LotR 97 - Into the Pit (26)

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My previous play was a total asterisk victory: I mistakenly used the Cave Torch to get through the initial locations, but none of them are "Dark," which is what is required to use Cave Torch. So we'll try it again.

Initial hand (after mulligan):

  • Sneak Attach
  • Miner of the Iron Hills
  • Kili
  • Gandalf
  • Protector of Lorien
  • Gandalf

Initial encounter: Signs of Conflict, Threat 33, surge Stairs of Nain.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Miner of the Iron Hill.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, draw Goblin Tunnels, 3 progress on East-Gate.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34. Cave Torch draw Zigil Mineshaft for no effect. Net +3 Progress on Goblin Tunnels.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gloin.
  2. Planning: play Gloin and Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori and Miner for 8 Will, draw Signs of Conflict, Threat 36 surge Goblin Follower. Net 3 Progress on East-Gate.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: None. Cave Torch draw Goblin Swordsman. Bummer. Total 6 Progress on Goblin Tunnels.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Narvi's Belt and Ancestral Knowledge.
  2. Planning: Narvi's Belt on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori and Gloin for 8 Will, draw Goblin Scout Threat 38.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 7, draw Longbeard x 2. Need more resources.
  2. Planning: play Kili to find Fili
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, and Fili for 12 Will, draw Signs of Conflict surge Branching Paths, Cave Torch draw Goblin Swordsman which clears Branching Paths. This is not good. I'll have to take an undefended attack. Net 4 Progress, clear East-Gate, First Hall goes into Staging Area with net +3 Progress on quest. Threat 41.
  4. Travel: First Hall. Threat 44.
  5. Encounter: All four.
  6. Combat: Defense: Miner of Iron Hills, shadow Zigil Mineshaft for no effect, 2 hits for kill. Kili defends, shadow Goblin Scout for no effect, Kili has 2 hits and is dead. Dain defends Goblin Swordsman, shadow Goblin Tunnels for +3 Attack Dain takes 3 hits. Thorin takes undefended with shadow Burning Low, 3 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Once again, even with a powerful deck, I do not seem to get much traction with this scenario.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 8, draw Protector of Lorien, Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: Play Longbeard, 1 hit to each enemy. Play Erebor.
  3. Quest: Thorin and Ori for Will 7, draw Crumbling Ruin, exhaust Longbeard and draw Untroubled by Darkness. Net +3 Progress which clears First Hall and get Khazad-Dum into Staging Area.
  4. Travel: none, will do not want to risk not being able to play cards while KD is active location.
  5. Encounter: all in.
  6. Combat: Deal shadow cards. Sneak Attack Gandalf to take out Goblin Follower. Erebor defends shadow Goblin Follower for +2 Attack, Erebor is dead. Gandalf defends, shadow Dreadful Gap for no effect. Ori takes undefended Goblin Scout, shadow Cave In for 1 hit on Ori. Fili and Gloin take out Goblin Swordsman, Dain takes out Goblin Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 46. Cave Torch draw Goblin Swordsman goddamnit. Goblin Tunnels is cleared though. Also, I need to remove all the progress from the current quest, as that's the effect of the Goblin Tunnels.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 5, draw King under the Mountain and Dwalin.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf, reduce to Threat 41.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin for 10 Will, draw Fouled Well and discard at random Ancestral Knowledge. Net 1 P on quest.
  4. Travel: Fouled Well.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Gandalf defends Goblin Swordsman, shadow Many Roads for no effect. Fili defends Goblin Swordsman shadow Signs of Conflict, Threat 43, Fili is killed. Longbeard takes out first Goblin Swordsman, Dain takes out the other. Cave Torch draw Burning Low for no effect, 3 P on Fouled Well.
  7. Refresh: Threat 44.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 4, draw Durin's Song and Ancestral Knowledge.
  2. Planning: play Dwalin.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori and Gloin for Will 10, draw Watchful Eyes attach to Dain. Net +5 Progress, clear Fouled Well.
  4. Travel: Khazad-Dum.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 7, draw Gandalf and Bifur.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Dwalin for 12 Will, draw Branching Paths to clear Bridge and quest. Dig out Patrol Leader.
  4. Travel: Branching Paths.
  5. Encounter: Patrol Leader.
  6. Combat: Longbeard defends, shadow Cave In for no effect, Longbeard takes 2 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 46. Cave Torch draw Stairs of Nain and clear Branching Paths.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 11, draw Dori and Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: Miner of the Iron Hills to remove Watchful Eyes. Gandalf to reduce Threat to 41. Play Dori.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Dwalin for 12 Will, draw Goblin Follower. Bummer. Play Durin's Song on Thorin to clear Stage 2.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Follower.
  6. Combat: Gandalf defend Patrol Leader, shadow Lightless Passage which is cancel all damage dealt to attacker. Miner of the Iron Hills defend, shadow is Goblin Swordsman which goes to Staging. Dori, Longbeard and Dain kill Goblin Follower.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 0, draw Dwalin and Dori.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Dwalin for 12 Will, draw Watchful Eyes, put on Dain, net +9 on Stage 3.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Dori defends Goblin Swordsman, shadow Zigil Mainshaft for no effect, Dori takes 2 hits. Longbeard defends Patrol Leader, shadow Goblin Follower, that's all for Longbeard.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

At this point, if I quest with everyone in the next round, I am bound to win it. I can't think of any card in this deck which would do more than take out maybe 2 questers, or add more than 5 Threat. So let's do that.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 0, draw Cram and Bifur.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: quest all for 14 Will, draw Patrol leader for Threat total 5, net +7 Progress and that is finally a clean win at this scenario. I think. What a mess this has been.

AAR

There is a fair bit of timing required to make this scenario work. Having a dwarf swarm is definitely pretty cool, once it gets going, and it needs to be in full swing (and never let up) by the start of Round 3. Stage 1 is by far the trickiest, once that's mastered Stages 2 and 3 should go by very quickly with Dain-powered dwarf swarm.

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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.