LotR 151 - We Must Away, Ere Break of Day (11)

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Back to the trolls. This quest has been harder than I thought to beat. I'm using A Hobbit Goes Adventuring v1.5, which swaps in Erebor Battle Master for Will of the West.

Opening hand:

  1. Gondorian Spearman
  2. Master of the Forge
  3. Heavy Stroke
  4. Citadel Plate
  5. Forest Snare
  6. Erebor Record Keeper

The key thing with this quest is stalling like crazy until getting a really powerful board state set up.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 4, Dwarven Tomb
  2. Planning: play Erebor Record Keeper
  3. Quest: Bilbo, Oin, Gimli, draw No Campfire, Doomed 1 for Threat 28, choose to draw another card: Troll Key. Cool. Net 1 Progress.
  4. Travel: Troll Camp.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 7, draw Erebor Battle Master.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, Gimli, draw Wind-Whipped Rain for no effect. Troll Camp is cleared.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 11, draw Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: play Erebor Battle Master, Miner.
  3. Quest: Gimli, draw Hungry Troll for surge Troll Purse, net +3 on quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31

Round 4

  1. Resource: 10, draw Forest Snare and Erebor Battle Master
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Gimli, draw Troll Camp, Threat 32.
  4. Travel: Troll Camp.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

If I can get the Threat down, I might have a good chance here.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 14, draw Test of Will, Erebor Record Keeper.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Bilbo, draw Lone Lands for net 1.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 18, draw Veteran Axehand, Quickstrike.
  2. Planning: Citadel Plate on Gimli.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Oin, Bilbo draw More Like a Grocer, will take the discard resources and save the Test of Will. This clears Troll Camp, and puts 3 more Progress on quest. I could clear it next round.
  4. Travel: Lone Lands.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 12, draw Burglar Baggin, Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: play Erebor Record Keeper, Erebor Battle Master, Gondorian Spearman, Erebor Hammersmith.
  3. Quest: Ori, Oin, Bilbo, Erebor RK x 2, draw Hobbit Lands. This clears the quest, and we get some Trolls out. Large sack on Gimli, and that's probably the game; Worn sack on Oin.
  4. Travel: Lone Lands.
  5. Encounter: Bert, Tom.
  6. Combat: Quick strike with Erebor Battle Master to swing for 6, net 4 damage, play Heavy Stroke to get 4 more damage. Gondorian Spearman defends adding another damage, shadow Cave Entrance. Miner of the Iron Hills defends, shadow Raost 'Em or Boil 'Em, Troll Camp back in play.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36 + 2 for 38, keep the trolls out.

I think basically I need a Gandalf here or I'm done for.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 6, draw Unexpected Courage, Erebor Hammersmith. There is a chance.
  2. Planning: UC on Bilbo, who removes sacks from Gimli and Oin.
  3. Quest: Nobody, draw Lone Lands, Threat +10 for 48. Dang.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: William, attach Smelly sack to Erebor Battle Master. There is still a chance.
  6. Combat: Erebor Hammersmith defends Tom, shadow Roast 'Em or Boil 'Em for another Troll Camp but there isn't one. Erebor is gone. Oin defends Bert, shadow Dreary Hills for no effect, Oin is dead. Gimli defends William, shadow No Campfire for +2 Threat which is the game. Dang. I'm going to play it out to see where it goes. Gimli takes 4 damage. Erebor Battle Master kills Tom.
  7. Refresh: Threat 49.

Calling it here as I'm location locked.

AAR

I'm thinking to add another Gandalf and another Galadhrim's Greetings to the deck for better threat control. If I can control threat, I can control when the trolls come out, then take them down one at a time. Might be good to have Shadow of the Past as well, to help keep the Troll Camp handy. It's 3 threat though, burly.

I think it's worth keeping a Troll Camp in the staging area pretty much all the time. It's a good buffer for questing.

Burglar Baggins should be played early to manage questing, it's cheap and the resources are liable to go to waste otherwise.

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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.