Celebrimbor's Secret 4:360

Oct 20 2024

Round 1

Resource: 3, draw King Under the Mountain.
Planning: none.
Quest: Thorin and Ori, reveal Orc Hunter, will remove a Time Counter instead of an additional reveal.
Travel: Collapsed Tower.
Encounter: Engage Orc Hunter.
Combat: Dain defends, shadow Take Cover! which has not shadow effect.
Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 2

Resource: 6, draw Dwarven Tomb.
Planning: King Under the Mountain drawing Kili and Narvi's Belt. Play Narvi's Belt on Thorin. Play Henamarth and Scry Orc Hunting Party. Bummer, it's going to surge.
Quest: none, reveal Orc Hunting Party surge Prowling Wolf.
Travel: none.
Encounter: Prowling Wolf.
Combat: Dain defends Orc Hunter, shadow Orc Skirmisher for 1 hit to Dain. Prowling Wolf undefened, shadow City Remains for 2 hits to Thorin. Thorin and Ori kill Orc Hunter.
Refresh: Threat 36.

Time counter comes off, Collapsed Tower back to staging with 2 damage.

Round 3

Resource: 6, draw Gandalf.
Planning: Henamarth scries Discovered! Play Erebor Hammersmith. Play Gloin.
Quest: Erebor Hammersmith, Ori, reveal Discovered! and trigger Scour to put City Remains under Orc Search. Net +3 Progress.
Travel: The Secret Chamber.
Encounter: none.
Combat: Gloin defends, shadow Orc Hunter who makes an additional attack. Dain defends, shadow Orc Skirmisher for no damage on Dain. Thorin puts 2 hits on Prowling Wolf.
Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 4

Resource: 6, draw Erebor Record Keeper and Second Breakfast.
Planning: Play Bifur and Erebor Record Keeper. Draw Dwarven Tomb, Dwalin. Henamarth scries Discovered!
Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Erebor Record Keeper for 12 Will, Sneak Attack Gandalf to drop threat to 32 and bump Will to 16, reveal Discovered! which does nothing. Clear The Secret Chamber attack Mould to Dain. Net +10 Progress.
Travel: none.
Encounter: none.
Combat: Erebor Hammersmith defends, Bellach's Scout which whiffs as there is no active location. Bifur kills Prowling Wolf.
Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 5

Resource: 5, draw Durin's Song and Erebor Hammersmith.
Planning: Play Erebor Hammersmith and Dwalin. Scry Ancient Foundation.
Quest: Gloin and Erebor Record Keeper to quest. Reveal Ancient Foundation. Stage 1 is cleared and Bellach attacks, with Erebor Hammersmith defending, shadow Orc Hound.
Travel: none.
Encounter: none.
Combat: none.
Refresh: Threat 34.

Round 6

Resource: 6, draw King Under the Mountain and Dwalin.
Planning: King Under the Mountain draw Gloin and Kili discard Gloin. Play Kili and Fili. Scry Take Cover! which surges.
Quest: Thorin, Ori, Gloin, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith for 13 Will, reveal Take Cover! surge Borken Lands which I don't care about at all. Net +8 progress on quest.
Travel: Ancient Foundation.
Encounter: none.
Combat: none.
Refresh: Threat 35.

Scour triggered.

I need to end this now, another round starts risking too many enemies coming out, or location lock.

Round 7

Resource: 7, draw Henamarth Riversong and Erebor Hammersmith.
Planning: King Under the Mountain drawing Cram and Narvi's Belt which is discarded. Cram on Thorin. Scry Collapsed Tower which surges.
Quest: Thorin, Gloin, Erebor Hammersmith, Erebor Record Keeper, Fili, Kili for 17 Will, reveal Collapsed Tower, surge Take Cover! and remove a time counter surge Desecrated Ruins which puts 3 damage on active location, which actually works for my benefit in this case. Net +12 progess which clears The Enemy's Servant and allows us to enage Bellach.
Travel: Collapsed Tower because why not.
Encounter: Engage Bellach.
Combat: Dwalin defends, shadow Broken Lands and Dwalin is killed. Play Cram on Thorin; Thorin, Ori, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith kill Bellach for the win.
Refresh: Threat 36.

AAR

Feels good to knock out a quest on the first go. It's been a while. There is one slight asterisk on this quest: I did not advance the threat as fast as I should have given the cards under Orc Search. Howeever, even adding 8 Threat to the total I'm well under, and there were no enemies for which engagement was wrongly played, so I'm calling this one good.

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.