LOTR Part 6: The Breaking of the Fellowship

The Breaking of the Fellowship, take 2!

I did slightly tweak my deck. I have a lot of weapon attachments with my boons (and Citadel Plates, with Gimli), so I removed the 2 Dwarven Axe cards and replaced them with an additional Vassal of the Windlord and Feint (which prevents an enemy from attacking for a phase, very handy against the Uruk-Hai).

Heroes:			Campaign Pool:
Current:    Gimli    Legolas, +1 threat    Pippin    Frodo Baggins (TBR)   Previously Used in Campaign:    Aragorn    Sam Gamgee      Gandalf (defeated)			Boons:    + Leaf-Wrapped Lembas    Anduril    Gildor Inglorion    Glamdring    Mithril Shirt    Noble Hero (Frodo Baggins)    Sting   Burdens:    + Overcome by Grief    + Shadow of Fear    Gandalf’s Delay
Deck (50)
Allies (24):		Attachments (14):			Events (12):
x2 Barliman Butterbur x3 Elrond x2 Erebor Hammersmith x1 Gleowine x1 Henamarth Riversong x1 Master of the Forge x3 Wandering Ent x1 Beorn x2 Boromir x3 Farmer Maggot x2 Gondorian Spearman x3 Vassal of the Windlord		x2 Fast Hitch x2 Protector of Lorien x2 Self Preservation x2 Blade of Gondolin x2 Citadel Plate x1 Horn of Gondor x3 Fellowship of the Ring			x1 Feint x3 Halfling Determination x3 Hands Upon the Bow x2 Quick Strike 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 Abilty
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 Threat +1 for hero replacement
Attachments	+ Leaf-Wrapped Lembas (Pippin)
Threat	4 / 26
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 1
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			EO-A: Gildor Inglorion! Quest: +4
Attachments	+ Citadel Plate (Gimli)
Threat	4 / 27
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Sarn Gebir
Turn 2
Allies	--			ET: Followed by Night EL: Slopes of Amon Hen Quest: +10 - Gildor Inglorion
Attachments	+ Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo)
Threat	1 / 28
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Sarn Gebir >> The Argonath
Turn 3
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			EL: River Anduin Quest: +4 ===QC 1 COMPLETE=== ===QC 2 COMPLETE=== Frodo is removed from play. For QC 3, I chose Orc Hunting.
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 29
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	The Argonath >>
Turn 4
Allies	--			EE: Uruk-Hai Tracker EL: Slopes of Amon Hen Quest: -1 Uruk-Hai Tracker >> PA
Attachments	Horn of Gondor (Pippin)
Threat	5 / 30
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Slopes of Amon Hen
Turn 5
Allies	+ Farmer Maggot + Erebor Hammersmith			EE: Uruk-Hai Archer - Farmer Maggot Pippin gains Overcome by Grief Quest: +4 Uruk-Hai Tracker (1) is discarded.
Attachments	--
Threat	5 / 33
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Tracker (1)
Location Log	Slopes of Amon Hen >> River Anduin
Turn 6
Allies	--			EL: River Anduin Quest: 0 PA >> Uruk-Hai Archer # Quick Strike PA // Uruk-Hai Archer
Attachments	--
Threat	4 / 34
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin
Turn 7
Allies	+ Farmer Maggot			EE: Uruk-Hai Captain Quest: -1 PA >> Uruk-Hai Captain
Attachments	+ Protector of Lorien (Pippin)
Threat	5 / 36
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin
Turn 8
Allies	+ Wandering Ent			ET: Black Feathered Arrow Quest: +5 Uruk-Hai Captain (1) is discarded.
Attachments	--
Threat	5 / 39
Engaged Enemies	Uruk-Hai Captain (1)
Location Log	River Anduin >> River Anduin
Turn 9
Allies	--			ET: Growing Threat ET: Orcs of the White Hand Quest: +6
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 40
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	River Anduin >>
Turn 10
Allies	--			ET: Ill Fate Legolas gains Ill Fate ET: Black Feather Arrows Quest: +6
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 43
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log
Turn 11
Allies	+ Elrond (heals all of Gimli’s damage)			EO-A: Gildor Inglorion Quest: +5 ===QC 3 COMPLETE=== Frodo rejoins PA. SA: + Uruk-Hai Tracker PA // Uruk-Hai Tracker - Elrond
Attachments	--
Threat	3 / 44
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	>> Parth Galen
Turn 12
Allies	--			EE: Uruk-Hai Tracker Farmer Maggot is discarded. ET: Growing Threat ET: Followed by Night ET: Black Feathered Arrows Quest: +19 ===QC 4 COMPLETE===
Attachments	+ Mithril Shirt (Frodo)
Threat	3 / 45
Engaged Enemies	--
Location Log	Parth Galen
===VICTORY=== Score: 171   Campaign Pool: + Followed by Night (Bu)   Pippin is taken captive.

 

Reflection

Things went better this round, but it was still a struggle there for a minute! I drew more allies, which helped a lot, but weirdly I kept drawing Lore cards, so my limited resource generation slowed things down a bit. I also did not draw nearly as many enemies, which made the game quite different in feel. Indeed, I chose the Quest Card 3 option that allowed me to discard an engaged enemy when I quested successfully, but the land cards were generally a bigger threat; I think things would have gone smoother if I chose the option to discard a land card from the Staging Area when I quested successfully instead.

Questing is tough with my current deck without Frodo, but luckily I got by. By the end, when Frodo re-joined and I had more allies in play I could clear the 16 token Quest Card 4 in a single turn, without using Event cards to boost my willpower.

Again, I want to emphasize to new players who quickly realize this game is punishing: if you lose, play again. Your deck draw and the Encounter deck draw can make the same quest play very differently game to game. And this is part of the magic of LOTR LCG; it has great re-play value.

In retrospect, I think I would have replaced Gandalf with Aragorn instead of Legolas; I think his willpower, readying ability, and Leadership sphere (and the allies and resource generation that come with it) would have made things go smoother for this scenario.

And Gildor freakin' Inglorion... this guy hardly ever shows up, but I got him TWICE this game! He came a bit early for my liking, given that Frodo needs to use a Fellowship resource to keep Gildor in play. But his willpower boost (and absence of a threat card) was most welcomed in turn 11! 

 

Most Valuable Cards (MVC)

MVC #1: Wandering Ents (Celebrimbor’s Secret). These guys show up as an MVC on the regular, and I think a large part this is due to the fact that I often draw them by chance, and I often will draw 2-3 in a game. Their willpower carried me through the period where Frodo was missing. I often rely on the Wandering Ents for questing, and that was critical this scenario.

MVC #2: Elrond (The Road Darkens). Elrond works like the Gandalf ally; he only shows up for one turn. He has impressive stats and when he is put in play allows the player to heal all damage from a single hero, discard a Condition attachment, or draw a card. I have used him in the past to discard Conditions (this is especially useful for campaign mode, where many of the burdens introduced attach to heroes as conditions), but in this particular scenario his healing option was sorely needed. Gimli (with his Citadel Plate) was at 8 damage, one away from death, due to absorbing all the archery damage. All my allies and heroes were beginning to accrue some kind of damage as a result, but I was able to heal Gimli to resume taking all the archery damage again, which kept my allies in play. This was critical for my questing, but also for my threat because of the Ill Fate condition Legolas had, which raised my threat by 2 when a character I controlled was destroyed. I ended with a threat of 47, so losing two allies would have cost me the game. Note: I could have discarded Ill Fate with Elrond instead of healing Gimli, but the archery in this scenario is no joke, especially with the Black Feathered Arrows treachery cards. I deemed archery a greater threat than threat increase.

 

Most Valuable Hero

Gimli. This was a tough one to call… in all honesty Frodo did the most good, but he was gone most the game so I didn’t feel he should qualify. There wasn’t a substantial amount of combat (especially since I chose Orc Hunting for Quest Card 3), so Gimli’s character ability wasn’t used much, but his high HP stat and Citadel Plate attachment absorbed a lot of archery damage.

 

Looking Forward

I have finished The Fellow Ship of the Ring! From here on out, I am treading into unknown waters; I have never played the remaining of the saga scenarios before, so I will be learning as I go.

The campaign card told me to mark one hero as “captive” for the next scenario. This makes me very tense, as the only other scenario played that has had a captive hero in it is Escape from Dol Gurdur, which I have yet to beat. I obviously chose Pippin to be the captive; it was the thematic choice. This will leave the 3 hunters for my other party members to pursue: Gimli, Legolas, and Fellowship-sphere Aragorn. Can’t get more thematic than that!