[OT] The Lord of the Rings: Sample game

Here, me and Artie-Deco will be playing a sample game of the LotR: CCG. This will be just like the sample game me and red84 played of SWCCG, only that it's LotR

I will be learning through this proccess, and this will serve to help show those new to the game how to play.

Now I wait for Artie b/c I don't know how to start

 

First thing we do is bid to see who goes first. High bidder gets to choose. If I bid higher than you I can choose to go first or second. The risk is whatever I bid becomes burdens on Frodo at the start of the game. Frodo can only have up to 10 burdens before he becomes corrupted.

I'm sending you a Private Message with my bid. You send me one with yours, and we'll compare and see who goes first.

 

Sent.

I have the rules open in another window, I'm reading (this time the expanded rules) them as we go.

 

*starts playing LOTR sound track*

 

Okay, I bid 2 and you bid 1, so I go first.

I put out Frodo, Son of Drogo.
I put out The One Ring, The Ruling Ring.
I put 2 burdens on Frodo (you'll put 1 burden on your Frodo).
I put out the first site, The Prancing Pony, and add Gandalf, Friend of the Shirefolk to my fellowship. So I have two companions in my fellowship: Gandalf and Frodo.

Now you put out your Frodo, Ring, burdens and starting fellowship. You can put as many companions in your starting fellowship as you want, as long as the total twilight cost is no more than 4.

EDIT: At this point you and I each put a marker on site 1 representing our fellowships.

 

Ahhh, you have the real Gandalf, ouch =/

I put out frodo, the ring, a burden on him, and Gandalf, The gray wizard.

 

Okay, now shuffle your deck and draw your hand - 8 cards.

It's the first phase of my turn: The Fellowship Phase. I play Fellowship (or Free Peoples) cards from my hand, paying the cost by putting tokens in the "twilight pool" as I go along.

First, I play Treachery Deeper Than You Know. It costs 1, so I put one token in the twilight pool. I spot Gandalf, and you have to reveal your hand.

 

Hand:
Goblin Sneak
Intimidate
Goblin Scimitar
They are coming
Goblin Marksman
Boromir, Son of Denethor
Defiance
Denizens Enraged

EDIT:

 

5 shadow cards, only 3 minions ... hmmm...

Well, then I'm going to play the following:

Bounder (1)
Pippin, Hobbit of Some Intelligence (1)
When I play Pippin, his gt says I remove a burden or wound from a companion; I remove a burden from Frodo.
Gimli, Dwarf of Erebor (2)
Hobbit Sword - on Frodo (1)
and I use the gt on Prancing Pony to put a burden on Frodo to play Aragorn, King in Exile from my draw deck (4)

Whew! Normally I wouldn't play that much in one turn, but after seeing your hand I know you're not going to hurt me too badly ... this turn, anyway.

I have no more Fellowship phase actions, so the last thing we do during the Fellowship phase is move to the next site. Since I'm the one moving, and there is no site 2 on the table, you take your site 2 out of your adventure deck and place it on the table.

 

I don't think I'll hurt you bad period, this is just a starter deck, no BPs added

Site 2 is Ettenmoors

Question, what is the shadow number on the site for/mean?

Oh, and try 2 minions, the Scimitar is a possesion


EDIT: Reworded the question

 

You put Ettenmoors into play, and I move a marker representing my fellowship from Prancing Pony (site 1) to Ettenmoors (site 2). Your marker stays on site 1 for now.

Ok, here's where the twilight pool comes into play, and how the twilight number on the site affects it....

I played cards in my Fellowship phase with a total twilight cost of 10. So there are 10 tokens in the pool right now.

Ettenmoors has a shadow number "2" on it, so I add that many tokens to the pool. Total is now 12.

I also add one token for each companion in my fellowship. That adds 5 more tokens (Bounder is an Ally, so he does not count). 17 total.

Now you begin your Shadow phase. It's the mirror image of my Fellowship phase. You play Shadow cards from your hand, removing tokens from the twilight pool to pay for them. So you can now spend up to 17 to play Shadow cards from your hand.

The twilight pool is a great strategic game mechanic for keeping the game balanced. The more Fellowship cards I play, the more Shadow cards you can play to counter me.

 

Took ya long enough to answer.

Ok, I get it now, cool. Yes, now that I understand the pool, it's very startegic and complex indeed (reminds me kinda of Attrition.)

Here goes:
I put down Goblin Marksman(3), on him the Goblin Scimitar(0), and also I put down a Goblin sneak(1).

3 Questions (I'm not done, gotta ask these before I go on): What is the location number on the Minions used for? Events are like interupts, and Conditions are like effects right? Say if I put down "They are coming", would that stay in my support area (card says to put it in support area) or would it be discarded after the turn?

EDIT: Spelling, and added a smilie to make me not sound like a jerk

EDIT2: Put twilight costs next to the cards.

 

Good questions! Sorry the replies take so long, but look at all I'm typing here!

The location number on the minion is that minion's "home site". If you play the minion at a site less than that minion's home site, that minion is considered to be "roaming", and you pay a "roaming penalty" of 2.

So for example, your Goblin Marksman has a twilight cost of 3. But because his home site is 4 and you're playing him at site 2, his twilight cost increases to 5.

So you've played the Marksman for 5 and the Sneak for 3. The Scimitar is 0 (roaming penalties only apply to minions, not possessions or events or conditions). Total spent so far is 8. You have 9 left in the pool.

You have events and conditions exactly right. Events are like interrupts and conditions are like effects. You can play conditions during your Shadow phase -- just like you deploy Effects during the Deploy phase in our favorite ccg! -- and they stay in play indefinitely, unless indicated otherwise.

Events you play when the card says you can play it. Denizens Enraged, for example, says Skirmish in its gt. You can only play that event during the skirmish phase ... which we're not at yet.

So yes, if you play They Are Coming, it goes to your support area and stays in play indefinitely -- or until something else happens....

 

Hehehe... take a typing class

Now that I think about it, it's better that I'm learning this as we go, it makes you explain it, instead of just throwing a game out there and them trying to figure out how it works. Some newcomers probably have the same questions as I, and with me asking them, they not only get a feel for how to play but most things clarified. Win-win situation

Ok, is the roaming cost every time they are not at their site or just when I deploy them?
I read in the rules that the minions follow the fellowship, does this cost anything for them to move one site to the other? Sort of like move cost in SWCCG? Or is that roaming cost every turn?

Ok, I'm putting down "They are coming."
Does it deploy to the normal support area or is there some special one?

Something I forgot to menchion is that I picked up a extra card from the Scimitar's game text: "When you play this possession, you may draw a card."
Do I have to tell you what the card is?
(I will in this case, so I don't wait for a reply, I drew Bounder.)



(You may notice I catch on quick )

Lets try for no edits this time

 

Now I think he's making me wait on purpose

 

First, to answer your questions:

Ok, is the roaming cost every time they are not at their site or just when I deploy them?
Roaming penalties only apply when you play a minion at a site less than the minion's home site.

I read in the rules that the minions follow the fellowship, does this cost anything for them to move one site to the other? Sort of like move cost in SWCCG? Or is that roaming cost every turn?
No cost for following the fellowship to the next site.

Ok, I'm putting down "They are coming."
Does it deploy to the normal support area or is there some special one?
There's only one support area for each player. I try to keep my Shadow support cards separate from my Free Peoples support cards.

Oh, and you didn't have to reveal the card you drew into your hand from the Scimitar.

Now, on with the game...

.....

(I'm going to try to hurry this along, since I need to leave here soon. I'll pick back up around 11:00PST if you're still around....)


Once you've completed your Shadow phase, we move to the Maneuver phase. Since it's my turn, I get first action. I have no cards to play or gametext to utilize that specifies Maneuver phase, so I pass.

I assume (since I've seen your hand!) that you have no maneuver actions either, so if you pass too we'll go to the Archery phase.

.....

I have no special Archery actions, and I know you do not have any either, so we both pass. Now we each add up our archery total and assign wounds accordingly.

You have a Goblin Marksman in play; he's an Archer and so he adds one to the "minion archery total" -- for a total of 1. (The italicized text on the Marksman is simply descriptive.) I have no archers at all, so the "fellowship archery total" is zero. So, I place one wound on one companion or ally (if I'm at that ally's home site) and you place zero on your minions.

I choose to place the wound on Pippin. I could have put the wound on the Bounder, by the way, since I'm at his home site 2, but I'm saving him for later.

.....

Let's go ahead to the next phase, Assignment. Here we're getting ready for the Skirmish phase. I have no special Assignment actions, and I know you do not have any either, so we both pass.

Now I as the Free Peoples player assign my companions and allies (if at the ally's home site) to your minions. I assign:

Aragorn to the Marksman w/Scimitar
Gimli to the Sneak

Again, I want to point out that since we're at the Bounder's home site, he can participate in skirmishes, but as I said I'm saving him.

Anyway, that marks the end of the Assignment phase. Now we're ready to fight!

.....

Now we're in the Skirmish phase. There are two skirmishes to resolve: Gimli and Aragorn. As the Free Peoples player, I get to choose which order the skirmishes are resolved. I choose Gimli first.

Now that I've chosen a skirmish, we alternate Skirmish actions. For my first action, I pass. (Gimli already has more strength than the Sneak, so it is safe for me to pass my first action, to see what you're going to do first.)

Now you can choose: take a Skirmish action -- such as playing your Denizens Enraged event -- or pass. If you pass, we've both passed and we go to resolve the skirmish. If you take an action, I get a chance to respond.

So what are you going to do?


If I've gone too fast for you, feel free to stop me and ask me questions if you have them.... If I hadn't seen your hand, I would have gone slower and given you a chance to PASS before moving to the next phase....

 

I'll pass.

(LOL, such a small response, to such a huge post. Also, no I wont be around at 11pst, I'll be asleep )

 

Then Gimili wins the skirmish, you take two wounds (Gimili is damage +1) but because the Sneak only has a vitality of one he's dead. Discard him.

Now Aragorn.

I pass.

 

Oh, it doesn't wait until all battles are done to discard like SWCCG? I wish I'd known that before.

I pass as well, that means Aragorn takes a wound, Marksmen is 7, +2 from the Scimitar.


(BTW, before, I meant does it cost anything to move the minions, not the fellowship)

 

Doesn't cost anything to move the minions, as you're about to find out....

So all skirmishes have been resolved, and we move to the Regroup phase. I have no Regroup actions, so I pass.

I assume you pass too (I still know what you have in your hand).

So now you may discard one card from hand, and even up to 8 cards.

Normally I would wait until you're done drawing, but I'm declaring now that I'm going to press on to the next site. Take your site 3 out of your adventure deck and play it.

 

Ok, I evened up (reminds me of YJCCG)

3rd site is Council Courtyard.

The twighlight pool is reset isn't it?

 

Nope. The twilight pool still has 6 tokens in it. And there's your Goblin Marksman following my fellowship to the Courtyard.

EDIT: I move my marker from site 2 to site 3.

The Courtyard has a twilight cost of 0, so I add nothing to the pool for that.

I still have 5 companions, though, so I add 5 to the pool for them.

Now we go back to the Shadow phase, where you have 11 to spend.

Notice I have not drawn any cards. If I choose in my Regroup phase to press on, I do not get to draw any cards. Also, we skip the Fellowship phase; I'm stuck with what I have on the table.

I gotta go now. I'll catch up to you later....

 

I'm a little lost here.. I get to deploy more stuff right? for shadow stuff... but when do I get my turn? It seems as if it never ends

 

There's a "move limit" of 2 sites per turn. I can't move beyond site 3 this turn even if I wanted to. After the next regroup phase, I have to stay here and even up my hand, and then it will be your turn.

We're in the Shadow phase again. You get to play more Shadow cards, just like you did before. The twilight pool is 11. When you're done, we'll go through Maneuver, Archery, Assignment and Skirmish just like before.

Now I really have to go. Sorry!

 

Ok, cya tommorow.

While I'm still here I'm going to go ahead with my shadow phase:

All I can do is put another Goblin Marksman, for 3+2 (5) so I have 6 left, but I can't deploy anything else. So we move to the next phase....