The Old Forest from Ninjadorg (LotR 215, 216)

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A second attempt at braving The Old Forest. My first attempt was ruined by the appearance of the second hill troll before I had enough board state to manage it. The encounter deck also has Ungoliant's Spawn and Hummerhorns, basically, all the big, bad bosses in the core set excepting the Nazgul. There are six more scenarios after this one, I'm getting really curious what they're like.

Initial hand:

  1. Celebrian Stone
  2. Celebrian Stone
  3. For Gonder
  4. Lorien Guide
  5. Stand and Fight
  6. Unexpected Courage

Set up: Choose Dol Guldur Orcs as they are easy to kill, and have a nasty When Revealed which deals 2 damage to a questing character. At Threat 10 it's coming out right away, but I'll figure it out.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw A Test of Will.
  2. Planning: Play Celebrian Stone on Aragorn.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Eowyn, draw Hill Troll. Scoop.
  4. Travel:
  5. Encounter:
  6. Combat:
  7. Refresh: Threat

Well, that was fast!

Let's try another game.

Initial hand, after mulligan:

  1. Strength of Will
  2. Ever Vigilant
  3. Valiant Sacrifice
  4. Unexpected Courage
  5. Steward of Gondor
  6. Celebrian's Stone

Same as last game, choose Dol Guldur Orcs for setup.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Valiant Sacrifice.
  2. Planning: Steward of Gondor on Aragorn, exhaust to put Celebrian Stone on Aragorn.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Aragoron readies on Theodred's resource, draw Despair for no effect. Net 7 Progress. Which is bad. I've outsmarted myself. I should have played Unexpected Courage on Aragorn and taken out the orcs. Ufthak comes out in Stage 2.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends, shadow Dol Guldur Beastmaster for no effect.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Lorien Guide. A good card, don't need it right now.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Aragorn.
  3. Quest: Theodred, draw The East Bight, which is super lucky! Requires 6 to clear, and I need to stall really bad, and it's exactly 1 threat, so, net 0 progress.
  4. Travel: The East Bight.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Aragoran defends, shadow Old Forest Road for no effect. Aragorn kill Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 10, draw Ever Vigilant.
  2. Planning: Play Lorien Guide.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Lorien Guide, draw Wargs, net +4 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Wargs.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends, shadow Necromancer's Reach. Wargs goes back to staging, Aragorn takes a hit.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 12, draw Stand and Fight. I'm not going to win this game without allies.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Theodred, draw Despair! Awesome! Back in the game! Threat 33.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Wargs.
  6. Combat: Aragorn defends, shadow King Spider, exhaust Lorien Guide. Aragorn takes another hit. Aragorn and Lorien Guide kill Wargs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

I need to get some allies out very badly. I do not know where they are hiding. I need to get them before the encounter deck serves me up a hill troll, or Ungoliant's Spawn.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 18, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Aragorn for 9, draw Hill Troll. Dang. I think I can deal with this. The quest is going to clear, but I get 1 round before Ufthak engages.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Hill Troll.
  6. Combat: Lorien Guide defends, shadow Wargs for +1, Lorien Guide is dead. Play Valiant Sacrifice to draw Faramir and Valiant Sacrifice, draw Celebrian's Stone and Strength of Will, play last Valiant Sacrifice draw Unexpected Courage and Snowbourn Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

The two Ever Vigilant cards I have are about the only way I'm going to get through the next round, unless I use Gandalf to lower threat, or draw a Galadhrim's Greetings.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 20, draw Sneak Attack. Excellent!
  2. Planning: Play Snowburn Scout, Faramir, Unexpected Courage on Theodred, he swings for 2 and I need it.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Goblin Sniper, net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Ufthak.
  6. Combat: Sneak Attack Gandalf out putting 4 hits on Hill Troll. Snowbourn Scout defends against Ufthak, shadow Forest Spider, discard Celebrian's Stone from Aragorn, Scout is dead. Faramir defends Hill Troll, shadow Forest Gate for no effect, Threat 36 and Faramir is dead. Gandalf, Aragorn and Theodred take out the hill troll. Ready Aragorn and Theodred with Unexpected Courage, play Ever Vigilant to ready Gandalf and take out Ufthak. Gandalf gets 1 point of damage from Goblin Sniper.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Good round!

Round 7

  1. Resource: 15, draw Hasty Stroke, useful.
  2. Planning: Celebrian Stone on Aragorn, Stand and Fight for Faramir.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Forest Spider, net +1 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Faramir defends, shadow Necromancer's Pass for no effect. Aragorn and Theodred kill Forest Spider. Damage on Theodred.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

If I get Hummerhorns or Ungoliant Spawn, I'm hosed.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 14, draw Stand and Fight. I think I'm good, I'll quest through this stage and get the troll in play.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Aragorn, draw Forest Gate to clear Stage 2, now the hill troll comes out, and I think that will be ok.
  4. Travel: Forest Gate draw A Test of Will and Guard of the Citadel. This is pretty good, workable.
  5. Encounter: Hill Troll.
  6. Combat: Faramir defends, shadow Old Forest Road for no effect Faramir dies, again. Threat 39. Aragorn and Theodred put two hits on troll.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 20, draw Son of Arnor.
  2. Planning: Play Gandalf, Son of Arnor, Guard of the Citadel, putting 4 hits on troll, and that's good. I have at least two more rounds after this one, no need to hurry.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Aragorn, Theodred, draw Ungoliant's Spawn! Dang! Going to cancel the When Revealed. Cleared Forest Gate with no progress. Bummer. At least I have some chumps out.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Ungoliant's Spawn.
  6. Combat: Gandalf defends Hill Troll, shadow Eyes of the Forest for no effect, Gandalf takes two hits. Guard of the Citadel defends Ungoliant's Spawn, shadow Caught in a Web for no effect. Now it's my turn. Play Ever Vigilant to ready Gandalf. Play Stand and Fight to get Guard of the Citadel back. Aragorn, Theodred, Guard of the Citadel swing for 6 to kill Hill Troll. Ready Aragorn, Gandalf, Aragorn, Son of Arnor swing for 9 to put 7 more damage on Ungoliant's Spawm. Goblin Sniper on Gandalf.
  7. Refresh: Threat 41.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 10, draw Son of Arnor.
  2. Planning: Play Son of Arnor.
  3. Quest: Aragorn, Theodred, Aragorn, draw Dolu Guldur Orcs deal two damage to Theodred, net +5 and discard a Strength of Will for +1 total +6 Progress. I have this thing.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Guard of the Citadel defends Ungoliant, shadow The Necromancer's Reach for no effect. Son of Arnor defends Dol Guldur Orcs, shadow Enchanted Stream no effect. Theodred and Son of Arnor kill Ungoliant's Spawn, Aragorn kills Dol Guldur Orcs. Sniper hits Son of Arnor.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42

This has to be in the bag, unless I get a Necromancer's Reach. But even then I only lose Theodred.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 16, draw Son of Arnor.
  2. Planning: Play Son of Arnor.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Aragorn, draw East Bight Patrol, net 4 Progress, which is enough for the win.

AAR

This is a really good quest!

It's not quite as difficult as Journey Along the Anduin perhaps, but it's still pretty good. I'll probably revisit it some time.

Here's the deck: Ninjadorg 2 - The Old Forest:

Hero (3)

Ally (17)

Attachment (9)

Event (25)

3 Heroes, 51 Cards Cards up to Core Set

Decklist built and published on RingsDB.

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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.