ok let me know if this is just wrong...

last night i did this:

instead of defeating heroes with my minions (when i easily could have) i chose to declare exhaustion leaving

the hero with only 1 card left in his life pool. because the hero failed to defeat the minion and wasn't thalin

(who possesses the ability to continue after failing to defeat a minion/monster) their turn ends and essentially

i've got them pwned the next time their turn comes around.

now i've been considering this strategy for awhile but never put it into effect until last night. as i imagined

it was very effective and although i can't find anything in the rules against it... it just seems so unfair.

what do you think?

-undefeated sauron

p.s. i'd also like to add that in all the games we've played nobody has won as the heroes a single time

with the exception of a 1-v-1 game.

It's smart play by Sauron. That is if you can pull it off, which isn't given. Also need to do it with a Minion (or in a Shadown Stronghold) or the Hero can rest on their next turn, getting at least their Rest Pool back (or all if Beravor). Denying turns to the Heroes is what Sauron wants to do, giving his Plots time to move his tokens.

Also, note that their turn only ends if the combat takes place during the Travel Step. If it happens in the Ambush step, turn continues and the Hero can probably defeat themselves by moving.

yeah... i just spent the morning researching the rules and found some interesting

discoveries that have been favoring sauron big time... one of them being the ambush

step and how it doesn't end an opponents turn. it would seem that my "guilty strategy"

is only effective if the minion is engaged (travel step) by the hero and the hero is expecting

to be defeated by the minion.... which is rare.

can't wait to play tonight!!! sauron's going down.

-US

Hero with a few Corruption cards and then throw in Morgul-Blade (taking the 5 damage per Corruption choice), it's fun to do 20 damage at the start of combat .

I like the card played afer hero is defeated, which deals him some damage and another damage per corruption card. This is my favorite Hero goes to heaven and puts half (or more ) of his deck into damage pool forcing him to heal again .

I had a similar situation occur. I almost defeated a hero with a The Mouth, but he survived with three cards in hand, and none in life. On my turn, I could have played a Shadow card that would have defeated him, but that actually would have helped him. He'd have gotten a full heal - instead of just resting where he was - AND gotten to draw cards at the end of the of my turn!

I would have done it if he didn't have any favor, because then I could have forced him to discard his horse. Instead, I left The Mouth there so he couldn't rest, and would instead have to fight and gain a corruption card.

Well, first of all, if you defeat an hero, you get one of Sauron's Story token, moved and the hero move away in a haven.

Secondly, if the hero starts with a minion/monster in his/her location, he/she are not to fight. The first step is move, and then combat/peril. Only if the hero whises to, he/she will skip travel (mainylu to explore/encounter the same location he/she started his turn in) and get into combat.

I would definitely prefer to finish an hero, rather than keep him alive.

Saramund said:

Saramund said:

letsdance said:

Yes, but as it has been said he cannot because stuck in the company with a Minion/Monster. If defeated, the hero loses a favor (so that could mean wasting his idea to remove my plot)/item and he has to retreat in a haven, delaying his movement. And I cannot manage to ge the story token moved. If I get the Mouth of Sauron, ok I understand the worth, but this is a particular situation. I prefer to be dominant!

letsdance said:

You are right! sorry.

Well, all fighting is in Heroes turn, so, if, after combat (in travel step) leaves hero with few(1-3) cards left in the pool, than it is pretty much Heroes failure that he did not rest at the start of his turn ... it can be due to overagression or very very poor combat, and when this happens a lot in your games (undefeated sauron?) you should give some advices to the other players what to do ... and... let them play couple of games as Sauron to see the opposite side problems first hand...