LotR 339 - The Three Trials 7

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Not much game play so far in June.

Back to The Three Trials using a new and purpose-built aggro-progression deck.

Initial hand:

  1. Winged Guardian
  2. Horn of Gondor
  3. The Wizard's Voice
  4. Gondorian Discipline
  5. Heavy Stroke
  6. Winged Guardian

Setup: Trial of Strength chosen as the easiest stage to get through with an aggro deck. Should allow spanking the first boss pretty quick, while building resources to manage questing later. We'll see. The random pulls are

  • Raven Guardian
  • Cave Barrow

This is about as optimal as it can get.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  2. Planning: none, save resources.
  3. Quest: none, let's get rid of the boss as fast as possible. Threat 34.Reveal The Guardian's Fury which incites an immediate attack, which will be undefended, shadow Curse of the Wild Men which whiffs as I have no keys in control. Gimli takes 3 hits.
  4. Travel: Cave Barrow.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Boromir defends, shadow Turned Around which whiffs. One hit on Boromir. Boromir readies for Threat 35, all attack for 11, play Heavy Stroke to defeat Raven Guardian. Cave Barrow gets two progress. Choose Triel of Intuition next.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Setup:

  • Wolf's Guardian
  • Stone Barrow

Round 2

  1. Resource: 5, draw Dwarrowdelf Axe.
  2. Planning: Eagles of the Misty Mountains.
  3. Quest: Eagles of the Misty Mountains, reveal Wild Tenacity.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Boromir defends, shadow Turned Around, Threat 37, Boromir takes 3 hits. Boromir readies Threat 38, all attack to 8 hits on Wolf's Guardian.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Did a bit retconning here…asterisk.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 4, draw Unseen Strike.
  2. Planning: Play Winged Guardian and Horn of Gondor.
  3. Quest: Eagles and Boromir, reveal The Guardian's Fury, which trigger's Wolf's Guardian attack. Winged Guardian defends, shadow Tangled Woods which has no shadow and Winged Guardian goes under Eagles of the Misty Mountains now. Threat 41.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Play The Wizard's Voice, Threat 44. Gimli and Legolas finish off Wolf's Guardian, discard 2.
  7. Refresh: Threat 45.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 5, draw Trollshaw Scout.
  2. Planning: Dwarrowdelf Axe on Gimli, Winged Guardian.
  3. Quest: Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Gimli, reveal Grim Foothills for Threat 48.
  4. Travel: Grim Foothills.
  5. Encounter:
  6. Combat:
  7. Refresh: Threat 49.

Calling it here, no way I can get through the encounter deck in time, and this is only the second of three stages which need to be cleared.

AAR

The aggro part of the deck worked really well, but it just has to have more questing power. Perhaps with a Elrond/Tactics deck I might be able to get more traction while controlling Threat values and being able to quest harder.

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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.