LotR 190 - The Lonely Mountain (5)

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I've been spanked too many times with the Misty Mountains deck, so I decided to rebuild the Deeds of Dwarves deck to see if I can get any better results on this quest. As it turns out, this deck is very thematic having Thorin, Dain, and Ori as heros!

Initial hand:

  1. Dwarven Tomb
  2. Erebor Record Keeper
  3. Durin's Song
  4. Longbeard Map Maker
  5. King Under the Mountain
  6. Narvi's Belt

This isn't that great of an initial hand, but it's not that bad either, maybe 4 out of 5. Having Narvi's Belt available right away is excellent, but it would have been nice to have another playable ally.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 4, draw Dwalin.
  2. Planning: play Erebor Record Keeper. Spend a pipe to find Bilbo's Magic Ring, exhaust that to find Sting. Threat 32. Attach Narvi's Belt to Thorin.
  3. Quest: skipped on first round this scenario.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Ancestral Knoweledge.
  2. Planning: Play Longbeard Map Maker.
  3. Quest: Bilbo only, draw Great Hall for Threat 37.
  4. Travel: Great Hall.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

This is wicked, looking threat out really fast, but I need to have my hand full of cards to pass the Burgle test.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gloin and Longbeard Orc Slayer.
  2. Planning: Play Gloin and give two Resource to Thorin. Play Ancestral Knowledge to clear Great Hall. Exhaust Narvi's Belt to play Dwalin.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, draw Desolation of Smaug, threat 41.
  4. Travel: Desolation of Smaug.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

I need to pack my hand full of cards.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Bifur, Longbeard Map Maker.
  2. Planning: Play King Under the Mountain on Dain. Play Bifur and draw Fili and Untroubled By Darkness. Exhaust King Under the Mountain, discard Miner of the Iron Hills, Gandalf to hand.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, Ori, draw Fighting Among Friends which doesn't increase threat but does trigger Burgle, which I was hoping to postpone at least one more turn. I'm going to name Spirit and take the 2 Progress onto Wasteland to attempt to clear it. Burgle: Shuffle deck and reveal top card: Second Breakfast Event matched by Durin's Song and Dwarven Tomb. Burgle is successful, steal The Arkenstone, which I probably won't play as my threat is already too high. Whatever. Advance to Stage 3.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Smaug is automatically engaged.
  6. Combat: Erebor Record Keeper defends, shadow Hidden Path for no effect. Attack with everyone, net +5 damage on Smaug.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 8, draw Erebor Record Keeper, King Under the Mountain.
  2. Planning: play Fili and Kili, Gandalf to put 4 hits on Smaug. Exhaust King under the Mountain to discard Henamarth River and play Cram on Thorin.
  3. Quest: Thorin, Bilbo, Longbeard Map Maker, Gloin, Fili for 12 Will, draw Western Slopes which is a successful quest without progress and which will put me into location lock. Burgle: Belching Fire, need to discard only one match type, draw Unexpected Courage and match with The Arkenstone to attach A Bare Patch to Smaug.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Dwalin defends against Smaug, shadow has Burgle, so Dwalin is killed, shadow Dragon Spell for no effect, Kili is killed. Discard Cram to ready Thorin, attack with Gandalf, Bifur, Thorin and Ori for 14, add 9 hits to Smaug who now has 18 damage. I have this game next turn.
  7. Refresh: Threat 44.

Had I gone all in on questing this turn, I would have beaten it.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 5, draw Bifur, Longbeard Orc Slayer.
  2. Planning: Exhaust King Under the Mountain to discard Narvi's Belt and retain Erebor Hammersmith. Play Erebor Record Keeper.
  3. Quest: All in: Ori, Thorin, Bilbo, Longbeard Map Maker, Gloin, Erebor Record Keeper, Fili, Bifur for 18 Will, draw Known to an Ounce, discard Longbeard Map Maker and Longbeard Orc Slayer. Net progress is 5, which clears the Desolation of Smaug, put 4 Progress on the quest, which is more than Smaug's 2 remaining hit points, so that's the win.

I made a technical error on this turn: I should have played Untroubled by Darkness as this is my last hand anyway. Otherwise I would have risked losing it through the Known to an Ounce treachery, which could have made a difference in a game where the progress requirement was tighter.

MAJOR ERROR: I was supposed to remove Smaug from play once the quest progress exceeded remaining hit points. It would have been a win anyway as I would have played Ancestral Knowledge to place 11 Progress this round, then all in on the next round would have taken it easily.

MAJOR ERROR 2: Smaug is immune to player card effects, so the 4 direct damage dealt by Gandalf doesn't count. I'm pretty sure I could still have pulled this one out, but it might have taken one more round.

Upshot: I need to replay the quest. Bummer.

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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.