LotR 321 - Journey Along the Anduin (17) with Mirlonde

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After getting hammered too many times in a row, I decided to take Chad's Morgul Vale Progresson Deck for spin to see how it worked against Journey Along the Anduin. In short, it's pretty good at turtling for board state. In this game, I got Light of Valinor out first turn, East Bank came up early, and Denethor and Henamarth turned it into a "Win More" fiesta pretty early. And to be honest it felt pretty good after getting stomped so much lately between To Catch and Orc and The Antlered Crown. A proper rage quest. I can still play the game.

How to play it

The main cards are getting Light of Valinor on Glorfindel as fast as possible, and keeping threat super low. Here are some other tips:

  • Get the Ranger Bows in play to pick off Goblin Sniper when it can't be engaged. This deck has a lot of 1 hit point allies, and the snipers are super annoying.

  • If you get 2+ Ranger Bows out early enough, you can chip away or even clear the Hill Troll.

  • Leverage the East Bank hard, and be really careful about losing it as a shadow card. Leverage action windows for direct damage to prevent engagement when possible.

  • Use Denethor at the end of combat to scry. You can get nasty cards cycled down and he'll come back up on the refresh where you can choose to use him again or wait to scry later.

  • Mirovor on Glorfindel and Mirlonde.

  • Unexpected courage on Glorfindel for the extra attack.

  • Shadows never deal more than +2 when undefended. With a Warden of Healing, it's survivable in a pinch.

  • With Gleowine out early enough, and Mithrandir's advice, it may be possible to draw most of the deck before needing to advance.

  • Song of Wisdom on Glorfindel.

  • You may not need to play Gandalf at all, and he may be of better use in a sideboard.

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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.