by tallgrant
This game of War of the Ring was played as part of our Austin War of the Ring: In 3-D day. We had taught David (Happymrdave) to play War of the Ring earlier in the day, and he wanted a chance to try the Free Peoples side. Since we'd had a departure and were at an odd number of players, Dick (tvdinner) offered to go as advisor.Dick cautioned David that he was likely to get trounced as I was a "good Shadow player". I'm not sure why that is- the majority of my experience is on the Free Peoples side and I really don't know the Shadow anywhere near as well. But I was excited to give it another go.
GAME SUMMARY
Turn I: I placed two dice in the hunt box, then rolled a third. I had three musters which were used to advance all Shadow nations one step (putting both Isengard and Sauron at war), and played one of the Shadow special tiles onto the table. The Fellowship moved twice, taking 2 damage on a successful hunt during the second move but not being revealed. The Free Peoples also used an event card to move the Elves toward war. Dick strongly cautioned against using musters too freely with Free Peoples nations, as the Shadow would often ignore the roused nation and cause the action dice to be wasted.
Turn II: The Fellowship moved twice more this turn, both without being caught. I was a little perturbed at this development- I'd placed two dice in the box this turn, and was a little unhappy that they would so easily make it past Moria. I placed the Southrons and Easterlings at war, consolidated armies at Near Harad, and sent them up north to threaten Pelargir. I also consolidated an army in Minas Morgul, moved the Dol Goldur army north toward the DEW, and started to consolidate Isengard forces. I played a card that let me muster additional troops at Mount Gundabad, and began to think about getting Rivendell later in the game, which was something I had never done.
Turn III: I drew the Balrog at the start of the turn. I felt disappointment in that I'd never managed to play the card for anything but the combat effect and this game would be no exception. I was surprised when Dick suggested not declaring- he justified that they would have more options if they did not. Even though I placed 3 dice in the hunt box for the turn, I didn't catch the Fellowship as they moved and was able to place the Balrog in play. The Fellowship did not move again due to having rolled multiple palantirs. Instead they played a special tile (drawing a fresh card with Gandalf's ability), reinforced the Dwarves with Dain Ironfoot's guard and drew an additional card. Near the end of the turn, I felt that I was rapidly falling behind and needed turn in motion. So I launched my attack on Pelargir (putting Gondor at war), then recruited both Saruman and the Witchking at the end of the turn.
Turn IV: On this turn I drew the Witch-king returns. I knew that I had a solid opportunity to really drop an unpleasant surprise with an northern army, and decided to hold the card for a bit. I placed four dice in the hunt box. The Free Peoples had been slowly gaining cards and were starting to have hand issues. They were also compounded by the fact that Gandalf's drawing ability was being put to good use. They complained afterward that this turn and the following turn a large number of reinforcement cards were drawn simultaneously. They were forced to discard several, which would prove costly later. Their action roll produced 2 will of the wests. The Free Peoples made one additional move during which they were revealed with a 1 damage tile, and the Moria draw led to a 1. Gandalf was reserved for bigger trouble and they instead took the two corruption. They rehid the Fellowship, then separated out Strider and sent him down to Minas Tirith to be crowned. They had intended to promote Gandalf with the second will of the west, but noticed he had remained in the Fellowship and was not eligible. So they resolved to leave him for a larger damage token and go forward from there. I stepped across a boundary into the North, then consolidated my Nazgul, used a card to weaken the Woodland Realm, and took it.
Turn V: I started placing 4 dice in the hunt box this turn. The Free Peoples were 4 steps from Mordor and I was completely unready for it. I took some joy in the complaining that occurred on this turn from the card draw, but I had my own issues to deal with. I made plans to begin raising Isengard. I'd had a loose idea of necessary strongholds up to this point, but this was the turn they firmed up. I had 3 points with Pelargir and the Woodland Realm. Dale was looking like a good target but Erebor was unattractive. I figured that I could use Saruman to jump Helms Deep for 6, take the un-reinforced Dol Amroth for 8, and grab Rivendell to close out. Unfortunately, I managed to roll 5 (count 'em 5) palantirs. I easily burned 2 that placed special Shadow tiles in the Mordor pool and expanded the Easterling army marching north, but knew I would have card issues the next turn if things weren't played. I was holding the Witchking returns and Fighting Uruk Hai for the eventual assaults. I started collecting corruption cards to hit the Fellowship when revealed. The Free Peoples also had a large number of muster dice, with few characters and no wills. They moved the Fellowship once without being caught, then built an army in Minas Tirith to protect Aragorn.
Turn VI: I placed 4 dice in the hunt box again, and this time I threw 3 palantir dice. I began to panic, because most of the events I had in hand were for hunting a revealed Fellowship or for my later attacks. I still didn't have quite the armies I needed and I didn't have many resources. I moved the army from Pelargir toward Dol Amroth, and stepped the army from Minas Morgul into South Ithilien to discourage adventurism by the Gondorian army. I also took the opportunity to attack Dale- I did not inflict casualties and the units there retreated into Erebor. I also had a card that let me recruit troops in Umbar, Near Harad and Far Harad to protect them. I drew a card (knowing I'd have to toss something the next turn). The Free Peoples moved the Fellowship once without being caught, again bolstered their army in Minas Tirith, played Faramir's rangers into Osgiliath and played a card to summon Eomer to Helms Deep. They drew an additional card, conitnuing a pattern of exceeding hand limit that would last the rest of the game.
Turn VII: I had 4 dice in the hunt box, and rolled good musters/armies this turn. The Free Peoples rolled a Will of the West, two muster/army and two palantirs. I recruited some additional regulars in Isengard, and a Sauron Elite in Angmar. I also moved the Southron army across Gondor and put Dol Amroth under siege. The Free Peoples took one additional move and stopped due to the high volume of dice in the Hunt box. They healed corruption using Bilbo's song instead, then separated out Pippin and Boromir. Boromir and Merry went to Minas Tirith and added more reinforcements with a card play. Pippin went into Osgiliath, then marched the army Through Day and Night and took an unprotected Minas Morgul. I moved my Sauron army back in and placed it under siege.
Turn VIII: At the start of this turn I greatly exceeded the hand limit. I looked at the corruption situation and realized I would not get a chance to catch them revealed, so most of those cards were pitched. I noticed the Free Peoples were only one space out of Mordor, so I put one die in the hunt box. The Free Peoples used Challenge of the King to clear out an eye tile from the hunting pool. I cleaned up the situation at Minas Morgul, moved some regulars into Orthanc and struck out into the Fords of Isen and then to besiege Helms Deep. I left Isengard empty- Gandalf the White was still not in play, and I felt that I needed to get moving quickly. When the Fellowship made their final move, I sprung a "reveal the Fellowship card". When they placed in Minas Morgul (under Shadow control) I drew two tiles. The the tiles came out as a 1 with reveal and a one, so they chose to keep Gandalf for bigger things. They rehid before going into Mordor with 4 corruption. They also attempted to heal with athelas, but failed the roll.
Turn IX: With 3 companions in the Fellowship, I added 3 dice in the hunt box and rolled two more with several character results. The Fellowship made 3 moves in Mordor this turn. The first move produced an Eye tile, which was redrawn as a 2 by Mithril Coat and Sting, and reduced by Axe and Bow. The second move netted another Eye tile for 6 damage- Gandalf was sacrificed instead and 3 corruption taken. After hiding, a third move produced a Shadow special tile which caused 3 additional damage and stopped movement- Gimli took one for the team and the Fellowship pushed up to 8 corruption. The Fellowship had used an Elvish ring to help with movement, but had exhausted their options. I was able to drop the final Shadow die in the hunt pool and move the Isen army into Helms Deep. The Fighting Uruk Hai set a siege which captured Helms Deep, and the Witch King moved to capture Dol Amroth as well.
Turn X: This is the turn where the final pivot came. I figured the Fellowship only needed 4 corruption, but because only one companion was left I could only place one die in the box. I rolled a second eye additional eyes, but was saving the Lidless Eye instead to help with draws. I had drawn as a card Grond, Hammer of the Underworld, at the start of this turn and knew I could force a siege battle. But I did the math on my remaining dice- I had two events with palantirs, a muster and four army symbols. I realized I had a shot at either the Grey Havens or Rivendell, but not if I converted any dice into eyes. The Fellowship threw three musters, one character and a will of the West. The first move netted a 2 and Gimli was sacrificed. The second move then brought a 0 with reveal, and they reached one step away from the Cracks. One of the musters was converted into a character and used to hide the Fellowship using an Elvish Ring.
I knew at this point that if I did not win this turn, the game would be ending with a Ring dunk. So I examined the situation. The Fellowship had 3 elites in Rivendell (thanks to Kindred of Glorfindel earlier), and two Elites with a regular in the Grey Havens. I had initially thought of going for Cirdan as it would be more weakly defended, but as I moved out Dick recruited an Elite unit in the Grey Havens. I figured that Rivendell might be better suited as a target and headed that way instead. I came into the siege with 9 units (3 elite, 6 regular) and the Witch king, vs. 4 elites and a leader inside. I played Grond to start the battle and had two added to the rolls for each side. Both sides took 4 casulaties but due to change-making issues the Free Peoples ended up with one elite and two regulars remaining. The Witch King's ability got a new card, which let me take inflict one casualty before battle to increase my rolls by 1. I then threw three sixes and a five and cleared Rivendell for the win.
ANALYSIS
I realized immediately I'd been extremely fortunate to win this one. The real tactical error I made was in leaving Minas Morgul open. Having just two regulars left behind would have saved me 2 actions and a lot of heartburn. As it was, I'd had a close call. I attribute my other difficulties due unfortunate dice rolling, as I saw the palantir symbol a disproportionate number of times. I also had some atrocious hunt rolls that put the Free Peoples into Mordor with really low corruption- had they picked up 1-2 more corruption I'd've felt more comfortable going on an additional turn in Mordor as a single 3 tile would have done them in.
The Free Peoples had other problems. They were very unlucky with the recruitment draws early, and I think they ditched a few (King Brand's Men, Imrahil of Dol Amroth, Cirdan's ships) that could have helped a lot at the end. Dick mentioned having also tossed Thranduil's archers, but I suspect that happened after I took the Woodland Realm. They also had more event dice than they wanted, though I don't think it was quite so horrific as what I endured. It did allow them to cycle through their deck. Dick complained that two of the Ent cards and three of the Free Peoples special tile cards were buried in their deck.
Dick has also pointed out that at the end they made an error in using the muster dice too early. If they'd passed and waited for me to move, I'd've faced a stronger army (and most likely at the Grey Havens).
Anyway, I felt this game was notable in that I essentially abandoned the Sauron nation orcs in Mordor and did all the heavy lifting elsewhere. Some of the other events made it extremely tight, but that's why I love War of the Ring.