LotR 30 - Passage Through Mirkwood (22) (Lore mono win)

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Playing this with a 38 card pure core lore (v1.1) deck built from two sets. I expect to use some of the cards as discards for boosting power and card draw. If it works, I'll probably add a few more cards to the deck such as Gandalf's Search expressly for discards.

Initial hand:

  1. Forest Snare
  2. Lorien's Waelth
  3. Lorien's Wealth
  4. Gleowine
  5. Lore of Imladris
  6. Self Preservation

Time: 1:28

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Erebor H.
  2. Planning: play Gleowine.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel, Gleowine, Beravor, draw Eyes of the Forest, discard both Lorien's Wealth and the Lore of Imladris from hand. That's brutal. Net 3 P on quest card.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, ready Glorfindel.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, draw Shadow for discard attachment, but don't have any. Denethor takes no damage, Glorfindel deals 2 D on Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Time: 1:39

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Self Preservation.
  2. Planning: play Erebor. Denethor scries, finds Caught in a Web, to the bottom of the deck with that.
  3. Quest: Beravor and Gleowin, draw Black Forest Bats, remove Gleowine from quest, net 1 P on Old Forest Road.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Black Forest Bats.
  6. Combat: Black Forest Bats undefended, draw Shadow, Glorfindel takes one D. Erebor defends Forest Spider, draw Shadow, exhaust Glorfindel. If I get another enemy from the deck next turn, this may cost me the game. It has definitely added at least one turn to the game. Erebor takes 1 D.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Time: 1:47

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Lore of Imladris.
  2. Planning: I need more allies. Beravor will have to draw. Losing two Lorien's Wealth really hurt. Beravor drawing is going to put me another turn behind on the quest. Draw Miner of the Iron Hills and play it.
  3. Quest: Gleowine, Erebor, draw Necromancer's Reach, deal 1 D to each exhausted character, net 2 P on Old Forest Road which is now cleared.
  4. Encounter: none.
  5. Travel: none.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends against Forest Spider, draw Shadow +1 for hits, but no effect on Denethor. Glorfindel takes Black Forest Bats undefended…draw Shadow no effect, Lucky! Glorfindel kills Forest Spider, Miner of Iron Hills kills Black Forest Bats.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Not looking too bad, really. With a lucky card draw and quest, I could get through Stage 1 next round.

Time: 1:57

Round 4

  1. Resource: 6, draw Beorn's Hospitality. Hrm.
  2. Planning: Denethor scries East Bight Patrol, to the bottom because that card swings for 3 hits, and only Denethor could deal with it right now.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Gleowine, Erebor, Glorfindel, draw Chieftain Ufthak. Crap. Good thing I have a Forest Snare and enough resources to use it. He doesn't come out until 35 Threat anyway, so I have another before it's mandatory engagement. Flies and Spiders (Stage 1) is cleared.
  4. Travel: none. Would like to get some locations here. Seems like all the plays I've been doing with Lore mono aren't drawing locations.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Time: 2:05

Round 5

  1. Resource: 9, draw Lorien's Wealth.
  2. Planning: play Lorien's Wealth, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel, Dark Knowledge, Miner of the Iron Hills. Not bad. Denethor scries Ungoliant's Spawn. To the bottom of the deck! Self Preservation on GLorfindel.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Glorfindel, Erebor, Gleowine, draw Necromancer's Pass. Good thing I quested with everyone, because that thing is 3 Threat. I'll have to discard 2 cards at random to travel there. If I lose the Forest Snare, that would hurt, as I have to deal with Ungoliant's Spawn at the same time. Dang. I have Ungoliant and Ufthak in the Staging Area. Unless I draw some Gandalf, this is not going to go well for me.
  4. Travel: Necromancer's Pass, discard Daughter of the Nimrodel and Beorn's Hospitality. Lucky.
  5. Encounter: Ungoliant.
  6. Combat: Miner of the Iron Hills defends, Shadow none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Time: 2:30

Round 6

  1. Resource: 6, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Ungoliant.
  3. Quest: Beravor and Miner, draw King Spider. That's bad news, and probably the game. Again, no locations, always with the enemies. Threat 36.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Ufthak and King Spider.
  6. Combat: Glorfindel defends Ufthak, Shadow Hummerhorns, deal 1 D to each charactAer. Erebor is out, +2 D on Glorfindel. No damage on Denethor.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Time: 2:39

Round 7

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gandalf, like 1 round too late.
  2. Planning: Gandalf, takes out King Spider. Denethor scries Enchanted Stream, Beravor draws Erebor and Secret Paths.
  3. Quest: commit nobody, draw Enchanted Stream, play Secret Paths on that thing.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Gleowine Defends (!?), draw Shadow to discard attachment, none. Gleowine is toast. Deal 4 D on Ufthak from Gandalf and Glorfindel. I have no allies out. If I get another enemy, I'm toast.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Time: 2:48

Round 8

  1. Resource: 4, draw Erebor.
  2. Planning: play Erebor.
  3. Quest: none, draw Dol Goldur Orcs, 2 D to Glorfindel, Self Preservation to get those back. Threat 42. Can't win it. Maybe should have put the Gandalf damage on Ungoliant and taken the hits elsewhere, hard to say.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Erebor defends, Shadow draw no effect, Erebor dead. Denethor defends, Shadow draw no effect. Beravor and Glorfindel kill Ufthak.

Time: 2:58

Round 9

  1. Resource: 5, draw Secret Paths.
  2. Planning: Erebor for 2.
  3. Quest: none, draw Forest Gate, play Secret Paths Threat 44.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, Shadow draw +1 attack, net 1 D to Denethor. Erebor kills Dol Goldur Orcs. Glorfindel and Beravor put 3 D on Ungoliant.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Time: 3:03

Round 10

  1. Resource: 5, draw Henamarth.
  2. Planning: play Henamarth and Miner of Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: none, this will be the last round, draw Dol Goldur Beastmaster. I think I got very lucky and won this one. Threat is now 49.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Beastmaster.
  6. Combat: Miner defends, Shadow double draw, no effect, Miner is dead. Glorfindel, Beravor, Denethor, Erebor and Henamarth apply 8 hits to Ungoliant, net 6 D, she is dead.

I'm calling this a win right here, as the rules say "If at least one player survives through the completion of the final stage of the scenario, the game ends in a victory for the players. (Emphasis mine.)

It does not say players must "survive until the end of the round with Threat below 50." It might have could have said that, but it doesn't. I'm taking this as very clean win. It was chancy there early going.

Score:

Rounds: 100 Threat: 49 VP: 4 Damage: 4

Total: 157.

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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.