LotR 229 - The Elven Assembly (1)

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In lieu of doing some major deck building to beat The Battle of Lake Town, I've been playing through all the Ninjadorg scenarios using a power deck built from the core set. The core really has some powerful cards, and it's fun to really dig in to how to play them really, really well.

Quest 4 in Ninjadorg's expansion: The Elven Assembly. Let's see how it plays with my single core deck Ninjadorg 3 Forgotten Ruins. Going into this completely blind.

Initial hand:

  • Northern Tracker
  • Lore of Imladris
  • Unexpected Courage
  • Stand and Fight
  • Forest Snare
  • Henamarth Riversong

This is pretty good, no mulligan.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw A Test of Will.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Treacherous Fog for no effect. Net 3 progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none. Beravor draws Faramir and Ever Vigilant. Henamarth reveals Tower Gate.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28.

An excellent first round.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Ever Vigilant.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Beravor.
  3. Quest: Theodred, Eowyn for 5 Will, draw Tower Gate. Net 1 progress.
  4. Travel: Tower Gate.
  5. Encounter: Orc Guard.
  6. Combat: Undefended, shadow Enchanted Stream for no effect, Theodred takes 1 hit. Beravor swings for 2, kills Orc Guard. Beravor draws Gandalf and Hasty Stroke. Henamarth reveals Dol Guldur Orcs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 11, draw Miner of the Iron Hills.
  2. Planning: play Faramir.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Dol Guldur Orcs. Net 1 Progress to clear Tower Gate. Damage to Theodred.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Faramir defends, shadow Dol Guldur Beastmaster for no effect, 1 damage on Faramir. Play Ever Vigilant to ready Faramir then he and Beravor kill Dol Guldur Orcs. Beravor draws The Galadhirm's Greetings, Henamarth Riversong. Henamarth scrys Misty Mountain Goblins.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 10, draw Forest Snare.
  2. Planning: play Northern Tracker, Lore of Imladris to heal Theodred.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Misty Mountain Goblins, net 1 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Misty Mountain Goblins.
  6. Combat: Faramir defends, shadow Dol Guldur Orcs for +1 attack, another damage on Faramir. Beravor and Northern Tracker take 'em out. Beravor draws Dwarven Tomb and Unexpected Courage. Henamarth reveals Pursued By Shadow, which is cool as I can go all in questing next round.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 8, draw Dwarven Tomb.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Theodred.
  3. Quest: All in except Henamarth, draw Pursued By Shadow increase Threat to 32. Net 10 Will which is enough for clearing the quest, but we need to kill the Beastmaster first.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none, will try and take on Beastmaster next turn. Beravor draws A Test of Will and Faramir, Henamarth scrys Tower Gate.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 9, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Gandalf, 4 hits on DG Beastmaster.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, draw Tower Gate for net +1 progress.
  4. Travel: none, Norther Tracker will deal with it next turn.
  5. Encounter: Dol Guldur Beastmaster.
  6. Combat: Gandalf defend DG Beastmaster, shadow Nazgul of Dol Guldur! Woot! I'm shocked that card wasn't set aside. Maybe it will be in a later stage. Beravor swings for 2 kills Dol Guldur Beastmaster. Beravor readies, draws Guard of the Citadel and Gleowine. Henamarth scrys Under The Shadow. Stage 2: This is easy, cannot engage enemies, nor be engaged, only work with already engaged enemies but progress is 5 required. Gonna blast through this one.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 8, draw For Gondor!
  2. Planning: Guard of the Citadel.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker, draw Under The Shadow for temporary Threat 35. Tower Gate is cleared, Stage 2 Elf Path is cleared, on to Stage 3 The Veil of the Lonely Mountain. Find Misty Mountain Goblins and engage.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Misty Mountain Goblins.
  6. Combat: Theodred defends, shadow Chieftain Ufthak for no effect, 1 hit on Theodred. Beravor, Henamarth and Faramir kill Misty Mountain Goblins. Play Ever Vigilant to ready Henamarth. Beravor draws Forest Snare and Sneak Attack. Henamarth scrys Under The Shadow, and that wins this game next round.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 11, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: All in for 14 Will, draw Pursued By Shadow to clear Stage 3 and win.

This is such a powerful deck with respect to core cards.

AAR

Not really a lot to say, this deck worked exactly as it should have, the encounted deck softballed me this game, getting lucky is always nice.

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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.