LotR 113 - Passage Through Mirkwood (26) with Rohan to the Rescue!

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One of the many cool things about the LotR card game is the ability to build player decks focused around various themes. For example, the Dwarrowdelf cycle lends itself to building "dwarf swarm" decks, which focus on getting a lot of dwarf allies into play, which allows a lot of leverage.

With both the Core box and the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle being rich with Rohan characters, I decided to build my first Rohan deck, "Rohan to the Rescue!" Let's see how it plays.

Initial hand:

  • Escort from Edoras
  • Valiant Sacrifice
  • Steward of Gondor
  • Stand and Fight
  • Sneak Attack
  • Astonishing Speed

I'm not sure why I have Sneak Attack in this deck, because I do not have Gandalf. Let's roll with it and see what happens.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Ever Vigilant.
  2. Planning: play Escort from Edoras to get a jump on the quest progress.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Escort from Edoras for 9 Will, draw Forest Spider. Ok, a little ugly, but can deal with it hopefully with no shadow cards. Net +4 on quest. Resource to Theodred.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, ready Theodred.
  5. Encounter: Both spiders.
  6. Combat: Dunhere defending, shadow Caught in a Web for no effect, takes 1 hit. Theodred defending, shadow Driven by Shadow, no attachments to discard, hence no effect, 1 hit on Theodred.
  7. Refresh: Threat 26.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: play Steward of Gondor on Dunhere. Exhaust to gain +2 R. Play Stand and Fight to draw Escort From Edoras back into play.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Escort from Edoras for 8 Will, draw Necromancer's Pass. Old Forest Road is cleared, +2 Progress on quest.
  4. Travel: Necromancer's Pass, discard Sneak Attack and Ever Vigilant.
  5. Encounter: nothing new.
  6. Combat: Dunhere defending, shadow Old Forest Road for no effect, take 1 hit. Theodred defending, shadow Hummerhorns, everybody takes a hit.
  7. Refresh: Threat 27.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Snowbourn Scout, excellent, a chump.
  2. Planning: play Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Necromancer's Reach, Eowyn takes a hit! Quest advances to A Fork In the Road. 2 Progress, easy peasy.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: nothing new.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defending, shadow King Spider, force exhaust of Dunhere, Scout is dead. Theodred defending, shadow Dol Goldur Orcs for +1 attack, this is a kill on Theodred. It might not matter that much, let's play it out.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Where are the freakin' locations?

Round 4

  1. Resource: 10, draw The Riddermark's Finest.

No possible way to win this, the Forest Spiders will kill both Dunhere and Eowyn this round.

AAR

I think perhaps I should put some Gandalf in this deck.

I do think this deckis viable for PtM. I'll need to play it a couple more times to find out. Very curious how it will fare against Journey Along the Anduin.

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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.