LotR 293 - Blood of Gondor (8)

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Updated the Outlands deck to splash Tactics instead of Spirit. The idea is leaving The Cross-Roads in staging the whole game, and Siege quest. Hopefully Outlands will fire as well. For all the "power" that Outlands supposedly has, I've had a hard time getting it going. I've really only had it at full speed a couple of times.

Anyways, let's get it on!

Mulligan from having 3 Steward of Gondor and 2 Daeron's Runes in the starting hand:

  1. Defender of Rammas
  2. Hunter of Lamedon
  3. Winged Guardian
  4. Henamarth Riversong
  5. Sneak Attack
  6. Daeron's Runes

No Steward, but whatever.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 1, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: Dawron's Runes drawing Ethir Swordsman and Anfalas Herdsman, play Henamarth, scry Brutal Uruk, which will be the Hidden card.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Alcaron, reveal Western Road. Net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: Western Road.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Faramir to flip Conflict at the Crossroads for no effect. Draw another hidden card. Beravor draws Ethir Swordsman and Warrior of Lossarnach.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Forlong.
  2. Planning: Play Snowbourn Scout, Anfalas Herdsman. Scry Mordor Looms.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Defender of Rammas, reveal Orc Rabble. Net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Rabble. Alcaron exhausts to send it back to staging.
  6. Combat: Flip everything to discard Mordor Looms, Orc Arsonist, and Brutal Uruk. Snowbourn defends Brutal Uruk shadow Brutal Uruk with no shadow. Anfalas defends Orc Arsonist, shadow Mordor Looms which will whiff. Beravor, Faramir, and Hirluin destroy Brutal Uruk.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Daeron's Runes.
  2. Planning: Daeron's Runes drawing Hunter of Lamedon and Winged Guardiwn, discard Hunter.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Defender of Rammas, reveal Lying in Wait which flips Orc Ambusher. Clear Western Road, make +4 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc Rabble, exhaust Alcaron to put it back in Staging.
  6. Combat: Henamath defends Orc Ambusher, shadow Eastern Road which has no shadow effect. Beravor defends Orc Arsonist, shadow Mordor Looms which whiffs, 1 hit to Beravor. Faramir and Hirluin kill Orc Arsonist.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 7, draw Sneak Attack.
  2. Planning: Play Warrior of Lossarnach, Winged Guardian.
  3. Quest: Beregond, Winged Guardian, Lord Alcaron, Faramir, reveal Evil Crow. Net +6 to clear Stage 1.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Evil Crow, Orc Rabble.
  6. Combat: This is a make or break round. Beravor defends Brutal Uruk, shadow Orc Arsonist which is +1 which kills Beravor. Defender of Rammas defends Orc Arsonist, shadow The Dark Woods which has no shadow effect. Beregond takes Evil Crow undefended, shadow The Dark Woods which has no shadow effect and 1 hit to Beregond. Hirluin defends Orc Rabble and takes 2 hits (card effect), because shadow Scourge of Morder for +1 attack,
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Play Ethir Swordsman. Going for broke this round.
  3. Quest: All in and Sneak a Gandalf for 22 Will, reveal Orc Arsonist.

And that's Blood of Gondor.

AAR

I think this played out correctly. I increased the threat when I had hidden cards, but I think that was only Round 1. I may have had no more than 1 hidden card in Round 3, but I don't think so, I was pretty careful to flip them all as often as I could.

The key was keeping The Cross-Roads in the Staging area and using Siege questing for the whole game. I do have some question about the wording of the card, but I'm not going to sweat it. If it turns out the Siege doesn't count if the current quest isn't Battle, then this quest is beatable in a similar manner with the previous deck using normal Will questing.

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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.