Quote

"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark." - Aragorn,The Two Towers

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Quest 6: A Journey to Rhosgobel

Victory on the second attempt

The Journey

After a brief initial attempt where I lost all of my heroes (unwisely taking undefended attacks), I had a great hand the second time around that saw an easy victory. Asfaloth in the initial draw got Rhosgobel resolved early on. Two Warden of Healings got a large chunk of damage off of our winged friend on stage one. Forest Grove came into the staging area, giving me easy access to an athelas. Proceeding to the second stage, I deployed Gandalf to lower my threat and help me push right to the cusp of the stage (11 progress points out of 12). Was planning on stalling and searching for a healing card (using Beravor), but drew Healing Herbs. Got the athelas (guarded by an Enchanted Stream, which Asfaloth took care of), used the Healing Herbs, then pushed past a Dol Guldur Beastmaster and Dol Guldur Orcs to put the final progress point on, initialize the healing of Stage 3B, and getting to a victory in the midst of round 6.

Final Scoring
5 completed rounds x10: 50
Final threat: 31
Damage on heroes: 4
Threat cost of defeated hero: 0
Victory points: -4
Total: 81

The Deck

Been down this road before, so I knew healing is essential and included every healing card I could think of that did not solely target heroes.

Healer and Seekers

Heroes
Glorfindel (Core)
Beravor
Bilbo

Allies
Radagast x2
Warden of Healing x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Gandalf x3
Gildor Inglorion x1
Haldir of Lorien x1
Ithilien Lookout x3

Attachments
Healing Herbs x3
Asfaloth x2
Elf-stone x3
A Burning Brand x2
Protector of Lorien x2
Fast Hitch x2
Good Meal x3
Ranger Bow x3

Events
The White Council x3
Lore of Imladris x3
Mithrandir's Advice x3
Risk Some Light x3
Word of Command x2

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Dead Marshes
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Redhorn Gate
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
The Steward's Fear
Assult on Osgiliath
The Black Riders
The Dunland Trap
The Long Dark

The Recap

Can you win this one without a lot of Lore? Maybe a deck that can tear through enemies and locations, taking full advantage of the stage 2 ability to look through the encounter deck. You'd still need a good deal from the encounter deck (with a lot of athelas cards or Forest Grove locations near the top) and would have to pick up quite a bit of athelas to compensate for the damage on Wilyadore.

It was a fun little romp, when the deck worked right. I may come back to have fun with location sniping and healing cards (assuming more are released in the future), but A Journey to Rhosgobel is not a quest I would come back to with just any deck.

Quest 5: Conflict at the Carrock

Victory on the fourth attempt

The Journey

I am very thankful for the feedback of visitors to this blog, pointing out unclear areas in my write-ups or flat-out errors. Due to miss-reading Saruman's text this game (or rather, not reading it after using him effectively in Journey Down the Anduin), I made a few errors in the final rounds that would have still allowed me to win the game, but would have added extra time and threat to my final score. Since I did not keep detailed notes on that attempt, I am going to re-attempt the scenario and will post the updated (and detailed!) journey in the next few days.

Threat was my biggest enemy the first three rounds I played (especially attempts where Rupert Louis was still in play and aided the other trolls in boosting my threat three points at a time when they all engaged me earlier than planned). But on the fourth attempt everything came together for me to put Grimberon the Old into play. I had already played on Gandalf to lower my threat and went into round eleven with just about the perfect hand to start taking down some trolls: Gandalf, Saruman x2, Thicket of Spears, Feint x2, Halfing Determination, Quick Strike.

Dispatching Troll #1: With a low threat (having played Gandalf to lower it), I drew Morris in and destroyed him in Round 11. Merry + others, with the help of Halfling Determination, put some progress on The Carrock.

Dispatching Troll #2: Saruman entered play, removing Rupert Louis from play (and bringing my threat to 35 to draw in any other enemies). Protected from behind a thicket of spears, I was able to destroy Louis Rupert in Round 12

Dispatching Troll #3:  Saruman entered play yet again, removing Rupert Louis from play. Saruman, Grimbeorn, and Eomer dispatched Stuart. Merry, with the help of yet another Halfling Determination (and assistance from Theoden and allies), explored The Carrock and put the needed progress on stage 2B.

Dispatching Troll #4: With three trolls gone and the needed progress on the quest, I won the round with Rupert Louis out of play (thanks to Saruman).

Final Scoring
12 completed rounds x10: 120
Final threat: 39
Damage on heroes: 0
Threat cost of defeated hero: 0
Victory points: -3
Total: 156

The Deck

I was pretty happy with the Eomer's Conflict deck I had made, but expected playtesting to show some room from improvement. Sure enough, a few cards were not pulling their weight. Prior to my third attempt I:
  • Switched Bofur out for a third Saruman: Saruman proved very effective in my first two attempts, helping to bring me within a hair's breadth of victory. The increase in threat brought death close, but his absence would not have prevented that and his presence postponed it.
  • Switched Knight of Minas Tirith x3 for White Tower Watchman x3: I lost heroes on both of my first two attempts, due to the lack of a defender. The Watchman's ability to quest or defend and still take undefended damage makes him an all-star in most mono-sphere decks I play.
The deck was working better, but I found one card really wasn't performing for me and there was another I definitely missed. Prior to my fourth attempt I:
  • Switched Hail of Stones out for Feint: This card would be great in a circumstance where I had two trolls left, Saruman in my hand, and a ton of allies down. Hasn't happened yet and I doubt it will.
That left me with a deck I was really happy with.

Eomer's Conflict

Heroes
Eomer
Merry
Theoden

Allies
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Defender of Rammas x3
Vassal of the Windlord x3
Westfold Outrider x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Gandalf x3
Saruman x3

Attachments
Rohan Warehorse x3
Firefoot x3
Horn of Gondor x2
Good Meal x3
Book of Eldacar x3

Events
Unseen Strike x3
Halfling Determination x3
Quick Strike x3
Thicket of Spears x3
Feint x3

Sets Used
Core
The Dead Marshes
Road to Rivendell
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
Encounter at Amon Din
The Morgul Vale
The Black Riders
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap

Feint really proved its worth, allowing me to stop Stuart and some Misty Mountain Goblins from attacking in the final round.

Including three copies of Firefoot was a good call. I drew two throughout a few attempts, but I always had one at least and was thankful for the +2 attack.

But Saruman is truly the MVP of this deck. Fighting even one troll is hard. Four is near impossible solo (doable, I'm sure). Being able to remove one from the equation the final round, while getting +5 attack to help with the remaining one, is fantastic.

The Recap

I knew mono-Tactics had it in it to defeat the challenge of the Carrock! It was great to see this old goal of mine finally realized. And no wonder it took so long, with so many of my essential cards only available since the very end of last year (Theoden, Merry, Halfling Determination, Rohan Warhorse, Saruman, Eomer, Firefoot).

Deck: Eomer's Conflict

Early in the game, Conflict at the Carrock is a quest I spent a lot of time with. It was challenging, but not frequently hopeless like Escape from Dol Guldur. I had a goal to beat it solo, one handed, but could never quite pull it off. I don't think I ever really came close, actually. Now, with a much larger card pool, I'm excited to take on this same challenge.

My decks typically evolve throughout my attempts as I find out which cards I never chose to play and which cards I wish I had access to. Here is a breakdown of what I'm thinking of as I put a first draft together.

Eomer's Conflict

Heroes

Eomer: Here's the key of the deck for me. I have three, rather large enemies to deal with. Eomer can get boosted to insane heights (attach Firefoot, lose an ally, and play Unseen Strike to attack for 10). Fighting trolls, I expect Eomer to see his attack bonus available on most turns. A major goal will be to pump Eomer up and get him attacking twice.

Merry: Low threat and decent willpower can be a struggle in a mono-Tactics deck. Merry is here to cover those bases, hopefully aided by the +2 bonus Halfling Determination can bring him. He also brings the ability to have a Good Meal, which is handy for the often resource-sparse realm of Tactics. But Merry's role as a quester really shines with the inclusion of...

Theoden: Tactic's can't quest, eh? With Theoden at the party, my heroes can now throw down 8 willpower without any additional modifications or assistance. If that willpower is not needed at some point, Theoden can handle his own in a fight with 3 attack strength.

Starting threat of 28. Not too bad considering two of the heroes are fairly high cost.

Attachments

Firefoot (x3): A great source of attack bonus to Eomer and a way to get some direct damage possibly dealt out to weaker enemies. While it is a unique card, I am including three with the hopes of getting it out and attached early on.

Good Meal (x3): Included to essentially provide free events. While the discount given is two, I will gladly use these to pay for 1 cost events in a pinch.

Rohan Warhorse (x3): Here is how I hope to see Eomer dealing out multiple attacks once it is time to take on the trolls. Theoden can also come to the aid, when needed and possible.

Horn of Gondor (x2): This is the only way I'll see resource accumulation in this deck. I almost always include Horn of Gondor in my Tactics decks, but I rarely see it come to light. Hopefully that pattern will change this time around.

Book of Eldacar (x3): There are some great, cheap events being used in this deck and the benefits of using them multiple times are plenty.

Mighty Prowess is an option I considered and will keep in the back of my mind as I play-test this deck, with a total of six troll enemies possible in this deck (and a few goblins). 

Events

Unseen Strike (x3): This is only going to work for me if I can start my attacks before hitting the threshold of 34 threat, but the idea is to combine this with Rohan Warehorse to deal some massive damage out to two trolls at once.

Quick Strike (x3): Included with aspirations of dispatching a troll before defense is needed or to take two swipes at the same one (if Eomer can ready).

Halfling Determination (x3): An all-stat booster for Merry, I am planning on this card seeing action during Quest phases.

Thicket of Spears (x3): Once the trolls start coming, I would like to take them on in my own good time. I'm actually putting this instead of Feint, since I am more concerned about a rush of multiple enemies at an inconvenient time than I am about handling them one at time.

Hail of Stone (x3): A card I love the concept of but almost never use. Might be a perfect fit to see the trolls whittled down a bit.

Allies

Here is where I had my biggest struggle in building this deck. There are a lot of allies that would potentially work well, but which are the ones I need to make this specific deck work right?

Westfold Outrider (x3): A decent attacker and defender, with the option to pull an enemy in during the attack portion of the combat phase (and trigger Eomer's attack boost while at it).

Envoy of Pelagir (x3): Questing is a concern of mine. A cheap ally who can quest, or pitch in to a battle, is worth it.

Knight of Minas Tirith (x3): Mainly included for his constant 3 attack strength. Not sure if I will find his ability to pull enemies in useful or not, since attacking alone for 3 might not do much damage at all (and I'll still need to block that enemy).

Vassal of the Windlord (x3): Cheap fodder for blocking or attacking, with the bonus of triggering Eomer's attack bonus.

Defender of Rammas (x3): Able to take quite a beating, these guys can block an un-boosted troll (depending on the shadow effect dealt).

Bofur (x1): A Tactics ally with two willpower. Necessary for the hill I'll have to get over at the opening of stage 2. But, with no weapons in the deck, not worth including multiples of unless playtesting determines otherwise.

Gandalf (Core, x3): Good ol' standby. I thought of including the Hobbit Gandalf, for his help in sticking around and taking a few nasty hits (while helping quest round after round), but I'm a bit worried about the threat increase.

Saruman (x2): Wait, didn't I say I was worried about threat increase? Well, this is a specialized case. I'm hoping to have Saruman in hand when I only have two trolls left and am confident about dispatching one of them.

Sets Used

Core
The Dead Marshes
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
Encounter at Amon Din
Assault on Osgiliath
The Morgul Vale
The Black Riders
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap

Will this deck be able to handle the questing and combat needs of the Carrock, while keeping a low enough profile to take the trolls on at will? Eomer's Conflict will get a chance to show its quality soon!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Quest 4: The Hunt for Gollum

Victory after two attempts* (* follow the asterisk for important notes below)

The Story

The Hunt for Gollum is one of the only two quests that have sentimental value to me.

After being beaten to a pulp and stressed out by Dol Guldur, I still held out hope that this game had a bright future for my wife and I. That hope had to be a patient one as the months wore on without the promised release of the first Adventure Pack. Finally, an announcement appeared on the Fantasy Flight Games website: a preview event for The Hunt for Gollum! Calling up my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store), The Haunted Game Cafe, I did everything I could to get the preview event hosted in my town. Shortly afterwards the preview day had arrived! But I didn't want to go alone.

I recruited a friend and coworker (and fellow fan of Middle-earth) to play a quick round of Passage Through Mirkwood over lunch to learn the basic rules, then to join me that night. We showed up to the cafe excited to start our journey and were joined by Tuttle757 , who was a recent player of the game himself. Making some quick decks (mashing two spheres together, adding the new player cards, and making sure our unique cards were placed in a way so as not to cause conflict) we set out.

It was unique, tough, and we saw it through to a near victory at the end (with Tuttle757 and I defeated and my friend pushing forward until bitter death). I immediately bought the demo pack from the store and signed up for a subscription plan they were offering.

The Hunt for Gollum is not a quest I ever think of going back to, but it showed me that the game designers were planning on stretching themselves and the players as the game developed. It showed me that this was a game worth sticking with.

The Deck

It was a fun challenge limiting myself to the Core card pool for Passage Through Mirkwood and I felt like trying a similar challenge this time around: Limiting myself to the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle player cards (plus Core). I figured it might give me a chance to play around with some cards I haven't touched in a while.

And could a mono-sphere, limited card pool deck beat the quest? Let's find out. I expect to use Tactics heavily for Conflict at the Carrock and Lore for Journey to Rhosgobel (and I just played a mono-Spirit deck), so Leadership it is.

Mono-sphere deck building with just a single cycle and the core is a lot like mono-sphere deck building with the Core itself: Put all the cards together and pull out what you want. With a solo game in mind, there are some obvious choices to take out (Dunedain Catche and Signal, Parting Gifts). Events gave me the hardest time, specifically deciding between A Shadow of the Past and Dawn Take You All (Shadow won out).

Leaders of Mirkwood

Heroes
Aragorn
Theodred
Prince Imrahil

Allies
Brok Ironfist x2
Dunedain Watcher x3
Faramir x2
Gandalf x3
Guard of the Citadel x3
Silverlode Archer x3
Snowbourn Scout x3

Attachment
Celebrain's Stone x2
Dunedain Mark x3
Dunedain Quest x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Steward of Gondor x3

Event
Ever Vigilant x3
For Gondor! x3
Grim Resolve x2
Sneak Attack x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Shadow of the Past x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Dead Marshes
Return to Mirkwood

The Journey

Attempt #1:

Let's make this one a bit more thematic...

Our heroes start out on their journey brashly, careless of the apparent threat they already pose to Mordor. Yet they are well-armed, with the ability to sneak in enemies from cover and honor the valiant sacrifice of their fallen comrades. They also have knowledge of the past, in faint shadows of memory, that may prove useful. In the distance, a treacherous fog is seen, but it poses no threat as of yet.

On the way, the party discusses how Aragorn is the true Steward of Gondor. Aragorn's keen eyes notice a Dunedain Warning. Our heroes give their all into their search, with Theodred assisting Aragorn to feel refreshed during the journey.The party sees the route to the Gladden Fields, when an evil storm starts to build just at the edge of their vision. After feeling they may be slightly closer their goal, the party decides to follow the path to the Fields. Their threat to Mordor continues to grow.

Suddenly, a Snowborn Scout runs past, showing a quicker way through the Gladden Fields, and is gone in a flash. The party is better off for his aid (his valiant sacrifice, if you will) and will be ever vigilant in the future. As the party's skills increase, a guard of the Citadel is persuaded to join them. The Scout returns, revealing still more of the quick paths through the Fields, yet this time he decides to join the party himself. Theodred continues to encourage Aragorn as the party pushes forward. They pause to follow a false lead, but it is a brief pause and their is no harm done. Aragorn does fall for an Old Wives Tale and looses a brief part of his fortune. But what is this? A sign of Gollum, hidden in the very eaves of Mirkwood. After making their way to the edge of the Gladden Fields, the party pushes on to the eaves. Their threat grows still.

The abilities of the party continue to grow, yet no one new arrives to join their cause. Still, they hold out hope that they will be able to sneak in some friend to aid them in the future. A shadow of the past haunts Aragorn, reminding him that the Banks of the Anduin lay near this part of Mirkwood.

* A pause for transparency. I really debated playing Shadow of the Past here, knowing it could really be a waste of the card or a brilliant move. I moved forward without playing it, staged, then reversed and played as if I had played it. I would lie if I didn't say I had not made reversals in the past, usually when I forgot a Forced effect or did not realize I could have played X card that last phase for an amazing bonus. I'll try to keep moments like this few and far between in this journey.

Sure enough, after pushing onward the party arrives at the banks of that mighty river. But their journey to find Gollum's trail is quickly nearing its close. Theodred picks up the signs they found of Gollum and they proceed to a new river: Ninglor. The enemy is also closer to finding them.

Yet the party has a secret the enemy did not count on: Gandalf is waiting to come to their aid. Sneaking in, he gives the party advice on how to minimize their visibility to the enemy. He then aids them in pushing forward past the River Ninglor. Eastern Crows fly out on a scouting mission, followed by wisps of the Evil Storm that pass harmlessly by the party. Both Aragorn and Prince Imrahil fall prey to more old wives tales. Imrahil stands at attention as Gandalf leaves, turning around just in time to block a sudden attack by the eastern crows, who themselves are attacked and defeated by Aragorn. The enemy is increasing the search for the party, but they are still safe.

Brock Ironfist comes down from the mountains to lend his aid to the party. And who is that accompanying him? Gandalf has returned! He brings gifts for the party, including knowledge of how to summon his aid again. They all set off with a desire to see this quest near its end. Massing at night, the Misty Mountain Goblins try to halt the party's progress but are unable to stop a push to the final leg of the journey. Aragorn continues falling for old wives tales and is exhausted by the effort. Angered, the goblins attack the Snowborn Scout, destroying him while using weapons left by the Hunters of Mordor to harm Theodred. Prince Imrahil lashes out, severely wounding the goblins. The party's presence is more noticeable as Gandalf's protective presence leaves...

...only to return with knowledge of how to decrease their visibility even further. The party pushes on in one final, valiant effort. Goblin Scavengers jump out to block their path, but are pushed aside as the party picks up Gollum's trail and runs full-speed after the creature.

Final Scoring
5 completed rounds x10: 50
Final threat: 27
Damage on heroes: 1
Threat cost of defeated hero: 0
Victory points: -3
Total: 75

Attempt #2: Feeling a bit of guilt over my reversing of time during Round 3, I decided to play a quick round and see if I could scratch up another victory or have a justifiable reason to add an additional tick to number of games needed for victory. The result? Wholesale slaughter, of me. Locked down by the staging area at each turn, which was a snowball effect from a poor decision not to travel during my first turn. I ended up with only three progress on stage 1B, four locations in the staging area, two Hunters of Mordor engaged with me (both guarding Clues), two dead heroes, and three damage on Aragon. I threated out. Justice is served for my attempt #1 correction.

The Recap

Both games showed the long-lasting effects of one little decision. Had I gone with my original choice not to play Shadow of the Past during attempt #1, I would have been fighting off a Hunter from Mordor for two rounds, allowing the staging area to possibly get momentum over me (vs. the momentum I maintained over it throughout). During attempt #2, it was my decision not to travel to River Ninglor (threat 2, progress 4) or Banks of the Anduin (threat 1, progress 3) that did me in. I thought that traveling to either would be counter-productive, since I would need to quest a few times to complete them vs. simply trying to quest past them. I did not take into account that the tiny threat they contributed would be just enough to stop me from progressing. I assumed my deck would provide more willpower, fairly quickly, as it had during attempt #1. But each attempt is its own game and I need to play the cards I'm dealt as wisely as I can.

Note: I'm thankful for tupelo bound's uploading of compiled The Hunt for Gollum FAQ, which helped in confirming that I still needed to resolve the forced effect of the current stage if I quested past it.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Quest 3: Escape from Dol Guldur

Victory on the 13th attempt

The Deck

After refreshing myself with the quest using a mono-Leadership deck, I decided to peak around and see what others were building to tackle this beast(master). No pride here. Many people think this quest should simply be passed up for solo, one-handed players (two-handed being a term for players playing two decks at once). Poking around refreshed my memory on Tracker1's Mono (Solo) Caldara Deck. I had run a Caldara deck against Watcher in the Water earlier this year, resulting in a victory, but hadn't touched the idea again for a while. Still, there's something cool about discarding your hero to benefit yourself. So starting with Tracker 1's template, and making a very small adjustment for only having two core sets, here is what I ended up with:

Caldara's Quest (or Caldara Needs to Be the Prisoner)

Heroes
Caldara
Glorfindel
Eowyn

Allies
Arwen Undomiel x2
Damrod x2
Emry x2
Ethir Swordsman x3
Northern Tracker x3
Pelargir Shipwright x3
Zigil Miner x3
Imladris Stargazer x3
Elfhelm x2
The Riddermark's Finest x2
White Tower Watchman x3

Attachements
Map of Ernil x3
Light of Valinor x3

Events
Fortune or Fate x2
Hasty Stroke x3
A Test of Will x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Hidden Cache x3

Sets Used:
Core
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Dead Marshes
The Watcher in the Water
Khazad-dum
Foundations of Stone
Heirs of Numenor
The Stewards' Fear
The Druadan Forest
Assault of Osgiliath
The Blood of Gondor
The Morgul Vale

I tried to be hipster and original, messing with the formula (including attempting to swap out Glorfiendel for Frodo), but nothing worked right. This is a solid deck. Every round I played, each card I had was useful and helped get me as far as I could. Tracker1 is frequently posting unique decks and I've only seen praise for them. Now I know it's deserved.

Fortune or Fate and Dwarven Tomb are only x2 due to my lack of a third Core. I experimented with a few options for this spot (Silver Lamp, Stand and Fight) and The Riddermark's Finest panned out as a great choice. It can quest or attack as needed, survive a Necromancer's Reach, or be held in the background to snipe a 1-2 progress location that pops up during staging.

The Journey

Let's chronicle the descent from fun to "please just end it" that this scenario takes many a player on.

Attempt #1: My first attempt with the mono-leadership deck was a conceded match, with me well under the curve in regards to threat early on and two objectives out of my immediate reach (including one in the discard pile after being dealt as a shadow card). Not sure if a modification of this deck would stand a fair chance or not. It seems something special is needed.

Attempt #2: My first attempt with the Caldara deck, using Frodo instead of Spirit Glorfindel. I got the Silver Lamp + Small Target combo I was hoping for, but it actually didn't prove useful as both enemies were dealt shadow cards with effects. I did enjoy the combo of Imladris Stargazer + Hidden Cache + Zigil Miner. Threated out in stage 4 with no progress placed the entire game.

Attempt #3: Finally made it to stage 2 this time around, but could not put the progress on to rescue the prisoner. I could see glimmerings of what this deck could do. If I had been able to squeeze that one progress token on the stage, it would have given me Caldara back with Fortune & Fate in my hand, 5+ resources in my pool, and some good allies in the discard to choose from.

Attempt #4:  Made 1/3 of the way through stage 2 with two objectives claimed and one waiting to be claimed. Nazgul engaged with me with 1 damage. Dungeon Jailer in the victory display. Lost Caldara early on, rescuing Glorfiendel the next round. Having two heroes the entire first two stages hurt quite a bit. Will need to keep one defender up at all times in case a low-threat enemy appears. White Tower Watchman really shined this attempt.

Attempt #5:  So close! Threated out, due to the Cave Torch, on round 12, with only one more round of questing to go. Looking at the top card of my deck and the top card of the encounter deck, I would have made it if I had my threat just a few points lower. Reflecting on the game, I could have made some choices to gain that amount. I need to be careful with the proper use of the objectives in the future. At least I know now that this is the deck to beat this quest with.

Attempt # 6: Slaughtered. Two King Spiders and a Cavern Guardian guarding the objectives. Took two undefended attacks, loosing one of my two heroes (fortunately having an ally to suck up the last one). Lost my final hero on round 2.

Attempt #7: Lasted until round 4. Glorfindel captured. Five enemies out, three of which were engaged with me at time of death.

Attempt #8: Now we're on to the amount of times it took me to break the Anduin code! Great opening hand (two trackers, Fate or Fortune, Test of Will). Guardians: Two low creatures and a Caught in the Web. Captured: Glorfindel. Lost in round 6 due to hero death.

Attempt #9: Conceded in round 4. One hero left, King Spider engaged, overwhelmed in staging area.

Pause for reflection. 

A solid deck and (hopefully) wise playing choices have only gotten me close once. It's becoming very clear that three things need to align to give me a decent chance:

1. Caldara needs to be the prisoner
2. I need a solid opening hand (like Light of the Valinor + Northern Tracker + Eldrond's Counsel)
3. Easy, manageable cards need to be guarding the objectives. 

I could rig this (and many players do to avoid banging their heads against the walls of Dol Guldur this much), but I am curious how often this pattern will naturally fall in place. So, I will simply concede rounds where the initial steps are stacked against me heavily (counting them against my total played and recording them).

Attempt #10: Concession. High threat in the staging area.

Attempt #11: Concession. High threat in the staging area again (almost the same set-up as attempt 10) (gave it a small attempt...but no)

Attempt #12: Concession. Tried to push through with Eowyn captured, but no dice.

Attempt #13: Started out with a good hand (including Northern Tracker and Light of Valinor), a manageable staging area (Dol Guldur Orcs, Tower Gate, and an ineffective Under the Shadow). But Glorfindel was the captured hero. Something told me to go for it. And go for it my band of heroes and allies did, carrying me to stage 3 where our story picks up.

The state of things:

It's the beginning round 10. My threat is 37. Caldara has one damage on her and all three objectives (having picked them up at the end of stage 2). Glorfindel is equipped with Light of the Valinor. In the staging area we have the Nazgul of Dol Guldur and two Dungeon Jailers. We're on the Planning Phase and I'm realizing there might be a victory to be had here.

Resource Phase
+1 Glorfindel (2), +1 Eowyn (2), +1 Caldara (1)

Planning Phase
Play: Map of Earnil (Caldara -1) on Glorfindel

Quest Phase
Put Orc Guard (top card of player deck) engaged with me.
Commit: Glorfindel, Eowyn, Emry, Arwen, Nothern Tracker, Ethir Swordsman, Pelargir Shipwright.
Arwen's +1 defense bonus goes to White Tower Watchman.
Play Elrond's Counsel to lower threat to 34 and give Glorfindel a +1 willpower bonus.
Total willpower: 16
Reveal: Chieftain Ufthak
Total threat 9
7 progress placed on stage 3B
Progress requirements met. I don't think anything in this encounter deck can remove that. Now to take out the Nazgul for the victory

Travel Phase
None

Encounter Phase
Optionally engaged Nazgul of Dol Guldur

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Nazgul of Dol Guldur and Orc Guard
Nazgu attacks. Defend with White Tower Watchman. Shadow: King Spider (Exhaust one character). Exchaust Glorfiendel. Discard Northern Tracker (to fulfill Nazgul's text).
Orc Guard Attacks. Undefended. Shadow: Mountains of Mirkwood (no effect).
Discard Caldara to put The Riddermark's Finest and Northern Tracker into play. Objective cards returned to staging area.
Declare attack on Orc Guard with The Riddermark's Finest. Orc Guard destroyed.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Set threat to 35

Round 11
Resource Phase
+1 Glorfindel (3), +1 Eowyn (3)
Draw: Northern Tracker

Planning Phase
Play: Northern Tracker (Glorfindel -2, Eowyn -2)
Discard Map of Ernil to play Elrond's Counsel as it from my hand (sorry Caldara!). Threat reduced to 32.
+1 willpower bonus to Glorfindel.

Quest Phase
Put Orc Guard (top card of player deck) engaged with me.
Commit: Glorfindel and Arwen
Arwen's +1 defense bonus goes to White Tower Watchman.
Total willpower: 5
Reveal: Ungoliant's Spawn. Total willpower lowered to 3.
Total threat: 6
Raise threat to 36
Shuffle objectives into encounter deck.

Travel Phase
None

Encounter Phase
Engaged by Chieftain Ufthack nd Ungoliant's Spawn.

Combat Phase
Shadow cards to Nazgul of Dol Guldur, Chieftain Ufthack, Ungoliant's Spawn, Orc Guard.
Chieftain Ufthack attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: The Necromancer's Reach (no effect). No damage to White Tower Watchman.
Nazgul of Dol Guldur attacks. Undefended. Shadow: The Endless Caverns (no effect). Four damage on Glorfindel.
Any higher damage amount would have been placed on White Tower Watchman. Arwen was ready to be discarded in case of a resolved shadow effect.
Ungoliant's Spawn attacks. Undefended. Shadow King Spider (Exhaust two characters). Emery and Ethir Swordsman exhausted. Five damage placed on White Tower Watchman, destroying him.
My plan was to do an all-out attack and destroy the Nazgul this round. Hopefully I can survive this combat phase and one more round of attacks. Victory is in sight! I do not want another repeat of Attempt #5.
Orc Guard attacks. Undefended. Shadow: Necromancer's Pass (no effect). One damage placed on Eowyn.
Declare attack on Nazgul of Dol Guldur with: Glorfindel, Eowyn, Pelagir Shipwright, The Riddermark's Finest, Northern Tracker x2. 10 attack vs. 3 shields = 7 damage.
Two damage to go. Glorfindel and a Tracker can take him out

Refresh Phase
Ready all. threat to 37.

Round 12
Resource Phase
+1 Glorfindel (2), +1 Eowyn (2)
Draw: The Riddermark's Finest

Planning Phase
Play: White Tower Watchman

Quest Phase
Put Orc Guard (top card of player deck) engaged with me
Commit: Glorfindel and Arwen
Arwen's +1 defense bonus goes to White Tower Watchman
Total willpower: 5
Reveal: Caught in a Web. Attach to Glorfindel.
Total threat: 3
2 progress placed on stage 3B

Travel Phase
None

Encounter Phase
None
Thankfully! One additional threat would have sicked both Dungeon Jailers on me, which would tie up too many allies to defeat the Nazgul

Combat Phase
Shadow to Nazgul of Dol Guldur, Chieftain Ufthack, Ungoliant's Spawn, Orc Guard 1, Orc Guard 2
Chieftain Ufthack attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Mountains of Mirkwood (no effect). No damage on White Tower Watchman.
Ungoliant's Spawn attacks. Emery defends. Shadow: Caught in a web (no effect). Emery is destroyed.
Nazgul of Dol Guldur Attacks. The Riddermark's Finest defends. Shadow: Gandalf's Map (no effect). The Riddermark's Finest is destroyed.
Orc Guard 1 attacks. Pelagir Shipwright defends. Shadow: Shadow Key (no effect, but ironic). No damage dealt.
Orc Guard 2 attacks. Ether Swordsman defends. Shadow: Iron Shackles (placed on top of player deck). No damage dealt.
Declare attack on Nazgul of Dol Guldur with Glorfiendel and Northern Tracker, destroying Nazgul of Dol Guldur and winning the game!

Final Scoring
11 completed rounds x 10: 110
Final Threat: 37
Damage on Heroes: 5 (4 on Glorfiendel, 1 on Eowyn)
Threat Cost of Defeated Heroes: 8 (Calandra)
Victory Points: 0
Final Score: 160

The Recap

Now I remember why this scenario made my wife and I wonder if we purchased the right game for us. Our goal in playing games is to unwind and have fun. Now, there might be some adrenaline released at key moments during Escape from Dol Guldur, but "unwind" and "fun" are not fitting words to use while tackling this. Oh, and while I'm writing I just noticed the preview for the first Dwarrowdelf Nightmare Decks just came out. Probably not a good fit for those relaxing nights.

Did it come across how much the initial set-up mattered? Most importantly, the three encounters guarding the objectives. While I played a few attempts I thought were lost causes just to check things out (Attempt #6 and 8 stick out for that), I could pretty much tell how well I'd fare based on that aspect alone. The captured hero mattered, but not as much as I thought. After all, I won with Glorfindel captured and I had assumed I could only win with Caldara as the prisoner.

That isn't to say a solid deck and wise strategy were not important. I doubt I could ever take that mono-Leadership deck I started off with to the finish line. And I could have had a perfect opening setup on attempt #1, with the final deck I used, and made horrible choices based on knowledge I had not gained yet.

Still, the random draw of the set up is what matters most and, for this player, that means this is a quest I will not be returning to frequently.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Quest 2: Journey Along the Anduin

Victory after eight plays

The Journey

The infamous Journey Along the Anduin. After most people breeze through Passage Through Mirkwood (I apparently struggled with that), they get here and think "Did I make a horrible mistake in purchasing this game?" Not me! Nope, I just got to think, "How have I played this game so long and can't get past this medium-level quest?"

The first lost came out of the blue. I had the idea of a Celeborn/Mirlonde Silvan trait secrecy deck. I know, right? But it sounded good at the time. Celeborn's Folly was a tounge-in-cheek deck name that came all too true. Took out the troll, got massive allies out, then saw my allies destroyed by Evil Storm and I threated out in stage 2.

Tweaked the deck. Tried it again. Got a horrible opening hand (on the mulligan) and was demolished in the first round.

Round 3. More tweaking, more threating out in stage 2.

Now I'm in shock, but blaming it on my crazy idea to make secrecy work on this quest (others have, btw). Enemies and locations blocking my way to progressing on the stage 2 quest seem to be the main obstacle. The solution seems to be dropping the secrecy act, going to tri-sphere, and getting Legolas to join the party. Celeborn's (Tactical) Folly is geared up and ready.

Fourth-Sixth attempt: Threat out in stage 2.

What. In. The. World.

Okay, not every deck can beat every quest. Maybe it's time to put it down and come back later with a fresh idea and a fresh deck. But I really would like make this deck work! I think it can!

Maybe seeing direct damage on the enemies (and indirect progress) was not the solution. Maybe I can quest around them! Alright, get ride of Tactics and swap in Spirit. Celeborn's (Spiritual) Folly is on the case.

Threat out, stage 2.

So, wait, what's going on here? I have a relatively fast deck that is pumping out allies and boosting them each turn. Taking on the troll is no problem. I even worked things out to start with a much lower threat!

The troll. I'm focusing too much on the troll. With my low starting threat and the Hill Troll's threat of 1, I can really wait out stage 1. That will allow me to either pour out a ton of allies or save them and build up resources for a massive surge in stage 2. Let's try it.

A few scary moments where I didn't leave enough defenders (including the need to waste a Sneak Attack on a Silverload Archer), but I arrive at stage 2 with a few allies down, a clean staging area, a Dol Guldor Orcs engaged with me, and ton of potential willpower in my hand (Naith Guide, Hemnarth Riversong, Silvan Refugee, Elrond's Counsel x2, Children of the Sea). Play my allies (picking Celeborn not to exhaust to quest, thanks to Naith Guide) and quest with everything I have, throwing down those Eldrond's Counsels but holding onto the Children of the Sea.

The moment of truth. Reveal 1: Necromancer's Reach. Man, that could really ruin my day...if I didn't have A Test of Will in Hand. Next. Reveal 2: Pursued by Shadow. Raise threat by 1. Blow past the 16 progress points needed.

Now onto stage 3. I only left one defender up and all my heroes are slightly damaged, so I need locations or treachery cards here. Flip a treachery card (forgot what, sorry, but it had no effect so I'm thinking Treacherous Fog or Evil Storm). Flip my second card: a Hill Troll. My threat's 25. We'll take care of him later. Block the orcs. Raise threat. Dispatch the orcs. Raise threat. Block the troll. Raise threat by four. Dispatch the troll.

End.

Final Scoring
7 rounds x 10: 70
Final Threat:31
Damage on Heroes: 5
Threat Cost of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Points: -11
Final Score: 95

The Deck

Celeborn's (Spiritual) Folly

Heroes
Celeborn
Mirlonde
Glorfindel (Spirit)

Allies
Henamarth Riversong x2
Mirkwood Runner x3
Silvan Tracker x3
Naith Guide x3
Silverload Archer x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Gandalf (Core) x3

Attachments
Asfaloth x3
Light of the Valinor x3
Ancient Mathom x3

Events
The Tree People x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Sneak Attack x3
Children of the Sea x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
A Test of Will x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Dead Marshes
Return to Mirkwood
The Watcher in the Water
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Drunadan Forest
The Blood of Gondor
Foundations of Stone
The Dunland Trap

Quite a bit more going on here than my Core-only deck from last time!

In playing around with deck options to pursue, I initially thought of pumping up a single character to take down the troll. Eomer and Merry stood out as possible ideas. In both cases, I would try to get a low starting threat and come in with an Unseen Strike or two. While reading BeatGuy's post on the beauty of Tree People, it struck me that the card combos really well with Sneak Attack and A Very Good Tale. Getting those combos going is a major hope for this deck.

Glorfiendel with his friends (Asfaloth and Light of the Valinor) are there to help with the location needs of the deck and the knocking off of needed enemies. I never actually got Light of the Valinor out in my two times playing this deck, though, and Glorfiendel still proved highly effective. I'm quick to cut a card if I can do well without it (like I did for Steward of Gondor, which didn't really do much to help me in my first seven attempts), but each shuffle of the cards brings about a new situation and some of those cards that don't see much use in one attempt may win the game the next time around.

Silvan allies, and large amounts of them, are a must. The low cost ones (Hemnarth Riversong and Silvan Refugee) are particularly nice to use with the The Tree People, while the high cost ones (everyone except Naith Guide) are great for A Very Good Tale. Haldir of Lorien is conspicuously missing, because he wasn't fitting well into either strategy (unless you pull him up with The Tree People).

When any of the three main versions of this deck work right, it's a blast to play (especially the secrecy one, in my opinion). But that's when it's working right. If it miss-fires (which it did on my second attempt), it can be a slow train wreck. So, while I liked a lot of the ideas in this deck (and may try some more goes at Journey Along the Anduin with the secrecy version in the future), it's not one I expect to use much in the future without a major overhaul.

The Recap

A little bit of perspective on a new strategy is what paid off here. The troll, with his high attack and difficulty to kill, was not the real enemy of this campaign for my decks: that was left to the quick buildup of enemies and locations (some of them pretty nasty) in the staging area. I only wish I had the flash of insight seven attempts earlier! But now that I've had it, I wonder if that original secrecy deck would have worked? Not going to try it right now (I've got Escape From Dol Guldur to get trounced by), but here's the deck list for my future memory and your potential play testing. Any suggestions?

Celeborn's Folly

Heroes
Celeborn
Mirlonde

Allies
Haldir of Lorien x1
Henamarth Riversong x2
Mirkwood Runner x3
Silvan Tracker x3
Naith Guide x3
Silverload Archer x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Saruman x3

Attachments
Stewards of Gondor x2
Cram x3
Resourceful x3

Events
The Tree People x3
Peace, and Thought x3
Daeron's Runes x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Sneak Attack x3
Timely Aid x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
The Dead Marshes
A Journey to Rhosgobel
Return to Mirkwood
Shadow and Flame
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Drunadan Forest
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap

Friday, August 22, 2014

Duplicate Tournament 1: Passage Through Mirkwood

Back in March of this year, George Leoniak (Tracker1 at BoardGameGeek) proposed a duplicate tournament for Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Participants would each use the same player deck, going against the same encounter set, with the order of both player and encounter cards in a fixed stack used by all participants. A beautiful concept that was also well realized. You can see the results of this first duplicate tournament, Passage Through Mirkwood, here. I have had the pleasure of participating in two of the four duplicate tournaments so far and highly recommend it as a way to enjoy the game with the larger LotR LCG community and as a way to learn from your fellow players.

I want to post my own run-through (along with subsequent notes needed to clear up a few mistakes in my game) to compare with my non-duplicate run-through yesterday. So, without further ado...

Passage Through Mirkwood

Encounter Set-up
Set aside King Spider and Old Forest Road
Quest card set to stage 1B

Player Set-up
Draw: Snowborn Scout, Son of Arnor, Snowborn Scout, Ever Vigilant, Steward of Gondor, Gandalf
Threat: 29

Round 1
Resource Phase
All hero’s get their first resource.
Draw Brok Ironfist
Initial 6 cards + Brok in hand

Planning phase
Aragron - 1, Gloin -1 to play Steward of Gondor on Aragorn
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. Aragorn +2
Aragorn -2 and Theodred -1 to play Son of Arnor
Engage King Spider

Quest Phase
Quest with: Aragorn, Gloin, Theodred
Willpower: 5
Use Theodred’s response. Aragorn +1.
Use Aragorn’s response to ready Aragorn. Aragorn -1.
Reveal: Forest Gate
Staging Area Threat: 2
+2 Progress on Stage 1B

Travel Phase
Travel to Old Forest Road
Use Old Forest Road response to ready Gloin

Encounter Phase
No enemies in Staging Area

Combat Phase
King Spider Attacks. Gloin declared as defender.
Shadow card: King Spider. Choose to exhaust Son of Arnor
Gloin takes 2 Damage. Gloin +2 resources
Aragorn declared an attacker against King Spider. King Spider takes 2 Damage.

Refresh Phase
Threat 30
All characters ready

Round 2
Resource Phase
All characters +1. Draw Farimir.
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. Aragorn +2
Resources: Aragorn 3, Gloin 3, Theodred 1
Cards in Hand: Snowborn Scout, Snowborn Scout, Gandalf, Ever Vigilant, Brok Ironfist, Farimir

Planning phase
Play Farimir. Gloin -3, Theodred -1
Play Snowborn Scout. Aragorn -1
Place 1 Progress on Old Forest Road
Play Snowborn Scout. Aragorn -1
Place 1 Progress on Old Forest Road

Quest Phase
Exhaust Faramir to give each character +1 Willpower
Play Ever Vigilant. Aragorn -1. Ready Farimir
Qwest with: Aragorn, Farimir, Gloin, Theodred, Son of Arnor, Snowborn Scout
(one Snowborn Scout not committed to quest)
Willpower: 12
Use Theodred’s response. Aragorn +1.
Use Aragorn’s response to ready Aragorn. Aragorn -1.
Reveal: Forest Spider
Staging Area Threat: 4
1 Progress placed on Old Forest Road. Location Explored.
7 Progress placed on Stage 1B. Stage cleared.
Reveal Stage 2A. Flip to Stage 2B.

Travel Phase
Travel to Forest Gate
Draw: Sneak Attack. Common Cause.

Encounter Phase
Optionally engage Forest Spider

Combat Phase

Forest Spider attacks.
Snowborn Scout declared defender.
Shadow Card: Ungoliant’s Spawn. Thread raised by 4 to 34.
Snowborn Scout destroyed

King Spider attacks.
Undefended
Shadow card: Dol Guldur Beastmaster. No shadow effect.
3 Damage on Aragorn

Declare Aragorn as attacker on King Spider.
King Spider takes 2 damage. King Spider is destroyed

Refresh Phase
Threat 35
All characters ready

Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Resource for each hero
Draw: Sneak Attack
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. Aragorn +2.
Resources: Aragorn 3, Gloin 1, Theodred 1
Cards In Hand: Sneak Attack, Sneak Attack, Common Cause, Gandalf, Brok Ironfist

Planning phase
No cards played

Quest Phase
Play Sneak Attack. Theodred -1
Put Gandalf into Play. Deal 4 damage to Forest Spider. Forest Spider destroyed.
Exhaust Faramir to give each character +1 Willpower
Quest with: Aragorn, Gloin, Theored, Son of Arnor, Gandalf
(one Snowborn Scout not committed to quest)
Willpower: 14
Use Theodred’s response. Aragorn +1.
Use Aragorn’s response to ready Aragorn. Aragorn -1.
Reveal: Dol Guldur Beastmaster
Staging Area Threat: 2
4 Progress tokens placed on Forest Gate. Location Explored.
8 Progress tokens placed on Stage 2B. Stage cleared.
Proceed to Stage 3A. Flip to stage 3B: Beorn’s Path
Gandalf returns to Hand

Travel Phase
No location in staging area

Encounter Phase
Optionally Engage Dol Guldur Beast Master

Combat Phase
Dol Guldur Beastmaster Attacks (dealt additional shadow card)
Snowborn Scout declared defender.
Shadow card 1: Cheftan Uftak. No shadow effect.
Shadow card 2: The necromancer’s reach.
+1 damage Gloin (add 1 resource to Gloin’s pool), +1 damage Theodred, +1 damage Son of Arnor, +1 damage Farimir, +1 damage Son of Arnor.
Son of Arnor destroyed. Place 3 damage from attack on Gloin. Gloin destroyed.
Place Brok Ironfist into play from hand
Declare Aragorn and Brok Ironfist as attackers against Dol Guldur Beastmaster. Deliver 4 damage.

Refresh Phase
Threat 36.
All characters ready.

Round 4
Resource Phase
Aragorn and Theodred receive a resource.
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. Aragorn +2
Draw: Valiant Sacrifice
Resources: Aragorn 6, Theodred 1
Cards In Hand: Valiant Sacrifice, Common Cause, Sneak Attack, Gandalf

Planning phase
No cards played

Quest Phase
Play Sneak Attack. Theodred -1
Put Gandalf into play from hand. Deal 4 damage to  Dol Guldur Beastmaster (destroyed).
Exhaust Faramir to give each character +1 Willpower
Quest with: Aragorn, Theodred, Brok Ironfist, Gandalf
Use Theodred’s response. Aragorn +1.
Use Aragorn’s response to ready Aragorn. Aragorn -1.
Reveal: Dol Guldur Orcs
Staging Area  threat: 2
11 Progress placed on stage 3B (Beorn’s Path). Stage 3B cleared. Quest completed!

Final Scoring
3 rounds x10: 30
Final threat: 36
Damage on heroes: 4
Threat cost of defeated hero: 9
Victory points: 0
Total: 79

Comment by Tracker 1:
A few things,
First thanks for participating.

Second, your set up had a King Spider, it should have been a Forest Spider, but I don't think it changed anything.

Third, has to do with combat in round 3.  I think you triggered the Necormancer's reach event card as a shadow.  You will be happy to know that events do not trigger as shadow cards, so all your characters did not take one damage.  I was also a little unclear how Gloin took 3 damage in that round, I thought you defended the beastmaster with the Snowbourn Scout.

You can adjust your scoring with these changes unless I'm missing something.

Comment by JonBen:
Well done! Getting that quest off in Round 2 was awesome!

The King spider has more attack (3) than the Forest Spider (2). This results in Gloin taking 1 more damage and 1 more resource in Round 1, I don't think that resource is ever critically needed.
EDIT: Oppsies! I forgot that the Forest Spider would have the +1 attack the round it engages, even if Son of Arnor does the engaging. So the damage you assigned Gloin was appropriate in Round 1.
Likewise in Round 2 Aragorn takes one more damage than needed due to the King Spider's attack in Round 2. It think that covers the effects of this mistake.

Necormancer's Reach does not have a shadow effect so all that damage should be undone. Including another resource Gloin shouldn't have (again I don't think it mattered). The Snowbourn scout was defending so it should die not Gloin, which means that you couldn't play Brok Ironfist from your hand. The Beastmaster gets attacked by Aragorn alone suffering only 2 damage.

However I believe you still have enough resources to play Brok in Round 4, even though you have that single illegitimate resource floating around from Round 1. Note that Gloin shouldn't have died so he provides another resource in Round 4, so you can Sneak Attack and play Brok. Also Gloin provides more questing power so you don't even need Brok at that point.

Finally the Dol Guldor Orcs have a When Revealed which was not triggered. But this damage can be given to Gandalf.

By my reckoning this all means that your score without the 'cheatery' should be 30+36+2=68.

EDIT: With the extra damage on Gloin: 30+36+3=69

Of course you 'should' have reduced your threat with Gandalf instead of killing the Beastmaster That would have given you an even better score :) Even moreover, you should have sneaked in the combat of round 3 to lower your threat, then played Gandalf in round 4 to lower threat again. I think this run may have the template of the optimal solution :)

My reply to Tracker 1:
Ha. Figured I'd make at least one serious mistake!

Since I forgot Necromancer's Reach was a shadow (and not revealed from the Encounter Deck), I considered Snowborn Scout destroyed and the attack undefended.

That would have saved Gloin, giving me -9 to my Score. But he had two damage. That would make the corrected score 72 71

As far as gameplay, I would have quested with him and not quested with Son of Arnor (really debated committing Son of Arnor, due to a possible enemy and very unlikely, but possible, chance of 4 threat in the staging area). Giving a total of two extra questing points (due to Farimir's effect)

 As JonBen pointed out, Aragorn should have had 1 less damage (due to my King Spider vs. Forest Spider mistake), lowering my total score by 1

My reply to JonBen: 
Yep, my Gandalf decisions were heavy on my heart! I made my goal to get out of there as fast as possible and keep everything (staging area and engaged enemies) as clear as possible. Now that I know how that final revealed encounter turned out, I may have done things differently, but I also would have lost the 5 willpower Gandalf + Fairmir gave me, likely not making it out in Round 4

Edit: I see what you mean, now! That definitely could have bought me 5 more points. And, if I was feeling really risky (which I wasn't) I could have pulled off 10 extra points that way: sneak during the Combat Phase of round 3 to reduce threat and block the Beastmaster, then play and reduce threat during Round 4. A choice I would not have made not knowing what the Encounter Deck was going to give me

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Quest 1: Passage Through Mirkwood

Victory after 2 attempts

The Deck

And here we are: back at the start of it all! Passage Through Mirkwood is the quest meant to show you that the game is fun and not that hard, right?

There are some surprised to be here, but Passage Through Mirkwood is often used as a testing scenario (allowing players a quick way to see how their deck actually functions before taking on their target quest). I thought of a few ways to have fun with this (trying out a Doomed deck, or playing with Hobbit synergy) and landed on sticking with a single core set. Limiting myself to the cards available at the time is not a pattern that will continue, though. This time around I want to re-experience that feeling of first cracking away at the game with the limited tools at my disposal. After all, working with a single core set is more a matter of eliminating what you don't want than truly building a shining deck (yes, there are exceptions out there).

So which spheres of influence to pick? Spirit and Leadership stick out as the strongest in the core, so let's set them to the side and go for  Lore/Tactics mash-up. Tactics being the weakest on it's own, let's go for a high proportion of Tactics cards. If I'm going for one core hero, I'll go for Glorfindel since I almost never use him and I like the ability to quest or attack with force each turn. Legolas is a favorite for Tactics, so he's in. I have a good quester (Glorfiendel), a fighter (Legolas), so let's go for Gimli as my defender. Then I cram the two pre-made decks together, giving me 60 cards and add in another Gandalf for 61. Now to weed out eleven cards.

I get in habits with my deckbuilding. Right now, I'm enjoying a mix of 20 allies 15 attachments, and 15 events. So the first thing I target in the Tactics/Lore mash-up is getting to those numbers. Allies are easy: Beorn is out and one Daughter of Nimrodel. The attachment cont is only at 14, so I'm going to pick on events for a while. Thicket of Spears is eliminated right away. I only have two tactics heroes and no way to slap a tactics resource icon on Glorfiendel. Since Tactics will be generating higher resources than Lore, I'll prune away some of the higher Lore cards like Beorn's Hospitality. I'll also take out Lore of Imaldris. Card draw is nice, but I don't see myself spending three resources too often. And, while not necessarily costly, I never find Gandalf's Search being used. Checking my spread of cards per sphere, I'm still heavier in Lore than I'd like to be. Turning my gaze to the attachments, I'll upset my preferred distribution and take out Forest Snare. Great card in the right circumstances (and potentially useful in this scenario), but I don't see myself ever having three Lore resources lying around when that right enemy engages me. That gets me the following deck:

Heroes:
Glorfiendel (Core)
Legolas
Gimli

Allies:
Gleowin x2
Daughter of the Nimrodel x2
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Miner of the Iron Hills x2
Henamarth Riversong x1
Gondorian Spearman x3
Veteran Axehand x3
Horseback Archer x2
Gandalf (Core) x3

Attachments:
Protector of Lorien x2
Self Preservation x2
Dark Knowledge x1
Dwarven Axe x2
Blade of Gondolin x2
Citadel Plate x2
Horn of Gondor x1

Events:
Lore of Imladris x3
Radagast's Cunning x2
Secret Paths x2
Blade Mastery x3
Rain of Arrows x2
Quick Strike x2
Feint x2
Stand Together x1
Swift Strike x1

Sets Used: 
Core

The Journey

I learned a hard, valuable lesson during the first run-through. My impression of Passage Through Mirkwood is that it's a total breeze, requiring little to no deck building. What should happen but subsequent King Spider shadow effects, causing my reserved fighting hero (Legolas) to exhaust and thus leading to a build up of engaged enemies that overwhelmed me. I didn't last five rounds. My notes at the start of that final round read: "I'm going to die. On Passage Through Mirkwood. This is ridiculous." Humble pie = eaten.

The second run through was much more of an expected one. A single location or enemy would appear in the staging area, to be knocked off in turn. Or a threat card would come up, causing minimal damage and allowing me to free reign for progress tokens. I did get caught in a web once, but had Miner of the Iron Hills waiting in my hand to remove it.

Most of my choices were typical and relatively safe ones. I did quest with Daughter of Nimrodel twice, despite having more Necromancer's Reach cards in the deck (which would have destroyed her and removed her from the quest), but the risk pulled off. I had Gandalf take out a Forest Spider, which seems like a waste but it allowed me to use the wizard for some much needed questing power (and I had another Gandalf in my hand).

Chieftain Uftak appeared right at the end. That's a nasty piece of work there. But he only got one good hit in (to take out the Miner) before I quested through to victory.

Seven rounds completed. Three damage on heroes. All heroes alive. Nothing in the victory display. Final threat of 39.

Score = 112

The Recap

I was impressed at how this quest could still challenge. Even during my second, easier run-through I had to think carefully about which cards to play when and who to hold back/utilize at the right moments. It could be just an effect of the card deals from the encounter deck. It could be the hand I got (which seemed like a good one my first attempt). Or Tactics really could be that bad out of the box.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Journey Begins

I love J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, to the point where I had fully unrealized aspirations to start a Tolkien fan club in middle school and learn elvish. Into this obsession stepped Iron Crown Enterprise's Middle-Earth collectible card game (CCG). The art was breathtaking, the deck-building was deep, and I was terrible at it (when I could actually get a game in). But that was kind of par for the course with me and most CCGs at the time. Still, I bought more cards, dreamed of being a great player some day, and eventually sold it all off. Also par for the course.

Quite a while after middle school, my wife and I listened Robert Inglis' reading of The Lord of the Rings. The rich world of Middle-earth captured me again and I started looking for an accessible way that my wife and I could enjoy some great adventures there together. We tried Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings board game, but it was more of a puzzle than the adventure we were looking for. I considered returning to the Middle-Earth CCG again, but we wanted to traverse Tolkien's world side-by-side. Then I stumbled on a article about Fantasy Flight Games' newest project - The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. This was designed as cooperative card came that would continue growing, with pre-set packs giving players new adventures and new abilities each month. Could this be the game for us?

Three years and three full cycles of adventures later, we are still enjoying this gateway into Middle-earth. But not at the pace it is being released. In fact, our backlog of quests is pretty embarrassing. So we're taking a pause. Not from our love of the game, but of our purchases. While the glimpses of upcoming player cards continue to look amazing (here's looking at you, Trouble in Tharbad), it is time to enjoy the journey for a while and focus on the great decks we can make with our current collection.

From my calculations, we have forty-one official quests on hand (not having purchased the nightmare quests and only having the first print-on-demand quest, The Massing at Osgiliath). At our current rate of play, it will take my wife and I a few years to achieve victory for those (it took us eight or nine plays to beat The Steward's Fear). I want to set a goal of 100% quest victory before future purchases, but I don't know if I'm quite that patient. Some of these upcoming cards look pretty amazing.

One beautiful thing about The Lord of the Rings: the Card Game is its ability to stand on its own as a solo game as well as a cooperative game. While my wife and I will continue working through our backlog at a slower pace, I will also be working through the quests myself in a semi-chronological path. "Semi" because I will separate out the saga expansions and print-on-demand expansions, either saving them for the end or taking them on in chunks between cycles. I plan on playing a unique deck for each quest and only blogging about a quest one victory is achieved (with the number of attempts listed). In most cases, I won't give a full play-by-play, but simply provide highlights, impressions of the scenario as well as the cards I used, and the deck list used to achieve victory.

Join me in this journey through the beautiful and treacherous lands of Middle-earth. The end may be dark for me at times, but you can sit back and enjoy the highlights.