Redo: LOTR Part 6: The Breaking of the Fellowship

I removed The Treason of Saruman cards from the card pool.

Alright, another playthrough of Breaking of the Fellowship. I decided to replace Gandalf with Aragorn this time, not Legolas (even though Legolas is cooler). Let’s see how my tri-sphere deck does!

Heroes:			Campaign Pool:
Current:    Aragorn, +1 threat    Gimli    Pippin    Frodo Baggins (TBR)   Previously Used in Campaign:    Sam Gamgee      Gandalf (defeated)			Boons:    Anduril    Gildor Inglorion    Glamdring    + Leaf-Wrapped Lembas    Mithril Shirt    Noble Hero (Frodo Baggins)    Sting   Burdens:    Gandalf’s Delay    + Overcome by Grief    + Shadow of Fear
Deck (50)
Allies (22):		Attachments (12):			Events (16):
x1 Bill the Pony x2 Galadriel x2 Guard of the Citadel x2 Faramir x3 Orophin x2 Elrond x1 Henamarth Riversong x3 Wandering Ent x2 Boromir x2 Farmer Maggot x2 Vassal of the Windlord		x1 Celebrian’s Stone x1 Heir of Mardil x2 Steward of Gondor x2 Fast Hitch x2 Protector of Lorien x2 Self Preservation x2 Citadel Plate			x1 Ever Vigilant x2 Sneak Attack x1 Valiant Sacrifice x1 Radagast’s Cunning x2 Feint x2 Halfling Determination x1 Quick Strike x3 Fellowship of the Ring x3 Frodo’s Intuition
Legend
Allies	Allies put into play during the Planning Phase this turn			Activity log. ED: Encounter Deck EE: Enemy from ED EL: Location from ED ET: Treachery from ED EO: Objective from ED SA: staging area >>: engages #: Event card played PA: Player A +: enters play -: exits play ===: Quest Card completed QC: Quest Card //: defeats CA: Character Ability
Attachments	Attachments put into play during the Planning Phase this turn
Threat	Staging Area threat / player threat at beginning of round
Engaged Enemies	Engaged enemies at the beginning of turn (damage tokens on enemy)
Location Log	Location at beginning of turn >> location traveled to this turn during Travel Phase
Setup
Allies	--			SA: + Gandalf’s Delay SA: + Overcome by Grief SA: + Sarn Gebir SA: + The Argonath +1 threat for hero replacement
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 29
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 1
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			EL: Slopes of Amon Hen Quest: +5
Attachments	+ Fellowship of the Ring
Threat	4 / 30
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Sarn Gebir
Turn 2
Allies	+ Henamarth Riversong			ET: Orcs of the White Hand # Ever Vigilant (I used Henamarth to view the EC before drawing it, so this allowed me to ready him. If I were to have not done this, Sarn Gebir would have destroyed him.) Quest: +5
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 31
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Sarn Gebir >> The Argonath
Turn 3
Allies	--			ET: Orcs of the White Hand Quest: +5
Attachments	+ Sting (Pippin)
Threat	3 / 32
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Argonath >>
Turn 4
Allies	+ Vassal of the Windlord + Bill the Pony			EE: Uruk-Hai Tracker EL: River Anduin Quest: +2 ===QC 1 COMPLETE=== PA >> Uruk-Hai Tracker PA // Uruk-Hai Tracker ===QC 2 COMPLETE=== (I chose The Seat of Amon Hen)
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 33
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 5
Allies	--			ET: Black Feathered Arrow Quest: +5
Attachments	+ Self Preservation (Aragorn)
Threat	5 / 34
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> River Anduin
Turn 6
Allies	+ Galadriel			EE: Uruk-Hai Captain Quest: +3 PA >> Uruk-Hai Captain PA // Uruk-Hai Captain - Galadriel
Attachments	+ Glamdring (Gimli) + Steward of Gondor (Aragorn, via Galadriel)
Threat	3 / 33
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin
Turn 7
Allies	+ Faramir			EL: River Anduin Quest: +12 (Thanks, Henamarth and Faramir)
Attachments	+ Heir of Mardil (Aragorn)
Threat	3 / 32
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin >> River Anduin
Turn 8
Allies	+ Galadriel			EE: Uruk-Hai Hunter Quest: +8 Frodo’s Choice revealed! ===QC 3 COMPLETE=== Frodo rejoins PA SA: + Parth Galen SA: + Uruk-Hai Tracker PA >> Uruk-Hai Hunter # Feint (Uruk-Hai Hunter) PA // Uruk-Hai Hunter - Galadriel
Attachments	+ Citadel Plate (Gimli)
Threat	3 / 31
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin >> Parth Galen
Turn 9
Allies	+ Orophin			ET: Orcs of the White Hand EL: Wooded Shoreline Quest: +15 PA >> Uruk-Hai Tracker # Quick Strike (Gimli, Uruk-Hai Tracker) PA // Uruk-Hai Tracker
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 30
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Parth Galen >> Slopes of Amon Hen
Turn 10
Allies	--			EL: Seat of Seeing EL: Slopes of Amon Hen Quest: +3
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 31
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Slopes of Amon Hen >> Seat of Seeing
Turn 11
Allies	--			EE: Uruki-Hai Archer ET: Ill Fate Quest: +13 ===QC 4 COMPLETE===
Attachments	--
Threat	6 / 32
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Seat of Seeing >>
===VICTORY=== Score: 144   Followed by Night added to Campaign Pool Overcome by Grief removed from Campaign Pool Pippin taken captive

 

Reflection

That game was almost too easy! While I have to admit luck contributed toward getting set up in the early game with my Encounter draw (2 Orcs of the White Hand in a row, and no enemies to make this effective), this deck had synergy throughout. With Henamarth Riversong (Lore) I could see what Encounter Card was coming to maximize questing. With Gimli and supporting tactics cards I could kill enemies with one hit. With Aragorn and his character ability, along with Heir of Mardil, Self Preservation, and Steward of Gondor, I had plenty of Leadership resources and could both quest and defend when needed, and pull in my Leadership allies without a problem. Pippin gave some card draw, but access to the Lore Sphere was critical to get cards like Self Preservation and Henamarth Riversong, which were critical to the game.

Now confession time: I originally beat this game on turn 9, with +22 questing. Why did I undo this? There was one last card in the Encounter Deck, and I knew what it was from the Quest Card instructions earlier: Seat of Seeing. It was added along with Frodo’s Choice into the Encounter Deck. I took a look to see what it was all about; I didn’t explore it last time either. Turns out, if I explore this location I can remove a burden card not just from this game, but from the Campaign Pool. No chance I wasn’t going to do this! I hate Overcome by Grief.

As I have mentioned before, I don’t mind retroactively undoing mistakes I may have made if I feel it will keep the integrity of the game. Since this was literally the last card and I knew what it was, I felt like I could undo my mega-questing on Turn 9 and do this. Ultimately it was my fault; I could have looked at the text when I was instructed to set it aside. But I really don’t want to play this whole scenario for a fourth time and knowing what is on the card text is not against the rules so here we are.

I also was very lucky in that I had Quick Strike in my hand. If that pesky Uruk-Hai Archer would have attacked, it would have been dealt a shadow card, which would have been Seat of Seeing, which would have then been discarded. I would have needed to reshuffle the Encounter Deck with Seat of Seeing in it and pray I encountered it. But Quick Strike saved the day, as I was able to defeat the Uruk-Hai Archer in the Encounter Phase instead.

Thematically, I must say this is pretty cool to have an optional card that has such great benefit. It feels almost like a side quest (not like the official side quest cards for LOTR LCG); if you take some extra time to keep going through the Encounter Deck, you may just stumble onto a special surprise.

So despite my frustration for playing The Breaking of the Fellowship AGAIN, this actually worked out okay for me in the long run. And I learned a lesson! I likely will not look at every single Encounter Card in the deck before I set up a game (I like surprises), but I think I will start paying attention to the special cards that setup instructions have me set aside. 

 

Most Valuable Cards (MVC)

MVC #1: Henamarth Riversong (Core Set). He essentially served as a scout to the Encounter Deck, and made questing so efficient I never felt ambushed or caught unaware.

MVC #2: Self Preservation (Core Set). This paired with Aragorn who has decent defense, I had a reliable defender throughout. I never had to sacrifice my allies, or even use them for combat since I also had Gimli as a solid attacker.

MVC #3: Faramir (Core Set). Faramir has decent stats on his own, but you can exhaust him to give each character you control +1 willpower. As my allies grew, so did my questing power. Questing was no concern, even when I was drawing 2 Encounter Cards per Quest Phase for the last part of the game.

 

Most Valuable Hero

Aragorn (Core Set). His ability to ready, role as a defender, resource generation with Steward of Gondor, and access to the Leadership Sphere (yay ally Galadriel!!) made him the biggest star of the game.

 

Looking Forward

Now that I have completed this successfully again, I will switch out Aragorn for Treebeard as planned (with Aragorn not leaving, but his Fellowship version replacing Frodo). Treebeard is a Lore hero, so with Pippin gone I can still access Lore cards and build a Lore/Tactics deck with Gimli. I think this will help my questing game considerably in The Uruk-Hai.