LotR 173 - The Lonely Mountain (2)

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First play location locked on round 4. Let's try again using the same deck. I'm not sure the deck can even beat this quest, but it's worth playing a couple of times to see how it operates.

Initial (mulliganed) hand:

  1. Protector of Lorien
  2. Dwarven Tomb
  3. Veteran Axehand
  4. Stand and Fight
  5. Stand and Fight
  6. Erebor Hammersmith

Not a really great hand I don't think. At least I can get 2 allies out next turn, then card draw starting turn 3.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 4, draw A Test of Will
  2. Planning: Bilbo for Magic Ring, and Sting. Threat 28. Protector of Lorien on Bilbo.
  3. Quest: Ori, Oin, Bilbo for 6 Will, draw Western Slopes, net 0 progress, discard Stand and Fight to make one progress. I can make a burgle attempt.
    • Discard from the encounter deck until a burgle effect is revealed: Western Slopes: The first player shuffles his deck and reveals the top card. He may discard 2 cards from his hand that match the revealed card's sphere.
    • Reveal…Gandalf! Try again…Zigil Miner.
    • Discard Stand and Fight and Dwarven Tomb. I got some kind of lucky here, no doubt about it.

Now the text on Stage 2B states players may (emphasis added) move to Stage 3; it doesn't say must. Hence I can stall for a little bit. 4. Travel: Western Slopes. 5. Encounter: none. 6. Combat: none. 7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Song of Travel.
  2. Planning: Play Thror's Golden Cup on Gimli then add to Victory display and draw Boots from Erebor, Dwarven Tomb, and Dwalin. Boots from Erebor on Gimli. Play Veteran Axehand.
  3. Quest: Ori, Bilbo, draw The Great Hall, Threat 33.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 8, draw A Test of Will.
  2. Planning: play Erebor Hammersmith.
  3. Quest: Ori, Oin, Bilbo, Erebor Hammersmith for 7, draw Pretending to Sleep, which surges Belching Fire. For Pretending to Sleep, I'm going to spend 2 Pipe and stay where I am. Smaug makes an immediate attack on Gimli, no shadow card, Gimli takes 4 hits. Threat 35.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 9, draw Zigil Miner x 2.
  2. Planning: play Zigil Miner and Dwalin.
  3. Quest: Ori, Oin, Bilbo, Gimli for 8 Will, draw Known to an Ounce, which I'm canceling with A Test of Will. Threat 39. Going into lock.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 8, draw Miner of the Iron Hills, Quick Strike.
  2. Planning: Song of Travel on Gimli.
  3. Quest: Gimli, Ori, Oin, Bilbo, draw Pretending to Sleep, surge Fighting Among Friends. Spend 2 Pipe to not go to Stage 4; remove Gimli and Ori from quest, 4 Will against 9 Threat, which results in 45 Threat, and I'm calling it here.

AAR

I'm going to need more location control in this deck, even on Turn 2 I'm looking at location lock with 4 threat The Great Hall coming out. Secret Paths, or Strider's Path would help here, I could swap it with Western Slopes.

I need Citadel Plate back so Gimli can soak up a couple of rounds of dragon damage, and deal a bunch of it back out.

This is also looking like Dain needs to be brought in, otherwise just not getting the quest mojo necessary to stay out of location lock.

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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.