LotR 57 - Return to Mirkwood (2)

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Starting deck for this second play is a straight copy of Beorn's Path 9 Return to Mirkwood deck.

Initial hand:

  1. Eagles of the Misty Mountains
  2. West Road Traveler
  3. Citadel Plate
  4. Quick Strike
  5. The Eagles are Coming!
  6. Song of Travel

This is a convenient hand.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Stand and Fight.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: all, draw Caught in a Web, put that on Thalin. I think this puts him out of the game permanently, as there is no way to remove the condition. Net +5 on quest.
  4. Travel: Dry Watercourse.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Feint.
  2. Planning: Citadel Plate on Gimli. Song of Travel on Thalin.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Wood Elf path. Net +3 Dry Watercourse is clear.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn and Gimli, draw Gollum's Bite and put 4 D on Gimli, net +5 for 11 P on quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Round 4

I need threat control now.

  1. Resource: 7, draw Ancient Mathom.
  2. Planning: Ancient Mathom on Wood Elf Road.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Tantrum and discard Feint, Unexpected Courage, Song of Travel, Ancient Mathom, Northern Tracker, Escort from Edoras, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Swift Strike, Gondorian Spearman, Stand and Fight. There is no Will of the West in this deck, so these cards are permanently gone. On the other hand, I have 3 Gandalf and two Galadhrim's Greetings still in a much smaller deck. Move to Stage 2, Escape Attempt.
  4. Travel: Wood Elf Road.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 9, draw Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  2. Planning: Eagles of the Misty Mountains and West Road Traveler.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Gimli and West Road Traveler, draw King Spider. Net +5, clears Wood Elf Road, draw Gondorian Spearman, Northern Tracker, Dwarven Tomb. Quest is 2 P. King Spider exhausts Eagles of the Misty Mountains, which was going to defend.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: King Spider.
  6. Combat: Undefended, Shadow card The Brown Lands for no effect, 3 D on Gollum.
  7. Refresh: Threat 49.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 6, draw Winged Guardian. That's the game, but I'm going to play through the next stage of the quest to see how it works. It's too bad because I have an otherwise pretty good hand going so far.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn and West Road Traveler, draw Gollum's Anguish which raises Threat by 8, to 57, and that's the game.

AAR

Playing this single handed is super luck dependent, and I think I'm going to play it in Easy Mode from here on out. With other cards not from the Progression, it may be a lot easier to win, but single handed it's just going to bore me. Maybe once I win it single handed on Easy Mode I'll give it shot in Normal Mode.

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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.