The One Deck?

By Bohemond2, in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Dam said:

Bohemond said:

Asfaloth does a wonderful job against locations, and I explored Caradhras without ever traveling their (Note to designers, have more locations effect the game while they are in the staging area!).

Did you remember to take Caradhras out of your victory display when you hit 3B, thus forcing you to make it the active location?

I didn't know it worked that way. I thought things in one's Victory Display were effectively out of the game.

www.boardgamegeek.com/article/8871418#8871418

Bohemond, were you only questing with the PoL hero? When I played RHG, I often had to not quest WP1 allies because, well, dead meat if they do.

General questing crew is Eowyn, Glorfindel, and Arwen, plus the occasdional Northern Tracker when the hit the board. Obviously the Tracker has to stay at home when the big mountain becomes activce.

Road to Rivendel : (2 wins [72 and 51] – 0 loses)


Game 1 (win – final score 72): The opening draw of Goblin Gate makes me quite nervous, but fortunately I am able to drop Riversong on the first turn. With his guidance, I am able to navigate through a steady stream of Uruks, Bears and locations. The initial quest stage takes 5 turns because of the crowded staging area, but our heroes breeze to a fairly comfortable seven turn win. I am beginning to think Riversong needs more credit as a centerpiece of this deck.


Game 2 (win – final score 51): I start with no riversong and no Test of Will, so we begin our quest with only prayers to protect us from Sleeping Sentry. I draw A Test of Wils on turn two, but it is immediately followed by a Crebain. To make matters worse, Glorfindel can’t kill the **** bird because of shadow cards that bounce it back to the staging area. Finally, out of frustration, the Elf Lord calls in Gandalf to put an end to the potentially disastrous birdies. Despite some nervous moments when a bad draw could have doomed us, we race through the quest. On the fifth turn I get hit by Orc Raiders (note to self, when facing Ambush cards you need to use your threat reduction BEFORE the encounter draw. I am used to waiting to see the lay of the land and then making decisions), which savage our attachments. Fortunately Protector of Lorien survives and we finish off the quest that same turn.

Watcher in the Water: (2 wins [74 and 75] – 0 loses)

Game 1 (win – final score 74): I know that this scenario is a rough matchup, so I approach the Watcher with trepidation. The very first turn I come upon a striking tentacle who smacks Glorfindel in the face for 4 points (undefended). Beravor and Glorfindel are able to severe the appendage, and then it turns into a back and forth between The Galadhrim’s Greeting and Disturbed Waters as I desperately try to keep my threat below the engagement value of Black Uruks and Mountain Wargs. On turn five, I decide to make a rush for the door. The Watcher smacks Beravor, but I use Shadows of the Past to ensure that Stagnant Creek is on top of the encounter deck, and discard my other Shadows to open the door. On turn six I dump my whole hand to race by the watcher. We have a total of 17 will against 10 threat, so, with both Beravor and Glorfindel at death’s door , we finally arrive in Moria.

Game 2 (win – final score 75):: More tentacles! I get off to a slow start, with Grasping Tentacle, Stair Fall, and Thrashing Tentacle in my first three draws. The down side is that I get no extra card draws, but Beravor holds of the beasties and glorfindel cuts them down with a single attack. I get fortunate in that I don’t draw any additional tentacle effects. I stock pile resources and then start to dump a ton of cards in turn four and five. We confront the watcher, but despite having both Shadows and Riversong, I can’t get a match for the doors. Fortunately, the Warden keeps me alive long enough so we can keep cycling cards and find a Striking Tentacle to match my various ‘S’ cards.

Conclusion:
For me, the wins against Watcher came as a big surprise. I thought those tentacles, with their low engagement numbers, would cause me no end of problems. However, the fact that you can kill them in a single attack from Glorfindel (if you don’t get a shadow or tentacle), made them far more manageable for me than those **** Goblin Spearmen. I ran a third game against watcher just to be sure I wasn’t benefitting from undue luck. It took a bit longer to win but the results were similar.