War of the Ring Redux

On Thursday we had a rematch of the War of the Ring. Somewhat naively we thought that greater familiarity with the rules (on my part) would move things along more briskly. Alas, what it really meant was a closer more competitive game, the result of which was always in doubt. The Fellowship took a fearful pounding getting to Mordor, while Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth, and even the Shire fell to the Shadow. Lorien and the Grey Havens were beseiged, but Saurman perished again, and a resurgent Rohan threatened to capture Isengard.Although all companions had left the Fellowship, or perished, they stood at zero corruption on entering Mordor, and could reasonably expect to make it to Mount Doom. Any shreds of good fortune that remained for the Free Peoples deserted them at this point as the Hunt Tiles drawn were 2-3-0-1-3-3! This time I remembered to use some of the Fellowship Harassing Event Cards that I had, and that made the difference, the hobbits being overcome one step from the end. We were both overcome as well, mostly by fatigue, as the time was past 1 a.m.

Another vastly enjoyable experience, and I feel I have only scratched the surface of all there is to learn about this game. Definitely one to repeat again.

Yesterday I cracked open 3 boosters for the Star Wars Miniatures Universe set, which contains one Huge figure as well as the usual assortment of normal sized figures. As well as Chewbacca and Darth Vader (small) we got Obi-wan Kenobi mounted on a giant lizard. Quite a good haul really and we played a quick scenario where the lizard mounted Obi-wan and Chewbacca took on an assorted force of super battle droids. It was quite close, but the speed of the lizard paid off - it was able to scuttle across the rubble unimpeded and close with the enemy. In fact the Obi-wan figure seemed underpriced (in game terms) for the abilities, costing only 41 points. Darth Vader costs 75 in comparison. It was quite good to play with a couple of powerful (and well known) figures instead of a miscellany of clone troopers or oddball Fringers.

Comments

[Iain]

Thanks for the game. A superb experience! That Mordor Track really hurt. I thought I had it in the bag..