David R. Moody - Feb 3, 2005 3:20 pm (#8823 Total: 8866)   
Last played: Soldier Raj, Patton's Best, Blood & Iron (Sadowa), 
Downtown, War of the Ring, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, B-17, 
Sweden Fights On, ASL, MechWarrior, Down in Flames. Reading: 
The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte (Robert Asprey).    
 
Played another game of War of the Ring last night at Endgame with Joe
Oppenheimer. WotR is rapidly becoming one of my favorite games, and last
night's session reinforced that feeling. 

Once again, I was the Free Peoples. A very different game from our first
playing. I sent the Fellowship through Moria, lost Gandalf (which you
kind of want to do, so you can get Gandalf the White ASAP), and got to
Lorien without any Corruption points, so they stuck around just long
enough for Cate Blanchette to give them stuff and set out again for
Mordor. 

Meanwhile, I was doing really well in getting the Free Peoples nations
organized, rapidly pushing Rohan to war and massing a force along the
Isen to meet Saruman, who was also mustering (lots of mustering by both
sides early on). I also split the Fellowship soon after leaving Lorien,
sending Legolas and Gimili to the Woodland Realm to stir up the Elves,
Dwarves, and Men of the North (Event card) and Strider and Boromir to
Minas Tirith to raise Gondor (and so Strider could become Aragorn).
Merry and Pippin broke away from the Fellowship as the result of a
successful Hunt--I sent them to Fangorn, where they encountered Gandalf
the White. 

The storm soon broke, as Saruman sent his hordes across the Isen. After
a brief sharp fight, the Rohan army (with three leaders--I envisioned
them as Theoden, his son (having the foresight not to get killed like in
the movie/book), and Eomer) fell back to Helm's Deep. Joe then made a
big mistake--instead of leaving a small garrison at Isengard, he sent
the whole army into Rohan. I used the first of my three Ent cards to
attack Isengard and eliminate Saruman! Gandalf and the two Hobbits then
headed over to Helm's Deep to lead an Ent and Eagle-assisted
counterattack that forced Saruman's army back to Isengard, which I
promptly laid siege to. 

Meanwhile, Sauron's army moved out from Mordor, harried by Faramir's men
(Event card), and attacked Osgilath. After a sharp fight, Faramir pulled
his men out to Minas Tirith, which also soon came under attack. Aragon,
Boromir, and the army of Gondor soundly defeated Sauron's forces,
causing them to retreat. 

So it was going rather well for the Free Peoples militarily, at least,
with most of the Free Peoples nations at war and the two main enemy
thrusts beaten back. But the Fellowship, now with Gollum guiding it, ran
into trouble in the neighborhood of the Dead Marshes. With 7 Corruption
(12 and the Free Peoples lose), I made the decision to send them to
Minas Tirith to heal Corruption then march into Mordor. 

While Frodo and Sam rested in the White City (and Gollum lurked around
somewhere), Joe decided to try hitting me where I wasn't. Using a
Corsairs card, he landed a Southron force at Dol Amoroth, inaugurating a
long siege. He also sent an Easterling force at Dale, opening up a
northern front and driving the men out of that place. The men (from
Laketown, I imagine) linked up with the dwarf army Gimili had massed at
the Iron Hills. Gimili marched this combined dwarf/men force back to
Dale and into an incredibly bloody battle, in which he and his army were
wiped out and the Easterling army was reduced to two regular units! A
second army moved up to reinforce the battered survivors of the battle
and lay siege to the remaining dwarves at Erebor. 

Hearing the news of the battle at Dale and the death of his friend,
Legolas started to march out an elf army from the Woodland Realm, but
they had to march back as another Shadow army came up from the south.
Soon both Erebor and the Woodland Realm were under siege, and both
places fell, as did Dol Amoroth, but after much fall of blood on both
sides. The remnant of Saruman's army was also able to raise the siege of
Isengard, forcing the army of Rohan back into Helm's Deep (where
reinforcements awaited them). I debated sending Aragorn and the main
Gondor army out to fight for Dol Amoroth or eastwards toward Mordor, but
didn't want to leave Minas Tirith uncovered, as soon Joe had 8 VP, two
away from a Shadow military victory. 

Those last two VP would be hard to get, as massive Free Peoples armies
held all the remaining strongholds (Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep, Lorien,
Rivendell) within reach. It was going to come down to the Ringbearer. A
lucky card draw (Bilbo's Song) got them down to 2 corruption, so off
they went from the White City. Joe, anticipating this move, had Nazgul
and Sauron's army waiting. I had to circle around to Dagorlad, getting
back up to 7 corruption before I even declared the Fellowship in Mordor!

Once in there, it went rapidly downhill for the Free Peoples. I had only
two of the four 'good' Hunt Tiles in the Hunt Pool, and Joe managed to
get FOUR dice in the Hunt Box due to good die rolling. Two spaces into
Mordor, I hit 12 corruption. Gollum kills the nasty little tricksy
hobbittses, takes back the Precious, gets captured by Sauron's minions,
and the good guys lose. 

Awesome, AWESOME game! We didn't finish until 11:30 at night. I really
thought I had Joe (I think he thought that too), and had I kept the
Fellowship from getting so corrupted, I might have won. The tide can
swing back and forth fast in this game. It feels so much like being in
the story. I'm playing it again Saturday evening against another of my
gaming buddies, and I think Joe and I are going to have to play it once
a month. 

Next week, Collectible Minis. Joe's bringing his LotR minis, we're doing
a 450 point MechWarrior battle using the Believeable rules, and we'll
probably also play Pirates of the Spanish Main (just got some new
British ships). Most glorious. 

At home, having a grand time with another awesome game, Downtown. Great,
great fun, and the solitaire rules work well. I intend to teach my dad
how to play.