Intruders in Chetwood - 2:364

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The start of a new cycle, Angmar Awakened and The Lost Realm. I've played most of the cycle co-operatively, but I don't recall much about it other than side quests are introduced both as player cards and encounter cards. I'm using the Elrond/Vilya deck which worked through most of the cycle in coop. We'll see how well it does flying solo.

Initial hand:

  1. A Test of Will
  2. A Burning Brand
  3. Daeron's Runes
  4. Light of Valinor
  5. Dwarven Tomb
  6. Hasty Stroke

Not going to mulligan.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Warden of Healing.
  2. Planning: Light of Valinor on Elrond. Daeron's Runes draw Thror's Key and Hasty Stroke, discard Hasty Stroke.
  3. Quest: All in, reveal Weight of Responsibility, which essentially surges to Surprising Speed for Doomed 1 and surge Orc War Party. Net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: Rugged Country.
  5. Encounter: None.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 2

  1. Resource: r, draw Vilya.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: All in, reveal Surprising Speed for Doomed 1 and surge Angmar Captain. Net +1 Progress on Rugged Country. Threat 36.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Angmar Captain.
  6. Combat: Elrond defends, shadow Weight of Responsibility which would discard Light of Valinor, let's cancel that. Elrond takes 2 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 7, draw Vilya.
  2. Planning: Play Vilya.
  3. Quest: Elrond, Eowyn, reveal Sudden Assault and that's the game as I would be adding another Orc War Party to the staging area, where all three would be coming out faster than I can get chumps out.

This is essentially and "enemy lock" loss. The enemies in this quest are pretty beefy so far.

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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.