe should have played the Miner of the Iron Hills to soak this up. Forest Spider on Beravor, no Shadow, 3 D. East Bight on Glorfindel, Shadow none, 3 D on Glorfindel. Glorfindel attacks East Bight for the kill.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

I'm not in a good place right now. I'll need to get the Forest Snare deployed this coming turn, and hope for a location.

Time: 1:03 pm.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Gandalf's Search. Useless to me at the moment.
  2. Planning: play Forest Snare, pay 3.
  3. Quest: Beravor and Glorfindel, won't be enough to clear the Stage, but will help. Draw Caught in a Web. Attach to Denethor. Net 5 P, clear Old Forest Road.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: 32 Threat.

Not a bad turn.

Time: 1:09 pm.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: Pay 2 for Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: Beravor and Denethor, draw Dol Goldur Orcs. Dang. But Flies and Spiders is done.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Miner of the Iron Hills defends against DGO, Shadow none, 1 D on Miner. Glorfindel swings for 3 on DGO for the kill.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Time: 1:15 pm.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Self Preservation, which makes 2 in my hand, need to get that attached soonest.
  2. Planning: play Beorn's Hospitality, heal all damage on all heroes, not a moment too soon either.
  3. Quest: Beravor and Glorfindel, need to get to last stage asap, draw Driven by Shadow. Since there are no cards in Staging, surge for Great Forest Web. Net 3 P, A Fork in the Road is cleared. Don't Leave the Path comes up, will choose Ungoliant's Spawn for the spider.
  4. Travel: none. Will play Secret Path's next round to mitigate Great Forest Web threat.
  5. Encounter: Ungoliant's Spawn.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends. Shadow none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Time: 1:25 pm.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 3, draw Protector of Lorien.
  2. Planning: Self Preservation onto Denethor. I need resources!
  3. Quest: none. Could be bad. Draw Forest Spider. Dammit. Threat 38.
  4. Travel: Exhaust Glorfindel to travel to Great Forest Web.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Forest Spider undefended, Shadow none, 3 hits on Glorfindel. Denethor defends Ungoliant, Shadow none, 2 D on Denethor.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Time: 1:30 pm.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 3, draw Henamarth Riversong.
  2. Planning: Self Preservation on Glorfindel, pay 3. This is getting tense.
  3. Quest: none, draw Enchanted Stream, Threat 41. Ugh. 4, Travel: none.
  4. Encounter: none.
  5. Combat: Denethor defends against Ungoliant's Spawn, Shadow none, 2 D. Forest Spider undefended, Shadow none, 2 hits to Glorfindel. Miner, Glorfindel and Beravor attack Ungoliant for net 4 D. I smell a potential win here.
  6. Refresh: Threat 42.

Time: 1:37 pm.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 3, draw Lore of Imladris.
  2. Planning: play Henamarth Riversong and Erebor Hammersmith, pay 3. I think I may have it this round, if I just get lucky a little bit on the Encounter draw.
  3. Quest: none, draw Chieftain Ufthak. That's not lucky. That's about as unlucky as it gets. Threat 46.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Chieftain comes out.
  6. Combat: Forest Spider defended by Miner of the Iron Hills, Shadow requires exhaust, will exhaust Hennamarth. This is probably the game, so many bad cards in a row, nothing I can do, won't have enough mojo to kill Ungoliant this turn, threat will go to 50 next turn. Miner of the Iron Hills is dead. Denethor defends on Ungoliant's Spawn, Shadow is Hummerhorns, 1 damage to each character. Dang. Henamart is dead. Denethor is dead. Erebor defends against Chieftain Ufthak, Shadow none, Erebor is dead. Glorfindel and Beravor swing for 6, net 4 D on Ungoliant for 8 D total, and that's not enough, and that's the game.
  7. Refresh: Threat 47.

Time: 1:52 pm.

This was pretty close. If I hadn't had ALL BAD CARDS IN A ROW on the last turn, I would have won it. Seriously, even one less of those cards would have been a win.

Score:

  • Rounds: -70
  • Threat: -47
  • Heroes: -30
  • VP: 0

Total: -147.

I'm taking the heroes as all dead because they would have all died on the next turn anyway.

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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.