Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (1)

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I picked this up used last year, on a bit of a whim. Lord of the Rings is always thematically good, so why not?

However, it does have Stratego style hidden units, so it's a bit harder to play solo, but I'm ok with that especially when teaching myself how to play.

For this first game I'm not going to bother with describing the setup in detail. I put all the hobbits in The Shire, everyone else from both sides just placed randomly on the map.

Turn 1

Sauron starts, move Flying Nazgul from Fangorn to Misty Mountains.

Fellowship moves Boromir into Misty Mountains. Fight!

Step 2 of Combat states the text on each of the character cards is resolved, Fellowship first. In this case, Boromir's text is that both characters are defeated, hence, both removed from the game.

That's well and good, but I'm going to have to play another turn to actually learn combat.

Turn 2

Sauron: Black Rider from Rohan to Caradhras.

Fellowship: Gimli from Enedwaith to Caradhras. Fight!

Step 3 of combat is playing cards. I'm going to choose randomly from each side:

  • Sauron: "Magic," but no cards in Discard so no effect.
  • FS: "Retreat" Gimli back to Enedwaith.

Turn 3

Sauron: Black Riders from Caradhras to Eregion. Fight Gandalf!

FS: Legolas from Arthedain to Rhudaur.

Once again for combat, just choosing random cards from each combat deck. Sauron "chose" 5, Gandalf "chose" Noble Sacrifice, both characters defeated.

The board is getting thinner…

Turn 4

Sauron: Orcs from Mirkwood to Misty Mountains.

FS: Legolas from Rhudaur to Misty Mountains, attack!

Sauron card: 4, FS card: 3, this is a tie, both defeated!

Turn 5

Sauron: Cave Troll from Gondor to Rohan.

FS: Frodo from Shire to Arthedain.

And I'm done for now, this fine, I have enough of the rules to teach it to someone else. I may get into doing more soloing later, but I want to get a couple of opposed plays in first.

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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.