Card pool at the time of writing (complete). This is the last time I’ll mention this, alongside an expression of relief that I started early enough to avoid the horror show that is trying to pick up missing packs to complete my collection.
Continuing the theme of invoking community-made content, a recent episode of Tardy Takes, a Patreon-only secondary feed for Cardboard of the Rings, saw one of the hosts, Shellin, question the playtesting that led to the creation of Explore Secret Ways. How such a niche card was allowed get through playtesting when it should be one of the first ones you reach for when building with side quests in mind – it’s one of only two Lore player side quests – is an open question. Playtesting – it’s an art, not a science.
I feel much the same, from the encounter card viewpoint, about Power of Mordor.
(A little bookkeeping at the start of the Second Age of the blog. Hall of Beorn, one of two indispensable sites for this blog, the other being RingsDB, has become increasingly unreliable for me in recent months to the point of being unusable – although, in a twist that you couldn’t make up, it worked for the first time in ages for me as I came to write this post! I don’t know how prevalent the problem is – most likely ‘not very’ or there would be a tsunami of grumbling about it in the various online forums/fora. Beorn mentions what the problem is in a Reddit post, and his solution, the use of a mirror site, is agreeable to me. All previous links to Hall of Beorn should still work for almost everyone. In future, links are likely to be to the mirror site, which explains why the layout of the screens will look slightly different to the standard format. And with that, back to your regular schedule.)
There is surely a correlation between the presence of a card that can completely wreck your game and that scenario being banished to the darkest, reserved-for-Fëanor-and-his-ilk, areas of the The Halls of Mandos. And if there isn’t, there should be. Yes, I’m looking at you, Sleeping Sentry. At first glance, Power of Mordor should fit right in – Doomed 3. When Revealed: Count the number of encounter cards in the staging area and shuffle them into the encounter deck. Reveal an equal number of cards from the encounter deck and add them to the staging area. This effect cannot be canceled. That board state you’ve been carefully manipulating all this time? Throw it away, here comes a completely different one. Table flipping incorporated into the rules.
(Another aside. I’m amazed it didn’t get mentioned in ruminating on The Siege of Cair Andros where it could shuffle the three locations that start the game in the staging area into the encounter, thus forcing you to plough through stages 2, 3 and 4. Did I even play that quest right?)
But there’s a twist – two in one post! The aim of the quest is very straightforward, with only one card needing clearing:
Retake the City
1A
Setup: Each player chooses 1 enemy and 1 unique location and add them to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.
1B
Player card effects cannot place progress tokens on locations in the staging area.
Forced: When an Osgiliath location leaves play as an explored location, the first player takes control of that location.
If the players control all Osgiliath locations in play at the end of the round, they have won the game.
The issue here should be immediately obvious. Shuffle all the Osgiliath locations in the staging area, along with every other card there, into the encounter deck. If, having revealed however many cards were in the staging area, there are no Osgiliath locations: victory! On my very first playthrough with the deck that I am hoping to use to advance through the game, that’s what happened with the first encounter card drawn. The deck is that good, eh? In all seriousness, it’s hard to credit that this wasn’t picked up in playtesting, and is therefore a feature, not a bug. Lord of the Rings: The Card game – wrecking with players heads since 2011.
Whatever your view of the card, it’s not one you can plan for so you might as well behave as if it doesn’t exist. With that in mind, what can you control? Those unique Osgiliath locations, that’s what.
Ancient Harbor
Threat: 1
Quest points: 6
The players cannot travel here.
Combat Action: Exhaust a hero to place 1 progress token on Ancient Harbor.
Forced: After the player who controls Ancient Harbor lets an attack go undefended, return Ancient Harbor to the staging area.The King’s Library
Threat: 2
Quest points: 3
Travel: Reveal the top card of the encounter deck and add it to the staging area to travel here.
Forced: After the player who controls The King’s Library lets an attack go undefended, return The King’s Library to the staging area.The Old Bridge
Threat: 1
Quest points: 5
The players cannot travel here.
Planning Action: Spend 2 resources to place 1 progress token on The Old Bridge. (1 resource instead if there is another Osgiliath location in the staging area.)
Forced: After the player who controls The Old Bridge lets an attack go undefended, return The Old Bridge to the staging area.West Gate
Threat: 2
Quest points: 5
Action: If there is no active location, search the encounter deck and discard pile for an Osgiliath location, reveal it and add it to the staging area. Then, make West Gate the active location. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Forced: After the player who controls West Gate lets an attack go undefended, return West Gate to the staging area.
The Old Bridge is the one certain pick. Even with the requirement to have another location in play 6 resources to clear it isn’t that onerous, especially with the existence of a contract that they couldn’t have anticipated when making this scenario – Forth, The Three Hunters! Using that contract, we can hoard resources to clear The Old Bridge so it’ll be going into the staging area. We’ll get to the deck in question shortly. It’ll be joined by The King’s Library. Ancient Harbor’s requirement to exhaust heroes is way too expensive. As for West Gate…I’m sure there is some shenanigans you can pull to make it work. For the life of me though, I can’t see it. You need to clear Osgiliath locations, so let’s add another Osgiliath location to the mix? No, let’s keep it simple. Take the extra encounter card hopefully at a time when you have the means to deal with an extra enemy, or it’s a location so you’re no worse off than if West Gate was the active location, or it’s a treachery and you can take the hit/A Test of Will it away. And if it’s Power of Mordor? Well, the only way to avoid that is to not play the game.
We also have to pick two enemies. Who not to pick is easy. Orc Vanguard and Mûmak are clear no-nos, as is anything with Archery, which rules out Southron Mercenaries and Orc Arbalesters, and anything which does an immediate attack when entering play, which rules out Haradrim Elite. Of those remaining, Southron Commander and Lieutenant of Mordor are tempting as playing them in setup neuters their when revealed effects. The former has 3 threat though, and the latter feels like mocking the card gods, and there are simpler alternatives. Of the three remaining, two are Orcs and we can tech effectively to combat them so Southron Phalanx is left behind. One each from Uruk Lieutenant and Uruk Soldier , the Lieutenant to stymie its when revealed effect and the Soldier because its crap.
Speaking of teching the support, for want of a better term, deck we’re using is rammed with it. As noted earlier, a Three Hunters deck should ensure spare resources to take care The Old Bridge while Blade of Gondolin and Goblin-cleaver specifically deal with Orcs. Goblin-cleaver has Uruk Soldier’s name on it. Let’s repel some Orc!
The Road Goes Ever On 