LotR 273 - The Siege of Cair Andros (7)

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Built an all-Tactics deck specifically for this quest. Heros are Boromir, Thalin, and Beregond. This is the first time I've played Boromir, and I have an un-errata card which I'm going to play as-is, because progression-style play.

At the moment, I don't have a deck list. I'll add it here once I get it punched in at RingsDB.

Notes

Need to replace the following I think:

  1. Rain of Arrows as it needs Ranged character.
  2. Citadel Plate, or reduce to 1 in the deck.
  3. Remove 1 Hail of Stones, not enough allies in the deck.
  4. Add Hands Upon the Bow if able.
  5. Add Black Arrow if able.

Game play

Initial hand:

  1. Rain of Arrows
  2. Vassal of the Windlord
  3. Veteran Axehand
  4. Westfold Outrider
  5. Defender of Rammas
  6. Hail of Stones

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Winged Guardian, excellent!
  2. Planning: Play Winged Guardian and Defender of Rammas.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Thalin, Defender of Rammas, Winged Guardian, reveal Orc Vanguard, good thing I have Tactics. Net +6, almost too much!
  4. Travel: The Banks.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Citadel Plate.
  2. Planning: Play Veteran Axehand, better chump than sorry.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Thalin, Defender of Rammas, Winged Guardian, reveal Southron Support, add Southron Mercenaries to staging area. The Banks are cleared and Stage 2 is removed, 2 more progress on Stage 1. Threat 34.
  4. Travel: The Approach.
  5. Encounter: Optionally engage Southron Mercenaries.
  6. Combat: Southron Mercenaries as undefended, shadow Orc Arbalesters for 5 damage on The Approach. Boromir and Veteran Axehand put 3 hits on Southron Mercenaries.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35,

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Hail of Stones.
  2. Planning: Play Westfold Outrider.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Thalin, Defender of Rammas, Winged Guardian, reveal Southron Mercenaries for net +7 which clears The Approach and Stage 3.
  4. Travel: The Citadel. Hail of Stones with Veteran Axehand and Westfold Outrider to put 2 damage on Southron Mercenaries in Staging. Boromir will take them both out.
  5. Encounter: Southron Mercenaries.
  6. Combat: Two Archery on Thalin. First is undefended, shadow for first is Scourge of Morder which is +1 and deal another which is Orc Scramblers for a total of 6 hits on The Citadel. Boromir defends the other, shadow Haradrim Elite for another attack, Southron Support woth no effect, 2 hits on Boromir with Threat 37, ready twice for Threat 39 and take out both Southron Mercenaries.
  7. Refresh: Threat 40.

Orc Vanguard coming out this turn. Hope I don't draw a Mumak.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Watcher of the Bruinen. This is good, I can use him.
  2. Planning: Play Watcher of the Bruinen.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Thalin, Defended of Rammas, Winged Guardian, reveal Orc Scramblers surge The Power of Morder. Shuffle current staging and reveal Orc Battering Ram for Threat 42 and Orc Rabble. Need to look up some rules here to see if there is an action window before quest resolution…yes I can play Hail of Stones right here to kill Orc Rabble to clear The Citadel AND Stage 1! Questing with 14 Will, 2 Threat in Staging, 11 Progress on The Citadel, and the last progress needed for Stage 1. Advancing to Stage 5. Since I have 6 VPs, this will be Battle Questing. Reveal Orc Arbalesters. This is going to be tough to get through, need 15 questing.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Battering Ram and Orc Arbalesters.
  6. Combat: Watcher of Bruinen defends Battering Ram, shadow Mumak, excellent. Boromir defends Orc Arbalesters, shadow Orc Rabble for another shadow Battering Ram for +2 attack, Boromir takes another hit, readies to put a hit on it.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 5, draw Khazad Khazad.
  2. Planning: Play Vassal of the Windlord.
  3. Quest: Boromir, Thalin, Veteran Axehand, Westfold Outrider, Vassal of the Windlord, play Khazad Khazad for 15 Will, reveal The Master's Malice for a whiff. And a win!

Dang. I did not expect that. I am sure I got a little bit lucky, but then again, I went full aggro on it.

It's a win* though as I did have a couple of cards from further on which I replaced with on-the-fly as they came. Notable Gondorian Fire and Gondorian Shield. I don't believe this would have made a difference in the end, as the next Encounter would have been Orc War Camp with 5 Threat, and I would have been questing with 11 to make 3. So I'm considering it a very small asterisk, and I have no doubt this deck can do consistently well against this quest.

Also, note playing Progression, I'm using pre-errate Boromir, as it would have been played - and play tested - originally. I'm ok with this.

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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.