LotR 262 - Peril in Pelargir (7)

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The shadow cards have been killing me, so let's tune it up a bit, get some staging area attacking. Some deck tuning on Chad's deck, swap:

  • Eowyn for Dunhere
  • Master of the Forge x2 for Hasty Stroke
  • Northern Tracker for Hasty Stroke

Initial hand:

  1. Snowbourn Scout
  2. Hasty Stroke
  3. Vilya
  4. Zigil Miner
  5. Elrond's Counsel
  6. Vassal of the Windlord

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Faramir
  2. Planning: Play Vassal of the Windlord.
  3. Quest: Alcaron's Scroll discards Lossarnach Bandit, which just cost me the game probably. Should have spent on Zigil Miner. Quest with Vassal of the Windlord, reveal Umbar Assassin. Threat 32.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Harbor Thug, Lossarnach engaged optionally, lose resources which sucks as cannot play Hasty Stroke if necessary.
  6. Combat: Elrond defends Harbor Thug, shadow Lossarnach bandit for no effect and no damage. Glorfindel takes Lossarnach undefended, shadow Zealous Traitor for no effect. Dunhere attacks Umbar for 2 damage. If I can do that a couple more times he's done.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 3, draw Asfaloth.
  2. Planning: Play Snowbourn Scout, Zigil Miner for chumps.
  3. Quest: Vassal of the Windlord, reveal City Streets which surges Lurking in Shadows, Lossarnach back to staging. Dang. Threat 38, play Elrond's Counsel for Threat 35.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Lossarnach Bandit.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow Callateral Damage which is a whiff as no hero has the scroll, Snowbourn Scout is dead. Zigil Miner defends Harbor Thug, shadow Lurking in Shadows which returns it to the staging area as well. I don't have any resources to cancel it. That's probably the game because this is "enemy lock" I won't be able to kill them and Umbar will come out next round..

Scooping again.

AAR

How to beat this quest:

  • Control shadows. This is huge in this quest.
  • Do not save resources, there are resource discarding effects.
  • Healing maybe, to deal with Umbar Assassin, but better to take him out in the staging area if possible.
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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.