LotR 228 - Forgotten Ruins (4)

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I'm taking big crack at Ninjadorg's Forgotten Ruins scenario, which I'm a little bit stuck on. I want to get through these so I can get back to Lake Town and continue progression. The deck I'm using is pure core Ninjadorg 3 Forgotten Ruins.

Initial Hand:

  1. Miner of the Iron Hills
  2. Erebor Hammersmitth
  3. Henamarth Riversong
  4. Unexpected Courage
  5. Erebor Hammersmith
  6. Forest Snare

Not a bad hand. Let's see what we can do with it.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Snowbourn Scout, nice.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth Riversong.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Despair for no effect as there are no progress tokens on the quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none, but use Beravor to draw Will of the West and Faramir, Henamarth scry Great Forest Web. Awesome.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Beravor.
  3. Quest: Theodred, draw Great Forest Web, Threat 29.
  4. Travel: Great Forest Web.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none. Beravor readies, draws A Test of Will and Northern Tracker. Henamerth scry Tower Gate. Snowbourn will handle this one.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Steward of Gondor.
  2. Planning: play Steward of Gondor on Eowyn.
  3. Quest: Theodred, draw Tower Gate. Threat 31.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none. Beravor draws Sneak Attack x2. Scry Enchanted Stream.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 13, draw A Test of Will.
  2. Planning: play Northern Tracker.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Enchanted Stream.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none. Beravor draw Hasty Stroke, Ever Vigilant. Scry Wargs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 14, draw Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: play Northern Tracker, Snowbourn Scout, Faramir.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker, Faramir adds +1 each, draw Wargs, all locations cleared and Ungoliant's Spawn comes out.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Wargs, Ungoliant's Spawn.
  6. Combat: Norther Tracker defends Wargs, shadow Necromancer's Pass no effect, Wargs back to Staging. Snowbourn Scout defends Ungoliant's Spawn, shadow Under the Shadow for no effect. Beravor draws Dwarven Tomb, Stand and Fight. Scry Dol Guldur Beastmaster. Enemies are coming now. Time to start attacking.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 10, draw Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on Ungoliant's Spawn.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Wargs.
  6. Combat: Northern Tracker defend Wargs, shadow Driven by Shadow, which is going to make me discard an Attachment, which will be Steward of Gondor. I'll see about getting it back shortly with the Hammersmith. Northern Tracker takes a hit. Time to kill some stuff. Beravor, Theodred, Northern Tracker, Faramir swing for 7, 5 hits on Ungoliant. Beravor readies, Ever Vigilant to ready a Northern Tracker, and the Warg is done. Scry King Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Dol Guldur Beastmaster is coming out next turn.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 10, draw Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: play Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw King Spider, exhaust Beravor.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: King Spider. Scry Hill Troll. Ok, this is good I scry'ed here. Actually, it's not, as I forgot about shadow cards. However, the Hill Troll is going to be a shadow, so no big deal. I'm going to assume the next card will also be a Hill Troll anyway. Faramir defend King Spider, shadow Cavern Guardian, which is going to discard my Unexpected Courage. Crap.
  6. Combat: Faramir takes 1 hit. Miner of the Iron Hills defends Beastmaster, shadow Despair and King Spider, exhaust Northern Tracker. Beravor, Theodred, Northern Tracker kill Beastmaster.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 11, draw Will of the West.
  2. Planning: play Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Cavern Guardiani, Threat 37.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Cavern Guardian.
  6. Combat: play Stand and Fight for Snowbourn Scout to defend King Spider, shadow Endless Caverns no effect.Miner of the Iron Hills defend Cavern Guardian, shadow Chieftain Ufthak for no effect. Faramir, Northern Tracker take out Cavern Guardian, Northern Tracker, Theodred take out King Spider. Scry Necromancer's reach. Beravor draw Ever Vigilant, Snowbourn Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 11, draw The Galadhrim's Greetings.
  2. Planning: Dwarven Tomb to get Unexpected Courage back. Unexpected Courage on Beravor. Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: none, draw Necromancer's Reach for no effect.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Theodred, Northern Trackers take out Ungoliant's Spawn. Advance to 2A, Shadow Key to Staging area, draw Necromancer's Reach, deal 1 damage to Theodred and Northern Trackers. Bummer. I'll claim during planning phase next turn, then quest through Stage 2 on the same turn, if possible. Scry Dol Guldur Beastmaster. Beravor draws Guard of the Citadel, Gleowine.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 10, draw Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: Play Guard of the Citadel, Galadhrim's Greetings, Threat 33, acquire Shadow Key, Threat 35.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Beravor, Guard of the Citadel, Faramir +1 each for 10 total Will, draw Dol Guldur Beastmaster, Clear 2B, advance to 3A and remove Shadow Key, flip to 3B.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldur BeastMaster.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends Dol Guldur Beastmaster, shadow Mountains of Mirkwood, Necromancer's Pass for no effect. Snowbourn Scout perishes. Theodred, Northern Trackers kill Dol Guldur Beastmaster. Ready Beravor to draw Gandalf and Lore of Imladris. This game is basically won, unless I do something idiotic. Scry Caught In A Web, which I'm going to cancel.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 8, draw Lore of Imladris.
  2. Planning: play Gleowine because why not.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Caught In A Web, cancel with A Test of Will, 6 progress on Stage 3B, Nazgul comes into play.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Optionally engage Nazgul.
  6. Combat: Sneak Attack Gandalf to defend, 4 damage on Nazgul, shadow Goblin Sniper for no effect. Play Ever Vigilant to Ready Gandalf, attack with Northern Tracker x2 and Gandalf for the win.

AAR

I could have won without Ever Vigilant, I had just enough attack to pull it off. With my other Sneak attack, I could also have put another 4 damage on Nazgul in Refresh Phase by sneaking in Gandalf again. However, with the core set card pool, the Sneak Attak/Ever Vigilant multi combo is pretty cool.

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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.