Intruders in Chetwood 3, 4

Previous:
Next:
Tags

After a 9 month hiatus, I’m back in gear for Lord of The Rings LCG. It’s been a busy year. Q1 had a bunch of life chores such as taxes amd many other necessary but completely forgettable tasks.

Playing Intruders in Chetwood cooperatively we beat it on the first time. I got stomped with an Elrond/Vilya deck on my first solitaire play. For starting over, I’m going to start with the augmented Killer Deck, 50 cards with extra duplicates of Unexpected Courage, etc.

Initial hand:

  1. Gandalf
  2. Steward of Gondor
  3. For Gondor!
  4. Unexpected Courage
  5. Northern Tracker
  6. Hasty Stroke

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Faramir
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn, draw Angar Orc, draw Weight of Responsibility, draw Angmar Captain. Will 6, net +4 for Threat 31.
  4. Travel: Rugged Country.
  5. Encounter: Angmar Orc.
  6. Combat: Theodred defends, shadow Chetwood Forest for 1 hit on Theodred.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gleowine.
  2. Planning: Unexpected Courage on Beravor, play Gleowine, play Steward of Gondor on Theodred, need to get Faramir out fast. Exhaus Gleowine to draw Steward of Gondor.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn, draw Rugged Country, discard Steward of Gondor for Will 7 for Threat 35. Angmar Captain will be coming out now so this is a scoop.

Game 4

Initial hand:

  1. Steward of Gondor
  2. Gleowin
  3. Steward of Gondor
  4. Miner of the Iron Hills
  5. Erebor Hammersmith
  6. Beorn

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Guard of the Citadel.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn, draw Surprising Speed which surges draw Resuce Iarion for Threat 5, discard Beorn for Will 7. Net +2 progress.
  4. Travel: Rugged Country.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 29.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 6, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Stweard of Gondor on Eowyn. Play Gleowine draw Sneak Attack. Play Erebor Hammersmith.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn Theodred, draw Chetwood Forest. Discard Steward of Gondor for 8 Will.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 30.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 10, draw Lore of Imladris.
  2. Planning: Play Guard of the Citadel. Gleowine to draw Snowbourne Scout.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn, Theodred, draw Angmar Orc and discard Guard of the Citadel. Discard Lore of Imladris to clear Rugged Country.
  4. Travel: Chetwood Forest and engage Orc War Party.
  5. Encounter: Orc War Party.
  6. Combat: Sneak Attack Gandalf in to defend, shadow Angmar Orc which has Orc War Party swinging for 8.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 15, draw Unexpected Courage.
  2. Planning: Play Unexpected Courage on Beravor. Beravor draws Forest Snare and Hasty Stroke. Play SnowBourne Scout. Gleowine draws Hasty Stroke. Play Gandalf destroy Orc War Party.
  3. Quest: Beravor, Eowyn, Theodred, Gandalf, Erebor Hammersmith, draw Angmar Marauder. Will 13 clears Chetwood Forest and and Rescue Iarion. We’re about ready to power quest through this thing.
  4. Travel: None.
  5. Encounter: Angmar Marauder.
  6. Combat: Snowbourne Scout defends, shadow Angmar Marauder which whiffs.
  7. Refresh: Threat 32.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 13, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: Beravor draws Stand and Fight and Faramir. Play Miner of the Iron Hills. Gleowine draws Guard of the Citadel.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, draw Rugged Country. Net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: Rugged Country.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Miner of the Iron Hills defends Angmar Marauder, shadow Orc War Party which has no shadow effect. Attack with Beravor, Theodred and Erebor Hammersmith for 3 hits.
  7. Refresh: Threat 33.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 15, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: Beravor draws Guard of the Citadel and Gandalf. Gleowine draws The Galadhrim’s Greetings. Play Beorn. Play Fraramir.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Faramir, draw Outlying Homestead for Doomed 1, threat 34. Clear Rugged Country and net +2 Progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Beorn defends, shadow Sudden Assault which has no shadow effect. Beravor and Erebor Hammersmitt kill Angmar Marauders.
  7. Refresh: Threat 35.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 12, draw Northern Tracker.
  2. Planning: Play Northern Tracker. Beravor draws Gleowine and Snowbourne Scout. Play Guard of the Citadel. Gleowin draws Dwarven Tomb.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker, Faramir, draw Orc War Party. Net +4 progress.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 36.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 12, draw Stand and Fight.
  2. Planning: Beravor draws Henamarth Riversong and Erebor Hammersmith. Glewine draws Dwarven Tomb. Play Henamarth Riversong and Erebor Hammersmith. Play Guard of the Citadel. Play Northern Tracker. Henamarth Scries for Pressing Needs.
  3. Quest: All in for 24, net +19 Progress for 29 total. Will need to kill Orc War Party to get a win, otherwise could have discarded to Eowyn. Draw Pressing Needs, Threat 38.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: none.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 9, draw For Gondor!
  2. Planning: Beravor draws Forest Snare and Sneak Attack. Play Snowbourne Scout. Gleowine draws Snowbourne Scout. Play Snowbourne Scout. Play Stand and Fight for another Snowbourne Scout. Scry Sudden Assault.
  3. Quest: Eowyn, Theodred, Northern Tracker x2 for 7 Will which clears Outlying Homestead. Draw Sudden Assault inducing Orc War Party attacking. Snowbourne Scout defends, shadow Surprising Speed which gets canceled with Hasty Stroke.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Orc War Party already engaged.
  6. Combat: Snowbourne Scout defends, shadow Angmar Captain which has no shadow effect. Beorn and all the rest total up to more than 9 to kill Orc War party and that’s the win.

AAR

The Killer Deck remains relevant even this late in the game. Pretty crazy. Granted this was not a difficult quest, but it still crushed me fast on my initial play earlier.

Previous:
Next:
Tags

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.