LotR 31 - Carrock 3

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Third play of Conflict at the Carrock using one Beorn's Path decks from RingsDB.

Initial draw:

  1. Forest Snare
  2. Faramir
  3. For Gondor!
  4. A Burning Brand
  5. Forest Snare
  6. Snowbourn Scout

This is not a bad hand, normally, but we would want the Forest Snares in hand later in the game given the upcoming Boss Fight. I'm going to play it out and see what happens.

I'm taking time on this game, but I do need to do chores as well, so the game play is going to stretch quite a bit. I may take time before the rounds start as well as after the end of a round.

Time: 8:32

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Valiant Sacrifice.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Aragorn, draw Muck Adder (crap), no net progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Muck Adder.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, draw Shadow none, no effect. Aragorn puts 3 D on Muck Adder.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Time: 8:39

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: play Faramir.
  3. Quest: Faramir, Aragorn, Theodred, ready Aragorn, draw Despair to remove 4 P from quest stage. Not sure what to do here as there are no P on the quest, but would otherwise place 3 on as a result of the quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends against Muck Adder, no Shadow effect, Aragorn kills it.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

I spent some extra time in here looking up rules for what happens when quest spills over from Despair Treachery pulled from Encounter, couldn't find a definitive resolution so decided to work in my favor and not put any Progress out.

Time: 8:52

Round 3

Time: 9:14

I'm trying to get some other things done between turns. It's not really working out yet as I feel really drug out. Probably don't have enough caffeine in me yet, my consumption has been ramping up.

  1. Resource: 5, draw Secret Paths, could be useful if Langflood comes up again.
  2. Planning: Burning Brand on Denethor. I really need to get Steward of Gondor in play.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Faramir and Aragorn, draw Muck Adder. That's both of them in this deck. Net 2 P on quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Muck Adder.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, draw Wargs, Shadow canceled. Aragorn puts 3 D on Muck Adder.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31. I need to get Threat controlled.

Time: 9:21

Round 4

Time: 9:44

  1. Resource: 6, draw Secret Paths.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Aragorn, Denethor for 5 W, draw Grimbeorn! Awesome. If I can only get him into play. Net 3 on quest. I need to get my Will lowered, or this is going to be very fast game. Net 3 for 5 total P on quest. Will need to start scrying now.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Muck Added, Denethor defends, no shadow, Aragorn kills Muck Adder.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Time: 9:49

Round 5

  1. Resource: 9, draw Protector of Lorien.
  2. Planning: Protector of Lorien on Aragorn. Denethor scries River Langflood, we'll take it!
  3. Quest: Aragorn, Theodred Faramir, nets 1 P on Grimbeorn's Quest for 6 total, skating on thin ice here.
  4. Travel: River Langflood.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Really going to have a lot of trouble here if I can't reduce the threat.

Time: 9:55

Round 6

  1. Resource: 12, draw Gandalf, excellent.
  2. Planning. Denethor scries Marsh Adder, let's put him at the bottom of the deck and hope nothing worse appears. Play Snowbourn Scout and put 1 P on River Langflood.
  3. Quest: Theodred and Aragorn and Faramir for 5, draw Hill Troll, bummer. That's potentially a game killer. Only Aragorn can deal with this, and if there is a bad Shadow effect, we're done. River Langflood is cleared.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Hill Troll.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends, draw Shadow to remove 1 P from quest. Lucky. Aragorn takes 4 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Time: 10:17

Round 7

Time: 10:31

I'm not really getting a lot done in between turns, but I might, so I'm keeping after it.

  1. Resource: 14, draw Guard of the Citadel, which is a Gondor card, which is good for playing For Gondor!
  2. Planning: Pay 8 to bring in Grimbeorn as an ally. This leaves me with being able to bring in either Gandalf, or Daughter of Nimrodel, but not both. Denethor scries Banks of the Anduin, which is good. I only need to quest 3 to manage current Threat.
  3. Quest: Theodred. Faramir, draw Banks of Anduin for net 0, R to Denethor.
  4. Travel: Banks of Anduin.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Grimbeorn defends against Hill Troll, Shadow none, takes 3 D. Aragorn and Grimbeorn attack Hill Troll, deal 4 D.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Time: 10:44

Round 8

Time: 10:51

  1. Resource: 10, draw Son of Arnor, which is excellent for engaging.
  2. Planning: Denethor scries another Muck Adder, surely the last one. Play Guard of Citadel. Play Daughter of Nimrodel, heal 2 on Aragorn.
  3. Quest: Theodred and Aragorn, draw Muck Adder, net 0 P.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Muck Adder.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn defends from Muck Adder, draw Shadow none, pay 1 for Valiant Sacrifice draw Sneak Attack and Dunedain Warning. Grimbeorn takes 3 more from Hill Troll, Shadow is other Hill Troll! Grimbeorn, Aragorn and Guard of Citadel kill Hill Troll. Faramir puts 1 D on Muck Adder.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Time: 11:08

Round 9

  1. Resource: 7, draw Daughter of Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Denethor scries Goblin Sniper. Time to play Son of Arnor I think. Not yet, we'll let this one go one round. Daughter heals Aragorn 2 Hits.
  3. Quest: Aragorn, Theodred and Faramir, draw Goblin Sniper, net 1 P on Banks of Anduin.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends Muck Adder, Shadow Wolf Rider, crap. Grimbeorn defends, Shadow no effect, no damage on Grimbeorn. Guard of Citadel deals 1 D to Muck Adder.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Time: 11:33

Round 10

Time: 11:38

  1. Resource: 10, draw Valiant Sacrifice. I need another Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Sneak Attack to lower threat to 32 with Gandalf. Play Daughter of Nimrodel, heal total 4 on Beorn. Wolf Rider is next up, no need to scry.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Aragorn and Faramir, net 0, draw Wolf Rider.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Wolf Rider.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends on Wolf Rider, Shadow remove 1 P from current quest. Cool. Aragorn finishes off Muck Adder. Gandalf defends against Wolf Rider, Shadow none, Grimbeorn kills Wolf Rider. Gandalf back to hand.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Time: 11:48

Round 11

  1. Resource: 9, draw Dunedain Mark.
  2. Planning: Denethor scries The East Bight, no problem! Daughters heal up everyone.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Faramir, Aragorn, Guard for 7, draw The East Bight, net 2 P clears Banks of Anduin which goes back on the deck.
  4. Travel: The East Bight.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Time: 12:00

Round 11

Time: 12:10

  1. Resource: 12, draw Rivendell Minstrell. Don't need this right yet.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Grimbeorn, Guard, Daughter, Faramir for 9 W, draw Banks of the Anduin, net 6, clear The East Bight. Add 1 R.
  4. Travel: Banks of the Anduin.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Sniper.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, Shadow negated by Burning Brand, Aragorn kills Goblin Sniper.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Time: 12:18

Round 12

  1. Resource: 16, draw Song of Kings, which I don't really need at the moment. But it only costs 1 so I should probably play it.
  2. Planning: Rivendell Minstrel. Dunedain Mark to Aragorn. Dunedain Warning to Aragorn. Denethor scries Massing at Night, send to bottom of the deck.
  3. Quest: We want to get through 1 more quest round before bringing out the trolls I think. Theodred, Rivendell, Daughters, Faramir, draw Misty Mountain Goblins, not bad, can deal with these no problem.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Misty Mountain Goblins.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends, no Shadow from Banks of Anduin, Grimbeorn kills.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Time: 12:36

Round 13

  1. Resource: 14, draw Dunedain Mark.
  2. Planning: Dunedain Mark to Aragorn. Denethor scries River Langflood. This is what lost the last game, send it to the bottom. Play Gandalf, Threat 31.
  3. Quest: Let's get the trolls now. Theodred, Daughters, Rinvendell Minstrel, Faramir, draw Oakwood Grove, Stage 1 is clear.
  4. Travel: The Carrock.
  5. Encounter: Morris.
  6. Combat: Grimbeorn defends against Morris, Shadow no effect. Grimbeorn, Gandalf and Aragorn attack with 13, Morris is le toast.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

I think I can win this thing if I'm careful.

Time: 12:49

Round 14

  1. Resource: 12, draw Gandalf, excellent.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf, Threat 27. Play Son of Arnor to draw in Rupert. Denethor scries Banks of the Anduin, awesome.
  3. Quest: Daughters, Rivendell Minstrel, Theodred, Guard, Faramir, net 4 P on Carrock. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Secret Paths on Oakwood Grove, net 6 to clear Carrock.
  4. Travel: Oakwood Grove.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Grimbeorn defends, Shadow knocks out defense strength, Grimbeorn takes 4 D. Aragorn, Gandalf, Grimbeorn kill Rupert.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Time: 1:06

Round 15

  1. Resource: 8, draw Celebrian's Stone, which I don't really need.
  2. Planning: Daughter heals 2 from Grimbeorn. Denethor scries Oakwood Grove, I'll take it.
  3. Quest: Aragorn, Rivendell Minstrel, Daughter, Faramir for net 3 which clears Oakwood Grove and puts 2 on Stage 2. Secret Paths played on Oakwood Grove which was scried.
  4. Travel: Oakwood Grove.
  5. Encounter: Stuart
  6. Combat: Grimbeorn defends, Shadow none, takes 1 D. Aragorn, Grimbeorn Son of Arnor, Theodred and Guard of Citadel attack swinging for 14, Stuart is post toastee.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Time: 1:18

Round 16

  1. Resource: 9, draw Daughter of Nimrodel. I've been playing this wrong. Daughter of Nimrodel cannot heal Grimbeorn. Crap a doodle. I'll take him out of play and put 8 D on Stuart. That should even it.
  2. Planning: play Forest Snare on Stuart. Denethor scries Sacked! send that bad boy to the bottom.
  3. Quest: Theodred (R to Denethor) Rivendell Minstrel, Daughter, Guard, Faramir for 8 W, draw Roasted Slowly for no effect, clear Oakwood Grove and 4 P to Quest.
  4. Travel: Banks of Anduin.
  5. Encounter: Louis.
  6. Combat: Daughter defends against Louis, Shadow remove 2 D from Troll, which doesn't have any, so there. Threat 32. Aragorn and Son of Arnor attack Louis for 5 D.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Time: 1:31

Round 17

  1. Resource: 10, draw Protector of Lorien.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Louis. Denethor scries River Langflood, I've got this now.
  3. Quest: Rivendell Minstrel, Daughter, Faramir, clears Banks of Anduin.
  4. Travel: River Langflood.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Theodred and Son of Arnor put 2 D on Stuart for the kill, play For Gondor to get +1 for Guard and Aragorn to kill Louis.

And that's the slightly tainted win.

Time: 1:39

Long game.

Score:

  • Rounds: 170
  • Damage: none
  • VP: -4
  • Threat: 33

Total: 199.

AAR

I played this slightly wrong in a couple of ways, some favoring me, others favoring the game. Notably:

  1. Daughters of the Nimrodel healed 5-6 D from Grimbeorn at one point. This is wrong, Daughters are only allowed to heal heroes. What I did to remediate is take Grimbeorn out about where I thought he would have been done in, and put the troll back in play without the damage Grimbeorn would have inflicted.

  2. Not playing Forest Snare when appropriate. Had I remembered to play the Forest Snare correctly, I probably would have saved Grimbeorn.

  3. Forgetting to use Valiant Sacrifice. This cost me a For Gondor! and a Sneak Attack at the least.

There may be more mistakes, hard to say. This isn't exactly a clean win, but with the cards played correctly as drawn, this was a winning game. Having experience with what a winning game "feels like" is important. I may play this again in the future, but for now, I'm moving to "A Journey to Rhosgobel." That's supposed to be a fairly interesting scenario, and one for which I'll need to use a different deck.

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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.