Dread Realm 4

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My usual collaborator and I met up again to take another crack at The Dread Realm, hoping to complete Angmar Awakened so we can progress to Dream Chaser. Our previous session was a complete disaster, but we had hogher hopes for this session after tuning the decks a bit. I don’t recall what we took out, but we added 3 Miner of the Iron Hill and 3 Power of Orthanc, each. As it turned out, this was only partly successful, the Sorcery attachments are not, by and large, Conditions, which limits the efficacy.

Nevertheless, we each had a decent start, we understood the how the initial stage of the quest operated, and the Encounter deck decided to let us play. We got a clean win in 9 rounds, and very happy for it.

Some highlights:

  1. We did manage to use Power of Orthanc to remove a quest attachment, which mattered as we had Daechanar engaged.

  2. We were able to eliminate Daechanar within 2 rounds via some Sneak Attack/Gandalf, and Gondorian Spearman. The idea is to get the Sorcery cards removed using as many separate instances of direct damage as possible. Quick Strike would work as well, and probably other cards.

Very cool quest! The community rates it easier than Carn Dum, which we gave up on after 12 attempts.

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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.