LotR 192 - The Lonely Mountain (6)

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Back to The Lonely Mountain, this time with Version 3.4 of Khazad-dum and the Deeds of Dwarves. Hopefully this time I'll get a clean win!

Before I got started on this play, I did a bit of tweaking on the deck to putting Forest Snare in the sideboard in favor of Daeron's Runes. I also tweaked a few allies. Core Lore allies still rock!

Initial hand:

  1. Narvi's Belt
  2. Gandalf
  3. Narvi's Belt
  4. Bifur
  5. Second Breakfast
  6. Fili

This isn't the greatest starting hand ever, but it does have Narvi's Belt and Fili, so it's not bad, let's keep it.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 4, draw Bifur.
  2. Planning: Spend pipe to find Bilbo's Magic Ring, then exhaust that to find Sting, Threat 32.
  3. Quest: skip.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

It may not be efficient to put Magic Ring and Sting on Bilbo right away. It wouldn't have been in several previous games.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 7, draw Dwalin.
  2. Planning: Play Fili to get Kili.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, draw Weighed Down, which is awesome, as that reduces Will by 1, meaning this is an unsuccessful quest, but Threat only goes up 1 to 34.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 9, draw Henamarth Riversong and Erebor Hammersmith.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth, Erebor Hammersmith, Narvi's Belt on Thorin. Exhaust Narvi's Belt to play Dwalin. Exhaust Henamarth to scry Secret Entrance.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, draw Secret Entrance for Threat 36.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Untroubled by Darkness and Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: Play Bifur and draw Erebor Hammersmith and Dwalin. Scry Dragon Spell.
  3. Quest: Fili, Kili, Erebor Hammersmith, draw Dragon-Spell which goes on Bilbo. Threat 38.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Almost time to get a move on, would like to get a second attachment to handle Burgle on attachments.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 10, draw Erebor Hammersmith and Daeron's Runes.
  2. Planning: Daeron's Runes to draw Cram and Ancestral Knowledge, discard Second Breakfast. Play Miner of the Iron Hills to remove Dragon-Spell. Hang on to Cram for now. Scry Dragon-Spell.
  3. Quest: Ori, Thorin, draw Dragon-Spell, attach to Bilbo, net +2 Progress and make a Burgle attempt: Type and cost match for Durin's Song, discard Ancestral Knowledge and advance to Stage 3. Gain Thror's Hunting Bow, attach to Thorin. Scry Dark Bats.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Smaug
  6. Combat: Dwalin defends, shadow Dark Bats which is attached to Dwalin then goes away, good riddance. Dwalin is dead. Bifur, Fili, Kili, Erebor Hammersmith and Miner of the Iron Hills puts 3 hits on Smaug.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 13, draw Fili, Narvi's Belt.
  2. Planning: Cram on Thorin. Gandalf using pipe from Bilbo, Threat 35. Play Erebor Hammersmith. Scry Croaking Crows which is a surge, I need to get at least 4 more Will to ensure quest success.
  3. Quest: Ori, Thorin, Bilbo, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith for 13 Will, draw Croaking Crows, surge Desolation of Smaug for net -3, Threat 38.
  4. Travel: Desolation of Smaug.
  5. Encounter: Croaking Crows.
  6. Combat: Kili defends against Smaug, shadow Croaking Crows for no effect, Kili is dead. Dain takes Croaking Corws undefended, shadow Belching Fire for no effect, 1 hit on Dain. Discard Cram to ready Thorin, attack with Thorin, Fili, Gandalf, Erebor Hammersmith, Miner of the Iron Hills for 14, net +6 damage on Smaug.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 11, draw Ancestral Knowledge and King Under the Mountain.
  2. Planning: Play King Under the Mountain on Dain, draw Cram and Dwarven Tomb, discard Dwarven Tomb. Need Cram right now. Play Cram on Thorin. Scry Desolation of Smaug.
  3. Quest: Ori, Thorin, Bilbo, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith x 2, draw Desolation of Smaug for net 0, play Untroubled by Darkness for net +5 Progress to clear Desolation of Smaug with 2 Progress on quest. Need 10 more progress to get Smaug out of play.
  4. Travel: Desolation of Smaug.
  5. Encounter: Smaug.
  6. Combat: Fili defends, shadow Secret Entrance for no effect, Fili is dead.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Note: minor asterisk here as I forgot to do a Burgle on A Bare Patch after questing successfully.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 14, draw Unexpected Courage and Dwarven Tomb.
  2. Planning: Play Dwalin, Unexpected Courage on Ori, Dwarven Tomb to get Daeron's Runes back and draw Gandalf, Durin's Song, discard Narvi's Belt. Scry Dark Bats. King Under the Mountain draw Miner of the Iron Hills and Henamarth Riversong, discard Henamarth. Play Fili and Kili, and Gandalf. Threat 37. Play Ancestral Knowledge and exhaust Miner of the Iron Hills to put 2 Progress on Desolation of Smaug.
  3. Quest: Ori, Thorin, Bilbo, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith x2, Kili, Fili, Dwalin, Gandalf for 25 will, draw Dark Bats for 13 Threat, clear Desolation of Smaug, put 11 Progress on quest. Play Durin's Song on Ori for another +2 Progress, 15 total. Smaug the Magnificent is out of play. This thing is in the bag.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dark Bats.
  6. Combat: Ori readies to defend, shadow Fighting Among Friends for net no effect with Durin's Song. Dain kills Dark Bats.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 9

This round is superfluous, but I'm going to play it out anyway.

  1. Resource: 8, draw Longbeard Orc Slayer, Untroubled by Darkness.
  2. Planning: Scry Great Hall. King Under the Mountain draws Daeron's Runes and Miner of the Iron Hills, discard Miner. Daeron's Runes draws Erebor Record Keeper and Erebor Record Keeper, discard Narvi's Belt from hand.

I'm not going to play this out, I'd be questing for ~28, it's a clear win as I only need 14 to clear Stage 3.

AAR

Two notes:

AAR

Two notes:

  1. I did forget to do the Burgle attempt on "A Bare Patch," which I'm not going to sweat, as I really don't believe it would have changed the outcome in any meaningful way.
  2. The Lonely Mountain location allows spending Pipe resources to tinker with the Burgle outcome, something I've overlooked in every play. When I play this again, I should deliberately use that mechanism.
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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.