LotR 105 - The Watcher in the Water (2)

Tags

• lotr-lcg
• lord-of-the-rings
• lord-of-the-rings-lcg
• lotr
• the-watcher-in-the-water

Round 2 against The Watcher in the Water, using my tried and true "Deeds of Dwarves" deck. I don't think this deck will end up being very good for beating this quest, but I need to bang on it a few times before I start morphing. My hunch is that I'm going to need to pull in a load of healing resources from Lore, it's all those tentacles thrashing about. We'll see.

Initial hand:

1. Fili
2. Parting Gifts
3. Erebor Record Keeper
4. Forest Snare
5. Longbeard Orc Slqyer
6. Dwarven Tomb

Initial encounter: Makeshift Passage and Stair Falls for 3 > 2 threat. Nasty start.

Round 1

1. Resource: 3, draw Fili.
2. Planning: None.
3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, draw Thrashing Tentacle, net +2 Progress.
4. Travel: Makeshift Passage, +2 Progress.
5. Encounter: Thrashing Tentacle.
6. Combat: Dain defends, shadow Turbulent Waters for no effect, Dain takes no damage.
7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 2

1. Resource: 6, draw Gloin
2. Planning: Play Fili and Kili, Erebor RK.
3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Erebor RK for 9 Will, draw Bitter Wind and discard resources. That's ok, can handle it this round. Net 7 to clear Makeshift Passage and net +2 P on quest.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Thrashing tentacle engaged.
6. Combat: Fili defends, shadow Warg Lair for no effect, but Fili is dead.
7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 3

1. Resource: 4, draw Erebor RK, Longbeard MM.
2. Planning: play Gloin
3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, ERK x 2 for 11 Will, draw Wrapped! attach to Ori. Net +9 to clear "To the West-Door."
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: Exhaust Dain to discard Wrapped! from Ori. Kili defends Thrashing Tentacle, shadow Black Uruks for no effect on defended attack. Gloin does 1 hit of damage on Thrashing Tentacle.
7. Refresh: Threat 34.

This is an interesting point. With a little bit of luck on the Encounter card draw, I might be able to knock this thing down in a turn or two. On the other hand, if I pull a bunch of Tentacle engagement cards, it could well drag on a long time, with decreasing chance to win until all the tentacles are cleared. I perhaps should have stalled a little bit longer to get more allies out of my draw deck. That would also have served to clear a few tentacles out of the deck as well. In any case, onward!

Round 4

1. Resource: 6, draw Gandalf, Cram. Awesome.
2. Planning: Cram on Thorin, Fili, Kili.
3. Quest: Ori, ERK x 2 for 7 Will, draw Grasping Tentacle for -1 net, Threat 35. Bummer.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Grasping Tentacle.
6. Combat: Gloin defend Thrashing, shadow Knees of the Mountain for no effect, 2 hits on Gloin. Thorin defends Grasping, shadow Mountain Warg and will deal damage to ERK. Fili and Kili take out Grasping, Dain exhausts to take out Thrashing (leaving Cram still on Thorin).
7. Refresh: Threat 36.

With a tiny bit of luck, I'll pull Henamarth and be able to scry. Pretty sure I can beat it at that point.

Note: I think I forgot to apply the shadow effect for Grasping Tentacle, which would have probably been Black Uruks damage?

Round 5

1. Resource: 7, draw Dwarven Tomb, Forest Snare.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Ori, Fili, ERK for 7 Will, draw Black Uruks which is a discard of Cram from Thorin, bummer. Net -1 Threat 37. On the other hand, since there is no Tentacle in play, I can engage The Watcher, take a nasty hit, then Forest Snare that bad boy next round. Then it's a matter of building my allies back up and chewing away at it. I'm feeling good about this one so far, which means I better take care.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Black Uruks, The Watcher.
6. Combat: Kili defends Watcher, shadow Grasping Tentacle for no effect, Kili is dead. Gloin defends Black Uruks, shadow Bitter Wind. Brutal! Will barely be able to play Forest Snare. Thorin and Dain kill Black Uruks.
7. Refresh: Threat. 38.

Parting Gifts will let me move the resources I need to play Forest Snare.

Round 6

1. Resource: 5, draw Forest Snare and Miner of the Iron Hills.
2. Planning: Parting Gifts to move 2 R from Thorin to Ori, who plays Forest Snare on The Watcher. I'm running short on Dwarves…
3. Quest: Oriand ERK for 5 Will, draw Perilous Swamp for net -1 and Threat 39. Risking location lock now.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: shadow Makeshift Passage on Watcher, which is snared.
7. Refresh: Threat 40.

I'm running out of dwarves. This is not good.

Round 7

1. Resource: 6, draw Bifur, Longbeard Orc Slayer.
2. Planning: Longbeard, just in case.
3. Quest: Ori, Thorin, ERK for 9 Will, draw Striking Tentacle. Ugh. Net 1 P.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Striking Tentacle.
6. Combat: Fili defend Striking, shadow Grasping Tentacle for 4 hits on Dain. Dain and Longbeard kill Striking.
7. Refresh: Threat 41.

This is going to be tough. Trying to get rid of Doors of Durin seems dumb with a single player. In a multiplayer game, this might be a lot smarter thing to do.

It's looking sketchier and sketchier to win this. Two Sneak Attacks would do it.

Round 8

1. Resource: 6, draw Longbeard MM, Durin's Song.
2. Planning: Play Longbeard OS and Miner of the Iron Hills. No more resources.
3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, Fili, ERK for 11 Will, draw Striking Tentacle for net 3, need 1 more Progress to clear quest card.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Striking Tentacle.
6. Combat: Miner defends Striking Tentacle, shadow Thrashing Tentacle, 4 hits on Thorin. The Longbeards take it out.
7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 9

1. Resource: 4, draw King Under the Mountain and Gandalf.
2. Planning: Play King Under the Mountain on Dain, exhaust to draw Cram and Bifur. Play Cram on Dain. Play Durin' Song on Thorin.
3. Quest: Thorin, Ori, ERK for 11 Will (with Durin's Song), draw Black Uruks which discards Cram from Thorin, which is a disaster. Durin's Song is basically wasted with respect to taking out The Watcher. Sadly, having ERK exhausted means I can't use him to ready Thorin either.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Black Uruks.
6. Combat: Miner defends, shadow Perilous Swamp remove 1 P from current quest, no big deal. Miner is killed. Longbeards OS take out Black Uruks.
7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 10

1. Resource: 5, draw Durin's Song, Miner of the Iron Hills.
2. Planning: King Under the Mountain, draw Unexpected Courage and Untroubled by Darkness, keep Unexpected Courage. Durin's Song on Thorin.
3. Quest: Ori, Fili for 5 Will, draw Disturbed Water which is Doomed 5 for Threat 48! With 6 in Staging Area, we have Threat now is 49, which means this is the last round regardless.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: Let's see if we can take out The Watcher: Thorin brings 3 for himself, +1 from Dain, +2 from Durin's Song for 6 total. Ori is readied from Erebor Record Keeper and brings 2 + 1 for 3 total giving 9 so far. Each Longbeard 2 + 1 for 6 total, giving 15 total and we need 16 total to beat it. The Watcher takes 8 hits, it's just not enough.
7. Refresh: Threat 50.

And that's the game. I think stalling just a little bit more up front would have been helpful, but have to be careful with that due to Bitter Wind and the damned tentacles.

Tags

• lotr-lcg
• lord-of-the-rings
• lord-of-the-rings-lcg
• lotr
• the-watcher-in-the-water