LotR 286 - Assault on Osgiliath (2)

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First solo play of Assault on Osgiliath, one of the easier quests in the game. The previous play was cooperative, and the quest more or less beat itself, which was pretty weird. I'm ok with an easy quest once in a while. I've certainly beat my head against a number of really difficult quests. Let's see how it goes.

Initial hand, mulligan:

  1. Henamarth Riversong
  2. Gandalf
  3. A Test of Will.
  4. Men of the West
  5. A Test of Will
  6. Snowbourn Scout

No Steward of Gondor, bummer.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Daeron's Runes.
  2. Planning: play Daeron's Runes drawing Miner of the Iron Hills (discard) and Parting Gifts. Play Henamarth and scry Orc Arbalesters. Play Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Orc Arbelesters, Threat 28.
  4. Travel: The King's Library revealing West Quarter.
  5. Encounter: Southron Phalanx.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow Orc War Camp for net +1 attack, killing Snownbourn Scout. Beravor draws Gandalf and Steward of Gondor.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: Play Snowbourn Scout. Scry Street Fighting.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Beravor, reveal Street Fighting, discard 7 cards to find Ruined Tower exhausting Hirluin to take control. Not bad. Cleared The King's Library as well.
  4. Travel: West Quarter.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Snownourn Scout defends, shadow Uruk Soldier, Threat 31.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 9, draw Warden of Healing.
  2. Planning: Scry West Gate, bummer. Play Gandalf drawing Snowbourn Scout, Hunter of Lamedon, and Miner of the Iron Hills. Play Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Gandalf, Eowyn, reveal West Gate, clearing West Quarter.
  4. Travel: West Gate.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow Southron Commander with no effect. Beravor draws A Test of Will and Knights of the Swan.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Daeron's Runes.
  2. Planning: Play Daeron's Runes drawing Miner of the Iron Hills and Sneak Attack, discard Miner. Scry Counter Attack. Play Hunter of Lamedon drawing Hunter of Lamedon, play and draw again for Hasty Stroke.
  3. Quest: All in with Eowyn, Hunter x2, Beravor, Hirluin for 9 Will, reveal Counter-Attack and cancel with A Test of Will. That clears West Gate and that's the game.

AAR

The key to this quest is going totally aggro on it to grab the Osgiliath locations as fast as possible. Threat is not that important, because there is no progress on the Stage, it's all about the locations. In this game, with an Outlands deck, I managed to pull almost all the non-outlands characters first, but honestly, Snowbourn Scout rose to the challenge.

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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.