LotR 35 - A Journey to Rhosgobel (4)

Previous:
Next:
Tags

New deck, Lore and Leadership focusing on super fast questing and card draw. The idea is to blow through the quest really fast, before a lot of enemies come out. Deck listing is at the end.

While questing super fast, the card should allow Threat in the Staging area to be at least somewhat controlled with Secret Paths and Radagast's Cunning. With low Threat, enemies won't need to be engaged, which is important as this deck doesn't have a lot of offensive power. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of very powerful enemies in this deck, mainly Dol Goldur Orcs and Beastmaster. The scenario encounter has a number of enemies requiring ranged, which could be controlled by adding or substituting some Eagles or Archers.

The Self-Preservation is intended for Wilyador, will negate the turn-based damage. Even one Lore of Imladris coupled with Radagast's healing, and there should be little need for more two, possibly even one Athelas.

Heroes: Beravor, Bilbo, Theodred for initial Threat 27.

Initial hand:

  1. Secret Paths
  2. Strider's Path
  3. Steward of Gondor
  4. Gandalf
  5. Radagast
  6. Faramir

I like it.

While this looks like a suspiciously good hand, this deck is close to 60 cards.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3 + 1, draw Lore of Imladris and Rivendell Minstrel.
  2. Planning: Can't play Steward of Gondor yet, save resources.
  3. Quest: Bilbo and Theodred, draw Festering Wounds. Sweet! Nobody is injured, so no effect. Net 1 P on stage 1. 1 R to Theodred.
  4. Travel: none. Beravor draws Rivendell Minstrell and Gandalf.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Not a bad first round. If I get lucky a couple more rounds, this may go real smooth.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 7, draw Haldir of Lorien and Forest Snare. Now to get a protector of Lorien and we can start discarding for Will.
  2. Planning: play Steward of Gondor, exhaust to recoup. Play Haldir of Lorien. Expensive, but if he can stay on the board even 2 turns, I think it will be worth it, especially if he soaks up a nasty enemy.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Bilbo and Wilyador, draw Forest Grove, awesome. No net progress, but that's ok while I'm getting some cards down.
  4. Travel: Forest Grove. Beravor draws Rivendell Minstrel and Henamarth Riversong.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

I need to get Radagast in play so he can accumulate resources.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 9, draw Strider's Path and Radagast.
  2. Planning: play Radagast and Henamarth. Scry with Henamarth, Enchanted Stream.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Bilbo, Haldir, Radagast for 6, net 3, cleared Forest Grove, search for Athelos, guarded with another Forest Grove. Sweet.
  4. Travel: Forest Grove, Beravor draws Faramir and Radagast. Ok, this deck isn't well shuffled, despite all the shuffling I did do. I'll play the Rivendell Minstrell next round and shuffle it very hard.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Faramir goes out next as well.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 7, draw A Burning Brand and Radagast's Cunning.
  2. Planning: Exhaust Steward of Gondor for 9 R. Scry Henamarth for Mirkwood Flock. Play Rivendell Minstrell and Faramir.
  3. Quest: Faramir, Rivendell Minstrel, Radagast, Wilyador, Bilbo, Theodred, Haldir for 15 W, net 15, clear Forest Grove and Stage 1. Find Athelas, draw another Athelas, guard with Mountains of Mirkwood and Dol Goldur Beastmaster.
  4. Travel: Rhosgobel. Beravor draws Self Preservation and Secret Paths. Sweet.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31. Biblo pulls Athelas.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 8, draw Protector of Lorien and Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Self Preservation on Wilyador. Scry Exhaustion, bummer.
  3. Quest: Faramir, Theodred, draw Exhaustion, Henamarth is toast. Play Secret Paths and Radagast's Cunning.
  4. Travel: none. Beravor draw Celebrian's Stone and Gleowine.
  5. Encounter: none:
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Time to play Gandalf.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 11, draw Valiant Sacrifice and Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: Play Sneak Attack with Gandalf to reduce Threat to 27. Celebrian's Stone and Protector of Lorien on Bilbo. Play Gleowine.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, Theodred, Wilyador, Radagast, Rivendell Minstrel, Faramir for 17 Will, Rhsogobel is cleared, Secret Paths on Mountains of Mirkwood, draw Forest Grove, net 6 P on stage 2. I think I have it.
  4. Travel: Forest Grove. Gleowine to draw Lore of Imladris.
  5. Encounter: engage Dol Goldur Beastmaster.
  6. Combat: defend with Haldir, draw Black Forest Bats, no effect, and King Spider, which makes me exhaust Beravor. Crap. This probably puts one more round on the game because otherwise Dol Goldur Orcs would be defeated.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28. Play Valiant Sacrifice as Gandalf leaves play, draw Valiant Sacrifice and Gandalf.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 8, draw Sneak Attack and Radagast's Cunning.
  2. Planning: Heal Wilyador of 4 from Radagast, 2 from Self Preservation. Play Lore of Imladris to heal 5 more. Play Sneak Attack and Gandalf to deal 4 damage to Dol Goldur Orcs, they're done. Exhaust Theodred for second Athelas.
  3. Quest: Gandalf, Faramir Rivendell Minstrel, Radagast, Haldir, Wilyador, Bilbo, Theodred. Draw Eyes of the Forest, discard Lore of Imladris and Valiant Sacrifice. Gleowine draw Daughter of Nimrodel. Beravor draw Gleowine and Forest Snare. Resolve Stage 2 Radagast's Request.

Wilyador is down to 3 Damage and I have 2 Athelas in play, so this is a win.

Score:

  • Threat: 28
  • Damage: 1
  • Heroes: 0
  • Rounds: 70

Total: 99.

A Lore/Leadership for Rhosgobel

Main Deck

Hero (3)

Ally (23)

Attachment (18)

Event (18)

3 Heroes, 59 Cards Cards up to A Journey to Rhosgobel

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Previous:
Next:
Tags

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.