LotR 153 - We Must Away, Ere Break of Day (13)

Tags

• we-must-away-ere-break-of-day
• lotr-lcg
• lord-of-the-rings
• lord-of-the-rings-lcg
• lotr
• a-hobbit-goes-adventuring

Once again, attempting to get past the trolls. This is turning into a bit of slog. I'm using A Hobbit Goes Adventuring deck, rev 1.7 I think. Hopefully I'll beat it today, in which case I'll paste in the decklist below.

The strategy for this deck is threat control, with Galadhrim's Greetings x 3, and using Gandalf to reduce threat when he comes in. Tactically:

• Playing as few attachments as possibly until Wind-Whipped Rain treacheries are discarded. This requires keeping Test of Will handy with Spirit always having at least 1 resource handy.

• Actually play Dwarven Tomb for like the first time ever to recurse The Galadhrim's Greetings back into play for threat reduction. I really need to get used to playing Dwarven Tomb, it's an excellent card.

Opening hand:

1. Erebor Battle Master (EBM)
2. Erebort Record Keeper (ERK)
3. Heavy Stroke
4. Thror's Map
5. Gandalf
6. Galadhrim's Greetings

Encounter: Roast 'Em or Boil 'Em for a whiff.

Round 1

1. Resource: 4, draw Gondorian Spearman.
2. Planning: None.
3. Quest: Oin, draw Troll Camp, Threat 28.
4. Travel: Troll Camp.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

1. Resource: 8, draw Stand and Fight.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Oin, draw Lots or None At All surge Troll Key. Two progress on Troll Camp.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 30.

I need to a couple of dwarvs out so Ori can start drawing two cards every round.

Round 3

1. Resource: 12, draw Galadhrim's Greetings. Excellent.
2. Planning: play EBM and ERK. I get my card draw next turn.
3. Quest: Oin, draw Troll Camp for Threat 31. Will need to quest harder next turn.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 4

1. Resource: 12, draw Unexpected Courage and Dwarven Tomb
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Ori, Oin, Bilbo, draw Troll Purse. Troll Camp cleared, net 1 progress.
4. Travel: Troll Camp.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 5

1. Resource: 16, draw ERK and Zigil Miner (ZM).
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Oin, draw Cave Entrance for 1 progess on Troll Camp, put discarded Troll Camp on bottom of Encounter Deck.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 6

1. Resource: 20, draw Feint, Quick Strike.
2. Planning: Galadrhim's to drop threat to 28.
3. Quest: Ori, Oin, draw A Nice Picle, threat 29, net +1 progress.
4. Travel: Cave Entrance.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 7

1. Resource: 21, draw Citadel Plate and Galadhrim's Greetings.
2. Planning: Play Galadhrim's Greetings, threat 24, ERK.
3. Quest: Oin, Bilbo, draw Wind-Whipped Rain, that's the first one. Cave Entrance cleared with no progress.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 25.

Round 8

1. Resource: 21, draw Zigil Miner and Song of Travel.
2. Planning: Play Song of Travel on Bilbo. Play Galadhrim's Greetings using Bilbo's resoures. Threat 19.
3. Quest: Bilbo, draw No Campfire, Threat 20 and draw Hungry Troll surge A Suspicious Crow and draw More Like a Grocer which wipes out Bilbo's resources. Net 1 Progress.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: Suspicious Crows.
6. Combat: Oin defends, shadow A Suspicious Crow for no effect. EBM kills the Crow.
7. Refresh: Threat 21.

Round 9

1. Resource: 17, draw Burglar Baggins, Quick Strike.
2. Planning: none.
3. Quest: Bilbo, draw Hobbit Lands for net no effect.
4. Travel: Hobbit Lands.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 22.

Round 10

1. Resource: 22, draw Gondorian Sprearman, Dwarven Tomb.
2. Planning: Gondorian Spearman x 2, Zigil Miner, ERK.
3. Quest: Oin, draw Hungry Troll surge Cave Entrance which clears Hobbit Lands draw Song of Wisdom.
4. Travel: Cave Entrance.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 23.

Round 11

1. Resource: 18, draw Veteran Axehand, Feint.
2. Planning: Zigil Miner, Veteran Axehand.
3. Quest: Oin, draw A Nice Pickle, Threat 24 and put Hobbit Lands on the bottom of the deck. Two progress on Cave Entrance.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 25.

There is no Troll Camp, so Bilbo can't do his thing.

Round 12

1. Resource: 18, draw Citadel Plate, Erebor Battle Master.
2. Planning: EBM.
3. Quest: I need to bring the trolls out now. I think I can handle them. Gimli, Oin, Zigil x 2, ERK x 2 for 8 Will, draw Lone Lands which clears Cave Entrance. Trolls come down. Strong sack on Ori, Deep sack on Oin. This is doable.
4. Travel: Lone Lands.
5. Encounter: Bert and Tom.
6. Combat: Gondorian Spearman defends Tom shadow Wind-Whipped Rain (can now play Citadel Plate!). Gondorian Spearman defends Bert, shadow Dreary Hills for no effect. EBM swings for 7 which is 5 net damage, double with Heavy Stroke and Tom is toast. Bilbo claims Troll Purse. EBM swings for 7, 5 net damage, play Gandalf for another 4 direct damage and that's 10 hits on Bert. Bilbo exhausts to claim Troll Key.
7. Refresh: Threat 26.

Asterisk: I did not shuffle the discards back into the Encounter deck until the end of the round. This would have only affected two shadow cards. I don't think it would be anything game killing at this point though.

Round 13

1. Resource: 12, draw Forest Snare, Dwalin.
2. Planning: Play Dwarven Tomb for Galadhrim's Greetings, play Galadhrim's Greetings threat 20, play Dwalin.
3. Quest: none, draw Troll Camp. Threat 28.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: engage William, sack Gimli.
6. Combat: Play Feint on William, both EBMs swing for 16 which kills William. This advances to Stage 3.
7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Ok, this is stupid, I don't get the prizes because I didn't travel to Troll Cave because advancement was forced after killing William. Stupid.

Alternate ending: Play Forest Snare on William next planning phase and quest through it. Nothing from the above setup actually changes. This puts my Threat at 30 as William doesn't go back to staging area. Also, will put 9 hits on William just because I can, from EBM, Veteran Axehand and Dwalin. This will reduce the chance of disaster later.

Round 14

1. Resource: 11, draw Miner of the Iron Hills, Heavy Stroke.
2. Planning: play Forest Snare on William, Unexpected Courage on Bilbo who unsacks Gimli and Ori.
3. Quest: Gimli, Zigil, ERK draw Hobbit Lands, 2 progress on Lone Lands.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: shadow Dreary Hills, Veteran Axehand and Dwalin put another hit on William for 10 total.
7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 15

1. Resource: 7, draw Legacy of Durin and Erebor Hammersmith.
2. Planning: Thror's Map on Ori, swap Lone Lands for Troll Cave. Bilbo unsacks Oin.
3. Quest: Gimli, Ori, Oin, Zigil, ERK, draw Hobbit Lands for net +3 progess, and about to go into location lock.
4. Travel: none.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: none.
7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 16

1. Resource: 8, draw EBM, Bofur.
2. Planning: Burglar Baggins.
3. Quest: Gimli, Ori, Oin, Zigil, ERK, draw Cave Entrance, net +5 which clears Troll Cave.
4. Travel: Hobbit Lands.
5. Encounter: none.
6. Combat: Kill WIlliam, advance to Stage 3 and that's the game.

AAR

Bah. An asterisk * win. I did not shuffle the discards back into the encounter deck immediatly after the trolls came into staging, I shuffled at the end of the round.

I did play Dwarven Tomb to fish out a Galadhrim's Greeting.

Threat control seems to be the key to winning this quest, and keeping a very close eye on location locking. It's super easy to get location locked once the trolls come out.

The sacks are a threat. The key is 1. getting lucky with the sacks, and 2. build a board state which really doesn't require hero interaction to get to a win. That is, being able to win it even if all three heros are sacked. Do not, however, let Bilbo get sacked.

Potential future sideboard:

1. Shadow of the Past: it could be useful to control the Encounter discard, for example, keeping a Troll Camp in play. This could be substituted for Citadel Plate.

2. Daeron's Runes, which is not progression.

3. It would be interesting to run Thorin Oakenshield to be completely thematic with the book.

The deck: A Hobbit Goes Adventuring

This has been tuned specifically for We Must Away Ere Break of Day.

Hero (3)

• Gimli (Core Set)
• Nori (Over Hill and Under Hill)
• Ori (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Ally (24)

• 1x Bofur (The Redhorn Gate)
• 1x Dwalin (On the Doorstep)
• 3x Erebor Battle Master (The Long Dark)
• 3x Erebor Hammersmith (Core Set)
• 3x Erebor Record Keeper (Khazad-dûm)
• 3x Gandalf (Core Set)
• 2x Gondorian Spearman (Core Set)
• 2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)
• 3x Veteran Axehand (Core Set)
• 3x Zigil Miner (Khazad-dûm)

Attachment (10)

• 2x Citadel Plate (Core Set)
• 2x Forest Snare (Core Set)
• 1x Legacy of Durin (The Watcher in the Water)
• 1x Song of Travel (The Hills of Emyn Muil)
• 1x Song of Wisdom (Conflict at the Carrock)
• 1x Thror's Map (Over Hill and Under Hill)
• 2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (16)

• 2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
• 1x Burglar Baggins (Over Hill and Under Hill)
• 2x Dwarven Tomb (Core Set)
• 2x Feint (Core Set)
• 2x Heavy Stroke (Foundations of Stone)
• 2x Quick Strike (Core Set)
• 2x Stand and Fight (Core Set)
• 3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core Set)

3 Heroes, 50 Cards, Cards up to On the Doorstep.

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

Tags

• we-must-away-ere-break-of-day
• lotr-lcg
• lord-of-the-rings
• lord-of-the-rings-lcg
• lotr
• a-hobbit-goes-adventuring