LOTR Part 5: Journey in the Dark

Alright, I’m ready for another crack at this! I’m feeling confident given the last game (although not confident in my reading skills), so let’s give it another go.

Heroes:			Campaign Pool:
Current:    Gandalf    Gimli    Pippin    Frodo Baggins (TBR)   Previously Used in Campaign:    Aragorn    Sam Gamgee			Boons:    Anduril    Gildor Inglorion    Glamdring    Mithril Shirt    Noble Hero (Frodo Baggins)    Sting   Burdens:    Gandalf’s Delay
Deck
Allies (21):		Attachments (19):			Events (10):
x2 Barliman Butterbur x3 Elrond x2 Erebor Hammersmith x1 Henamarth Riversong x1 Master of the Forge x3 Wandering Ent x1 Beorn x2 Boromir x2 Farmer Maggot x2 Gondorian Spearman x2 Vassal of the Windlord		x2 Fast Hitch x2 Protector of Lorien x2 Self Preservation x2 Citadel Plate x1 Dagger of Westernesse x2 Dwarven Axe x1 Horn of Gondor x2 Gandalf’s Staff x2 Wizard Pipe x3 Fellowship of the Ring			x1 Risk Some Light x2 Halfling Determination x1 Quick Strike x3 Flame of Anor 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
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: + Doom, Doom, Doom SA: + Overcome By Grief (Bu) SA: + Grievous Wound (Bu) SA: + Many-Pillared Hall
Attachments	+ The One Ring (Frodo) + Noble Hero (Frodo)
Threat	1 / 31, DDD: 10
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 1
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			ET: Deep Fissure
Attachments	+ Gandalf’s Staff (Gandalf) + Mithril Shirt (Frodo)
Threat	1 / 31, DDD: 10
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Many-Pillared Hall
Turn 2
Allies	+ Boromir			ET: We Cannot Get Out Gandalf gains Grievous Wound
Attachments	--
Threat	0 / 32, DDD: 9
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Many-Pillared Hall >>
Turn 3
Allies	+ Henamarth Riversong			EL: Many-Pillared Hall
Attachments	--
Threat	0 / 33, DDD: 8
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Many-Pillared Hall
Turn 4
Allies	--			EE: Great Cave-Troll Frodo uses character ability to redraw ET: Shadow of Fear EL: Mines of Moria - Mines of Moria
Attachments	+ Sting (Frodo) +Wizard Pipe (Gandalf)
Threat	0 / 34, DDD: 7
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Many-Pillared Hall
Turn 5
Allies	--			EE: Moria Orc ===QC 1 Complete=== SA: + Chamber of Mazarbul SA: + Orc-Chieftain Orc-Chieftain >> PA PA // Orc-Chieftain
Attachments	+ Protector of Lorien (Pippin)
Threat	0 / 36, DDD: 6
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Many-Pillared Hall >> Chamber of Mazarbul
Turn 6
Allies	+ Master of the Forge			EL: Mines of Moria - Mines of Moria PA // Moria Orc
Attachments	+ Citadel Plate (Gimli) + Fast Hitch (Frodo) + Dwarven Axe (Gimli) + Self Preservation (Gandalf)
Threat	2 / 37, DDD: 4
Engaged Enemies	Moria Orc
Location Log	Chamber of Mazarbul
Turn 7
Allies	--			EE: Uruk from Mordor EE: Moria Orc ET: Fool of a Took # Frodo’s Intuition PA // Uruk from Mordor
Attachments	+ Glamdring (Gandalf)
Threat	0 / 38, DDD: 3
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Chamber of Mazarbul >>
Turn 8
Allies	+ Gondorian Spearman + Wandering Ent + Erebor Hammersmith			EL: Darkened Stairway # Halfling Determination ===QC 2 Complete=== EL: Mines of Moria SA: + The Balrog The Balrog // Gondorian Spearman Pippin gains Overcome By Grief PA // Moria Orc
Attachments	--
Threat	2 / 40, DDD: 1
Engaged Enemies	Moria Orc
Location Log	>> The Great Bridge
Turn 9
Allies	--			EE: Great Cave-Troll Frodo uses CA to redraw ET: We Cannot Get Out (This is great… Gimli now has 7 Damage Tokens, bringing him up to 11 attack power.) - Mines of Moria The Balrog // Master of the Forge - Fellowship of the Ring The Balrog // Erebor Hammersmith
Attachments	+ Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo)
Threat	11 / 41
Engaged Enemies	The Balrog (6)
Location Log	The Great Bridge
Turn 10
Allies	--			EL: Mines of Moria - Mines of Moria Gandalf is defeated (noooo!) - Fellowship of the Ring The Balrog is defeated
Attachments	+ Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo)
Threat	9 / 42
Engaged Enemies	The Balrog (11)
Location Log	The Great Bridge (1) >> Darkened Stairway
Turn 11
Allies	--			ET: Deep Fissure
Attachments	+ Fast Hitch (Pippin)
Threat	0 / 43
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Darkened Stairway >>
Turn 12
Allies	--			EE: Great Cave-Troll Frodo uses CA EL: Ancient Guardroom (I drew Darkened Stairway for the Ancient Guardroom travel effect… yikes! That’s +4 threat.)
Attachments	--
Threat	0 / 44
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Ancient Guardroom
Turn 13
Allies	--			EE: Orc-Chieftain ===QC 3 Complete===
Attachments	--
Threat	0 / 49
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Ancient Guardroom >>
===VICTORY=== (Easy Mode) Score: 142   Campaign Pool: + Overcome By Grief (Bu) +Shadow of Fear (Bu)   Defeated Heroes: Gandalf

 

Reflection

What a close victory! This playthrough was much more intense than my last one, ending with a threat of 49 with no option to reduce it… and this is why I love this game despite its complicated rules. The game is so balanced; when I play on Easy Mode, I win more often than not (I still lose fairly often), but it is often so close. I love the thrill!

Despite my heavy attack power, I decided to sacrifice Gandalf rather than Pippin. If I had sacrificed Pippin like I was considering, my thematic choices to replace him would be Sam, Aragorn, Boromir, Merry, or Legolas. My reasons are ultimately thematic, with a bit of strategy. Now I have not looked ahead, but my guess is that I cannot change characters until I get to Edoras; there are two quests between now and then. If I chose Sam, this would be thematically awkward after the Ring Goes South, as he would accompany Aragorn and Gimli on their quest to find the captives (in the books, the captives are Merry and Pippin). Everyone knows Sam needs to be with Frodo. If I were to choose Boromir, this too would be awkward, as I really do not want him to die in the Ring Goes South for campaign purposes, and I don’t want him to live to join Aragorn and Gimli on their hunt for thematic purposes. I could pick Merry, but he is in the Tactics Sphere, so I would basically have a mono-sphere deck (Gandalf, Merry, Gimli), and I have not had luck historically with a mono-tactics deck. This leaves Aragorn or Legolas, but their starting threat of 9 or 12 would be very high with Gandalf and Gimli, 35-38 total with the penalty for replacing a hero. Alas, I decided to stick with the thematic sacrifice and chose Gandalf. I may replay this campaign without being so thematic, to create a sort of alternative timeline story. For now, Pippin lives. I will revisit my replacement choice in the Looking Forward section.

I would also like to point out that the Balrog was handled much more efficiently than my last playthrough. He only killed 3 allies this time, versus the 7 allies he killed last game. I was not drawing as many allies this game so I was worried, but I drew more enemies from the Encounter Deck  during the second Quest Card to progress quickly to the Great Bridge. Indeed, I feel the Darkened Stairway was a greater threat to me this game than the Balrog (although admittedly I built my team and deck to deal with the Balrog)! It just goes to show you that these scenarios can play very differently game to game.

Most Valuable Cards (MVC)

MVC #1: Fellowship of the Ring (The Road Darkens). This card has to be MVC #1… I truly do not believe I would have won without it! It’s an attachment that gives each hero +1 willpower, but must be discarded if a character you control is defeated. At one point I had 11 threat in the Staging Area due to the Balrog and locations, and the active location was the Great Bridge (which once explored, allowed me to defeat the Balrog). I used Fellowship of the Ring twice (because it got discarded right away by the stupid Balrog) to get some extra willpower needed to quest successfully.

MVC #2: Citadel Plate (Core Set). I’m glad this showed up this game! It’s +4 HP gave Gimli even greater attack potential, which was used to weaken the Balrog enough to discard him as soon as Gandalf’s 14 damage tokens were dealt to him. Thanks to Citadel Plate and Dwarven Axe, Gimli’s final attack power was 11!

MVC #3: Henamarth Riversong (Core Set). Henamarth is one of my favorite allies, and he proved incredibly useful here. He is cheap (1 Lore resource), and doesn’t have overly impressive stats, but his ability allows him to exhaust to view the top card of the Encounter Deck. He effectively works as a scout to see what is coming, and allowed me to quest very efficiently. For example, when I knew Deep Fissure was coming in turn 11, I didn’t bother saving an attacker and defender in case there was an enemy; I committed everyone to the quest to maximize willpower.

 

Most Valuable Hero

Frodo Baggins (The Black Riders). If you read each turn’s report, this just makes sense. I absolutely hate the Great Cave-Troll, and I used Frodo’s character ability 3 times to negate dealing with him. The Great Cave-Troll has some nasty stats for a regular enemy, but also if there is any leftover damage to be dealt (if he defeated his target), it would take that many progress tokens away from the active quest. Yikes! I never once had to deal with a troll, so thank you Frodo. Additionally, I had Mithril Shirt and Sting attached to Frodo, making him a viable defender, and allowing me to deal some damage to his attackers. With Fast Hitch, he was a questing, defending, and troll-stopping machine.

Looking Forward

With Gandalf defeated, I have a tough choice to make. I could choose not to replace Gandalf to negate the +1 starting threat, but let’s be honest, I don’t want that, as it would mean being a hero short for at least the next 2 quests. So who should join Pippin and Gimli from here?

For thematic reasons stated above, Boromir and Sam are out. This leaves Merry, Legolas, and Aragorn. Merry works best when is in an all-hobbit party, and I have a low enough threat with Pippin to include the more powerful Legolas or Aragorn. I will chew on this a bit… I love me some Legolas, but Aragorn led the Fellowship after Gandalf dies in the books, so he is a more thematic choice. Am I a sucker for Legolas or theme more? Stay tuned to find out.