LotR 391 - The Thing in the Depths 3,4

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Labor Day Lord of the Rings! My usual collaborator and I finally found time after a very busy close of summer to continue The Dreamchaser. After four consecutive one-shots, we got stymied by The Thing in the Depth a couple of months ago, mainly because we were playing it completely wrong.

The Thing in the Depths 3

For this third game, I took the time to ensure the scenario was set up correctly.

We decided right away to start the quest off with a bang, traveling to Helm of the Stormcaller on Turn 1, then (as was obvious in hindsight) got punished in Turn 2 and scooped. We concluded it was probably not a great idea to get the Sahir and Nasiyah out in Turn 1 unless one’s board state was unusually strong. Ours was unusually weak. Lunch then ensued.

The Thing in the Depths 4

Given our previous experience, we decided to get some board state before traveling to Helm of the Stormcaller, and waited until Turn 4. Turn 5 saw everything cleared and we continued to build state for a couple more rounds, then starting around Turn 7, started getting attritted away by the tentacles. Over the next couple of turns I was able to beef up my Outlands deck and we swept it on Turn 10.

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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.