LotR 108 - Foundations of Stone (1)

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After a surprising first-play win on The Long Dark, it's time to take on the fifth quest in Dwarrowdelf: Foundations of Stone. I sort of hope I manage to beat this one rapidly as well, because the last quest in the series is supposed to be very difficult, and I believe I'll be doing some deckbuilding to beat it.

The usual Deeds of Dwarves deck.

Initial hand:

  • Longbeard Map-maker
  • Narvi's Belt
  • Narvi's Belt
  • Second Breakfast
  • Durin's Song
  • Parting Gifts

Not a very good hand, but let's see how it plays out.

Cave Torch on Dain.

Initial Encounter: Watchful Eyes, attach to Dain.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Longbeard Orc-Slayer.
  2. Planning: Narvi's Belt on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Ori for 3 Will, draw Crumbling Ruin, exhaust Thorin and discard Fili. Net +3 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Not too bad, definitely survivable.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Henamarth Riversong.
  2. Planning: play Henamarth. Scry to reveal Goblin Swordsman. Bummer, too early for this…
  3. Quest: none. Goblin Swordsman for +1 Threat.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Ori defends, shadow Goblin Scout for no effect, 2 hits on Ori. Thorin attacks to kill Goblin Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Scry to reveal Dark and Dreadful, which will be the end of Henamarth, sadly. Play Longbeard Orc-slayer.
  3. Quest: Thorin and Longbeard for +5 Will, draw Dark and Dreadful, Henamarth leaves play.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Bifur.
  2. Planning: play Longbeard Map-Maker, expensive.
  3. Quest: Ori for +3 Will, draw Dreadful Gap, which goes directly into play, hence cleared, and quest is cleared as well.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 6, draw Longbeard Orc-Slayer, Gandalf.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: none, draw Goblin Follower for +1 Threat (37).
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Follower.
  6. Combat: Longbeard Map-Maker defends, shadow Fouled Well for no effect, 2 hits on LMM. Thorin and Ori kill Goblin Follower.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 10, draw Gloin and Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: play Gloin
  3. Quest: none, draw Goblin Swordsman for Threat +1 (39).
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Goblin Swordsman.
  6. Combat: Longbeard defends, shadow Goblin Scout for no effect with 2 hits on Longbeard. Thorin kills Goblin Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 13, draw Dori and Narvi's Belt.
  2. Planning: play Parting Gifts to move 2 Resource to Ori, play Bifur and draw Kili and Bifur. Exhaust Narvi's Belt to play Kili and Fili.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Longbeard MM, Gloin, Fili, Kili for +13 draw Lightless Passage for +9 net Progress. Discard Dori and Dwarven Tomb.
  4. Travel: Lightless Passage, Cave Torch induces Goblin Tunnels. Nasty. Need to get rid of that one fast.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 11, draw Erebor Hammersmith, Cram. Looks like I've drawn all the Lore allies. Weird. I have a lot of Spirit cards in this deck, and only seen two of them so far.
  2. Planning: Cram on Thorin.
  3. Quest: All but LOS and Ori for +15 Will, draw Dark and Dreadful Oh Noes!. Discard Cram and Forest Snare. 2 hits on everyone, losing Fili, Kili and LMM. Still, cleared Lightless Passage and stage 2. Stage 3 clears right away and presents the Foundations of Stone Encounter deck. As it turns out, the first two cards which turn up are Moria Bats, which require Ranged for attack and defend. That's a bummer. I was hoping for some Gandalf action to drop Threat, might have to use him on one of these bats.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Moria Bats.
  6. Combat: Undefended, Dain and Thorin will take hits, shadow for Dain draw Deep Deep Dark for no effect. Shadow for Thorin is also Deep Deep Dark, I hope there is only two of them!
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 15, draw Forest Snare and Ancestral Knowledge.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Bats. Gandalf to destroy other Bats.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Bifur, Gandalf for +10 draw Dark and Dreadful which takes Bifur out of the game. Net +8 Progress on Stage 4.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 11, draw Dwalin and Kili.
  2. Planning: Narvi's Belt on Thorin, play Dwalin, Erebor Hammersmith to get Cram back, play Cram on Thorin. Gandalf again, Threat down to 38, going for broke…
  3. Quest: Gloin, Erebor, Gandalf for +9 Will, draw (hopefully not a Dark and Dreadful…) Drowned Treasury which clears Stage 4, Stage 5 reveals Lost and Alone, shuffle Thorin into deck. This removes his damage.
  4. Travel: none
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gandalf, Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: none, draw Drowned Treasury. I don't think I can beat this now. I don't have enough quest power.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 12

  1. Resource: 5, draw Gloin, Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf draw Untroubled by Darkness, Unexpected Courage, Henamarth Riversong.
  3. Quest: Ori, Gandalf, draw Nameless Think for net 0 Progress, draw Sneak Attack and Miner of the Iron Hills for Nameless Thing.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Nameless Thing.
  6. Combat: Erebor defends, shadow Goblin Swordsman, added to Staging Area. Two hits on Erebor. LOS and Ori kill Nameless Thing.
  7. Refresh: Threat 44.

Round 13

  1. Resource: 2, draw Durin's Song and Untroubled by Darkness.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Ori, Gloin, draw Nameless Thing, and I'm conceding here, I'm location locked and no way to get ahead of the threat at this point.

AAR

Pretty cool scenario. This is going to be a bit of beast to crack with 11 points needed on last card, given the quest restriction on allies. Losing Thorin did not help at all. I may have to go poking around in the APs to see what I can find. There is bound to a combo which will work, hopefully with this deck.

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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.