LotR 116 - Shadow and Flame (3)

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I built The Balrog Brigade deck specifically to take on Shadow and Flame. This is a pretty brutal scenario, starts with a Balrog in play.

Initial hand:

  1. Resourceful
  2. Stand and Fight
  3. Stand and Fight
  4. Dwarrowdelf Axe
  5. Out of Sight
  6. Fili

Not looking like a great hand. Mulligan:

  1. Sang of Travel
  2. Renewed Friendship
  3. Citadel Plate
  4. Veteran Axehand
  5. Quick Strike
  6. Bofur

A little better I think. Let's play.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Erebor Battlemaster.
  2. Planning: Play Veteran Axehand, Threat 0. Song of Travel on Thalin.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Nori, Thalin, draw Many Thonged Whip. Would like to be able to cancel this "When Revealed" text, don't have the cards for it. Need A Test of Will which I put in Sideboard. Net +1 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 1.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 3, draw Stand and Fight.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Nori, Thalin, draw Inner Flame, net +1
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 2.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: Citadel Plate on Gimli, Renewed Friendship to drive Threat to 0.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Nori, Thalin, draw Inner Flame. I think I need to shuffle the encounter deck better. Net +1 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 1.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Citadel Plate.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Nori, Thalin, draw Second Deep. Threat +2 for 3. Durin's Bane coming down.
  4. Travel: Second Deep.
  5. Encounter: Durin's Bane.
  6. Combat: Will take it undefended on Gimli, shadow Whip Lash, which I'm going to cancel with Hasty Stroke. 6 hits on Gimli. Dang. Discard Bofur.
  7. Refresh: Threat 4.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 7, draw Heavy Stroke. Hope this doesn't get discarded.
  2. Planning: Play Citadel Plate on Gimli.
  3. Quest: Nori, Thalin, draw Chance Encounter, which results in Surge Leading Flame. Gimli defends, shadow Counter-Spell for no effect. Gimli with 10 hits. Threat 5.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: nothing new.
  6. Combat: Veteran Axehand defends, shadow Ranging Goblin for no effect. Veteran Axehand to the discard.
  7. Refresh: Threat 6.

There are a lot of "When Revealed" effects in this quest.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 6, draw Fili.
  2. Planning: play Stand and Fight to bring Veteran Axehand back into play.
  3. Quest: Nori, Thalin, draw Leading Flame, and that's the game. Leading Flame requires an immediate attack, which will take out Veteran Axehand, and the next attack will take out a hero. Along with the random discard, not really any chance from here.

AAR

This is going to be a tough quest to crack, for sure. I need to roll in 3 "A Test of Will" cards immediately, and figure out how I can get a bit more questing involving. I may need to go tri-sphere with Dain to get the quest boosts.

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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.