LotR 144, 145 - A Journey to Rhosgobel (5,6)

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So a colleague of mine and I are playing through progression-style. We're in Shadows of Mirkwood at the moment, hunting down Gollum. Our little side trip to rescue Wilyador (Journal to Rhosgobel) went pear shaped, wave after wave of direct damage treachery swept first Bilbo, then Aragorn, then Eowyn clean off the board. Brutal. What a rout!

This required an intermission to ensure the panini grill still worked. Reubens were sighted. Pickled okra was involved.

Returning to our quest, Henamarth and Daughter of the Nimrodel are swept away Turn 1. But there's Athelas nearby. Fine, we'll take it. And the heck with a tableau, let's get Faramir in gear and agro quest. Stage 1 down. More Athelas. We get to Rhosgobel. Stage 2 almost there with some sneaky help from Gandalf. Legolas steps up with Blade of Gondolin to beat down some bats. And we're done, Wily is healed!

This was cool. After the several previous quests which benefitted from some stalling, it felt good to bash through one.

Also, Legolas with Blade of Gondolin is really powerful in these early quests. Travel pretty much anywhere in some of these first cycle quests, and Legolas will clear the location during combat.

Some thoughts:

  • Forest Snare is not needed in this quest. Might be useful in the next quest, The Hills of Emyn Muil, which have Chieftain Ufthak back to visit.
  • Self-preservation can and should be played on Wilyador if possible. I put it on Theodred in this game. If I were soloing this, I think I'd want 3 Self Preservation. Wilyador cannot have attachments.

Deck building really is a lot of fun in this game.

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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.