LotR 50 - Passage Through Mirkwood (24)

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I'm tired of losing Escape from Dol Guldur, so I thought I'd take another crack at Passage through Mirkwood using the "Back to Basics" deck. I won this last time, very curious to see how I fare this time.

Initial hand:

  1. Guard of the Citadel
  2. Gleowine
  3. Faramir
  4. Dwarven Tomb
  5. A Test of Will
  6. Unexpected Courage

Not bad, I'll try it out.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Forest Spider. Bad luck. Threat 28.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, ready Eowyn.
  5. Encounter: Both Forest Spiders.
  6. Combat: undefended on Theodred, Shadow is Mountains of Mirkwood, no effect, 2 D on Theodred. Beravor undefended Shadow Necromancer's Reach for no effect, Beravor takes 2 D. All attack to kill one spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Passage through Mirkwood can always throw a curve ball!

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Will of the West.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Theodred. Play Guard of the Citadel and Gleowine.
  3. Quest: Theodred, draw Necromancer's Reach, net 0.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Guard of the Citadel defends King Spider, Shadow Mountains of Mirkwood. Guard dies. Eowyn, Theodred, Beravor attack King Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30. Gleowine draws The Galadhrim's Greeting.

We're almost in control, need to get a bit more resources, and some progress placed.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: play Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Caught in a Web, attach to Beravor. Old Forest Road cleared, net 2 P on Stage 1.
  4. Travel: none. Gleowine draws Stand and Fight. Beravor draws Steward of Gondor and Erebor Hammersmith.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Guard of the Citadel.
  2. Planning: Steward of Gondor on Eowyn.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred draw Black Forest Bats, withdraw Theodred. Net 3 P.
  4. Travel: none. Gleowine draws Miner of the Iron Hills.
  5. Encounter: Black Forest Bats.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, Shadow Dol Guldur Orcs, scout is dead. Theodred swings for 2 for the kill.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 13, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: play The Galadhrim's Greeting reduce to Threat 26. Play Miner of the Iron Hills to remove Caught in a Web.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred draw Necromancer's Pass. Should have quested with 1 more. Net 2.
  4. Travel: none. Gleowine draws Lore of Imladris, Beravor draws Guard of the Citadel and Stand and Fight.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 27.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 14, draw Henamarth Riversong.
  2. Planning: play Henamarth and Faramir. Lore of Imladris to heal Theodred. Play Northern Tracker. Scry Great Forest Web. Will need to quest with 6 to get past Stage 1.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker for 6 Will, draw Great Forest Web, net 1 P and Stage 1 is clear.
  4. Travel: none. Gleowine draws Faramir (dupe), Beravor draws A Test of Will and Steward of Gondor.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 9, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Scry Henamarth for Mountains of Mirkwood. Play Guard of the Citadel.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker for 6 Will, draw Mountains of Mirkwood, clear Necromancer's Pass, net +2 and Stage 2 is cleared. Draw Beorn's Path, need to quest 10 to pass and win, with no Ungoliant's Spawn in play.
  4. Travel: none. Gleowine draws Lore of Imladris, Beravor draws Gandalf and Hasty Stroke.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 13, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: play Northern Tracker. Henamarth scries King Spider. No problem. I'll have this wrapped up on this round.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker x 2, Faramir, Guard of the Citadel for 14 Will, draw King Spider, net +10 P and that's a win.

AAR

No real reason to play this scenario other than I'm tired of losing badly and wanted to see if I could win another game with this Trisphere deck. So that was pretty cool. I think I could have won it in 7 or maybe even 6 rounds, but I played it a little conservatively. I got lucky in this game as I pulled mostly locations and few or no treacheries. It's worth continuing to play this deck for this and other scenarios to see how it performs.

The key to this scenario is getting the initial Forest Spider dispatched on Round 1.

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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.