Author: Card Talk: An LOTR LCG Podcast

Introduction

While Dave’s Con of the Ring perspective exalted the joys of playing in person, my recap here will be a bit more game oriented. For those that haven’t participated in a League of Cooperative Gaming digital con before, its a different experience. I haven’t been to Con of the Rings but compared to a general in person board gaming convention it is much more relaxed. People jump into games when they can. If you have downtime between games, all the conveniences of home are right there for you. Also turnout for this lower than other League of Cooperative Gaming digital cons since all those that could went to Con of the Rings. I still had a blast playing with everyone. I’ve gone enough of these that I know many of the people that attended and played games with them before. We even still had some new players join us for epic multiplayer on Sunday.

That all said, I have below summaries of the games I played and who I played with. I’ve also included the achievements available for the quest attempted. The full achievement list and any decklists I used or know other people used are included after the summaries.

The Mumakil with Wandering Took

• Achievements
  1. (Code: CON2007) Hey, it’s Like the Jungle Book – Setup – Add a Strangling Python, Territorial Ape, and Harad Tiger to the staging area
  2. (Code: CON2008) Can’t See the Jungle Through the Gorillas – Setup – Add Guardians in the Jungle to the staging area.

Wandering Took and I played this quest a couple times with a Council of the Wise fellowship I created a while ago. The idea being we would use this contract to play around Savage South. The first attempt we went for the second achievement that adds Guardian in the Jungle to the staging area. We got horribly location locked. Second attempt we tried the Jungle Book one which was worse in some ways. Threat in the staging area was higher for the first turn. Then we had a difficult time dealing with the 3 enemies. We got more soon after for a very enemy heavy game. It was weird after we got location locked that we got swarmed like that.

We switched decks after that. The Council of the Wise decks just weren’t doing enough early on or ramping up quickly enough. I loaded up Dale Dunedain Last Alliance deck with a location control bent to it. Wandering Took brought a Rohan and Noldor deck that focused on questing and location control.

This one went a lot better. We tried again for Can’t See the Jungle Through the Gorillas. Despite a strangling python locked down my Redwater Sentry that was my main defender. Having early Northern Trackers that could clear some additional locations helped tremendously. Savage South we just made sure to cancel when it showed up. Eventually I had to stop using trackers so we could travel to get Mumaks into the deck and in play. We managed to capture two and complete the achievement!

Race Across Harad with Thanee and hone

• Achievements
  1. (Code: CON2009) Merely a Mirage – Setup – Remove both copies of Desert Oasis from the game.
  2. (Code: CON2010) Speedrun – Defeat the quest before the Orcs reach stage 4.

Thanee, hone, and I picked this one to play since we all liked this quest. Also we thought it might be possible to get 2 achievements in 1 attempt. We removed the Desert Oases from the game and went for it. I played my Dale Dunedain Location Control Alliance again. It was a fun deck and seemed pretty well suited. Thanee played a threat reduction deck that focused on ally Gandalf. hone played Rohan Discard with Lothirel, Tactics Eomer, and Thengel. We didn’t manage to beat it while the orcs were on stage 3 unfortunately, but we still beat it for 1 achievement. Too many surging orcs piled into the orc area near the end even though our questing power was quite good. 

Into Fangorn with Elliot (Quetzal) and Eric (stoneoferic)

The Card Talk blog crew gathered together for a couple games. We were waiting on Joe (Uruk-Guy) so we decided on a quick warm up game with Into Fangorn. Main obstacle was Hurons attacking during staging because of the one treachery where they all get immediate attacks. Fortunately Eric played mono tactics and I had Wizard’s Voice to help cancel attacks if needed. We powered through in about 5 turns. 

Journey Up the Anduin rn with Elliot (Quetzal), Eric (stoneoferic), and Joe (Uruk-Guy)

1. Achievements
   1. (Code: CON2019) Deja Vu – Setup – Add a Hill Troll to the staging area (two in a 3 or 4 player game).
   2. (Code: CON2020) We Don’t Know the Way – Setup – Add one Hills of Wilderland to the staging area. Keep that copy of Hills of Wilderland in the staging area all game.

With the entire Card Talk Blog crew assembled, we tried for the Deja Vu achievement. All the other guys haven’t played much Haradrim or any of Ered Mithrin. I recalled Journey Up the Anduin being not that difficult and starting with 2 Hill Trolls should be fine knowing we’d need a couple strong defenders. I picked out a Dunedain – Dale sidequest focused alliance thinking that with some of the stages it should work well to complete a couple side quests. I realized later that I was missing some key Dale and Dunedain allies like Guardians of Esgaroth and Thalion. I must have been worried that it would take away from building up Vigilant Dunadan into a super defender to leave them out. Elliot loaded a Victory Display deck,with Rossiel, Pippin, Mirlonde. Eric played his multiplayer mono tactics deck Beregond, Bard, and Eowyn again. Joe brought a Perilous Voyage Rohan Discard deck with Lothirel, Thengel, and Tactics Eomer.

We thought we had Hill Troll defense covered with Thengel and Tactics Beregond. Fortunately, everyone brought decks that started below 30 and had a turn before we had to engage them. We got them engaged on turn 2 with Joe and Eric. Joe played The Muster of Rohan ealrier. This let him chump his troll. Eric used Behind Strong Walls on Beregond for his. Joe’s mustered allies provides enough attack power. Eric used Eowyn’s ability to kill his. While we went on to kill those Hill Trolls a few more times in the game, those first two took some work. 

The game was longer than anticipated primarily because I didn’t remember the quest that well to help the others with deck selection. I forgot about Lonely Lands would take events after playing them and raise its threat. This made things difficult for Elliot who planned to recur Gildor’s Council several times but having it go under Lonely Lands put a big crimp into his game plan. Lost in the Wild treachery also discarded his hand a few different times. We didn’t bring a lot of sentinel or additional readying for Beregond to have him help out with defenses. This made a big difference for Joe’s Rohan deck especially when he lost Thengel to a bad shadow flip. When he said he was bringing Thengel, I thought he would get a Golden Shield on him early but he had a more chump block strategy which was difficult with the Hill Trolls. 

We also hit a couple Weighed Down treacheries. An early one that attached to Pippin eventually got 2 copies of Resourceful. I got one on Bard Son of Brand, but I had an extra King of Dale. Long Lake Trader saved a Legacy Blade by moving it to Bard which was better for us anyway. A bad shadow flip later killed Thengel and really hurt Joe’s deck. 

Despite all these set backs we persevered. Joe’s Rohan deck still did pretty well at combat with Gamling bring back chump blockers and Eomer killing some tough enemies. My Vigilant Dunadan eventually got out with Armor of Erebor and Hauberk to handle all the lower attack enemies. Eric took care of all the big enemies with Beregond then Bard and Legolas ally could kill them or help someone else. Elliott’s deck kept our quest power high and very importantly removed the one Massing at Night from the game. He also got out one of the Hills of the Wilderland we never saw the other in the staging area after exploring the first one and putting it in the victory display. 

It was a great game. I’ve managed to get a few 2 player games with the Card Talk blog crew before this, but all of us playing together was great. We all played decks we’ve been wanting to play or try. It got very late or very early depending on how you view 2 / 3 am CST / EST, but we had a blast. While we didn’t build our decks together we had a lot great teamwork. 

Fire in the Night Epic Multiplayer

• Team 1
  • Wandering Took
  • FunkyMonkeyMonk
  • rees263
• Team 2
  • Durin’s Father
  • Thanee
  • hone
• Team 3
  • burnterror
  • babaarno
  • me (kattattack22)

For my first ever epic multiplayer game, this was a ton of fun. Fire in the Night is my favorite of the Ered Mithren cycle and epic multiplayer made it even better. If you haven’t seen the video then you should check it out. There is also video available for the team lead by Durin’s Father. Wandering Took’s stream is available on his Twitch for now. I expect he’ll upload it to YouTube eventually too. 

Achievements

1. Escape from Umbar
   1. – (Code: CON2001) It’s Getting Crowded Back Here – Have 3 or more enemies underneath a single Narrow Alleyway.
   2. – (Code: CON2002) Bigger and Badder – Modification – During stage 1A setup, engage a Southron Archer instead of an Umbar Sentry.
2. Desert Crossing
   1. (Code: CON2003) Are We Lost? – Setup – Add each encounter side quest to the staging area (Craft Remedy and Find Water).
   2. (Code: CON2004) The Spice Must Flow – Setup – Add a Were-worm to the staging area (two in a 3 or 4 player game).
3. The Long Arm of Mordor
   1. (Code: CON2005) The Long Snout of Mordor – Setup – Reveal a Mordor Warg (two in a 3-4 player game).
   2. (Code: CON2006) Players Have No Heroes, Players Need No Heroes – The objective heroes lose their response text.
4. The Mûmakil
   1. (Code: CON2007) Hey, it’s Like the Jungle Book – Setup – Add a Strangling Python, Territorial Ape, and Harad Tiger to the staging area
   2. (Code: CON2008) Can’t See the Jungle Through the Gorillas – Setup – Add Guardians in the Jungle to the staging area.
5. Race Across Harad
   1. (Code: CON2009) Merely a Mirage – Setup – Remove both copies of Desert Oasis from the game.
   2. (Code: CON2010) Speedrun – Defeat the quest before the Orcs reach stage 4.
6. Beneath the Sands
   1. (Code: CON2011) Get Away From Her, You… – Modification – Brood Mother gains: “Forced: After Brood Mother engages you, it makes an immediate attack”.
   2. (Code: CON2012) No One Left Behind – Modification – The On Track objective gains: “Forced: After a character is destroyed, flip this objective.”
7. The Black Serpent
   1. (Code: CON2013) Double Your Danger, Double Your Fun – The X value on The Black Serpent now reads “X is twice the stage number”.
   2. (Code: CON2014) It Gets Worse – Setup – Add the Southron Champion side quest to the staging area. Add Southron Captain to the staging area as the “champion”.
8. The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat
   1. (Code: CON2015) Quick Getaway – Rescue Abaan during the first round.
   2. (Code: CON2016) The Eye is Upon Us – Setup – Add Uruks of the Eye to the staging area. Progress cannot be placed on this side quest.
9. The Crossings of Poros
   1. (Code: CON2017) Mordor BOGO! – Modification – When an encounter effect has you retrieve an encounter card from a set aside encounter set, retrieve an additional card from that set.
   2. (Code: CON2018) Problem for Future Me – Modification – Whenever given the choice to retrieve a card from a set aside encounter set, choose that option.
10. Journey Up the Anduin
    1. (Code: CON2019) Deja Vu – Setup – Add a Hill Troll to the staging area (two in a 3 or 4 player game).
    2. (Code: CON2020) We Don’t Know the Way – Setup – Add one Hills of Wilderland to the staging area. Keep that copy of Hills of Wilderland in the staging area all game.
11. Lost in Mirkwood
    1. (Code: CON2021) Really, Really Lost – Modification – The heroes must pass through quests 3A and 3C (when an objective location would send you to stage four, go to the other stage three instead).
    2. (Code: CON2022) New Guy in the Office – Haldan cannot quest or attack, and must defend once per round if able
12. The King’s Quest
    1. (Code: CON2023) Spelunking – Empty out the Caves deck
    2. (Code: CON2024) Traveller’s Guide to Eregion – Modification – For the forced effect on stage 1B, always choose to add the location to the staging area.
13. The Withered Heath
    1. (Code: CON2025) Make Haste – Complete the quest in less than 13 Rounds
    2. (Code: CON2026) Dragon Hoarder – Collect all four dragon signs
14. The Ruins of Belegost
    1. (Code: CON2027) New High Score – At some point during the game, have at least six resource tokens on Stalking the Ruins
    2. (Code: CON2028) Extremely Hazardous – Modification – While resolving the Discover keyword, reveal each card with the Hazard trait (instead of a random one).
15. The Hunt for the Dreadnaught
    1. (Code: CON2029) The Ship-Flip – Flip all of your group’s ships to their upgraded side.
    2. (Code: CON2030) Corsair Roulette – Modification – When players prepare their fleet, each player gets assigned a ship at random.

Decklists

It is safe to say that the return of the Con was what I really needed to recharge my batteries about the Lord of the Rings Community. Don’t get me wrong, the community is awesome. But what *I* need is some live play and conversations with people who understand my obsession with a card game. This past weekend fit the bill.

After 18 months of pandemic gaming, online meet-ups, podcasting, and blogging, it was nice to turn off the computer, put down the phone, hang up discord and get the cards on the table with 100 or so fellow players.

The excitement in the room at check in at the first day of the Con was palpable. The energy, contagious. But, I should start at the beginning, because that’s where all epic adventures start.

With little issue, I landed at the airport and I ended up at the hotel by 11:00 PM and there were already several players questing in the lobby to prepare for Friday’s games. I ran into some old faces from the last Con and some new ones. It was a combination of excitement and relief. Excitement to see folks like Steven and David playing with their gaming group in the hotel lobby . Excitement to see new faces like Carl, Greg, Jim, and Joshua. Excitement to get some live games in with Sean. Relief to know that a pandemic and a hiatus can’t keep the community down. Relief that the passion for the game is still high. Midnight pizza was ordered, the night was perfect.

With the 10 AM Check-in my rearview mirror, I was able to sit down at the Con immediately with Shane and Autumn for my first live multiplayer game in what seems like forever and the game was awesome, but, as is always the case in this community, the fellowship was more awesome. I started the official Con with a win: Umbar *and* with who I played with.

The day progressed like a whirlwind. I was handing out swag, playing games, meeting folks, reacquainting myself with old friends. It was phenomenal.

At 6 or so, my official Con Friday was winding down for the day because, as is his usual, Caleb invited content creators to his house for the 3rd annual Mt. Doom BBQ. It’s his way to honor us who produce content. Also, it was the only way that I was going to see him this weekend because he decided that with COVID still very much a reality, he was going to skip the Con. I talked to him briefly about it, and he really wanted to come because Lord of the Rings will always hold a special place in his heart, but with two children yet to be vaccinated, he chose to keep them safe and not risk any infection. The Mt. Doom barbeque took place outside and it was a way for us to just unwind and chat with each other in person. Over an outdoor fire pit, not surprisingly, many of us just talked about life. And Caleb’s neighbors. And comedians. It was refreshing.

At 11 PM we get back to the hotel and games are going strong in the lobby. I join a game of 3 player nightmare Wastes of Eriador followed by the same quest 2 players. I finally hit the sack close to 2 AM.

As Con Day 2 began, I volunteered to work the desk. Epic Multiplayer Dreadnaught was on the schedule and it is the first extravaganza quest right out of the gate. I wasn’t playing it (the whole volunteering thing), but I did end up in front of the Game Zenter with a whiteboard that showed what the players need to do: quest through the first stage with 608 quest points. That’s right. 608.

As the game progressed, in almost an auction style, I would yell to see how much progress players are making and they would yell in reply. I kept tally. After about 40 minutes, the second stage flips and 79 players are faced with a giant ship that has a HUGE 1185 hit points. The ship must be sunk! After 593 damage, the ship flipped and it became a more powerful adversary, and, in the end the final damage was cast upon the ship and it was sunk. I would hazard a guess that it was the biggest game of Dreadnaught ever played and, to cap it off, the designer of that quest was in the room. Jeremy Zwern spent almost all day Saturday at the Con. While I don’t want to put words in his mouth, I got the sense that he was full of pride at what he created and what had taken place. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll come on a future show to talk about his favorite card. And design. And who knows what else.

At the Con that day, I ended up playing just one game because, spoiler alert, the Ered Mithrin quests in 4 player are LONG. After dreadnaught ended, I played a three hour game of Withered Heath and lost on the last stage because my One Ring/Eomer/Eagle deck threated out during an epically long fight with the Cold-Drake.

For me, the gaming (at the Con) ended around 7:30 PM and many of us went to an off site party at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. Some stayed behind. To highlight the difference between Ted and I, he stayed to game, I went to B-dubs. You know him. Not only does he like to talk about cards, he likes to play cards. There was much fellowship and merriment at Bdubs. Party games and conversations about movies “you watched when you were a kid that you thought were awesome but now know are trash but you still probably watch them” were the highlight of the evening.

By 11 PM or so, I was back to the hotel lobby and, as a palette cleanser, we played four player Treachery of Rhudaur and won and then I played a 2 player game of Across the Ettenmoors and we smashed it. It felt good to get some retribution for the loss against Withered Heath. Bed time was just before 4 AM

Sunday at the Con was an interesting mix of feelings. It is, by far, the most chill day at the Con with many folks using it as a travel day and others just laying low after two days of high energy gaming. For me, I was ready to get through a few quests. The day started with Epic Multiplayer Fire in the Night. This quest was designed by Joe, The Purple Wizard and Thomas, Mr.Thomnas. They have created two other Epic Multiplayer versions of quests, Cobas Haven and Helm’s Deep. I’ve had the privilege of playing all three. And Fire in the Night was amazing. I really appreciated the game mechanics introduced in the game. In my opinion, this was their best quest of the three. They have a really good handle on mechanics that force teams to interact and make collective decisions about the game. This quest had many of those decisions and playing it live made it feel even more like the Dragon was burning down our village.

As Sunday wound down, I was able to get a few more games in with folks I don’t normally play with. Despite losses for the rest of the day, it was a win to play live with so many people that I rarely get to see in person.

So here I am. In the airport on my way back to New Jersey. I have to work tomorrow. Life goes back to normal. As I reflect on the weekend, Con of the Rings was just what the game needed, what the community needed. It gave so many of us something to talk about. But, you know what? Con of the Rings was just what I needed.

Enjoy!