LotR 66 - Return to Mirkwood (9)

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Just can't keep away from Beorn's Path 9 Return to Mirkwood deck.

Initial hand looks really good:

  1. Song of Travel
  2. Unexpected Courage
  3. Citadel Plate
  4. Gondorian Spearman
  5. West Road Traveler
  6. Ancient Mathom

Initial Encounter card is Woodman's Glade.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw The Eagles Are Coming!
  2. Planning: Song of Travel on Thalin, Unexpected Courage on Gimli.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, Gimli, draw Wasted Provisions, discard Quick Strike, West Road Traveler, Vassal of the Windlord, Horn of Gondor, Gondorian Spearman, Gandalf, Feint, Vassal of the Windlord, Vassal of the Windlord, Ancient Mathom. Could have been worse, much much worse. Discard The Eagles are Coming! for +6 on Stage 1.
  4. Travel: Gimli exhausts to travel to Woodman's Glade.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin Gimli, draw Wasted Provisions again! Discard Winged Guardian, Dwarven Tomb, A Test of Will, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Gondorian Spearman, Citadel Plate, Song of Travel, Stand and Fight, A Test of Will, The Eagles Are Coming! Again, could have been much worse. This might work to my benefit as there is another Gandalf and 2 Galadhrim's Greeting's still in the deck.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw The Galadhrim's Greetings.
  2. Planning: play Galadhrim's Greetings, Threat 31.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Wasted Provisions again! Dang! Discard Feint, Ancient Mathom, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Hasty Stroke, Escort from Edoras, Swift Strike, West Road Traveler, Northern Tracker, Stand and Fight, Song of Travel. Hrm. Still have a Gandalf and Galadhrim's Greetings in the deck. Stage 1 is cleared, along with Woodman's Glade.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 6, draw Escort from Edoras.
  2. Planning: play Escort from Edoras.
  3. Quest: Thalin, draw Mirkwood Bats. Take that!
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 6, draw The Eagles Are Coming!
  2. Planning: play West Road Traveler.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, draw Mirkwood Bats! Stage 2 cleared, on to The Elvin King's Halls.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 7, draw Winged Guardian.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, Escort from Edoras, draw Wood Elf Path. Cleared Stage 3, on to Ambush.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 47.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 10, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf just in case we draw a big enemy on encounter, also Citadel Plate on Gimli. Threat 42
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Thalin, West Road Traveler, draw Tantrum! Game over! I lose! Dang!

AAR

I'm think I see how this one works: threat management and questing are paramount, and don't worry overmuch about enemies. Getting bogged down in enemies and locations is a game loser regardless of threat management, so the best thing to do is anytime threat can be paid down, pay it down.

In this game, I had a Gandalf and resources in Round 5 to drop my threat, at the risk of not clearing Stage 3 in a timely manner. Hard to say, this is a hard quest, made harder using a deck from single core. With a multi core deck, I'd have another Galadhrim's, another Stand and Fight, and possibly more. It might also be worthwhile seeing if a leadership song + faramir and Steward of Gondor would work. I don't ever play the eagles in this deck. They're expensive and combat oriented, two things I'd want to avoid.

Anyway, kind of bummer. I don't like losing by a single card. It makes me not want to play again. This is what happened with Escape from Dol Guldur, basically lost by a single card after 16 rounds.

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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.