LotR 291 - Blood of Gondor (6)

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Taking Basic Outlands 3.0 up against Blood of Gondor again. We'll see how it works out. I like this quest so far, and it may go into rotation.

Update: I forgot to add The Cross-Roads to the staging area, rendering this play moot. Since that is a Siege quest while it's in play, there are two options: 1. get it out of play as fast as possible, or leave it in and focus on Siege questing through Stage 1. The Threat value is only 1 for 1 player, so it's potentially an avenue of approach. Might do some deckbuilding to deal with it instead, replace the Spirit cards with Tactics cards.

Initial hand:

  1. Steward of Gondor
  2. Hasty Stroke
  3. Daeron's Runes
  4. A Test of Will
  5. Parting Gifts
  6. Men of the West

Not bad, let's try it.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: Daeron's Rune, draw Hunter of Lamedon and Warrior of Lossarnach, discard Hasty Stroke.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Evil Crow. Net +2 progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Evil Crow.
  6. Combat: Exhaust Faramir to show Orc Arsonist, which takes 3 hits and is eliminated. Hirluin defends Evil Crow shadow Lying in Wait for no effect. Lord Alcaron kills Evil Crow. Beravor draws Anfalas Herdsman and Knights of the Swan.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Ethir Swordsman.
  2. Planning: Steward of Gondor on Hirluin, Hunter of Lamedon,, Warrior of Lossarnach.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Orc Rabble.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Rabble.
  6. Combat: Faramir exhausts to find The Dark Woods which is discarded. Flip Brutal Uruk. Hirluin defends Orc Rabble, shadow Scourge of Mordor which I'm canceling with Hasty Stroke, Hirluin takes 1 hit. Hunter of Lamedon defends Brutal Uruk, shadow Eastern Road with no effect. Warrior of Lossarnach and Lord Alcaron kill Brutal Uruk. Beravor draws Knights of the Swan and Ethir Swordsman.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw Men of the West.
  2. Planning: Knights of the Swan x2, Anfalas Herdsman.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Orc Rabble. No progress due to hidden card from start of quest.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Rabble.
  6. Combat: Faramir exhausts to flip Orc Arsonist which is killed with 3 hits. Hirluin defends, shadow Orc Ambusher for +1 putting 3 hits on Hirluin. Bad news. Knights of the Swan defends, shadow Mordor Looms which whiffs as there are no hidden cards. Beravor and Lord Alcaron kill one of Orc Ambushers, Warrior of Lossarnach, Anfalas Herdsman and Knights of the Swan kill the other.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Asterisk: I swapped in Knights of the Swan for Anfalas as that would have been the game, and I'd like to just continue, will revisit later. I like this quest.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw Forlong.
  2. Planning: Play Ethir Swordsman, Forlong.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Mordor Looms, cancel with A Test of Will. Net +3 progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Optionally engage Black Numenorean.
  6. Combat: Faramir flips Conflict at the Cross-road for no effect. This is great. Ethir Swordsman defends, shadow Western Road. Faramir, Loard Alcaron, Forlong, Knights of the Swan kill Black Numenorean. Beravor draws Sneak Attack and Daeron's Runes.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 7, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: Play Daeron's Rune draw A Test of Will and Snowbourn Scout. Men of the West to retrieve Knights of the Swan and Ethir Swordsman. Parting gifts to move Lore resource to Hirluin, play Knights of the Swan and Snowbourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Southern Road, net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Beravor draws Henamarth Riversong, Warden of Healing.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 7, draw Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth and scry The Dark Woods, Ethir Swordsman.
  3. Quest: The Dark Woods goes to hidden, Eowyn quests, reveal Evil Crow. Net +1 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Evil Crow.
  6. Combat: Faramir kills Orc Ambusher. Flip the The Dark Woods. Forlong defends Evil Crow, shadow The Cross-roads which has no shadow effect. Lord Alcaron kills Evil Crow. Beravor draws Ethir Swordsman and Unexpected Courage.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 9, draw Warrior of Lossarnach.
  2. Planning: Ethir Swordsman x2, Warrior of Lossarnach. Scry Northern Road.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Orc Rabble. Net 0 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Rabble.
  6. Combat: Flip Northern Road. Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow The Dark Woods which has no shadow effect. Faramir and Alcaron kill Orc Rabble. Beravor draws Anfalas Herdsman and Hasty Stroke.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 8, draw Forlong.
  2. Planning: Play Anfalas Herdsman, Warden of Healing, take a damage off of Hirluin. Scry Scourge of Mordor.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Ethir x1, Anfalas Herdsman x1 for 11 Will, reveal Orc Ambusher for net +7 which clears Stage 1. We go to Battle Questing next. I got this.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Ambusher, discard Warden of Healing.
  6. Combat: Forlong defends, shadow The Dark Woods which has no shadow effect, Forlong takes 2 hits. Warrior of Lossarnach x2 kills Orc Ambusher. Beravor draws Gandalf and Snowbourn Scout.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 9, draw Anfalas Herdsman.
  2. Planning: Play Anfalas Herdsman. Scry Lying in Wait.
  3. Quest: Hirluin, Ethir x3, Warrior of Lossarnach x2 for 24 Will, reveal Orc Ambusher and that's the game if I didn't make any mistakes.

AAR

Update: this is an invalid play: I did not put The Cross-Roads into the Staging Area at the start of the game, which renders the whole game moot as it requires Siege questing. I was wondering why this felt so much easier than previous plays!

I know Outlands is pooh-pooh'ed by the community, but I've found it's not been the easiest deck for me to pilot, and piloting it well requires getting through the first couple of turns. From previous experience, if I can't get the deck firing by Turn 4, it's probably going to fail.

For Blood of Gondor, I think the key is dealing with Hidden Cards right away. Don't let them build up. Remember that Faramir is going to do 3 damage where most of the enemies are 3 hits. The Brutal Uruk's are 5 hits, but only 2 defense, so if Faramir can put 3 hits on one, it's not too difficult to knock them out same turn. Also, there are a fair number of Treacheries and Locations in the deck, all of which whiff when exposed as Hidden cards.

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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.