After making the mistake of not reading the Trolls, and getting Threated out by Louis, I'm ready to try again.
Setup - Add Cloak of Lorien and 2 Vassal of the Windlord (Frieghtened Beast protection, and extra attack to burst Troll defenses) to my deck, setting the rest of the sideboard aside, and removing Dwarven Tomb, Unexpected Courage, and one Silvan Refugee to make room.
In OCTGN, I added my 15 sideboard cards to the "Heroes" section of the deck, which puts them in my hand at the start of the game. From there, I can easily move them to the Player Secondary Deck zone, minimize it, and get on with the game.
My first hand is pretty bad, so I mulligan into double Unexpected courage, double Vilya, double Vassal of the Windlord. Not the most balanced start, but it should work out.
Round 1 - 36 Threat, 2 Threat in Staging, no troubles. Draw Cloak of Lorien, top card is Nenya.
Nenya is quite useful for these "slow start" quests, as it allows me to quest just enough, and then add +4 if I get more threat than expected. So, I will start with a pile of Neutral cards, playing Nenya off the top, Vilya from hand, and using that to get Treebeard into play. While I have no other Ents in my deck, he can always use his ability on himself to ready 1 extra time every 2 turns. He also has an astounding 4 attack, as well as 3 def / 5 hp, so he is one of the best combat guys in the deck.
Questing with just Gandalf for 3, I flip Gladden Fields for a total of 5 Threat. I can either add 4, which gives me 2 progress and a personal Threat of 36, or draw a card, which adds 1 progress (Nightmare Forced effect), +1 card, and a Threat of 37. Since I don't have an Expert Treasure Hunter yet, I'll go with the card draw option - exhausing Galadriel for her ability, rather than Nenya's.
I'll go ahead and make Gladden Fields the active location, and I also uncover a Runes on top of my deck. My new 4 cards are Ring of Barahir, Beoren, and 2x Expert Treasure Hunter. Things are coming along nicely for
Round 2 - 39 Threat, 2 in Staging, no troubles, Elfhelm atop the deck (Vilya'd into play, revealing Light of Valinor).
I use my resources this turn to play Unexpected Courage and light of Valinor on Elrond, play my two Hunters, and quest for 7 (holding Galadriel in reserve, and Treebeard for attacking in case an Enemy comes up).
River Langford makes it 4 Threat, I make just enough progress to clear Gladden Fields (replaced with the River), and take Faramir, Beoren, and Hasty Stroke into hand for questing and Galadriel. One more free progress, and we're on to
Round 3 - 39 Threat, 2 in Staging, no troubles, draw Northern Tracker, Bilbo atop the deck.
Play Bilbo off the top, then play the Wizard Pipe, swap Beoren to the top and Vilya him into play. At least, that was the plan. After searching, Gildor Inglorion was on top, so I just Vilyad him instead, and spent the extra resource on a Vassal.
Quest for 11 this turn, exhausting only Gandalf. Encounter another River, meaning 7 progress. That is exactly one short of finishing stage 1, which is fine by me. Draw Vilya and Runes, which (with Galadriel) turn into 2x Warden of Healing and a Zigil Miner.
Before the round ends, activate Gildor to put Beoren third from the top, play an Elrond's Counsel for free, just for the Treat reduction, and take Boromir into hand, planning to draw Will of the West.
Round 4 - 36 Threat, 2 in Staging, still no troubles, but the Trolls are coming out this turn.
Vilya Beoren
Play Zigil Miner, and mine off a hidden cache and redundant Bilbo
Give Elrond the Cloak, and the Ring of Brahir. He is now 4 defense, 6 hp.
Save 1 resource on Gandalf, and one on Elrond
Questing is light, sending just Beoren, Bilbo and Elrond, and playing Counsel off the top to make a total of 7 (and, crucially, my Threat down to 33). Staging is a Savage Hill, so I make 4 progress, and get to stage 2 exactly.
Not repeating my previous mistake of engaging Louis first, I take stock of my attack prowess. I have 21 total attack, assuming I use Treebeard twice, defend with Elrond, and take 1 attack undefended. The savage hill troll requires 9 attack, leaving me with about 12 available for other beasties. I also have a Hasty Stroke in hand, and the resource to use it. With The Carrock in play, none of the other trolls will fall to a mere 12 attack, but I could still use Beoren to buff that by 5.
All things considered, I optionally engage the least offensive troll to have in the victory display: Rupert.
Dealing with an attack of 4 and 6, Elrond defends the 6. The shadow card is Sacked! which I allow to attach to Galadriel (it's coming off in a moment, as soon as I defeat a troll). Elrond takes 2 damage.
For the 4 attack, I use my smallest attacker, Gildor, to defend. A Muck Adder means he also takes 2 damage. Not lethal, so I care little.
To attack and defeat Rupert, I need 14 total. Treebeard (4), Beoren (8) and Elfhelm (2) combine for just enough. Galadriel is un-sacked.
To defeat the Savage troll, I need 9 total. Treebeard (spending 2 resources to ready), Gandalf (3) and Vassal (3) is a total of 10. 2 Trolls down, 3 to go!
Use Galadriel to draw A Burning Brand before shuffling Beoren back in.
Round 5 - 33 Threat, 9 in staging area from Trolls, plus I want to quest for 6 extra to clear The Carrock this round. In the Refresh phase, I Vilya Beoren back into play, since he ended up on top of my 15 card deck.
For staging, I play the other Vassal, a Warden of Healing, Mine off a Hidden Cache, activate Gildor to be able to play an Faramir off the top this phase, an Elrond's Counsel when Questing, and leave a Hidden Cache on top (take Northern Tracker, the 3rd card down, into hand).
I can quest for 13 with my newly played allies, Elrond, and Bilbo (exhausing Faramir for his effect). This would not be enough, so I add in Gandalf for a total of 17 against 9 threat so far.
Staging is A Frightened Beast, which I gladly pitch my Vassal to negate. 16 willpower against 9 threat clears the Carrock, and lets me have my pick of the trolls. It also draws me a hidden cache (2 resources for Elrond) and Runes -> Zigil Miner, Arwen, discard Tracker.
I'll go ahead and take Louis now - I have Elfhelm to prevent is "in VP" effect, and I want to get a couple more threat so I can take both trolls at once next turn (since I'm at only 30 right now, that may also involve failed questing).
Warden heals all of last turn's damage, and Elrond defends. The shadow card does nothing, Elrond takes no damage, and I raise my threat to 33, then back to 32 from Elfhelm, and 31 from Galadriel.
9 attack at the ready, out of the 13 I would need. Play Flame of Anor off the top to ready Gandalf, and have him participate, but I flip a 0 cost card, so I also have to activate Beoren to defeat Louis.
Round 6
Vilya out Beoren at the end of the round, again. Play and use Wizard Pipe to make Hidden Cache the only card in my deck, then Will of the West to shuffle everything back in. Miner hits 2x Cache, allowing me to play:
Riversong (top of deck is Hives, so the total Threat will be 8. I need to quest for 7 to get both trolls down this turn).
A Burning Brand (for Elrond)
Arwen (off the top)
Zigil Miner (milling Vilya and Counsel)
Boromir
Quest with Elrond, Boromir, Arwen for a total of 6. Raise threat by 2, lower by 1 with Elfhelm.
Leave Hives in the staging area, but engage both Trolls.
Elrond defends Moris, taking 1 damage. Brand cancels both shadow cards, and his 4 defense means he takes a total of 1 damage.
Boromir defends Stuart, Galadriel lowers my Threat to 33 so he has 3 defense. no shadow effect, so he takes 1 damage and readies.
Counter attacks:
Moris requires 13 attack to dispatch. Gandalf (3), Treebeard (4), Boromir (3), Elfhelm (2) and Faramir (1) are up to the task.
Stuart requires 15. Beoren (8), Gildor (2), and Treebeard (4) are not. quite. enough.
Quick - retroactively don't play Arwen, and don't use the extra Zigil Miner. That gives 1 extra attack while still keeping resources around for Hasty Stroke if needed.
Move on to stage 3. Add Rob and Bob and a Savage Hill Troll to the staging area (8 total threat). Warden of Healing removes all damage.
Round 7 - 34 Threat.
I dig through my deck, playing a Vassal off the top, and playing as many Elrond's Cache as I can. (which is 2 in the planning phase, lowing my Threat to 27).
Riversong tells me I have Gladden Fields coming up, so I need to quest for 10 to avoid threat gain. Instead I quest for 12, including Gandalf, so I can draw more cards. I get a Seeker, and Vilya in Beoren.
Rob&Bob is 6 attack, Boromir takes 3 damage (Galadriel is Sacked again). Savage is 4 attack, Elrond takes no damage.
16 attack needed for Rob and Bob, Beoren (8), Vassal (3), Treebeard (4), and Elfhelm (2) are enough.
Victory! Final score:
6 rounds (60) + 27 Threat + no damage/dead heroes -13 VP = 74 total!
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Conflict at the Carrock
Including the Lorien Cloak for this adventure.
Setup: Shuffle in one Sacked card, 2 threat Carrock in the staging area. I mulligan my opening hand and get:
Refugee, Tracker, Zigil Miner; Unexpected Courage, Vilya, A Test of Will, Runes.
Play Expert Treasure Hunter off the top (on Gandalf), revealing Elrond's Counsel (to be played next phase). Play the Zigil miner, and quest for 4 (Gandalf + Miner only).
Muck adder is my reveal, so I make 1 progress (playing Elrond's Counsel on Galadriel, just for the threat reduction). Before resolving the quest, I go hunting for a Hidden Cache, which I find after just playing Runes (+2 resources on Elrond, by taking it into hand with Treasure Seeker). I also chose to draw Flame of Anor (for future troll hunting). I dig further, looking for Hasty Stroke, but don't find it.
Elrond defends the Muck Adder, shadow card is just a River, so no damage (whew). Refresh, and move on to
Round 2: 30 Threat. 5 resources, Engaged Muck Adder.
I mine off another Hidden Cache, resulting in a second Unexpected Courage being discarded (the first went for the Runes, the last is in my hand). Play Riversong off the top. Use Vilya to play Boromir (revealing Beoren), and play Unexpected Courage, Silvan Refugee, and Light of Valinor from hand. This leaves 2 Northern Trackers, A Test of Will, Flame of Anor, and Warden of Healing in my hand, and 2 resources on Elrond.
Questing for 10 (sure, why not, it only exhausts Gandalf) I encounter a hill troll, and move on to Stage 2. Galadriel lowers my Threat to 29, so I can face the trolls at my leisure.
I decide to face Louis (trolls raise my threat by 1). Elrond blocks Muck Adder again. Boromir blocks Louis (5 attack with The Carrock bonus, Boromir at 3 defense, -1 from a shadow card) Boromir takes 3 damage and readies.
Boromir, and Riversong attack the muck adder, taking that annoyance out of the picture.
Round 3
I mill off my Hasty Stroke, revealing A Burning Brand. Brand goes on Elrond, revealing Will of the West.
Play Gandalf's Staff, and Warden of Healing from hand, then quest for 9 (against 8 threat) with Gandalf, Elrond, Refugee, and Warden. Shadow card is Roasted Slowly... which just does nothing! One progress on The Carrock, take Will of the West into hand (revealing Dwarven Tomb).
I use Vilya to play Dwarven Tomb, and play Elrond's Counsel to get back to 29 Threat, so I just take another attack from Louis. Elrond defends, and takes 2 damage (healed by warden).
Counter-attack Louis for 4, dealing 1 damage. Raise threat to 32, then to 33 as we go to
Round 4
Vilya in Faramir, play Expert Treasure Hunter, draw Warden, Staff to draw (and play) Cloak of Lorien, end with Beoren on top of deck.
Quest for 14, but reveal River Langfrod, meaning I fail by 1, going back to 33 Threat. Hill Troll engages.
Elrond blocks the 7 attack Hill Troll with his 4 defense, taking 3 damage. Boromir blocks Louis with his 3 defense, Shadow card makes him 7 attack, killing him and the refugee. This kills me, as I no longer have enough attack power to kill Louis. (6 from Flame of Anor, 3 from Gandalf, 2 extra is only 11, and I need 13. Even the Hill Troll requires 12) Apparently engaging Louis was a mistake.
Will have to re-deal.
Setup: Shuffle in one Sacked card, 2 threat Carrock in the staging area. I mulligan my opening hand and get:
Refugee, Tracker, Zigil Miner; Unexpected Courage, Vilya, A Test of Will, Runes.
Play Expert Treasure Hunter off the top (on Gandalf), revealing Elrond's Counsel (to be played next phase). Play the Zigil miner, and quest for 4 (Gandalf + Miner only).
Muck adder is my reveal, so I make 1 progress (playing Elrond's Counsel on Galadriel, just for the threat reduction). Before resolving the quest, I go hunting for a Hidden Cache, which I find after just playing Runes (+2 resources on Elrond, by taking it into hand with Treasure Seeker). I also chose to draw Flame of Anor (for future troll hunting). I dig further, looking for Hasty Stroke, but don't find it.
Elrond defends the Muck Adder, shadow card is just a River, so no damage (whew). Refresh, and move on to
Round 2: 30 Threat. 5 resources, Engaged Muck Adder.
I mine off another Hidden Cache, resulting in a second Unexpected Courage being discarded (the first went for the Runes, the last is in my hand). Play Riversong off the top. Use Vilya to play Boromir (revealing Beoren), and play Unexpected Courage, Silvan Refugee, and Light of Valinor from hand. This leaves 2 Northern Trackers, A Test of Will, Flame of Anor, and Warden of Healing in my hand, and 2 resources on Elrond.
Questing for 10 (sure, why not, it only exhausts Gandalf) I encounter a hill troll, and move on to Stage 2. Galadriel lowers my Threat to 29, so I can face the trolls at my leisure.
I decide to face Louis (trolls raise my threat by 1). Elrond blocks Muck Adder again. Boromir blocks Louis (5 attack with The Carrock bonus, Boromir at 3 defense, -1 from a shadow card) Boromir takes 3 damage and readies.
Boromir, and Riversong attack the muck adder, taking that annoyance out of the picture.
Round 3
I mill off my Hasty Stroke, revealing A Burning Brand. Brand goes on Elrond, revealing Will of the West.
Play Gandalf's Staff, and Warden of Healing from hand, then quest for 9 (against 8 threat) with Gandalf, Elrond, Refugee, and Warden. Shadow card is Roasted Slowly... which just does nothing! One progress on The Carrock, take Will of the West into hand (revealing Dwarven Tomb).
I use Vilya to play Dwarven Tomb, and play Elrond's Counsel to get back to 29 Threat, so I just take another attack from Louis. Elrond defends, and takes 2 damage (healed by warden).
Counter-attack Louis for 4, dealing 1 damage. Raise threat to 32, then to 33 as we go to
Round 4
Vilya in Faramir, play Expert Treasure Hunter, draw Warden, Staff to draw (and play) Cloak of Lorien, end with Beoren on top of deck.
Quest for 14, but reveal River Langfrod, meaning I fail by 1, going back to 33 Threat. Hill Troll engages.
Elrond blocks the 7 attack Hill Troll with his 4 defense, taking 3 damage. Boromir blocks Louis with his 3 defense, Shadow card makes him 7 attack, killing him and the refugee. This kills me, as I no longer have enough attack power to kill Louis. (6 from Flame of Anor, 3 from Gandalf, 2 extra is only 11, and I need 13. Even the Hill Troll requires 12) Apparently engaging Louis was a mistake.
Will have to re-deal.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Deck update #1
After losing a dozen times against Battle at Laketown, I made some significant changes in order to beat that quest. The first 10 cards for my sideboard are:
3x Anfalas Herdsman
3x Snowbourn Scouts -> Vassal of the Windlord, to minimize # of sideboard cards
1x Arwen Udominel
2x Hasty Stroke
1x Cloak of Lorien
The intent here is to ensure that I have chump blockers for the first two rounds, hopefully with 2 hp and/or Hasty Stroke protection, so they don't disappear and cost me actual heroes.
To make room for those 10 cards, I remove:
Nenya
Unexpected Courage
Expert Treasure Hunter
Miner of the Iron Hills
Boromir
Elfhelm
Gildor Inglorion
Elrond's Counsel
2x Flame of Anor
For Nightmare Journey to Rhosgobel, I needed additional Eagles, and some extra healing.
In:
3x Vassal of the Windlord
1x Haldir of Lorien (this might get moved to the main deck to make room, he's a fine "filler" guy)
2x Lore of Imladris
1x Healing Herbs (Herbs play for free off the top with Gandalf)
Out:
1x Elfhelm
1x Beoren
2x Flame of Anor
1x Expert Treasure Hunter
1x Silvan Refugee
1x Faramir
Current deck, with those changes:
Heroes (3) - starting threat 36
Gandalf
Elrond
Galadriel
Attachments (15)
For Gandalf:
1x Ring of Barahir
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Wizard Pipe
For Elrond:
3x Vilya
1x Light of Valinor
1x A Burning Brand
For Galadriel:
1x Nenya
3x Expert Treasure Hunter
Allies (19)
Questing power:
1x Arwen Undomiel
1x Bilbo Baggins
2x Silvan Refugee
1x Henamarth Riversong
1x Faramir
2x Northern Tracker
Support and protection:
2x Zigil Miner
2x Warden of Healing
1x Miner of the Iron Hills
1x Boromir
1x Elfhelm
Costly allies to Vilya into play (or discard with Flame of Anor)
2x Beoren
2x Gildor Inglorion
Events (16)
3x Hidden Cache
3x Elrond's Counsel
3x Daeron's Runes
2x Flame of Anor
2x Dwarven Tomb
1x A Test of Will
1x Hasty Stroke
1x Will of the West
Sideboard (15):
3x Anfalas Herdsman (Battle of Laketown)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (chump blocker for Battle of Laketown, Eagle for Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Arwen Udominel (Battle of Laketown)
2x Hasty Stroke (Battle of Laketown)
1x Cloak of Lorien (Battle of Laketown, Journey down the Anduin)
1x Healing Herbs (Journey to Rhosgobel)
2x Lore of Imladris (Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Haldir of Lorien (Journey to Rhosgobel, replacing Arwen/Faramir/Bilbo when illegal)
1x A Test of Will (Default choice for 15th card)
3x Anfalas Herdsman
3x Snowbourn Scouts -> Vassal of the Windlord, to minimize # of sideboard cards
1x Arwen Udominel
2x Hasty Stroke
1x Cloak of Lorien
The intent here is to ensure that I have chump blockers for the first two rounds, hopefully with 2 hp and/or Hasty Stroke protection, so they don't disappear and cost me actual heroes.
To make room for those 10 cards, I remove:
Nenya
Unexpected Courage
Expert Treasure Hunter
Miner of the Iron Hills
Boromir
Elfhelm
Gildor Inglorion
Elrond's Counsel
2x Flame of Anor
For Nightmare Journey to Rhosgobel, I needed additional Eagles, and some extra healing.
In:
3x Vassal of the Windlord
1x Haldir of Lorien (this might get moved to the main deck to make room, he's a fine "filler" guy)
2x Lore of Imladris
1x Healing Herbs (Herbs play for free off the top with Gandalf)
Out:
1x Elfhelm
1x Beoren
2x Flame of Anor
1x Expert Treasure Hunter
1x Silvan Refugee
1x Faramir
Current deck, with those changes:
Heroes (3) - starting threat 36
Gandalf
Elrond
Galadriel
Attachments (15)
For Gandalf:
1x Ring of Barahir
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Wizard Pipe
For Elrond:
3x Vilya
1x Light of Valinor
1x A Burning Brand
For Galadriel:
1x Nenya
For Whoever (usually not Galadriel, though):
3x Unexpected Courage3x Expert Treasure Hunter
Allies (19)
Questing power:
1x Arwen Undomiel
1x Bilbo Baggins
2x Silvan Refugee
1x Henamarth Riversong
1x Faramir
2x Northern Tracker
Support and protection:
2x Zigil Miner
2x Warden of Healing
1x Miner of the Iron Hills
1x Boromir
1x Elfhelm
Costly allies to Vilya into play (or discard with Flame of Anor)
2x Beoren
2x Gildor Inglorion
Events (16)
3x Hidden Cache
3x Elrond's Counsel
3x Daeron's Runes
2x Flame of Anor
2x Dwarven Tomb
1x A Test of Will
1x Hasty Stroke
1x Will of the West
Sideboard (15):
3x Anfalas Herdsman (Battle of Laketown)
3x Vassal of the Windlord (chump blocker for Battle of Laketown, Eagle for Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Arwen Udominel (Battle of Laketown)
2x Hasty Stroke (Battle of Laketown)
1x Cloak of Lorien (Battle of Laketown, Journey down the Anduin)
1x Healing Herbs (Journey to Rhosgobel)
2x Lore of Imladris (Journey to Rhosgobel)
1x Haldir of Lorien (Journey to Rhosgobel, replacing Arwen/Faramir/Bilbo when illegal)
1x A Test of Will (Default choice for 15th card)
The Hunt for Gollum
Skipping Escape from Dol Gondor for now, we move on the the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle.
I played a few games, tweaking the deck, to beat Battle at Laketown. In the interest of keeping my number of changes as low as possible, I made a couple of changes to the main deck:
Out: Landroval, Gwaihir
In: Northern Tracker, Cloak of Lorien
Setup:
I mulligan a no-Vilya hand into:
Vilya
Hidden Cache
Northern Tracker
Bilbo
Arwen
Light of Valinor
Expert Treasure Hunter on top
Encounter deck starts with Old Wives Tales, exhausting all 3 of my heroes! At least there is no threat in the staging area.
Round 1 (36 Threat, clear staging area)
Play Wizard's Pipe off the top, revealing Elrond's Counsel. Play Arwen from hand, and move to Questing.
Quest for 3 (playing Counsel on Arwen). Staging reveals Flooding (doomed 1, surge, no effect) and Hunting Warg (1 threat, 3 attack). Add 2 progress, and look at top 3. Ravenous Hawk engages me, and I play Watched Path (and make it the active location), rather than a guarded Clue. The Warg also engages, and I have to fight two 3-attack enemies.
Arwen defends the first, giving herself a bonus. She is then Pursued by Shadow, returns to my hand, and I must take the attack undefended. 3 damage on Galadriel.
Second attack is undefended, shadow card is Hunters (no clues, so no effect). 3 damage on Elrond.
Hunting Wargs forces me to search the deck and add a Hunters to the staging area.
Refresh, and move on to
Round 2 (35 Threat, Hunters in staging area, 2 3-attack foes to deal with)
I have a Dwarven Tomb atop my deck, which will get back the Counsel, and allow me to avoid engaging the Hunters this turn. Gandalf pays for that, revealing Gildor Inglorian. I play Vilya, use it to play Gildor, and move to quest.
Gildor quests for 4. Encounter card is the Old Ford (1 threat for now) so my questing is successful by 1. No engagements, and we move on to the two 3-str attacks. Since I don't have the Attack power to eliminate either enemy, I will just defend each of them. Neither shadow card has an effect, and I take no damage. Galadriel exhausts just for the -1 Threat (I can't draw the card, due to Watched Path)
Round 3 (32 Threat, 3 threat in staging, +1 for every additional ally I play)
I play my freshly drawn Nenya, Silvan Refugee off the top, and a Light of Valinor on Elrond. Also, my two Expert Treasure Hunters finally come out to play.
Quest for 5 (keeping Gandalf ready) against 4 threat, then exhaust to play Beorn off the top. (oops, that's +1 threat) That reveals Daeren's Runes, which I can't productively play right now.
Staging gives me The Trail Goes Cold - making the total threat 8. Galadriel exhausts to add 4, getting me 1 progress this turn. Just enough to trigger Expert Treasure Hunter, and I use the Pipe before hand to swap in a Hidden Cache for +2 resources on Elrond. My new top card is Zigil Miner, so I should have plenty of resources going forwards. I look at 3, and play Relentless Hunters, which does nothing (not staging step, so no surge), rather than reveal Old Wives Tale and lose resources and Gandalf.
Block the first attack with the Refugee, no important shadow effect. Refugee dies.
Block second attack with Gildor, who is Pursued By Shadow back to my hand. Gandalf takes 3 undefended damage.
Gandalf and Beoren team up to kill the Hawk, leaving me with only one engaged enemy.
Round 4 (33 Threat, 5 + X in staging area, 1 enemy engaged)
Spend 4 resources for the Northern Tracker, then quest with Gandalf, Elrond, and him (7 willpower against 7 threat). Staging is an additional Hunters.
Before resolving the quest, I pipe Gildor to the top, Vilya him into play, and then activate him to look at Unexpected Courage, Refugee, Hasty Stroke. Swap Hidden Cache for Unexpected Courage, put Refugee on top. Exhaust Nenya for +4 willpower, passing by 1. (+2 resources to Elrond, leave Hasty Stroke on top from Expert Treasure Seeker).
Look at top 3, engage another Hawk, and add Eaves of Mirkwood to staging.
Now that I have 2 enemies again: defend one with Tracker (1 damage) and one with Beoren (remove progress from quest, 0 damage).
Round 5 (34 Threat, 9 in staging area assuming Tracker quests, 2 enemies engaged)
Riversong off the top (revealing Elfhelm). Arwen from hand. Unexpected Courange on Gandalf.
Quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen, Riversong, Tracker (completing Old Ford), and Gildor for 13 against 9. Staging reveals a new Watched Path. I play Elfhelm off the top, pipe Beoren for the Cache, and take Cache and Unexpected Courage into hand, revealing a Cloak of Lorien. I reveal another Restless Hunters, for no effect. Exhaust Galadriel for -1 Threat (to 33, dodging the Hunters) and no card draw.
Arwen defends the first attack (bonus to herself) - no shadow effect, she takes 1 damage
Second attack goes undefended - one extra shadow card, but no effect. Gandalf takes 3 damage.
Gandalf + Elfhelm finish off the Hunting Wargs. Beoren activates his rage, and pounds the Hawk - no enemies engaged!
Riversong tells me the top card of the deck is The East Bank. My new top card is Will of the West.
Round 6 (34 Threat, 9 in staging assuming Tracker quests)
Exhaust Gildor to look at Counsel, Treasure Hunter, and Beoren. Swap Counsel for Hidden Cache.
Play Zigil Miner, and mill off Cache and Treasure Hunter for 4 resources, leaving Beoren on top to be played later.
Using my accumulated resources, play Refugee, Bilbo, and Unexpected Courage (Elrond) from hand. Exhaust Courage and Vilya to play Beoren off the top. Use Gandalf's resources to play Unexpected Courage off the top on Galadriel. Pipe to swap Vilya and the Counsel from hand, and it's time to quest.
Counsel off the top, quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Tracker, Arwen (bonus to Bilbo) and the non-kneelers for a total of 14 against a known 12 to be revealed. Galadriel adds 4, finishing the active location, and adding 5 to stage 1 (6/8 complete).
I finally reveal a Signs of Golem, guarded by Hunter's Lookout. Make Watched Path the active location, and optionally engage one Hunter.
Beoren defends, no shadow effect, he takes 1 damage. Gandalf, Elrond, Elfhelm, and Riversong team up and take out the Hunter. Galariel lowers my Threat by 1.
Refresh, move the Signs over to the Hunter (from the Nightmare Card effect), and move to
Round 7 (31 Threat, still 9 in staging, A Test of Will, Hasty Stroke, and Will of the West all in hand, though)
Play Warden of Healing off the top, and move to Quest. My piles of Spirit allies add up to 17 Willpower, when the Heroes are added in. Staging is just another Eaves of Mirkwood, so I make 6 progress, just enough to finish the location (I can draw cards again!) and stage 1 of the quest.
Before that happens, though, I activate Gildor and take a peek at the top 3, and move Boromir to the top (play with Vilya). I reveal The Old Ford for my 1-of-3, and take Gildor and Runes into hand from my deck. With all the Watched Paths gone, I exhaust Galadriel to draw, mill off a Cache with Zigil Miner, and then play 2 Runes (discarding Vilyas each time).
Make Old Ford the active location, and engage the Hunters.
Boromir defends. No shadow effect (another Clue), so he takes 1 damage (and readies). Boromir, Beoren, Gandalf, and Elrond combine to take out the hunter - no enemies in play means I will be able to claim the Clue next turn. Riversong tells me a West Bank is coming up. Warden heals Eldrond and Galadriel for 2 each, refresh, and use Miner to mill off a Hidden Cache before
Round 8 (31 Threat, no enemies)
Play Faramir from hand. Play Ring of Brahir and Burning Brand on Elrond. Pipe a Northern Tracker to the top, and play with Vilya. Play Warden of Healing off the top.
Quest for 27 after exhausting Faramir (2x tracker, Faramir, Arwen (buff Elrond), Refugee, Bilbo, Warden, Gandalf, Elrond) This also clears out several locations. Reveal the West Bank as my choice of 2, then reveal a Hunters, making the total staging threat 9. 18 progress is more than enough to move on to stage 3.
I also draw a Flame of Anor, Cloak of Lorien, Dwarven Tomb (exhaust Galadriel).
Block the 4 attack hunters with 4 defense Elrond, cancel shadow with A Burning Brand. Gang pile to kill them off. Exhaust both wardens to heal all my Heroes to full. Riversong tells me my next encounter card is West Bank. To win, all I need is to quest for 16 next turn.
Round 9:
Draw the last card in my deck. Play as many Elrond's Councel as I can to lower my Threat:
1 from hand
1 Dwarven Tomb from hand
Will of the West to re-shuffle
1 from deck in the Resource phase
1 from deck in the Planning phase (after manipulating with Zigil Miners and Gildor and Galadriel)
1 from deck in the Quest phase
2 Dwarven Tomb from hand in the Quest phase
for a total of -21 threat, leaving me at 9.
Also, play 2 Flame of Anor for no particular reason.
Final Score: 8 rounds + 9 threat + no damage/heroes lost - 2 Flame of Anor VP = 87
I played a few games, tweaking the deck, to beat Battle at Laketown. In the interest of keeping my number of changes as low as possible, I made a couple of changes to the main deck:
Out: Landroval, Gwaihir
In: Northern Tracker, Cloak of Lorien
Setup:
I mulligan a no-Vilya hand into:
Vilya
Hidden Cache
Northern Tracker
Bilbo
Arwen
Light of Valinor
Expert Treasure Hunter on top
Encounter deck starts with Old Wives Tales, exhausting all 3 of my heroes! At least there is no threat in the staging area.
Round 1 (36 Threat, clear staging area)
Play Wizard's Pipe off the top, revealing Elrond's Counsel. Play Arwen from hand, and move to Questing.
Quest for 3 (playing Counsel on Arwen). Staging reveals Flooding (doomed 1, surge, no effect) and Hunting Warg (1 threat, 3 attack). Add 2 progress, and look at top 3. Ravenous Hawk engages me, and I play Watched Path (and make it the active location), rather than a guarded Clue. The Warg also engages, and I have to fight two 3-attack enemies.
Arwen defends the first, giving herself a bonus. She is then Pursued by Shadow, returns to my hand, and I must take the attack undefended. 3 damage on Galadriel.
Second attack is undefended, shadow card is Hunters (no clues, so no effect). 3 damage on Elrond.
Hunting Wargs forces me to search the deck and add a Hunters to the staging area.
Refresh, and move on to
Round 2 (35 Threat, Hunters in staging area, 2 3-attack foes to deal with)
I have a Dwarven Tomb atop my deck, which will get back the Counsel, and allow me to avoid engaging the Hunters this turn. Gandalf pays for that, revealing Gildor Inglorian. I play Vilya, use it to play Gildor, and move to quest.
Gildor quests for 4. Encounter card is the Old Ford (1 threat for now) so my questing is successful by 1. No engagements, and we move on to the two 3-str attacks. Since I don't have the Attack power to eliminate either enemy, I will just defend each of them. Neither shadow card has an effect, and I take no damage. Galadriel exhausts just for the -1 Threat (I can't draw the card, due to Watched Path)
Round 3 (32 Threat, 3 threat in staging, +1 for every additional ally I play)
I play my freshly drawn Nenya, Silvan Refugee off the top, and a Light of Valinor on Elrond. Also, my two Expert Treasure Hunters finally come out to play.
Quest for 5 (keeping Gandalf ready) against 4 threat, then exhaust to play Beorn off the top. (oops, that's +1 threat) That reveals Daeren's Runes, which I can't productively play right now.
Staging gives me The Trail Goes Cold - making the total threat 8. Galadriel exhausts to add 4, getting me 1 progress this turn. Just enough to trigger Expert Treasure Hunter, and I use the Pipe before hand to swap in a Hidden Cache for +2 resources on Elrond. My new top card is Zigil Miner, so I should have plenty of resources going forwards. I look at 3, and play Relentless Hunters, which does nothing (not staging step, so no surge), rather than reveal Old Wives Tale and lose resources and Gandalf.
Block the first attack with the Refugee, no important shadow effect. Refugee dies.
Block second attack with Gildor, who is Pursued By Shadow back to my hand. Gandalf takes 3 undefended damage.
Gandalf and Beoren team up to kill the Hawk, leaving me with only one engaged enemy.
Round 4 (33 Threat, 5 + X in staging area, 1 enemy engaged)
Spend 4 resources for the Northern Tracker, then quest with Gandalf, Elrond, and him (7 willpower against 7 threat). Staging is an additional Hunters.
Before resolving the quest, I pipe Gildor to the top, Vilya him into play, and then activate him to look at Unexpected Courage, Refugee, Hasty Stroke. Swap Hidden Cache for Unexpected Courage, put Refugee on top. Exhaust Nenya for +4 willpower, passing by 1. (+2 resources to Elrond, leave Hasty Stroke on top from Expert Treasure Seeker).
Look at top 3, engage another Hawk, and add Eaves of Mirkwood to staging.
Now that I have 2 enemies again: defend one with Tracker (1 damage) and one with Beoren (remove progress from quest, 0 damage).
Round 5 (34 Threat, 9 in staging area assuming Tracker quests, 2 enemies engaged)
Riversong off the top (revealing Elfhelm). Arwen from hand. Unexpected Courange on Gandalf.
Quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen, Riversong, Tracker (completing Old Ford), and Gildor for 13 against 9. Staging reveals a new Watched Path. I play Elfhelm off the top, pipe Beoren for the Cache, and take Cache and Unexpected Courage into hand, revealing a Cloak of Lorien. I reveal another Restless Hunters, for no effect. Exhaust Galadriel for -1 Threat (to 33, dodging the Hunters) and no card draw.
Arwen defends the first attack (bonus to herself) - no shadow effect, she takes 1 damage
Second attack goes undefended - one extra shadow card, but no effect. Gandalf takes 3 damage.
Gandalf + Elfhelm finish off the Hunting Wargs. Beoren activates his rage, and pounds the Hawk - no enemies engaged!
Riversong tells me the top card of the deck is The East Bank. My new top card is Will of the West.
Round 6 (34 Threat, 9 in staging assuming Tracker quests)
Exhaust Gildor to look at Counsel, Treasure Hunter, and Beoren. Swap Counsel for Hidden Cache.
Play Zigil Miner, and mill off Cache and Treasure Hunter for 4 resources, leaving Beoren on top to be played later.
Using my accumulated resources, play Refugee, Bilbo, and Unexpected Courage (Elrond) from hand. Exhaust Courage and Vilya to play Beoren off the top. Use Gandalf's resources to play Unexpected Courage off the top on Galadriel. Pipe to swap Vilya and the Counsel from hand, and it's time to quest.
Counsel off the top, quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Tracker, Arwen (bonus to Bilbo) and the non-kneelers for a total of 14 against a known 12 to be revealed. Galadriel adds 4, finishing the active location, and adding 5 to stage 1 (6/8 complete).
I finally reveal a Signs of Golem, guarded by Hunter's Lookout. Make Watched Path the active location, and optionally engage one Hunter.
Beoren defends, no shadow effect, he takes 1 damage. Gandalf, Elrond, Elfhelm, and Riversong team up and take out the Hunter. Galariel lowers my Threat by 1.
Refresh, move the Signs over to the Hunter (from the Nightmare Card effect), and move to
Round 7 (31 Threat, still 9 in staging, A Test of Will, Hasty Stroke, and Will of the West all in hand, though)
Play Warden of Healing off the top, and move to Quest. My piles of Spirit allies add up to 17 Willpower, when the Heroes are added in. Staging is just another Eaves of Mirkwood, so I make 6 progress, just enough to finish the location (I can draw cards again!) and stage 1 of the quest.
Before that happens, though, I activate Gildor and take a peek at the top 3, and move Boromir to the top (play with Vilya). I reveal The Old Ford for my 1-of-3, and take Gildor and Runes into hand from my deck. With all the Watched Paths gone, I exhaust Galadriel to draw, mill off a Cache with Zigil Miner, and then play 2 Runes (discarding Vilyas each time).
Make Old Ford the active location, and engage the Hunters.
Boromir defends. No shadow effect (another Clue), so he takes 1 damage (and readies). Boromir, Beoren, Gandalf, and Elrond combine to take out the hunter - no enemies in play means I will be able to claim the Clue next turn. Riversong tells me a West Bank is coming up. Warden heals Eldrond and Galadriel for 2 each, refresh, and use Miner to mill off a Hidden Cache before
Round 8 (31 Threat, no enemies)
Play Faramir from hand. Play Ring of Brahir and Burning Brand on Elrond. Pipe a Northern Tracker to the top, and play with Vilya. Play Warden of Healing off the top.
Quest for 27 after exhausting Faramir (2x tracker, Faramir, Arwen (buff Elrond), Refugee, Bilbo, Warden, Gandalf, Elrond) This also clears out several locations. Reveal the West Bank as my choice of 2, then reveal a Hunters, making the total staging threat 9. 18 progress is more than enough to move on to stage 3.
I also draw a Flame of Anor, Cloak of Lorien, Dwarven Tomb (exhaust Galadriel).
Block the 4 attack hunters with 4 defense Elrond, cancel shadow with A Burning Brand. Gang pile to kill them off. Exhaust both wardens to heal all my Heroes to full. Riversong tells me my next encounter card is West Bank. To win, all I need is to quest for 16 next turn.
Round 9:
Draw the last card in my deck. Play as many Elrond's Councel as I can to lower my Threat:
1 from hand
1 Dwarven Tomb from hand
Will of the West to re-shuffle
1 from deck in the Resource phase
1 from deck in the Planning phase (after manipulating with Zigil Miners and Gildor and Galadriel)
1 from deck in the Quest phase
2 Dwarven Tomb from hand in the Quest phase
for a total of -21 threat, leaving me at 9.
Also, play 2 Flame of Anor for no particular reason.
Final Score: 8 rounds + 9 threat + no damage/heroes lost - 2 Flame of Anor VP = 87
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Down the Anduin
With a starting threat of 36, the Hill Troll will be engaging immediately. Usually this results in Galadriel dying before I get all the allies in place, but we'll see how it goes.
Setup:
My opening hand isn't the best:
Eric draws 'Expert Treasure-hunter'
Eric draws 'Hasty Stroke'
Eric draws 'Zigil Miner'
Eric draws 'Hidden Cache'
Eric draws 'Miner of the Iron Hills'
Eric draws 'Elfhelm'
My top card is Arwen.
Even with draw and resource acceleration, this had isn't good enough. I'll mulligan to:
2x Unexpected Courage
Vilya - yay!
Gandalf's Staff
Expert Treasure-hunter
Gildor
Much better.
The encounter deck gives me a Wolf Rider, Flooded Ford, and Hill Troll. I have 5 threat to deal with so far, and two enemies coming down to play.
For Planning, I draw a second Gildor, and reveal Beorn atop my deck! I attach and exhaust Gandalf's Staff for +1 Resource, play Vilya and use Elrond to play my burly protector, revealing A Test of Will. Galadrial draws that, revealing a Northern Tracker, and we move to Questing.
Gandalf (with Expert Hunter) and Beorn commit, giving me 4 willpower against 5 threat, plus one extra card, a troll spawn. 4 will vs. 7 threat raises my Threat to 38, and I don't get to draw for Treasure Hunter. I make the Ford the active location, with plans to clear it next turn, and all 3 foes engage.
Beorn will defend against the troll, while I have to take the other two undefended. Hopefully this doesn't hurt too bad...
Troll - shadow card would put The Flooded Ford into play if I hadn't defended. Beorn takes 3 damage
Troll Spawn - no effect, Gandalf takes 4 damage
Wolf Rider - no effect, Galadriel takes 2 damage
I refresh, and immediately re-exhaust Elrond to play the Tracker, not wanting to risk a bad draw next turn.
So far, so good, on to
Round 2 (39 Threat, draw Elrond's Counsel, Flame of Anor atop the deck)
I exhaust Galadriel to draw the Flame, revealing Wizard Pipe, which I play using Gandalf, and reveal a Hidden Cache! Hopefully I'll quest successfully this round, and get that sweet +2 Resources.
With no Threat in the staging area, my biggest concern is clearing the Ford this turn, to avoid an explosion of Threat. So, I play Unexpected Courage to ready Elrond, then commit him and Gandalf, for 6 total willpower against 0 threat. Hoping for a treachery or low-threat card, I instead get Gladden Marshlands - 10 threat :-(. I play my Counsel, raising my Willpower to 7, then have my heroes take 4 extra damage, bringing all of them to 1 HP remaining, in order to quest successfully this round. I get my Cache, revealing a Zigil miner, and then it is on to combat...
Galadriel is definitely about to die, the only question is who should block the Hill Troll. I think the best bet, long term, is to suffer the +5 Threat from letting the Troll attack go undefended, and block the other two. I'm also going to let all 3 Shadow cards resolve, saving the Staff for resource generation this round.
First Combat - Wolf Rider (2) blocked by Northern Tracker (2) - shadow card is Rats, so I can't counter-attack the wolf this turn. No damage
Second Combat - Troll Spawn (4) blocked by Beorn (3) - shadow card is Reach, no effect, Beorn takes 1 damage
Third Combat - Hill Troll goes undefended - shadow card has no effect, Galadriel dies, my Threat goes to 40.
Gandalf then uses his Pipe to swap Gildor to the top of the deck. Elrond uses 1 resource to play Flame of Anor, allowing Gandalf to attack for 8, and kill the Troll Spawn.
My new top card is a Daereon's Runes, which I can play immediately, drawing a Counsel and another Expert Treasure Hunter. I discard my Zigil Miner. Gandalf's Staff gives a resource to Elrond.
Refresh phase, I play another Runes off the top, drawing a Burning Brand and Gwaihir, and discarding A Burning Brand.
Round 3 (Threat 41, Galadriel dead, other heroes 1 HP away, 10 Threat in staging area, all cards have Doomed 1)
I draw a Dwarven Tomb, Play Boromir off the top with Vilya and Unexpected Courage, and reveal another not-so-Hidden Cache. Gandalf gets some Unexpected Courage (yay for Vilya randomly giving Elrond a Spirit icon!).
For questing, I can only muster 8 willpower (and add a progress to the Marshlands). Hopefully I won't Threat Out soon, though I did lower my Threat to 38 with that Elrond's Counce.
The first encounter card is Smoking Blood, which would do nothing and Surge, which I can't afford right now, especially with all cards having "doomed 1," so I blow my Test of Will. 8 against 10 raises my threat by 2, back to 41.
For combat, Boromir will prove his worth by blocking the wolves (no shadow effect, he takes 1 damage and readies) and the Troll (no shadow, he dies, and my threat raises to 43).
Gandalf then kills the Wolf Rider, while Beorn rages, and deals 5 to the Hill Troll, then shuffles my deck. Gandalf's Staff gives another resource to Elrond.
Round 4 (Threat 44, Gildor, Gwaihir, Hidden Cache, Dwarven Tomb, Silvan Refugee in hand. Riversong atop the deck. Gandalf (4 damage), Elrond (3 damage) and Northern Tracker in play.
Play Riversong off the top using Gandalf, revealing another Flame. Wizard's Pipe swaps Flame for Gildor, play Gildor using Vilya. Play Refugee, top card is an Elrond's Counsel.
Gandalf (readies, and gets Counsel), Elrond, Riversong, and Refugee all commit. This is only 10 willpower against 10 Threat, but I need to save characters to get rid of the Troll this turn.
Staging gives me The East Blight, which is perfect, as I could NOT handle an enemy with more than 4 attack right now. I lose by 1, raising my threat back up to 43. My Tracker blocks the troll, dying, taking the Refugee with him, and raising my Threat back to 44. Gildor then looks at my top 3, seeing:
Runes, Courage, and Miner. I take Courage into hand, replacing it with Gwaihir, and use Gandalf's resource to play my second Flame. Gandalf attacks the troll for 8, killing it. I then play Runes off the top, drawing Miner and Landroval, and discarding my Unexpected Courage.
Round 5 - threat up to 45, and 11 in the staging area, but at least the Troll is dead, so I can finally start getting some allies into play.
I draw Bilbo, revealing a Cache atop my deck. I play the Zigil Miner, and mine away the Cache (+3 resources to elrond) and a Warden of Healing (oh, no!).
My new top card is Will of the West, which I Pipe/Vilya/Courage to swap with and play Landroval.
The new top card is Elfhelm, which I use my last 4 resources to play off the top, to mitigate the threat increases I keep getting.
I can only quest for 11 (leaving back Elfhelm), against 11 threat. Hopefully the encounter card won't be too bad...
Troll Spawn, which surges into Pursued by Shadow.
With 2 characters not committed, I raise my threat by 2 (2 doomed 1, 1 +2, and quest fail by 2, each of which is mitigated by Elfhelm. That's 47 threat. The troll attacks, and I use the staff to avoid any shadow effect, letting Elfhelm take 2 damage.
Round 6 - 48 Threat.
With Vilya on top, I Mine for +1 resource. With Nenya on top, I play Bilbo for +2 Willpower, and to shuffle the deck. With a Hidden Cache on top, I use Wizard pipe to swap the Ring back to the top, and play it on Gandalf. My new top card is Warden of Healing, which I Vilya into play, then quest for 12 against 11 Threat. Sadly, I reveal Marsh Adder (3 Threat)
Questing for 12 (Warden, Landroval, Elfhelm, Gandalf held back) and facing 14 threat, I have few options. I can take a bunch of damage to lower the threat, or use the Staff to add a resource, play Dwarven Tomb, and re-play an Elrond's Counsel. I pick the second option, lowering my threat to 45, and negating all the threat increases with Elfhelm.
I heal Elfhelm and Gandalf, and prepare to take 2 4 str attacks. Marsh Adder first (so Elfhelm can negate the threat increase). I defend with Gandalf, and the shadow card is Rats (Marsh Adder can't be damaged). Annoying but nonfatal, Gandalf takes 1 damage. Troll Spawn is blocked by Landroval, and the shadow card is nothing. Landroval takes 3 damage. Elfhelm can't counter-attack due to the Rants, so on to
Round 7 - 46 Threat
Draw Arwen, Vilya atop the deck. Use Pipe to swap Vilya for a Cache, then Mine away the Cache and a Refugee. This leaves Expert Treasure Hunter on top, which I can't play. I use 2 of the resources just gained to play Arwen, one off Gandalf for Hidden Cache from hand, revealing Light of Valinor, and then play the light off the top, leaving Elrond with one resource.
Finally, I get something worth Vilyaing, Beorn! I play him, revealing a Miner of the Iron Hills, and move on to Questing with nothing but the Will of the West in my hand (I'm not reshuffling, because I want to get Faramir first).
Gandalf, Elrond, Bilbo, and Arwen (boost Elfhelm) is an easy 10 willpower, so I exhaust Riversong to check on the Encounter deck. Pursued by Shadow means I want to commit everyone I possibly can, so I add Gildor, Landroval, Warden, and Beorn, making my total willpower 16, and leaving just 3 characters out of the quest (Elfhelm, Zigil Miner, and Riversong). Pursued brings my threat up to 49, then Elfhelm lowers it to 48. I make 5 progress, which is just enough to clear the Flooded Ford, and I then must travel to East Blight. I also finally trigger my Treasure Hunters, gaining the Iron Hills miner and a Hasty Stroke, revealing the second Beorn
2 4-strength attacks, and again Gandalf defends the Marsh Adder first, and the shadow card is Gladden Marshlands! Gandalf takes 2 damage (to 5/7) and the troll spawn gets +1 attack.
Elfhelm blocks the troll spawn, and his shadow card is Marshland Outlaw, which would threat me out, so I cancel with Hasty Stroke, replacing the resource with the staff. Elfhelm takes two damage.
Elrond counter-attacks the Marsh Adder, dealing 1 damage.
I desperately need threat reduction, so I play Will of the West before refresh, revealing a Northern Tracker after the reshuffle.
Round 8 - 49 Threat. Luckily the next card down is an Elrond's Counsel, which I play in the Resource Phase, just for the Threat reduction, revealing A Burning Brand.
In more need of cards and resources than Willpower at the moment, I activate Gildor and look at a Warden of Healing and Silvan Refugee, swapping the Warden with Vilya, and leaving the Refugee on top (to be played with Gandalf), then mining the two 2-cost attachments for 2 resources on Elrond.
My new top card is Gwaihir, who gets Vilya'd into play, revealing a Dwarven Tomb. Riversong scouts a second Gladden Marshland atop the encounter deck, so I need to quest All-In.
I have an easy 13 Willpower (Heroes, Arwen, Bilbo, Refugee, Dwarven Tomb to fetch Counsel). I add Gwahir for +2, and use both Wardens of Healing, in conjuction with the Marshland ability, to reduce the total threat down to 14 (to get the card draw). This ends up healing Elrond for 2 (3/4 hp remaining), and drawing Beorn and Unexpected Courage, revealing another Zigil Miner.
Beorn defends against Marsh Adder, who gets Rats as a shadow card, taking 1 damage. Gandalf discards the troll's shadow card, and Elrond defends (with +1 defense from Arwen), taking no damage. Gandalf, Landroval, and Elfhelm all counter-attack the Troll Spawn, killing it.
Round 9 - back down to 44 Threat.
Gildor looks at Hasty Stroke, Hidden Cache, and Neyna. Swap the Expert Treasure Hunter in hand for the Hasty Stroke, then Mine away the two zeros for +4 resources.
Use Pipe/Vilya/Courage to play the Northern Tracker, revealing Runes, which draws a duplicate Gildor and Vilya, discarding the useless Nenya.
I play another Unexpected Courage on Gandalf, and the second Zigil Miner, leaving Elrond's Counsel atop the deck for now. Riversong shows me Wargs coming up, and I'm ready to quest.
I'm able to quest for 17, leaving back Elfhelm, Beorn, and Landroval, giving a defense bonus to Elrond, and using both Healers to reduce the 22 threat in the staging area down to 16, while healing Elrond and Gandalf for 1 each (4/7 and 0/4 damage). Playing the Counsel drops me to 41 Threat.
Draw Hidden Cache and Boromir, revealing Faramir, giving 2 resources to Elrond. 2/6 progress on the East Blight.
Gandalf's Staff discards the Warg shadow card, Elrond defends against the Adder (no shadow effect, no damage). Elrond then takes 3 damage from the undefended Warg attack.
Gandalf and Elfhelm team up to kill the Wargs, then Gandalf readies and teams up with Beorn and Landroval to kill the Marsh Adder. Engaged enemies are all clear, and Faramir is coming to finish up the Locations.
Round 10 - 42 Threat
Gildor looks at Cache, Refugee, and Runes. Mine away the Cache and Runes, Vilya in Faramir, play Refugee and Boromir from hand. I also play Dwarven Tomb off the top, to get back Will of the West
For Questing, I send everyone but Faramir (who exhausts) and the wardens (who exhaust) and Boromir, Beorn, and Elfhelm. I play the Runes off the top of my deck, and draw Counsel and A Test of Will. This puts me at a total of 30 willpower against 20 threat. The encounter card is Smoking Blood, which surges into another East Blight (grrr). At least my Northern Tracker has been making a little bit of progress on the Gladden Marshes. Making 9 progress clears the first Blight, and finally puts 4 progress on stage 1! Luckily, the other Hill Troll showed up as a shadow card a while back, so I don't have to worry about getting stuck again (not that my army of allies would have a problem.)
Before resolving the quest I re-shuffle my discard again, and draw Runes and a Treasure Hunter. I use the Staff to draw a card, travel to East Blight.
I then play all 3 Runes over the next few phases, and end with an Elrond's Counsel in the Refresh Phase
Round 11 - 40 Threat, 4 progress on stage 1
In Resource phase, play Dwarven Tomb off the top to retrieve Will of the West. Then play 2 Elrond's Counsel in the Planning phase (one off the top), and re-shuffle. At this point, my deck is 10 cards: 3 Runes, 3 Counsels, 2 Hidden Cache, and Expert Treasure Hunter, and a Dwarven Tomb. I have Test of Will and Hasty Stroke in hand, and plenty of resources on Elrond.
Attach A Burning Brand to Elrond, mine two Runes for 2 Elrond resources, and then Quest:
I send the crew, +1 defense to Elrond, and pass with 32 willpower (play a Counsel) against 22 Threat, moving me on to Stage 2 (finally!). I Treasure Hunt up 2 Hidden Cache, and optionally engage the Marshland Outlaws who were revealed this turn.
Elrond defends for no damage, the attack team kills the Outlaw, and it looks like I have the quest well in hand (one Marshland has 5 progress in the staging area, the other is the active location with 4 progress). I also play the other two Counsels from my deck.
Round 12 - 25 Threat
No manipulation needed, re-shuffle 7 cards with Tomb/West, quest for 31 again. I get 2 Snipers, a Troll Spawn, and an Eastern Crows. That is a total of 17 threat, so I will make 14 progress. 6 will clear the active location, so I need +8 progress to clear stage 2 this turn...exhaust the wardens of healing to soak up -8 threat to the staging area Gladden Marsh (and pay 4 Lore resources to also heal everyone except Beorn to full, and have a ready Healer)
My bonus cards for stage 3 are Brown Lands and Necromancer's Reach (canceled with A Test of Will). I also take Hidden Cache and Elrond's Counsel into hand.
Eastern Crows and Troll Spawn engage, but I'm in a bit of a pickle now, since there are two Snipers, and I can't optionally engage either...
For combat, Elrond (at +1 defense) defends against both attacks, and takes no damage. Both enemies are then easily dispatched. All locations stay in the staging area. I play 2 Runes, discarding 2 Cache, to draw my deck. Then Tomb/Will to re-shuffle. Use the warden to heal up the Sniper damage, and the last point on Beorn.
Round 13 - 26 Threat.
The staging area contains 19 threat, and no more cards will be revealed. I quest with no-one, raising my threat to 46. Warden heals the 2 damage. Make Marshlad the active location.
Round 14 - 47 Threat
I quest with Northern Tracker (clearing Brown Lands) and Silvan Refugee. Lose by 1, raising my threat to 48. Both Snipers engage, and I play 3 Counsels + Tomb one of them to bring my threat back down to 36. Then I reshuffle, and use runes to re-draw them and reduce it to 27. I could possibly do it again, but I won't bother, but I do play both Dwarven Tombs to re-play 2 of them, and go to 21.
Elrond defends, takes no damage, and the snipers are easily dispatched.
Final Score: 13 full rounds + 29 threat + 9 damage/lost hero - 9 Victory = 159 final score. Much worse than the previous, but double Gladden Marshland is really, really insane. Luckily I had Elfhelm around to avoid the huge amounts of threat increase the deck was handing out. He was on the edge, and I was wondering if a second Northern Tracker (same stats) might be better, but this game really showed his worth!
Setup:
My opening hand isn't the best:
Eric draws 'Expert Treasure-hunter'
Eric draws 'Hasty Stroke'
Eric draws 'Zigil Miner'
Eric draws 'Hidden Cache'
Eric draws 'Miner of the Iron Hills'
Eric draws 'Elfhelm'
My top card is Arwen.
Even with draw and resource acceleration, this had isn't good enough. I'll mulligan to:
2x Unexpected Courage
Vilya - yay!
Gandalf's Staff
Expert Treasure-hunter
Gildor
Much better.
The encounter deck gives me a Wolf Rider, Flooded Ford, and Hill Troll. I have 5 threat to deal with so far, and two enemies coming down to play.
For Planning, I draw a second Gildor, and reveal Beorn atop my deck! I attach and exhaust Gandalf's Staff for +1 Resource, play Vilya and use Elrond to play my burly protector, revealing A Test of Will. Galadrial draws that, revealing a Northern Tracker, and we move to Questing.
Gandalf (with Expert Hunter) and Beorn commit, giving me 4 willpower against 5 threat, plus one extra card, a troll spawn. 4 will vs. 7 threat raises my Threat to 38, and I don't get to draw for Treasure Hunter. I make the Ford the active location, with plans to clear it next turn, and all 3 foes engage.
Beorn will defend against the troll, while I have to take the other two undefended. Hopefully this doesn't hurt too bad...
Troll - shadow card would put The Flooded Ford into play if I hadn't defended. Beorn takes 3 damage
Troll Spawn - no effect, Gandalf takes 4 damage
Wolf Rider - no effect, Galadriel takes 2 damage
I refresh, and immediately re-exhaust Elrond to play the Tracker, not wanting to risk a bad draw next turn.
So far, so good, on to
Round 2 (39 Threat, draw Elrond's Counsel, Flame of Anor atop the deck)
I exhaust Galadriel to draw the Flame, revealing Wizard Pipe, which I play using Gandalf, and reveal a Hidden Cache! Hopefully I'll quest successfully this round, and get that sweet +2 Resources.
With no Threat in the staging area, my biggest concern is clearing the Ford this turn, to avoid an explosion of Threat. So, I play Unexpected Courage to ready Elrond, then commit him and Gandalf, for 6 total willpower against 0 threat. Hoping for a treachery or low-threat card, I instead get Gladden Marshlands - 10 threat :-(. I play my Counsel, raising my Willpower to 7, then have my heroes take 4 extra damage, bringing all of them to 1 HP remaining, in order to quest successfully this round. I get my Cache, revealing a Zigil miner, and then it is on to combat...
Galadriel is definitely about to die, the only question is who should block the Hill Troll. I think the best bet, long term, is to suffer the +5 Threat from letting the Troll attack go undefended, and block the other two. I'm also going to let all 3 Shadow cards resolve, saving the Staff for resource generation this round.
First Combat - Wolf Rider (2) blocked by Northern Tracker (2) - shadow card is Rats, so I can't counter-attack the wolf this turn. No damage
Second Combat - Troll Spawn (4) blocked by Beorn (3) - shadow card is Reach, no effect, Beorn takes 1 damage
Third Combat - Hill Troll goes undefended - shadow card has no effect, Galadriel dies, my Threat goes to 40.
Gandalf then uses his Pipe to swap Gildor to the top of the deck. Elrond uses 1 resource to play Flame of Anor, allowing Gandalf to attack for 8, and kill the Troll Spawn.
My new top card is a Daereon's Runes, which I can play immediately, drawing a Counsel and another Expert Treasure Hunter. I discard my Zigil Miner. Gandalf's Staff gives a resource to Elrond.
Refresh phase, I play another Runes off the top, drawing a Burning Brand and Gwaihir, and discarding A Burning Brand.
Round 3 (Threat 41, Galadriel dead, other heroes 1 HP away, 10 Threat in staging area, all cards have Doomed 1)
I draw a Dwarven Tomb, Play Boromir off the top with Vilya and Unexpected Courage, and reveal another not-so-Hidden Cache. Gandalf gets some Unexpected Courage (yay for Vilya randomly giving Elrond a Spirit icon!).
For questing, I can only muster 8 willpower (and add a progress to the Marshlands). Hopefully I won't Threat Out soon, though I did lower my Threat to 38 with that Elrond's Counce.
The first encounter card is Smoking Blood, which would do nothing and Surge, which I can't afford right now, especially with all cards having "doomed 1," so I blow my Test of Will. 8 against 10 raises my threat by 2, back to 41.
For combat, Boromir will prove his worth by blocking the wolves (no shadow effect, he takes 1 damage and readies) and the Troll (no shadow, he dies, and my threat raises to 43).
Gandalf then kills the Wolf Rider, while Beorn rages, and deals 5 to the Hill Troll, then shuffles my deck. Gandalf's Staff gives another resource to Elrond.
Round 4 (Threat 44, Gildor, Gwaihir, Hidden Cache, Dwarven Tomb, Silvan Refugee in hand. Riversong atop the deck. Gandalf (4 damage), Elrond (3 damage) and Northern Tracker in play.
Play Riversong off the top using Gandalf, revealing another Flame. Wizard's Pipe swaps Flame for Gildor, play Gildor using Vilya. Play Refugee, top card is an Elrond's Counsel.
Gandalf (readies, and gets Counsel), Elrond, Riversong, and Refugee all commit. This is only 10 willpower against 10 Threat, but I need to save characters to get rid of the Troll this turn.
Staging gives me The East Blight, which is perfect, as I could NOT handle an enemy with more than 4 attack right now. I lose by 1, raising my threat back up to 43. My Tracker blocks the troll, dying, taking the Refugee with him, and raising my Threat back to 44. Gildor then looks at my top 3, seeing:
Runes, Courage, and Miner. I take Courage into hand, replacing it with Gwaihir, and use Gandalf's resource to play my second Flame. Gandalf attacks the troll for 8, killing it. I then play Runes off the top, drawing Miner and Landroval, and discarding my Unexpected Courage.
Round 5 - threat up to 45, and 11 in the staging area, but at least the Troll is dead, so I can finally start getting some allies into play.
I draw Bilbo, revealing a Cache atop my deck. I play the Zigil Miner, and mine away the Cache (+3 resources to elrond) and a Warden of Healing (oh, no!).
My new top card is Will of the West, which I Pipe/Vilya/Courage to swap with and play Landroval.
The new top card is Elfhelm, which I use my last 4 resources to play off the top, to mitigate the threat increases I keep getting.
I can only quest for 11 (leaving back Elfhelm), against 11 threat. Hopefully the encounter card won't be too bad...
Troll Spawn, which surges into Pursued by Shadow.
With 2 characters not committed, I raise my threat by 2 (2 doomed 1, 1 +2, and quest fail by 2, each of which is mitigated by Elfhelm. That's 47 threat. The troll attacks, and I use the staff to avoid any shadow effect, letting Elfhelm take 2 damage.
Round 6 - 48 Threat.
With Vilya on top, I Mine for +1 resource. With Nenya on top, I play Bilbo for +2 Willpower, and to shuffle the deck. With a Hidden Cache on top, I use Wizard pipe to swap the Ring back to the top, and play it on Gandalf. My new top card is Warden of Healing, which I Vilya into play, then quest for 12 against 11 Threat. Sadly, I reveal Marsh Adder (3 Threat)
Questing for 12 (Warden, Landroval, Elfhelm, Gandalf held back) and facing 14 threat, I have few options. I can take a bunch of damage to lower the threat, or use the Staff to add a resource, play Dwarven Tomb, and re-play an Elrond's Counsel. I pick the second option, lowering my threat to 45, and negating all the threat increases with Elfhelm.
I heal Elfhelm and Gandalf, and prepare to take 2 4 str attacks. Marsh Adder first (so Elfhelm can negate the threat increase). I defend with Gandalf, and the shadow card is Rats (Marsh Adder can't be damaged). Annoying but nonfatal, Gandalf takes 1 damage. Troll Spawn is blocked by Landroval, and the shadow card is nothing. Landroval takes 3 damage. Elfhelm can't counter-attack due to the Rants, so on to
Round 7 - 46 Threat
Draw Arwen, Vilya atop the deck. Use Pipe to swap Vilya for a Cache, then Mine away the Cache and a Refugee. This leaves Expert Treasure Hunter on top, which I can't play. I use 2 of the resources just gained to play Arwen, one off Gandalf for Hidden Cache from hand, revealing Light of Valinor, and then play the light off the top, leaving Elrond with one resource.
Finally, I get something worth Vilyaing, Beorn! I play him, revealing a Miner of the Iron Hills, and move on to Questing with nothing but the Will of the West in my hand (I'm not reshuffling, because I want to get Faramir first).
Gandalf, Elrond, Bilbo, and Arwen (boost Elfhelm) is an easy 10 willpower, so I exhaust Riversong to check on the Encounter deck. Pursued by Shadow means I want to commit everyone I possibly can, so I add Gildor, Landroval, Warden, and Beorn, making my total willpower 16, and leaving just 3 characters out of the quest (Elfhelm, Zigil Miner, and Riversong). Pursued brings my threat up to 49, then Elfhelm lowers it to 48. I make 5 progress, which is just enough to clear the Flooded Ford, and I then must travel to East Blight. I also finally trigger my Treasure Hunters, gaining the Iron Hills miner and a Hasty Stroke, revealing the second Beorn
2 4-strength attacks, and again Gandalf defends the Marsh Adder first, and the shadow card is Gladden Marshlands! Gandalf takes 2 damage (to 5/7) and the troll spawn gets +1 attack.
Elfhelm blocks the troll spawn, and his shadow card is Marshland Outlaw, which would threat me out, so I cancel with Hasty Stroke, replacing the resource with the staff. Elfhelm takes two damage.
Elrond counter-attacks the Marsh Adder, dealing 1 damage.
I desperately need threat reduction, so I play Will of the West before refresh, revealing a Northern Tracker after the reshuffle.
Round 8 - 49 Threat. Luckily the next card down is an Elrond's Counsel, which I play in the Resource Phase, just for the Threat reduction, revealing A Burning Brand.
In more need of cards and resources than Willpower at the moment, I activate Gildor and look at a Warden of Healing and Silvan Refugee, swapping the Warden with Vilya, and leaving the Refugee on top (to be played with Gandalf), then mining the two 2-cost attachments for 2 resources on Elrond.
My new top card is Gwaihir, who gets Vilya'd into play, revealing a Dwarven Tomb. Riversong scouts a second Gladden Marshland atop the encounter deck, so I need to quest All-In.
I have an easy 13 Willpower (Heroes, Arwen, Bilbo, Refugee, Dwarven Tomb to fetch Counsel). I add Gwahir for +2, and use both Wardens of Healing, in conjuction with the Marshland ability, to reduce the total threat down to 14 (to get the card draw). This ends up healing Elrond for 2 (3/4 hp remaining), and drawing Beorn and Unexpected Courage, revealing another Zigil Miner.
Beorn defends against Marsh Adder, who gets Rats as a shadow card, taking 1 damage. Gandalf discards the troll's shadow card, and Elrond defends (with +1 defense from Arwen), taking no damage. Gandalf, Landroval, and Elfhelm all counter-attack the Troll Spawn, killing it.
Round 9 - back down to 44 Threat.
Gildor looks at Hasty Stroke, Hidden Cache, and Neyna. Swap the Expert Treasure Hunter in hand for the Hasty Stroke, then Mine away the two zeros for +4 resources.
Use Pipe/Vilya/Courage to play the Northern Tracker, revealing Runes, which draws a duplicate Gildor and Vilya, discarding the useless Nenya.
I play another Unexpected Courage on Gandalf, and the second Zigil Miner, leaving Elrond's Counsel atop the deck for now. Riversong shows me Wargs coming up, and I'm ready to quest.
I'm able to quest for 17, leaving back Elfhelm, Beorn, and Landroval, giving a defense bonus to Elrond, and using both Healers to reduce the 22 threat in the staging area down to 16, while healing Elrond and Gandalf for 1 each (4/7 and 0/4 damage). Playing the Counsel drops me to 41 Threat.
Draw Hidden Cache and Boromir, revealing Faramir, giving 2 resources to Elrond. 2/6 progress on the East Blight.
Gandalf's Staff discards the Warg shadow card, Elrond defends against the Adder (no shadow effect, no damage). Elrond then takes 3 damage from the undefended Warg attack.
Gandalf and Elfhelm team up to kill the Wargs, then Gandalf readies and teams up with Beorn and Landroval to kill the Marsh Adder. Engaged enemies are all clear, and Faramir is coming to finish up the Locations.
Round 10 - 42 Threat
Gildor looks at Cache, Refugee, and Runes. Mine away the Cache and Runes, Vilya in Faramir, play Refugee and Boromir from hand. I also play Dwarven Tomb off the top, to get back Will of the West
For Questing, I send everyone but Faramir (who exhausts) and the wardens (who exhaust) and Boromir, Beorn, and Elfhelm. I play the Runes off the top of my deck, and draw Counsel and A Test of Will. This puts me at a total of 30 willpower against 20 threat. The encounter card is Smoking Blood, which surges into another East Blight (grrr). At least my Northern Tracker has been making a little bit of progress on the Gladden Marshes. Making 9 progress clears the first Blight, and finally puts 4 progress on stage 1! Luckily, the other Hill Troll showed up as a shadow card a while back, so I don't have to worry about getting stuck again (not that my army of allies would have a problem.)
Before resolving the quest I re-shuffle my discard again, and draw Runes and a Treasure Hunter. I use the Staff to draw a card, travel to East Blight.
I then play all 3 Runes over the next few phases, and end with an Elrond's Counsel in the Refresh Phase
Round 11 - 40 Threat, 4 progress on stage 1
In Resource phase, play Dwarven Tomb off the top to retrieve Will of the West. Then play 2 Elrond's Counsel in the Planning phase (one off the top), and re-shuffle. At this point, my deck is 10 cards: 3 Runes, 3 Counsels, 2 Hidden Cache, and Expert Treasure Hunter, and a Dwarven Tomb. I have Test of Will and Hasty Stroke in hand, and plenty of resources on Elrond.
Attach A Burning Brand to Elrond, mine two Runes for 2 Elrond resources, and then Quest:
I send the crew, +1 defense to Elrond, and pass with 32 willpower (play a Counsel) against 22 Threat, moving me on to Stage 2 (finally!). I Treasure Hunt up 2 Hidden Cache, and optionally engage the Marshland Outlaws who were revealed this turn.
Elrond defends for no damage, the attack team kills the Outlaw, and it looks like I have the quest well in hand (one Marshland has 5 progress in the staging area, the other is the active location with 4 progress). I also play the other two Counsels from my deck.
Round 12 - 25 Threat
No manipulation needed, re-shuffle 7 cards with Tomb/West, quest for 31 again. I get 2 Snipers, a Troll Spawn, and an Eastern Crows. That is a total of 17 threat, so I will make 14 progress. 6 will clear the active location, so I need +8 progress to clear stage 2 this turn...exhaust the wardens of healing to soak up -8 threat to the staging area Gladden Marsh (and pay 4 Lore resources to also heal everyone except Beorn to full, and have a ready Healer)
My bonus cards for stage 3 are Brown Lands and Necromancer's Reach (canceled with A Test of Will). I also take Hidden Cache and Elrond's Counsel into hand.
Eastern Crows and Troll Spawn engage, but I'm in a bit of a pickle now, since there are two Snipers, and I can't optionally engage either...
For combat, Elrond (at +1 defense) defends against both attacks, and takes no damage. Both enemies are then easily dispatched. All locations stay in the staging area. I play 2 Runes, discarding 2 Cache, to draw my deck. Then Tomb/Will to re-shuffle. Use the warden to heal up the Sniper damage, and the last point on Beorn.
Round 13 - 26 Threat.
The staging area contains 19 threat, and no more cards will be revealed. I quest with no-one, raising my threat to 46. Warden heals the 2 damage. Make Marshlad the active location.
Round 14 - 47 Threat
I quest with Northern Tracker (clearing Brown Lands) and Silvan Refugee. Lose by 1, raising my threat to 48. Both Snipers engage, and I play 3 Counsels + Tomb one of them to bring my threat back down to 36. Then I reshuffle, and use runes to re-draw them and reduce it to 27. I could possibly do it again, but I won't bother, but I do play both Dwarven Tombs to re-play 2 of them, and go to 21.
Elrond defends, takes no damage, and the snipers are easily dispatched.
Final Score: 13 full rounds + 29 threat + 9 damage/lost hero - 9 Victory = 159 final score. Much worse than the previous, but double Gladden Marshland is really, really insane. Luckily I had Elfhelm around to avoid the huge amounts of threat increase the deck was handing out. He was on the edge, and I was wondering if a second Northern Tracker (same stats) might be better, but this game really showed his worth!
Passage Through Mirkwood
Starting with the first Nightmare difficulty quest, Passage Through Mirkwood. This quest has a ton of spiders, and extra exhaustion effects to keep even the strongest heroes locked down. The nightmare setup adds 1 extra encounter card beyond the Forest Spider and Old Forest Road, and the first time I tried it, I got a treachery which exhausted all three of my heroes, so I had to play the first turn without any questing or defense. I still managed to win, eventually, so let's see how it goes.
My first hand:
Eric draws 'Hidden Cache'
Eric draws 'Elfhelm'
Eric draws 'Beorn'
Eric draws 'Vilya'
Eric draws 'A Test of Will'
Eric draws 'Beorn'
That has Vilya, which is an automatic keep every time. Some hands without Vilya are ok, but usually the mulligan choice is a simple Vilya or no?
The extra encounter card is Ungoliant's Brood, which will prevent my cards from reading the round I engage it. And, with 31 engagement cost against my 36 starting threat, I will be engaging it this turn.
First round:
Draw Nenya, top of deck is Gandalf's Staff. Total of 5 Threat in the staging area, and two 3-str attacks coming to engage this turn.
I chose to play the Staff off the top, revealing Faramir. I then exhaust the staff for +1 resource, play Vilya, and exhaust Elrond to get Faramir into play (revealing Warden of Healing). I'm planning on just taking all attacks undefended this round, but I also need to save characters for next round, since I won't be able to ready anyone. Therefore, I quest with Gandalf and Faramir (Faramir stays ready, thanks to Galadriel) for 5 total, against 5 Threat.
Forest Flies (4 Threat!) are revealed - they will also deal 1 damage to each exhausted character, and then make a 1 str attack. I fail in my quest, raising my Threat by 4 to 40!
I travel to Old Forest Road, and ready Gandalf. With all enemies engaging this turn, on the bright side the staging area will be clear next turn, so questing should be easy. I engage all 3 foes (my cards can't ready, and Elrond takes 1 damage), and deal out 3 shadow cards. Now the most dangerous time - taking undefended attacks!
First, one of the 3 attack - shadow card is Necromancer's Reach - yay! No effect, and a dangerous treachery gone. Galadriel takes 3 damage.
Next, Faramir defends the other 3 attack. Luky me - this is the one with a Shadow effect if Undefended! Faramir takes 1 damage.
Lastly, I take a 1 attack undefended. Again, no shadow effect. I escape mostly unharmed (Elrond takes 1 damage)
Gandalf then exhausts to attack and kill the Forest Flies, just to decrease the number of Shadow cards I will have to face next turn.
Refresh: raise threat, ready nothing.
Round 2:
Draw that Warden of Healing, revealing Gwaihir. I would like to play the Warden, and fortunately I've drawn Galadriel's ring, which will give her the Lore Icon to allow that. Spend all resources to play the Ring and Warden, and quest for 1 (without exhausting) against an empty staging area.
I reveal eyes of the forest, which forces me to discard my Hidden Cache and Test of Will, all-in-all not very damaging. I make 1 progress on the Old Forest Road, and move on to combat (saving Galadriel to draw a card and reduce my threat, which I do now to try for an Elrond's Counsel, but seeing Silvan Refugee on top)
Two attacks come my way, one at 3, one at 2, both going undefended. I'll take the 3 first (but first, exhaust the warden to heal Elrond and Galadriel, then use Elrond's response for each, healing both of them for 2 points). The Shadow effect is to resolve one from the discard, which is exhaust all characters (luckily, they are already exhausted). Gandalf takes 3 damage. The second effect is blank, Galadriel takes 2 damage.
Refresh, ready everyone, and raise threat back to 41.
Round 3:
Draw the Refugee (Hand is 2x Beoren, Elfhelm, Gwaihir, and a soon-to-be-played Refugee). Reveal Runes atop the deck. In the Resource phase, play the Runes with Gandalf. I draw Will of the West and Unexpected Courage, revealing Dwarven Tomb. I discard my 2nd Beoren.
I don't want to lose Galadriel to another Necromancer's Reach, so I use Gandalf's Resource to play the Tomb, getting back my Test of Will, and revealing an Expert Treasure Hunter. I still need to find something to Vilya, so I exhaust Galadriel to draw it (playing it on Gandalf), and use the Warden of Healing now to heal her (and Gandalf). The new card is Light of Valinor.
With no threat in the staging area, I abandon my search for a strong ally in my deck, and just play the Refugee, leaving one resource on Elrond. I quest with Gandalf and the (non-exhausting) Refugee for 5 total. The encounter card is Glade of the Spawn (4 threat), so I exhaust Faramir to add 2 willpower, allowing me to quest for 7 against 4, and clear the Old Forest Road (and 1 quest progress!). I take a wild guess and name "attachment" for Expert Treasure Hunter, and take the Light into hand.
Amazingly, I finally reveal something worth using Vilya on: Gildor Inglorion! Elrond exhausts, and I get a different 3/2/3 character, and one who comes with the ability to put the expensive allies in my hand back on top for future Vilyas. The new card is Unexpected Courage.
Now I again have a 3 and a 2 attack to deal with. I exhaust Gildor to block the 3 attack, and reveal the 2nd Necromancer's Reach as the shadow card - excellent! Gildor takes no damage. For the second attack, I use Gandalf's Staff to discard the shadow card, and just take the 2 damage undefended on Gandalf. The shadow card didn't have an effect, but better safe than sorry.
End of round, I refresh, return my threat to 41, and move on to
Round 4:
My hand is:
2x Unexpected Courage
1x Light of Valinor (which I immediately play on Elrond)
Will of the West
A Test of Will
Beoren, Gwaihir, and Elfhem.
I exhaust Gildor and see my top 3 cards are:
Danereon's Runes, A Burning Brand, and Flame of Anor.
I swap A Burning Brand for Beoren, Exhaust Elrond to play him, and then play Danereon's Runes from the top with Gandalf. I draw the Flame and an Elrond's Council. My new top card is Zigil Miner, and I discard the Will of the West (since I'm not Mining, I won't run out of cards in my deck any time soon, and I'm about to start questing much more heavily).
I attach and use Unexpected Courage to ready Elrond, and save one resource on Gandalf.
Gandalf, Elrond, Refugee, and Beoren all quest, for 9 willpower against zero threat. East Blight Patrol adds 3 threat, so I am currently making 6 progress. I want to advance quest stages this phase, which will require 11 total progress. I exhaust Galadriel to add 4, and play Elrond's Council (Threat to 38) for the last point. On to stage 2! Expert Treasure Hunter gets me the Miner, and I reveal the Ring of Brahir (+2 HP for Gandalf, to keep soaking those undefended attacks!).
I have 3 attacks coming, two 3s, and one 2. I have 4 ready characters, a 2/3, 1/2, 3/3, and a warden of healing. I also have Gandalf's Staff to discard a shadow card, and a Flame of Anor, so he could make a 4 str attack if desired.
Faramir defends the 2-attack. The shadow card would have discarded all attachments if undefended. No damage.
Elrond defends a 3-attack. The shadow forces me to exhaust my Warden of Healing. No damage.
I take the third attack undefended, discarding the shadow card, and taking 3 damage on Elrond.
Beoren activates his ability, and takes out the Brood, shuffling himself back into the deck.
Before that happens, I use Flame of Anor to ready Gandalf, and kill off the East Blight Patrol. I'm now only facing one 2-damage attack each round, which the Warden of Healing and Gandalf's Staff can handle (or any of my other defenders, of course). Refugee gets discarded
Refresh, and draw my second Flame of Anor, raising my threat to 39.
Round 5:
My top card is another Dwarven Tomb, which I draw with Galadriel (since stage 2 is only 2 quest points, and I have no staging area or active location). This reveals Elrond's Council, which I play in the Resource Phase, just for the threat reduction and card advantage.
Planning Phase, I play another Runes off the top, drawing Treasure Hunter and Elrond's Council, and discarding the Zigil Miner. Elrond gets the Treasure Hunter, Gildor exhausts to see Arwen, Hidden Cache, and another Miner. I take Arwen into hand, replacing her with Elfhelm.
I play Arwen naturally, and exhaust Unexpected Courage and Vilya to play Elfhelm. One resource stays on Gandalf, and we move to Questing
Arwen, Elfhelm, Elrond, and Gandalf all quest. The encounter card is The Spider's Web, which exhausts Elrond, and attaches to Galadriel. She will now take 1 damage whenever she readies (currently, she has 1 damage). With no threat, I finish quest stage 2, and move on to flip for Don't Leave the Path or Beoren's Path. I get Beoren's path, which means I will need to quest hard next Round. I take Hidden Cache and Miner into hand from Hunting Treasure, and get 2 resources on Elrond, since the Cache is technically discarded first.
For combat, Arwen defends, giving herself +1 defense, and Gandalf discards the shadow card so she takes no damage. Gandalf then readies with Flame, discarding Landroval, and smushes that Forest Spider that has been bugging me since initial setup. Warden of Healing brings all heroes to 1 damage each, and we move on to
Round 6:
My threat is 36, Galadriel takes an extra damage, I draw Miner of the Iron Hills, and my top card is Hasty Stroke (draw with Galadriel), then Unexpected Courage (play with Gandalf, on Gandalf), then another Gildor.
I quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen (+defense to Elfhelm), and Gildor. That is 11 willpower against zero threat, needing 10 quest points. I await the encounter deck...Enchanted Stream. This is only 2 threat, so I play Elrond's Council, get it back with Dwarven Tomb and play it again, bringing my Threat down to 29. I exhaust the Warden of Healing to heal Galadriel and Elrond, then spend Elrond's last 2 resources to ready him, and heal Gandalf and Faramir. I make 11 progress, winning the game!
Final Score: 5 full rounds + 29 threat + 0 damage/dead heroes - 2 VP (Flames of Anor) = 77 points.
That's about as good as this deck can do, as the primary driver is the number of rounds, and the likely pattern will be:
Round 1: full staging area, no progress
Round 2: Active location, lots of enemies, little progress
Round 3: Finish stage 1
Round 4: Stage 2
Round 5: Stage 3
In this game, having none of my stuff ready on Round 1 caused Round 2 to be just treading water, and pushed all future actions back one round. If I had gotten the other path, I would not quite have had enough attack to finish off the spawn in the same round, although if I had saved Beoren, I could have.
My first hand:
Eric draws 'Hidden Cache'
Eric draws 'Elfhelm'
Eric draws 'Beorn'
Eric draws 'Vilya'
Eric draws 'A Test of Will'
Eric draws 'Beorn'
That has Vilya, which is an automatic keep every time. Some hands without Vilya are ok, but usually the mulligan choice is a simple Vilya or no?
The extra encounter card is Ungoliant's Brood, which will prevent my cards from reading the round I engage it. And, with 31 engagement cost against my 36 starting threat, I will be engaging it this turn.
First round:
Draw Nenya, top of deck is Gandalf's Staff. Total of 5 Threat in the staging area, and two 3-str attacks coming to engage this turn.
I chose to play the Staff off the top, revealing Faramir. I then exhaust the staff for +1 resource, play Vilya, and exhaust Elrond to get Faramir into play (revealing Warden of Healing). I'm planning on just taking all attacks undefended this round, but I also need to save characters for next round, since I won't be able to ready anyone. Therefore, I quest with Gandalf and Faramir (Faramir stays ready, thanks to Galadriel) for 5 total, against 5 Threat.
Forest Flies (4 Threat!) are revealed - they will also deal 1 damage to each exhausted character, and then make a 1 str attack. I fail in my quest, raising my Threat by 4 to 40!
I travel to Old Forest Road, and ready Gandalf. With all enemies engaging this turn, on the bright side the staging area will be clear next turn, so questing should be easy. I engage all 3 foes (my cards can't ready, and Elrond takes 1 damage), and deal out 3 shadow cards. Now the most dangerous time - taking undefended attacks!
First, one of the 3 attack - shadow card is Necromancer's Reach - yay! No effect, and a dangerous treachery gone. Galadriel takes 3 damage.
Next, Faramir defends the other 3 attack. Luky me - this is the one with a Shadow effect if Undefended! Faramir takes 1 damage.
Lastly, I take a 1 attack undefended. Again, no shadow effect. I escape mostly unharmed (Elrond takes 1 damage)
Gandalf then exhausts to attack and kill the Forest Flies, just to decrease the number of Shadow cards I will have to face next turn.
Refresh: raise threat, ready nothing.
Round 2:
Draw that Warden of Healing, revealing Gwaihir. I would like to play the Warden, and fortunately I've drawn Galadriel's ring, which will give her the Lore Icon to allow that. Spend all resources to play the Ring and Warden, and quest for 1 (without exhausting) against an empty staging area.
I reveal eyes of the forest, which forces me to discard my Hidden Cache and Test of Will, all-in-all not very damaging. I make 1 progress on the Old Forest Road, and move on to combat (saving Galadriel to draw a card and reduce my threat, which I do now to try for an Elrond's Counsel, but seeing Silvan Refugee on top)
Two attacks come my way, one at 3, one at 2, both going undefended. I'll take the 3 first (but first, exhaust the warden to heal Elrond and Galadriel, then use Elrond's response for each, healing both of them for 2 points). The Shadow effect is to resolve one from the discard, which is exhaust all characters (luckily, they are already exhausted). Gandalf takes 3 damage. The second effect is blank, Galadriel takes 2 damage.
Refresh, ready everyone, and raise threat back to 41.
Round 3:
Draw the Refugee (Hand is 2x Beoren, Elfhelm, Gwaihir, and a soon-to-be-played Refugee). Reveal Runes atop the deck. In the Resource phase, play the Runes with Gandalf. I draw Will of the West and Unexpected Courage, revealing Dwarven Tomb. I discard my 2nd Beoren.
I don't want to lose Galadriel to another Necromancer's Reach, so I use Gandalf's Resource to play the Tomb, getting back my Test of Will, and revealing an Expert Treasure Hunter. I still need to find something to Vilya, so I exhaust Galadriel to draw it (playing it on Gandalf), and use the Warden of Healing now to heal her (and Gandalf). The new card is Light of Valinor.
With no threat in the staging area, I abandon my search for a strong ally in my deck, and just play the Refugee, leaving one resource on Elrond. I quest with Gandalf and the (non-exhausting) Refugee for 5 total. The encounter card is Glade of the Spawn (4 threat), so I exhaust Faramir to add 2 willpower, allowing me to quest for 7 against 4, and clear the Old Forest Road (and 1 quest progress!). I take a wild guess and name "attachment" for Expert Treasure Hunter, and take the Light into hand.
Amazingly, I finally reveal something worth using Vilya on: Gildor Inglorion! Elrond exhausts, and I get a different 3/2/3 character, and one who comes with the ability to put the expensive allies in my hand back on top for future Vilyas. The new card is Unexpected Courage.
Now I again have a 3 and a 2 attack to deal with. I exhaust Gildor to block the 3 attack, and reveal the 2nd Necromancer's Reach as the shadow card - excellent! Gildor takes no damage. For the second attack, I use Gandalf's Staff to discard the shadow card, and just take the 2 damage undefended on Gandalf. The shadow card didn't have an effect, but better safe than sorry.
End of round, I refresh, return my threat to 41, and move on to
Round 4:
My hand is:
2x Unexpected Courage
1x Light of Valinor (which I immediately play on Elrond)
Will of the West
A Test of Will
Beoren, Gwaihir, and Elfhem.
I exhaust Gildor and see my top 3 cards are:
Danereon's Runes, A Burning Brand, and Flame of Anor.
I swap A Burning Brand for Beoren, Exhaust Elrond to play him, and then play Danereon's Runes from the top with Gandalf. I draw the Flame and an Elrond's Council. My new top card is Zigil Miner, and I discard the Will of the West (since I'm not Mining, I won't run out of cards in my deck any time soon, and I'm about to start questing much more heavily).
I attach and use Unexpected Courage to ready Elrond, and save one resource on Gandalf.
Gandalf, Elrond, Refugee, and Beoren all quest, for 9 willpower against zero threat. East Blight Patrol adds 3 threat, so I am currently making 6 progress. I want to advance quest stages this phase, which will require 11 total progress. I exhaust Galadriel to add 4, and play Elrond's Council (Threat to 38) for the last point. On to stage 2! Expert Treasure Hunter gets me the Miner, and I reveal the Ring of Brahir (+2 HP for Gandalf, to keep soaking those undefended attacks!).
I have 3 attacks coming, two 3s, and one 2. I have 4 ready characters, a 2/3, 1/2, 3/3, and a warden of healing. I also have Gandalf's Staff to discard a shadow card, and a Flame of Anor, so he could make a 4 str attack if desired.
Faramir defends the 2-attack. The shadow card would have discarded all attachments if undefended. No damage.
Elrond defends a 3-attack. The shadow forces me to exhaust my Warden of Healing. No damage.
I take the third attack undefended, discarding the shadow card, and taking 3 damage on Elrond.
Beoren activates his ability, and takes out the Brood, shuffling himself back into the deck.
Before that happens, I use Flame of Anor to ready Gandalf, and kill off the East Blight Patrol. I'm now only facing one 2-damage attack each round, which the Warden of Healing and Gandalf's Staff can handle (or any of my other defenders, of course). Refugee gets discarded
Refresh, and draw my second Flame of Anor, raising my threat to 39.
Round 5:
My top card is another Dwarven Tomb, which I draw with Galadriel (since stage 2 is only 2 quest points, and I have no staging area or active location). This reveals Elrond's Council, which I play in the Resource Phase, just for the threat reduction and card advantage.
Planning Phase, I play another Runes off the top, drawing Treasure Hunter and Elrond's Council, and discarding the Zigil Miner. Elrond gets the Treasure Hunter, Gildor exhausts to see Arwen, Hidden Cache, and another Miner. I take Arwen into hand, replacing her with Elfhelm.
I play Arwen naturally, and exhaust Unexpected Courage and Vilya to play Elfhelm. One resource stays on Gandalf, and we move to Questing
Arwen, Elfhelm, Elrond, and Gandalf all quest. The encounter card is The Spider's Web, which exhausts Elrond, and attaches to Galadriel. She will now take 1 damage whenever she readies (currently, she has 1 damage). With no threat, I finish quest stage 2, and move on to flip for Don't Leave the Path or Beoren's Path. I get Beoren's path, which means I will need to quest hard next Round. I take Hidden Cache and Miner into hand from Hunting Treasure, and get 2 resources on Elrond, since the Cache is technically discarded first.
For combat, Arwen defends, giving herself +1 defense, and Gandalf discards the shadow card so she takes no damage. Gandalf then readies with Flame, discarding Landroval, and smushes that Forest Spider that has been bugging me since initial setup. Warden of Healing brings all heroes to 1 damage each, and we move on to
Round 6:
My threat is 36, Galadriel takes an extra damage, I draw Miner of the Iron Hills, and my top card is Hasty Stroke (draw with Galadriel), then Unexpected Courage (play with Gandalf, on Gandalf), then another Gildor.
I quest with Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen (+defense to Elfhelm), and Gildor. That is 11 willpower against zero threat, needing 10 quest points. I await the encounter deck...Enchanted Stream. This is only 2 threat, so I play Elrond's Council, get it back with Dwarven Tomb and play it again, bringing my Threat down to 29. I exhaust the Warden of Healing to heal Galadriel and Elrond, then spend Elrond's last 2 resources to ready him, and heal Gandalf and Faramir. I make 11 progress, winning the game!
Final Score: 5 full rounds + 29 threat + 0 damage/dead heroes - 2 VP (Flames of Anor) = 77 points.
That's about as good as this deck can do, as the primary driver is the number of rounds, and the likely pattern will be:
Round 1: full staging area, no progress
Round 2: Active location, lots of enemies, little progress
Round 3: Finish stage 1
Round 4: Stage 2
Round 5: Stage 3
In this game, having none of my stuff ready on Round 1 caused Round 2 to be just treading water, and pushed all future actions back one round. If I had gotten the other path, I would not quite have had enough attack to finish off the spawn in the same round, although if I had saved Beoren, I could have.
Three Rings for Elven Kings
I've recently been playing around with The Lord of The Rings LCG, a cooperative (or, in my case, single player) card game. I built this deck to play through all scenarios, and so far it has done really well. I'll post full session reports here of all the Nightmare (highest difficulty setting) playthroughs of each scenario, but first is the deck:
Three Rings - with the release of Galadriel, it is now possible to build a deck with all three bearers of the elven rings as heroes. Unfortunately, Gandalf's ring hasn't been released yet, but I've put in the Ring of Brahir instead.
Heroes (3) - starting threat 36
Gandalf
Elrond
Galadriel
Attachments (15)
For Gandalf:
1x Ring of Barahir
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Wizard Pipe
For Elrond:
3x Vilya
1x Light of Valinor
1x A Burning Brand
For Galadriel:
1x Nenya
3x Expert Treasure Hunter
Allies (20)
Questing power:
1x Arwen Undomiel
1x Bilbo Baggins
2x Silvan Refugee
1x Henamarth Riversong
1x Faramir
1x Northern Tracker
Support and protection:
2x Zigil Miner
2x Warden of Healing
1x Miner of the Iron Hills
1x Boromir
1x Elfhelm
Costly allies to Vilya into play (or discard with Flame of Anor)
2x Beoren
2x Gildor Inglorion
1x Landroval
1x Gwaihir
Events (16)
3x Hidden Cache
3x Elrond's Counsel
3x Daeron's Runes
2x Flame of Anor
2x Dwarven Tomb
1x A Test of Will
1x Hasty Stroke
1x Will of the West
Sideboard: TBD
I may need to add some extra healing for Journey to Rhosgobel, extra Test of Will for We Must Away, and possibly additional cards (Asfaloth?) as needed.
The deck is 51 cards, with the ability to remove one of the allies if the quest uses them in another way (Arwen, Faramir, Bilbo)
In a future post, I'll review how the various parts work together to provide a steady flow of resources, cards, willpower, attack, defense, and threat control.
Three Rings - with the release of Galadriel, it is now possible to build a deck with all three bearers of the elven rings as heroes. Unfortunately, Gandalf's ring hasn't been released yet, but I've put in the Ring of Brahir instead.
Heroes (3) - starting threat 36
Gandalf
Elrond
Galadriel
Attachments (15)
For Gandalf:
1x Ring of Barahir
1x Gandalf's Staff
1x Wizard Pipe
For Elrond:
3x Vilya
1x Light of Valinor
1x A Burning Brand
For Galadriel:
1x Nenya
For Whoever (usually not Galadriel, though):
3x Unexpected Courage3x Expert Treasure Hunter
Allies (20)
Questing power:
1x Arwen Undomiel
1x Bilbo Baggins
2x Silvan Refugee
1x Henamarth Riversong
1x Faramir
1x Northern Tracker
Support and protection:
2x Zigil Miner
2x Warden of Healing
1x Miner of the Iron Hills
1x Boromir
1x Elfhelm
Costly allies to Vilya into play (or discard with Flame of Anor)
2x Beoren
2x Gildor Inglorion
1x Landroval
1x Gwaihir
Events (16)
3x Hidden Cache
3x Elrond's Counsel
3x Daeron's Runes
2x Flame of Anor
2x Dwarven Tomb
1x A Test of Will
1x Hasty Stroke
1x Will of the West
Sideboard: TBD
I may need to add some extra healing for Journey to Rhosgobel, extra Test of Will for We Must Away, and possibly additional cards (Asfaloth?) as needed.
The deck is 51 cards, with the ability to remove one of the allies if the quest uses them in another way (Arwen, Faramir, Bilbo)
In a future post, I'll review how the various parts work together to provide a steady flow of resources, cards, willpower, attack, defense, and threat control.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Changing congnitive schemas
Cognitive Schemas are everything we tell ourselves about ourselves. Any new information must fit into the existing schema.
For example, Janet always drives at 55 MPH. She does this to save fuel. How can we present Janet with new information, that will cause her to change her behavior?
Unsuccessful choices:
"I read on some blog that 60 MPH is actually the most fuel efficient speed" - this is telling Janet that her facts are wrong, therefore she is wrong. Janet is likely to dismiss your argument as lacking credibility.
"It isn't safe to drive that much slower than the rest of the traffic." - this is telling Janet that her values are wrong, therefore she is wrong. Because saving fuel and driving safely are not directly comparable, she can easily dismiss your argument as affecting something that "doesn't matter."
Potentially successful:
"It really bothers me that you drive so slowly" - this doesn't challenge her schema, but clearly sets up an alternate consideration: do you value your fuel savings, or our relationship? This could result in changed behavior + resentment, or unchanged behavior + guilt. Neither of which are particularly good situations.
"Consumer Reports did a study, and found that many cars are most fuel efficient at 55 MPH, but your car is most efficient at 65 MPH." - This acknowledges Janet's values (saving fuel), and confirms that she has her facts right (55 MPH is generally the most fuel efficient), and then provides additional information that fits within her schema. This incremental schema adjustment is likely to be well received, and result in a behavior change.
For example, Janet always drives at 55 MPH. She does this to save fuel. How can we present Janet with new information, that will cause her to change her behavior?
Unsuccessful choices:
"I read on some blog that 60 MPH is actually the most fuel efficient speed" - this is telling Janet that her facts are wrong, therefore she is wrong. Janet is likely to dismiss your argument as lacking credibility.
"It isn't safe to drive that much slower than the rest of the traffic." - this is telling Janet that her values are wrong, therefore she is wrong. Because saving fuel and driving safely are not directly comparable, she can easily dismiss your argument as affecting something that "doesn't matter."
Potentially successful:
"It really bothers me that you drive so slowly" - this doesn't challenge her schema, but clearly sets up an alternate consideration: do you value your fuel savings, or our relationship? This could result in changed behavior + resentment, or unchanged behavior + guilt. Neither of which are particularly good situations.
"Consumer Reports did a study, and found that many cars are most fuel efficient at 55 MPH, but your car is most efficient at 65 MPH." - This acknowledges Janet's values (saving fuel), and confirms that she has her facts right (55 MPH is generally the most fuel efficient), and then provides additional information that fits within her schema. This incremental schema adjustment is likely to be well received, and result in a behavior change.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Bernardo grape stomp
I attended a grape stomp party yesterday, which resulted in me sleeping for most of the day when I wasn't out drinking. I got to try 4 different wines and hang out with some cool folks. And stomp grapes.
Stomping is actually a fairly efficient method of turning whole bunches into juice. Within half an hour, the whole barrel was juice, with around 15 people tromping around at a time. That comes to about 8 man-hours to juice 50 cases worth of wine. Wine sells at wholesale for, say, $5 a bottle for a basic red blend, so at 6 bottles to the case, that means $1500 of gross revenue to the winery. Actually paying someone minimum wage to stomp would be less than $100 of that, and the rest is available for rent, bottling, bottles, and paying for the grapes. Or, of course, you can just invite all your buddies over, have them bring the food, and throw a big party. That gets your stomping done for free, and you just have to give everyone (ie, those 15 people) a bottle (or even a case, if you have multiple vats to take care of) of last year's product.
Reviews:
Riesling - Bernardo's Reisling is one of my favorites. It's lightly bubbly, with a sharp peppery taste. It goes well with the cheese plate appetizer.
Chardonnay - was not very memorable. A little buttery.
Burgandy - A nice strong red, which paired well with the tri-tip and veggies. They cook their peppers & zucchini in a style I would call grilled & chilled.
Sirah - Very drying in the mouth (even though that isn't what "dry" wine means). Paired ok with the suggested chocolate, but very well with cheesecake. Quite nice.
Stomping is actually a fairly efficient method of turning whole bunches into juice. Within half an hour, the whole barrel was juice, with around 15 people tromping around at a time. That comes to about 8 man-hours to juice 50 cases worth of wine. Wine sells at wholesale for, say, $5 a bottle for a basic red blend, so at 6 bottles to the case, that means $1500 of gross revenue to the winery. Actually paying someone minimum wage to stomp would be less than $100 of that, and the rest is available for rent, bottling, bottles, and paying for the grapes. Or, of course, you can just invite all your buddies over, have them bring the food, and throw a big party. That gets your stomping done for free, and you just have to give everyone (ie, those 15 people) a bottle (or even a case, if you have multiple vats to take care of) of last year's product.
Reviews:
Riesling - Bernardo's Reisling is one of my favorites. It's lightly bubbly, with a sharp peppery taste. It goes well with the cheese plate appetizer.
Chardonnay - was not very memorable. A little buttery.
Burgandy - A nice strong red, which paired well with the tri-tip and veggies. They cook their peppers & zucchini in a style I would call grilled & chilled.
Sirah - Very drying in the mouth (even though that isn't what "dry" wine means). Paired ok with the suggested chocolate, but very well with cheesecake. Quite nice.
Friday, September 12, 2014
I have a lot of thoughts
I keep having thoughts about how things work, and don't work, but I often forget them. Hopefully by having a single place (in the cloud) to write them, I can remember them better. Also, I might eventually get feedback, and that will improve my thoughts.
Topics to review:
Game Design
Economics
Politics
Project Management
Software Testing
Mawwaige
Movie, TV, and Book Reviews
Game strategies
Criminal Justice, and other Utopian Ideals
Food and Wine reviews
Proper use of Capitalization
I don't really have any qualifications in any of the above, beyond being 2+ standard deviations above the mean in Intelligence, and having a few years of Experience.
I've had a bunch of Education:
Topics to review:
Game Design
Economics
Politics
Project Management
Software Testing
Mawwaige
Movie, TV, and Book Reviews
Game strategies
Criminal Justice, and other Utopian Ideals
Food and Wine reviews
Proper use of Capitalization
I don't really have any qualifications in any of the above, beyond being 2+ standard deviations above the mean in Intelligence, and having a few years of Experience.
I've had a bunch of Education:
- Biotech lab work (HS)
- General Chemistry, Physics, Math, English, History (HS)
- Calculus and Differential Equations (College)
- Theater (HS)
- Violin (Elementary School)
- Basic sketching (PBS special)
- Project Management (UCSD Extention)
- SCRUM master training (corporate education)
- CS 101, in C (College)
- BS in Chemical Engineering
- Social Psychology (College)
- Philosophy of Ethics (College)
- Women's Studies (College)
- Water Chemistry (College)
- Theories of Law Education (From watching presentations and classes)
- CS Theory (read-along with my mom's MS in CS)
I've had a few other Experiences:
- Played Magic: The Gathering from age 13-28, with a few gaps (including now)
- Magic: The Gathering rating at about the 10th percentile, before it was abolished.
- Played just about every single trading card game released between 1996 and 2000
- Was on the VS System Pro Circuit 5 times (out of the 8 that were held), with a mean, median, and modal finish of Day 2, no prize.
- Married almost 3 years
- Two dogs
- Many rats
- Several cats
- One house, bought and maintained for 2 years
- Bicycled everywhere until I was 18
- Project coordinator for a construction/home repair company for 1 year
- Analyzed engineering drawings for part content, and to re-draw them isometrically
- Helped develop and test an Enterprise level application
- Test lead & project manager for ongoing deployments & smaller software products
- Lived in New York, San Diego, North San Diego County, and South Orange County (LA)
- Visited Mexico (Guadalajara) and London (Greenwich) for extended stays
- Vacation trips through most States west of the Mississippi, Paris, Edinburgh, Washington DC
- Visited all the museums around Central Park, as well as the rest of the park. On many occasions.
So, that's me so far. Let's see how long I can keep up with the goal of writing something meaningful every day. I've got quite a backlog in my brain, so it should work out OK.
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