LotR 32 - A Journey to Rhosgobel (1)

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Since beating Conflict at the Carrock a couple of days ago, it's now on to Rhosgobel. I'm using my own Tactics/Spirit deck for this one. Will be interesting to see how it plays. I haven't listed this deck yet, will do that after first play.

I'm going into this first play of this scenario more or less blind. I don't have the Core encounter decks memorized, and I haven't looked at the scenario encounter deck, so I don't expect to get very far.

Also not going to keep time on this play. I have a bunch of chores to do today, and no desire to do them, so I'll just work on them between turns. It will likely take me several hours to finish it, but some chores will get done. And I'll probably get beaten anyway.

Initial draw:

  1. The Galadhrim's Greeting
  2. To The Eyrie
  3. Gondorian Spearman
  4. Landroval
  5. Born Aloft
  6. Will of the West

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Blade Mastery.
  2. Planning: play Gondorian Spearman, looking for an initial chump block, just in case.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Mirkwood Flock and deal 1 D from Thalin. We're off to a good start.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28, 2 D on Wilyador.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Born Aloft.
  2. Planning: none this turn.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Black Forest Bats. Net 2 P on Stage 1.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: engage Black Forest Bats.
  6. Combat: Wilyador defends from Black Forest Bats, Shadow draw no effect. Legolas attacks Black Forest Bats, swings to kill, adds 2 P to "The Wounded Eagle." Now have 7 P on Stage 1.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29, Wilyador +2 D for 6 D.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Winged Guardian.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Swarming Insects, which deals 1 D to each character without attachment, putting Gondorian Spearman into discard. However, this clears Stage 1, and it's off to Stage 2 "Radagast's Request," which needs 12 P to clear.
  4. Travel: Rhosgobel.
  5. Encounter: Mirkwood Flock, need to get this out of staging area so Legolas can punish it and make progress on Rhosgobel.
  6. Combat: Wileyador defends, Shadow Hummerhorns! Dammit! Eowyn now with 2/3 Damage. Not good this early in the game. Legolas puts 2 D on Mirkwood FLock, 2 P on Rhosgobel.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30, Wilyador +2 for net 11 D.

Not looking super great here. On the other hand, I'm at Rhosgobel now, and I have enough resources to do something interesting with either Sphere.

Time to do dishes and get the mail in the box.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 10, draw Northern Tracker. A good card to have, don't need it right yet, and don't have Spirit resource to deploy.
  2. Planning: play Winged Guardian.
  3. Quest: Thalin, Eowyn, draw Black Forest Bats, net 4 P clear Rhosgobel.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Black Forest Bats.
  6. Combat: Winged Guardian defends against Black Forest Bats, Shadow draw no effect. Legolas kills BFB, net 2 P on Stage 2. I need to start scrying the Encounter deck for healing, like, now.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31, Wilyador 13 D.

Put the letters in the post box.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 10, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: none, saving resources.
  3. Quest: Add 1 D to Wilyador, draw Caught in a Web, UNgoliant's Spawn, and Dol Goldur Orcs. Choose Caught in a Web, attach to Legolas. I don't need to ready Legolas this turn as I don't need to get through this stage of the Quest until I have healing.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32, Wilyador 16 D. Dang.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 13, draw Mustering the Rohirrim, useless right now.
  2. Planning: Northern Tracker, expensive, but most expensive for Spirit, all others should be cheaper.
  3. Quest: Scry Driven by Shadow, Necromancer's Pass and Forest Grove. Thalin and Wilyador commit, draw Forest Grove for net 0.
  4. Travel: Forest Grove, add Athelas to Staging. That was interesting, all the remaining Forest Grove cards were clumped at the bottom, Athelas cards in the middle. This is game saving right here. Actually, wrong, I have to clear Forest Grove first.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33, Wilyador at 18. If I can't get healing on next turn, this game is done. I think this means pulling a Radagast, as I don't think I can cycle another round.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 12, draw Westfold Horse-Breaker.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, and scry Exhaustion, Necromancer's Reach, and Swarming Insects. This is a bummer as it's going to remove one of my Heroes, but I'll have Landroval back the Hero back. Choosing Necromancer's Reach, Eowyn goes out of play, Forest Grove is cleared, Athelas is in the staging area.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34, and curtains for Wilyador. That's the game.

AAR

One major mistake: Applying Caught in a Web instead of sucking it up with an enemy. I didn't realize that Caught in a Web cannot be removed unless it's by some specific action, for example, Miner of the Iron Hills can remove it. I may have lost a hero on one of the other cards, but I could have gotten that back with Landroval, probably.

Another thing I learned from this game was Guarded, which means an objective which comes out of the Encounter deck gets attached to the next card, whatever that may be. I haven't played this before, so it will be interesting to roll it in.

The deck seems fine. I'm going to enter it into ringsdb and play it exactly as-is at least once more.

Tactics/Spirit for Rhosgobel

Here's the deck:

Hero (3)

Ally (16)

Attachment (12)

Event (24)

3 Heroes, 52 Cards.

Cards up to A Journey to Rhosgobel.

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

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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.