LotR 102 - The Redhorn Gate (2)

Previous:
Next:
Tags

Back with Deeds of Dwarves (or some variant thereof) to make another attempt to get Arwen to Rivendell to visit Elrond. I did not do well against this quest the first time I played, blown out in Round 5. Let's see how well I can do here.

Initial hand:

  1. Sneak Attack
  2. Durin's Song
  3. Cram
  4. Miner of the Iron Hills
  5. King under the Mountain
  6. Ancestral Knowledge

Initial encounter is Black Uruks, nasty.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: Cram to Thorin.
  3. Quest: Ori and Arwen, draw Rocky Crags net +4 Threat for 35.
  4. Travel: Rocky Crags, deal 2 hits to Ori.
  5. Encounter: Black Uruks.
  6. Combat: Thorin defends, draw Mountain Wargs for +2 attack, Thorin takes 4 hits. Dang. Thorin readies with Cram, Dain and Thorin kill Black Uruks.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 7, draw Narvi's Belt.
  2. Planning: Play Narvis on Thorin. Play Erebor and return Cram to hand, then play on Dain.
  3. Quest: Erebor, Arwen, Ori for 7, draw Snow Wargs. 1 Progress on Rocky Crags.
  4. Travel: At Rocky Crags.
  5. Encounter: Snow Wargs.
  6. Combat: Dain defends, draw shadow Black Uruks for no effect, Dain takes no hits. Play Durin's Song on Thorin, who swings for 5 to take out Snow Wargs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: Miner of the Iron Hills, need to get the swarm going.
  3. Quest: Miner, Erebor, Ori, and Arwen for 8, draw Mountain Goblin, net 4 P, clear Rocky Crags.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Goblin.
  6. Combat: Dain defends, draw shadow Warg Lair for no effect, Dain takes no hits. Dain discards Cram, readies, Thorin and Dain take out Mountain Goblin.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Second Breakfast, Kili. Excellent.
  2. Planning: Play Second Breakfast and return Cram to hand thence Dain. Exhaust Narvis to play Kili and Fili.
  3. Quest: Ori, Arwen, Erebor, Fili, and Kili for 11, draw Mountain Troll. Ghastly. This is going to be tough. Will have to chump Miner. This clears the first stage.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Troll.
  6. Combat: Miner of the Iron Hills, draw shadow Knees of the Mountain for no effect, Miner is still dead. No point in attacking, need 12 hits to kill. Snare next round.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 9, draw Dwarven Tomb, Erebor Record Keeper.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Mountain Troll. Screw that guy.
  3. Quest: Ori, Arwen, Erebor, Fili for 9, draw Turbulent Waters. Net 3 P.
  4. Travel: Turbulent Waters.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 6

Doing better than my first game now.

  1. Resource: 10, draw Henamarth and Kili.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth Riversong, King under the Mountain on Dain, Erebor Record Keeper. Henamarth scries Mountain Warg.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Arwen, Erebor, Fili, Erebor RC for 15, draw Mountain Warg, net 10 P to clear Turbulent Waters and Stage 2.
  4. Travel: Caradhras.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Warg.
  6. Combat: Fili defends, draw shadow Fell Voices with no effect, so Mountain Warg kills Fili and goes back to Staging area.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 11, draw Longbear Orc Slayer, Longbeard Mapmaker.
  2. Planning: King under the Mountain, draw Narvi's Belt and Longbeard Orc Slayer, discard Narvis. Henamarth scries Fallen Stones, lucky, no progress so far. Play Longbeard OS, will need some attack strength soon.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Arwen, Erebor HS, and Erebor RC for 8, draw Fallen Stones for no effect, super lucky! Net 6 P, exhaust Dain to play Ancestral Knowledge which clears Caradhras.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Warg.
  6. Combat: Fili defends, draw shadow Fallen Stones for no effect as there is no Progess yet. Mountain Warg stays engaged, discard Cram to ready Dain, Thorin and Longbeard take out Mountain Warg.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Need to get a Gandalf or something to reduce the threat, starting to get a bit nervous.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 10, draw Miner of the Iron Hills, Gloin.
  2. Planning: King under the Mountain draw Unexpected Courage and Untroubled by Darkness (discard). Henamarth scries Black Uruks. Play Kili and Fili. Turns out Longbeard OS gets discarded due to Will of 0 from quest card, and Miner of Iron Hills with 0 Will is no longer useful. Play Longbeard MM then.
  3. Quest: Ori, Arwen, Erebor HS, Fili, Longbeard MM for 11, draw Black Uruks for net 9.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Black Uruks.
  6. Combat: Kili defends, draw shadow Mountain Goblin for +1, Kili is dead. Play Erebor RK to ready Ori, with Thorin kill Mountain Warg.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 8, draw Erebor RK, Dwalin.
  2. Planning: Scry Mountain Goblin. King under the Mountain to draw Erebor HS and Dwarven Tomb (discard). Play Gloin. Unexpected Courage on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Arwen, Erebor HS, Erebor Rk, Fili, Gloin for 15, draw Mountain Goblin for net 14. Total 23 progress on the quest. Need some VPs.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Goblin.
  6. Combat: Longbeard MM defends, draw shadow Bitter Wind, discard 2 resources from each hero. No big deal. Longbeard MM takes a hit. Thorin readies with Unexpected Courage, Ori and Thorin take down the goblin.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Really needing a Gandalf and some VPs.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gloin, Dwalin.
  2. Planning: King under the Mountain draw Durin's Song and Forest Snare (discard). Will try to fish out Forest Snare with Erebor HS in a later turn. Scry Mountain Warg.
  3. Quest: Arwen, draw Mountain Warg for even odds.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Mountain Warg.
  6. Combat: Gloin defends, draw shadow Rocky Crags for no effect as there is no active Location. Gloin is kaput. Erebor HS, Fili, and Longbeard MM for the kill. Thanks, Dain!
  7. Refresh: Threat 44.

Jeebus. Probably get 3 Gandalfs in a row.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 11, draw Bifur, Longbeard MM.
  2. Planning: Scry Snow Wargs. King under the Mountain draw Narvis Belt and Untroubled by Darkness (discard). I have a hunch I'm going to need Forest Snare more than Untroubled by Darkness, so I'll deal with the extra Narvis in the hand. Play Dwalin, Gloin, and Bifur, draw Sneak Attack and Bifur. Dang.
  3. Quest: Arwen, Fili. Net 1 P.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Snow Wargs.
  6. Combat: Dain defends, draw shadow Turbulent Waters for no effect. Gloin, Bifur, Longbeard MM attack and kill.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Round 12

  1. Resource: 10, draw Gandalf, Dori.
  2. Planning: Scry Bitter Wind. Time to spend some money. Play Erebor HS to get Forest Snare back. Play Gandalf, Threat 40. Use Narvi to get another Longbeard MM in play.
  3. Quest: Quest all but Dain for net 28, draw Bitter Wind. 52 Progess on quest. Where is a VP?
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Round 13

  1. Resource: 4, draw Gandalf, Henamarth Riversong.
  2. Planning: Scry Snow Warg. Crap.
  3. Quest: Thorin for net +1.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Snow Warg.
  6. Combat: Dain defends, draw shadow Snowstorm which reduces will to 0, which would discard Dain, which would make it undefended, which would be pretty much an immediate loss from a stupid enemy. Just stupid. So play Durin's Song to get another +2 Will, and take no further hits. I hope there are no more Snow Wargs. Plenty of mojo to take out the Snow Warg.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 14

  1. Resource: 7, draw Dori, Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: Scry Fanhuidhol. Finally. I'll get the game next turn.
  3. Quest: Thorin for net +1 P.
  4. Travel: Fanhuidhol.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 15

  1. Resource: 11, draw Gandalf, Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: Scry Freezing Cold. NBD.
  3. Quest: All in but Dain for net 28, draw Freezing Cold. Net 28 put 7 on Fanhuidhol for 21 on Stage 3 resulting in 74 on the quest card.

And that's the game. Looked like a rocky start, but I just sucked up the damage and got rolling.

I think I could probably replace one of the Dwarven Tombs with an Ancestral Knowledge and get a better deck, at least for this quest.

Previous:
Next:
Tags

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.