LotR 332 - The Three Trials (3)

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This is my first solitaire play of this quest. The previous co-op games beat on the second try. Starting with Elrond and the Traps deck, will rebuild if necessary.

Initial hand, mulligan:

  1. Miner of the Iron Hills
  2. Miner of the Iron Hills
  3. Dundeain Watcher
  4. Ancient Mathom
  5. Henamarth Riversong
  6. Vilya

Round 2

  1. Resource: 3, draw Vassal of the Windlord.
  2. Planning: Play Henamarth, scry Spirit of the Wild.
  3. Quest: Elrond, Eowym, reveal Spirit of the Wild.
  4. Travel: Stone Barrow.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Guardian attacks Elrond, shadow Tangled Woods for no effect.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28, Time 2.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Imladris Stargazer.
  2. Planning: Play Imladris, Ancient Mathom, Vassal. Henamath scries Spirit of the Wild.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Elrond, reveal Spirit of the Wild, pitch Dunedain to Eowyn for net +4 on Stone Barrow.
  4. Travel: none.

This is not going to work, I have three enemies engaged. Scooping here.

I don't have a clear strategy here, either.

Game 333, Three Trials 4

Let's try again. Initial hand:

  1. Unexpected Courage
  2. Unexpected Courage
  3. Master of the Forge
  4. Hasty Stroke
  5. Vassal of the Windlord
  6. Snowbourn Scout

Set up:

  • Hill Barrow
  • Key of the Wolf

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Power of Orthanc.
  2. Planning: Play Snowbourn Scout. Unexpected Courage on Elrond.
  3. Quest: Elrond, Eowyn, Glorfindel (Threat 28)for Will 10, reveal Tangled Woods.
  4. Travel: Expected Courage for Elrond to travel to Hill Barrow.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends shadow 1 Spirit ot the Wild for no effect, shadow 2 The Guardian's Fury which will kill a hero and that's the game.

First round loss. Bummer.

Game 334/5

Initial hand:

  1. Imladris Stargazer
  2. Elrond's Counsel
  3. Ancient Mathom
  4. VAssal of the Windlord
  5. Zigil Miner
  6. Henamarth Riversong

Setup:

  • Hill Barrow
  • Key of the Boar

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw A Burning Brand.
  2. Planning: Henamarth, Stargazer. Scry Turned Around.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Turned Around, time counter from Boar Guardian.
  4. Travel: Hill Barrow.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Elrond defends, shadow 1 Spirit of the Wild for no effect, shadow 2, Spirit of the Wild for no effect, Elrond take 1 hit.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28, Time 0, Stargazer defends, shadow 1 Grim Foothills for no effect, shadow 2 Spirit of the Wild for which whiffs.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 3, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: Play Snowbourn Scout, Ancient Mathom, Elrond's Counsel for +1 Will to Eowyn. Scry Ancient Forest. Threat 25.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindal (Threat 26) for Will 7, reveal Ancient Forest, pitch Zigil Miner to clear Hill Barrow and draw Vilya, Light of Valinor, and Master of the Forge.
  4. Travel: Ancient Forest.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow Wild Tenacity, shadow 2 Curse of the Wild Men which essentially whiffs, shadow 3 Curse of the Wild Men again which whiffs again.
  7. Refresh: Threat 26, Time 2.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Power of Orthanc.
  2. Planning: Light of Valinor on Glorfindel. Scry Turned Around. Play Vilya on Elrond.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Turned Around and put Ancient Forest back into Staging.
  4. Travel: Ancient Forest.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Vassal of the Windlord defends, shadow Tangled Woods with no effect.
  7. Refresh: Threat 27, Time 1.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 4, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Scry The Guardian's Fury. This is a game ender, I'm facing three 5 strength attacks this turn. Let's see where it foes.
  3. Quest: Eowyn pitching Power of Orthenc and Glorfindel for 8 Will, reveal The Guardian's Fury. Clear Ancient Forest. Guardian attacks, Master of the Forge defends, shadow The Guardian's Fury and I'm calling it there as even in the best case I'd have to take an undefended attack of 5.

I think this deck needs more attack power.

Going to go with Trial of Intuition to start, then rebuild if I got crushed fast with that as well.

Also, I misplayed this. the Boar requires discarding an ally, it doesn't make an attack. This is a big deal as the ally does not need to be ready, and there won't be a big shadow train following it. Still needs to be defended initially.

Game 335/6

Try one more time with this deck.

Initial hand:

  1. Zigil Miner
  2. Northern Tracker
  3. Miner of the Iron Hills
  4. Light of Valinor
  5. Daeron's Runes
  6. Elond's Counsel

Setup:

  • Trial of Intuition
  • Wolf Key
  • Hill Barrow

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gildor Inglorion
  2. Planning: Daeron's Runes drawing Vassal of the Windlord and Vilya, discard Gildor. Play Vassal. Play Light of Valinor.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Wild Tenacity for Time 2. Discard 3 encounter cards.
  4. Travel: Hill Barrow.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Vassal defends, shadow 1 Ancient Forest exhaust Glorfindel, shadow 2 Tangled Woods with no shadow effect.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28, time 1.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 4, draw Vilya.
  2. Planning: Play Zigil Miner.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Grim Foothills for Threat 30. Pitch spare Vilya to Eowyn and play Elrond's Counsel to clear both Grim Foothills and Hill Barrow. Threat 27.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Zigil Miner defends, shadow Spirit of the Wild which whiffs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 28, Time 0, Elrond defends, shadow Ancient Forest and exhaust Glorfindel. This sucks because they don't refresh.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 5, draw Snowbourn Scout.
  2. Planning: Play Snowourn Scout.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, reveal Ancient Forest, net +1 on location.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Snowbourn Scout defends, shadow Grim Foothills with no shadow effect.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29, Time 2.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 8, draw A Test of Will.
  2. Planning: Play Northern Tracker, Miner of the Iron Hills.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, Northern Tracker, reveal Cursed Forest. Pitch A Test of Will to clear location.
  4. Travel: Ancient Forest.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Minor of the Iron Hills defends, shadow Wild Tenacity, shadow 2, Turned Around which whiffs, Turned Around which whiffs. Elrond and Glorfindel put 2 damage on Wolf.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30, Time 1.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 5, draw Imladris Stargazer.
  2. Planning: Play Stargazer.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Turned Around to move Ancient Forest back to staging, no net gain.
  4. Travel: Ancient Forest.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Northern Tracker defends, shadow Wild Tenacity for 2 more shadow cards, shadow 2 Cursed Forest, shadow 3 Key of the Wolf which goes back into the deck. Glorfindel defends, Grim Foothills, Glorfindel takes 4 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31, time 2.

I don't think I'm going to make. I'm just milling my deck for no progress on my tableau at all.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 6, draw Imaldris Stargazer.
  2. Planning: Play Imladris Stargazer, scry to put Vassal of the Windlord on top, with Warden of Healing below. Vliya on Elrond.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Spirit of the Wild.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Spirit of the Wild.
  6. Combat: EV for Vassal to defend, shadow Spirit of the Wild which whiffs. Glorfindel defends Spirit of the Wild, shadow Spirit of the Wild which whiffs, no damage on Glorfindel.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32, time 1.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 5, draw Warden of Healing.
  2. Planning: Play Warden of Healing. Scry deck Master of Lore on top. Play second Imladris.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Spirit of the Wild. Cleared Ancient Forest and flipped to find Key of the Wolf and Guardian's Fury. This clears Trial of Intuition. Choose Trial of Strength.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Spirit of the Wild.

  6. Combat: EV for Master of Lore defending Boar, shadow Tangled Woods for no effect. Elrond defends Spirit of the Wild, shadow Curse of the Wild Men for 3 hits on Elrond. Glorfindel takes undefended two hits, there are no more shadow cards. Second Imladris scries,

  7. Refresh: Threat 33. time 3.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 6, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Play UC on Elrond. EV for Haldir of Lorien. Warden of Healing exhausts.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Spirit of the Wild.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Spirit of the Wild.
  6. Combat: Elrond defends Board, Threat 36, shadow Cursed Forest which whiffs. Glorfindel defends Spirit, shadow Wild Tenacity for 1 hit on Glorfindel. Haldir defends Spirit, shadow Ancient Forest. Stargazer defends Spirit, shadow Turned Around which whiffs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37. Scry deck Hasty Stroke on top, with A Test of Will ready for EV.

I am not going to win this one. I won't be able to clear the Boar Guardian before threating out I don't think. We'll see, still some Elrond's Counsel's in the deck.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 7, draw Hasty Stroke.
  2. Planning: Warden of Healing to remove remaining damage.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Wild Tenacity, cancel with A Test of Will from EV.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Elrond defends, shadow Spirit of the Wild which put another hit on Elrond. Threat 40. Haldir defends Spirit of the Wild, shadow Grim Foothills with no shadow effect. Glorfindel defends Spirit of the Wild, shadow Curse of the Wild Men for 1 hit on Glorfindel, undefended Spirit of the Wild, shadow Tangled Woods with no shadow effect, 2 hits on Glorfindel. I survived, but have no attack to get back at these fuckers.
  7. Threat 41, time 1. Scry deck Elrond's Counsel on top, Dunedain Watcher below.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 10, draw Elrond's Counsel.
  2. Planning: Play Elrond's Counsel, Threat 38.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Glorfindel, reveal Tangled Woods.

I'm done now. There is probably some slight chance I could pull it out, but I'm in a holding pattern and will lose Stargazer and Warden of Healing at the end of the round. Also, I'm bored.

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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.