LotR 114 - Passage Through Mirkwood (27)

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Another spin with Rohan to the Rescue! I'm playing this game interstitially between chores. I don't have that many chores today, but I do have a few, and I want to get back in the habit of having a game going to make the chores more fun. This is important as I'm ramping down from caffeine and sugar right now.

Initial hand:

  1. Escort From Edoras
  2. Stand and Fight
  3. The Riddermark's Finest
  4. Mustering the Rohirrim
  5. Astonishing Speed
  6. Valiant Sacrifice

Chore 1: write out the bills.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: play Unexpected Courage on Theodred.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Dol Guldur Beastmaster, Threat 26.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, Theodred readies.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider
  6. Combat: Theodred defends, shadow Mountains of Mirkwood for no effect, Theodred readies applies 3 hits to Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 27.

Chore 2: wash dishes

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Necromancer's Reach, 1 hit to Eowyn, discard Sneak Attack for net +3 Progress on Old Forest Road.
  4. Travel: none
  5. Encounter: nothing new
  6. Combat: Theodred defends, shadow Eyes of the Forest for no effect, Theodred readies to kill Forest Spider. Dunhere puts 1 hit on Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Chore 3: Laundry folding.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw We Do Not Sleep. This is a good card, with care I can use it to clear either the first or last stage.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Forest Gate for no net gain.
  4. Travel: Forest Gate, draw Escort from Edoras and Stand and Fight.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Dunhere puts another hit on Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Chore 3: put suit away. Clean Sink. Anki Compsci deck.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 10, draw A Test of Will, excellent.
  2. Planning: Escort From Edoras.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Escort, Theodred for 9 Will, draw Necromancer's Pass. Net +4 to clear Forest Gate. Play Valiant Sacrifice as Escort leaves play to draw Mustering the Rohirrim and Elfhelm.
  4. Travel: none
  5. Encounter: nothing new.
  6. Combat: Dunhere pits another hit on Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Chore 4: take out garbage. Anki OCS/HF.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 11, draw Steward of Gondor
  2. Planning: play Steward of Gondor on Eowyn, exhaust for +2, play Elfheim
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Enchanted Stream for Threat +2 -1 due to Elfheim, Threat 31.
  4. Travel: Enchanted Stream, no card draw until cleared.
  5. Encounter: nothing new.
  6. Combat: Dunhere puts another hit on Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Chore 5: Anki misc.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 11, can't draw this turn.
  2. Planning: Escort From Edoras, and let's hope no Necromancer's Reach shows up.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Elfheim, Escort for 10, play Astonishing Speed for +8, draw Mountains of Mirkwood, net +11 to clear Enchanted Stream and stage 1.
  4. Travel: Necromancer's Pass, discard A Test of Will and We Do Not Sleep. Dang. The two best cards in the hand.
  5. Encounter: nothing new
  6. Combat: Dunhere finishes off the Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Chore 6: Anki Network.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 12, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage onA Dunhere, Riddermark's Finest.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Dunhere, Theodred, draw Forest Spider. Net +2 clear Necromancer's Pass.
  4. Travel: none
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Elfheim defends, shadow Mountains of Mirkwood for no effect, Elfheim takes takes no damage. Ready Theodred, Dunhere and attack with Riddermark's Finest to kill Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

I didn't clear the location with Riddermark's Finest, even though I could have. It let me get a kill. If I can use it again, I'm net ahead, because that paid for the card more or less.

Chore 7: Anki Math.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 13, draw Will of the West.
  2. Planning: Stand and Fight to put Escort from Edoras in play. Mustering the Rohirrim to acquire Eomund. Again for Snowbourn Scout. Will of the West to shuffle it all back in (which is a mistake for this turn, I should have played Eomund this turn, Will of the West next turn, because I'm out of resources.)
  3. Quest: Exhaust Riddermark to clear Mountains of Mirkwood, Eowyn and Theodred for 5 Will, draw Necromancer's Reach…no big deal hopefully. Clears A Fork in the Road. Draw Don't Leave the Path for stage 3, need to find and defeat Ungoliant's Spawn.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Ungoliant's Spawn. Can I kill it this round? I don't think so. Will be close.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defending! Shadow Chieftain Ufthak for no effect, Snowbourn Scout is no more. Theodred readies, with Dunhere, Elheim, 6 Attack for 4 hits on Ungoliant. Had I played Eomund, I could have used him to defend, allowing all characters to ready. No big deal.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Chore 8: Get ready to do financial and math learning for Anki.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 13, draw The Galadhrim's Greetings.
  2. Planning: Play Galadrim's Greetings, threat 29. play Stand and Fight to acquire Snowbourn Scout, play Eomund.
  3. Quest: Escort from Edoras, draw Dol Guldur Orcs.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldor Orcs.
  6. Combat: Eomund defends Dol Guldur Orcs, shadow The Necromancer's Reach for no effect, 1 hit on Eomund. Ungoliant's Spawn shadow Black Forest Bats for no effect, Snowbourn Scout is dead, again. Eowyn, Dunhere, Theodred, and Elfheim attack with +7 for net +5 which kills Ungoliant's Spawn for the win.

This was a fun game!

AAR

I think this one went pretty well. The Rohan mechanic is workable for fairly low powered encounters. It really does need the card and resource acceleration to get moving. Sadly, looking ahead doesn't reveal much more power for Rohan for a long time, many, many quests in the future. I think I'm going to keep it togther though, just to have some fun with it once in a while.

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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.