LotR 62 - Return to Mirkwood (5)

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Once again, unto the the breach with Beorn's Path 9 Return to Mirkwood deck.

It turns out that I've been playing the deck short one Galadhrim's Greetings, which may not seem like much, but even a small chance of threat reduction in this quest can make or break it.

Let's see what the initial hand looks like after initial mulligan:

  1. Quick Strike
  2. Eagles of the Misty Mountains
  3. Gondorian Spearman
  4. The Eagles Are Coming!
  5. Horn of Gondor
  6. Citadel Plate

Not great, but let's roll with it anyway.

Initial Encounter draw is Wood Elf.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Stand and Fight.
  2. Planning: play Horn of Gondor on Thalin.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Mountains of Mirkwood. Net +2 on quest.
  4. Travel: Wood Elf Path.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Eyes of the Forest, discard Quick Strike, Stand and Fight, The Eagles Are Coming! Net +3 Progress. Wood Elf Path cleared.
  4. Travel: Mountains of Mirkwood, draw The Spider's Ring.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Hrm. Not looking too hot. I'll do another round then start watering the plants.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw West Road Traveler.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf, Threat 32.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, Gandalf, draw Despair. All progress tokens removed from quest. Net +6 Progress, clear Mountains of Mirkwood adding Ancient Mathom to hand.
  4. Travel: The Spider's Ring.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Not doing so well, not making enough progress.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 11, draw Winged Guardian.
  2. Planning: play Ancient Mathom on The Spider's Ring.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Woodman's Glade, net +3 to clear The Spider's Ring. From Ancient Mathom, draw Citadel Plate, Northern Tracker, Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  4. Travel: Woodman's Glade exhausting Gimli.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 6, draw Galadhrim's Greetings.
  2. Planning: Citadel Plate on Gimli.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Mountains of Mirkwood, net +3 clearing Woodman's Glade.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 44.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 5, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: play Galadhrim's Greetings for Threat 38.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Mirkwood Bats which have no effect due to Thalin, net +3 on quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 8, draw Feint.
  2. Planning: play Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, Eagles, draw Attercop Attercop. Dang. Net +3, need 1 more to clear quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Attercop, Attercop.
  6. Combat: Gimli defends against Attercop, draw Shadow Wasted Provisions, discarding Vassal of the Windlord, Stand and Fight, Song of Travel, Hasty Stroke, Ancient Mathom. Dang. Gimli takes 6 Damage.
  7. Refresh: Threat 46.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 7, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: play Gondorian Spearman and Gandalf, Threat 41.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Goblin Sniper, net +1 and Stage 1 is cleared!
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Attercop is engaged…
  6. Combat: Gandalf defends, and is dealt a blow, but he is leaving anyway, and Horn of Gondor gets us 1 R. Gimli and Gondorian swing for 9, killing Attercop. Goblin Sniper puts a D on Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 4, draw Escort from Edoras.
  2. Planning: Winged Guardian.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, Eagles, draw Mirkwood Bats. Net +3 Progress clears the quest, but I don't have enough cards down… maybe a mistake, but threat is so high I had little choice other than to quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Sniper.
  6. Combat: Gondorian Spearman defends, puts 1 D killing Goblin Sniper.
  7. Refresh: Threat 49.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 5, draw Ancient Mathom.
  2. Planning: play Ancient Mathom.
  3. Quest: Eowyn + 1, Thalin, Eagles, Gimli, draw Wasted Provisions discard 10(!) cards from top of deck: Gondorian Spearman, Dwarven Tomb, Hasty Stroke, Unexpected Courage, Song of Travel, West Road Traveler, Quick Strike, Escort from Edoras, Feint, Escort from Edoras. Dang. But quested with 10, need 9 to clear Stage 3, so we're off to Stage 4 which is Ambush. Sadly, I am going to exceed 50 Threat, otherwise this would be a win.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 53.

I played this one pretty well I think.

Some places I think I could have done better:

  1. Not taking a resource when first Gandalf left play for the Horn of Gondor. One resource can make a really big difference. This is a definite blunder.
  2. Horn of Gondor probably should have gone onto Eowyn instead of Thalin.
  3. Probably should have gotten Escort From Edoras out early enough to get me through Stage 1 one turn earlier. With this deck, I was one turn from beating the quest.

So, this is definitely doable.

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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.