LotR 193 - The Battle of Five Armies (2)

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Totally new deck built from scratch, what I'm calling Free People's Army.

Here's how it works:

  • Beorn soaks up the early damage. Try not to completely kill him before at least mid-game. He's not really necessary once you have a good tableau.
  • Sting and Ring on Bilbo of course.
  • Thalin gets Horn of Gondor.
  • Dunhere gets Orcrist and Blade of Gondolin if possible.
  • Unexpected Courage on Bilbo in the late game when you can afford to use him as a defender.

I built this deck by the seat of my pants, very happy it beat The Battle of Five Armies on it's first go.

Initial hand:

  1. Winged Guardian
  2. Spear of the Citadel
  3. Blade of Gondolin
  4. Stand and Fight
  5. Vassal of the Windlord
  6. Stand and Fight

Starting Threat: 29.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 4, draw Gondorian Spearman.
  2. Planning: Spend Pipe to find Sting, play on Bilbo. Play Winged Guardian.
  3. Quest: Bilbo, Thalin, Winged Guardian on 4B, draw Northern Slopes, net +2 on 4B.
  4. Travel: Northern Slopes.
  5. Encounter: Engage Gundabad Climber and Gunbad Warg Rider.
  6. Combat: Beorn defends Climber, shadow Hidden Path for no effect, defends Wolf Rider, shadow Vangaurd of Bolg for no effect. Beorn kills Climber, Dunhere kills Wolf Rider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.
  • 2B Stand and Fight random discard.
  • 3B Gundabad Climber reenters from discard.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Bilbo spends to find Orcrist, attach to Dunhere. Play Gondorian Spearman, sad, but necessary I think.
  3. Quest: Thalin, Bilbo, Winged Guardian, Gondorian Spearman for 9, draw Hidden Paths for net +4 which clears Northern Slopes.
  4. Travel: Cannot travel, no pipes.
  5. Encounter: Gundabod Climber.
  6. Combat: Beorn defends, shadow Bodyguard of Bolg for no effect, Dunhere kills, gains a resource.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.
  • 2B Blade of Gondolin dscarded, that hurts.
  • 3B Gundabad Climber reenters from discard.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Feint.
  2. Planning: Play Vassal of the Windlord and Gandalf, Threat 26.
  3. Quest: 3B Thalin, Bilbo, Vassal of the Windlord, Gondorian Spearman, Gandalf for 12, draw Weighed Down which nets 7 for net +2 Progress on 3B. Bummer.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Gundbad Climber.
  6. Combat: Duhere defend, shadow Bodyguard of Bolg for no effect, 2 hits on Dunhere and Beorn kills it.
  7. Refresh: Threat 27.

Now I have a problem, as I don't have a lot of will, and I need to get some Progress on 2B so I don't run out of cards.

  • 2B discard Spear of the Citadel.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Veteran Axehand.
  2. Planning: Play Veteran Axehand.
  3. Quest: 3B again, with Thalin, Bilbo, Gondorian Spearman, Vassal of the Windlord, and Veteran Axehand for 10, draw Ravenous Warg for net +3 on 3B.
  4. Travel: Hidden Paths.
  5. Encounter: Ravenous Ward.
  6. Combat: Beorn defends shadow Bodygaurd of Bolg for no effect, 2 more hits on Beorn. He can't do any more defending! Dunhere kills and gets a resource.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.
  • 2B discard Feint.

Thalin has been a dud so far, which might be a good thing.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 6, draw Hail of Stones.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Dunhere, Thalin, Bilbo for 4, draw Ruins of Dale. We get 1 progress on 2B.
  4. Travel: none, need 3 Pipe to travel, which sucks. I need to get Magic Ring on Bilbo first thing, and eat the threat increase at the beginning of the game.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

I am not losing cards any longer, but Ruins of Dale removed 2 Progress from 3B.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 10, draw Gondorian Spearman.
  2. Planning: Pipe to find Magic Ring, put on Bilbo. Play Gondorian Spearman.
  3. Quest: 3B, Thalin, Bilbo, Vassal of the Windlord, Veteran Axehand for 9, draw Bodyguard of Bolg, surge Northern Slopes. Net +1 Progress.
  4. Travel: Ruins of Dale. The forced effect is still in play.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Hail of Stones to take out Bodyguard of Bolg.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Remove 2 Progress from 3B.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 10, draw Favor of the Lady.
  2. Planning: Play Favor of the Lady on Bilbo.
  3. Quest: Thalin, Bilbo, Vassal, Veteran Axehand, Gondorian Spearman for 11, draw Ravenous Warg, which is bad as it's going to kill Beorn. I don't see any way around this one. This is where I needed to use Hail of Stones, or if I had a quick strike that would work too. Ruins of Dale to Victory display, +3 on 3B. Bummer.
  4. Travel: Northern Slopes.
  5. Encounter: Ravenous Wargs.
  6. Combat: Beorn require to defend, shadow Gundabad Climber for no effect, Beorn succumbs to the Ravenous Warg. Bummer.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

I might still be able to pull this off depending on what Stage 5B looks like. I haven't seen it yet.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 9, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Play Unexpected Courage on Bilbo.
  3. Quest: 4B, Thalin, Bilbo, Winged Guardian, Gondorian Spearman, Veteran Axehand for 10, draw Hatred Rekindled which surges for Gundabad Climber, surges Gundbad Wolf Rider. Northern Slopes cleared, net +4 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Gundabad Wolf Rider.
  6. Combat: Bilbo defends, draw Vanguard of Bolg to do another damage to Bodyguard, shadow Vangaurd of Bolg which will have no effect. Bilbo takes 1 hit. Gondorian Spearman destroys Wolf Rider. Dunhere destroys Gundabad Climber in the staging area.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 11, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: 2B, Thalin, Dunhere, Bilbo for 5, draw Misty Mountain Eagle! This is almost like like having a hero, super good card. Net +4 on 2B.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 12, draw Feint.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Thalin, Dunhere, Bilbo, Misty Mountain Eagle for 8, draw Gundabad Climber, Gundabad Archer to deal 2 hits to Thalin. Net +4 and Stage 2B is ready.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Gundabad Climber. Leave the Archer in staging for now, he's getting hammered next round.
  6. Combat: Bilbo defends, Sting draws Hidden Path which eliminates Gundabad Climber.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 15, draw Horn of Gondor.
  2. Planning: Play Horn of Gondor on Thalin. If I can pull Landroval, I'll get Beorn back.
  3. Quest: 3B: Thalin, Bilbo, Vassal of the Windlord, Veteran Axehand, Eagle of the Misty Mountain for 13, draw Heedless of Order which is surge Ravenhill, bummer. Choosing 4B, we have 8 for net +3 Progress on 4B which clears it.
  4. Travel: Spend 1 Pipe for Ravenhill.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Dunhere takes out the archer in the staging area.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 12

  1. Resource: 17, draw Feint.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: 3B: Thalin, Bilbo, Vassal of the Windlord, Veteran Axehand, Eagle of the Misty Mountain for 13, draw Fighting Among Friends. This card is stupid, I'm naming Lore and finishing Stages 2B, 3B, and 4B. Move to Stage 5B. I think I have this, I'll just need to be really careful on the next quest stage. Actually, I don't think I need to quest at all, I don't need to make progress, just need to kill everything before the Threat runs out. I'll still quest with Thalin just in case.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Bolg, Bodyguard of Bolg.
  6. Combat: Gondorian Spearman defends Bolg, shadow Gundabad Wolf Rider for no effect, Gondorian Spearman killed, Thalin gets a resource (Horn of Gondor). Play Feint on Bodyguard, then attack with Dunhere, Bilbo, Gondorian Spearman to kill Bodyguard.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

This could be the last round coming up.

Round 13

  1. Resource: 20, draw Quick Strike, might be useful.
  2. Planning: Stand and Fight to pull Gondorian Spearman back from discard.
  3. Quest: Thalin, draw Gundabad Archer and Hatred Rekindled. Archer damage on Gondorian Spearman. Threat 38.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Bolg is engaged, Archer is Threat 40, don't care about him.
  6. Combat: Cannot play Feint on Bolg, we'll have Bilbo exhaust with Magic Ring to defend. Sting deals no damage with Heedless of Order, shadow Goblins are Upon You! Bilbo raises Threat to 41 for no damage. Ready Bilbo, add Eagle of the Misty Mountain, Vassal of the Windlord, Veteran Axehand and Dunhere for 14, which kills Bolg for the win.

AAR

This was a long game, many rounds, slow progress, but I believe it was a solid win. If there are any asterisks, it's with respect to the particular Treasure cards I included. But I don't really care as the saga mechanics for the Hobbit are ridiculously hard, and what I used is thematic.

For 3B I should be using Bearn to quest and have chumps defend. At least once I have a board state together. Might have been able to knock a turn or two off the play.

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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.