Post by theimmortal on Jan 15, 2007 9:15:15 GMT 1
After numerous self-play experiments (facilitated enormously by the excellent online client), I've come to what might seem to some as an unexpected conclusion: namely, that crowning Aragorn as king is highly over-rated.
The main problem: it's just expensive. It costs at a minimum 2 dice exclusively to get him, and they are both dice that could be used to move the Fellowship. It will take him 4 turns on average to pay those back, and that's just too long. Gandalf on the other hand costs only 1 so long as he dies first, and Galadriel herself only costs 1 (although getting the Elves to war is expensive, but this has benefits unto itself AND it doesn't cost any dice that could otherwise move the Fellowship)
The more subtle problem: in most situations, crowning Aragorn offers little defensive benefit. Minas Tirith is now the least-often attacked stronghold in the game, so if that's where he goes, he just sits there providing his die and doing nothing else. Contrast this with Galadriel and Gandalf, who not only provide dice but have powerful special abilities that can help swing the game. Gandalf in particular allows the use of the Ents and can arise in a stronghold defensively so as to make life a lot less fun for the Shadow.
Perhaps paradoxically, I believe the main reason I've come to this conclusion is that I am playing the Shadow much more militarily than in the base game. In the base game, it was a very viable strategy to focus on corrupting the Fellowship with character cards drawn via the Witch-king, at the expense of a somewhat slower military conquest. However, now with the additions of Galadriel and more importantly Smeagol, the Fellowship is a lot more difficult to corrupt, meaning the Shadow (ie. me, since it's self-play) usually opts for a faster military game, only playing character cards if they might slow down the Fellowship, not to stop them entirely. Since corruption is not an issue in this kind of game, moving the Fellowship quickly is key - therefore, the two dice it takes to separate and crown Aragorn are two dice too many. Moreover, Strider's guide ability very often makes the difference in Mordor, allowing it to be traversed easily enough in 2 turns instead of 3 due to the high likelihood of a couple of reveals showing up. This is a critical point, because musters rolled on the last turn are nearly useless, since by then the Shadow very likely has their last one or two targets safely under siege and the dice are much better used to speed the Fellowship through Mordor.
In fact, I find in a faster, military-oriented game musters are more useless for the FP in general. This is because there simply isn't time to construct a viable defense in the face of a fast Shadow onslaught.
Contrast this to the slightly slower game where the Shadow is hammering the Fellowship with corruption cards. In this case, the extra resources generated by the King not only produce musters which can buy the Fellowship much-needed time when the Shadow is moving at a more measured pace, but also frees up resources to actually PLAY FP character cards that help the Fellowship - which in the face of a Shadow military rush, invariably fall by the wayside. Lastly, it makes an FP military victory a final option in the face of imminent corruption defeat for the Fellowship.
It seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me that the correct response to a Shadow corruption-strategy is to split off a powerful companion who could absorb a lot of damage, but I now believe this to be true. However, in the face of a Shadow military rush, I believe that the extra die is insufficient motivation alone to justify crowning the King - he must also provide some additional military function to prove his worth and his mettle.
The main problem: it's just expensive. It costs at a minimum 2 dice exclusively to get him, and they are both dice that could be used to move the Fellowship. It will take him 4 turns on average to pay those back, and that's just too long. Gandalf on the other hand costs only 1 so long as he dies first, and Galadriel herself only costs 1 (although getting the Elves to war is expensive, but this has benefits unto itself AND it doesn't cost any dice that could otherwise move the Fellowship)
The more subtle problem: in most situations, crowning Aragorn offers little defensive benefit. Minas Tirith is now the least-often attacked stronghold in the game, so if that's where he goes, he just sits there providing his die and doing nothing else. Contrast this with Galadriel and Gandalf, who not only provide dice but have powerful special abilities that can help swing the game. Gandalf in particular allows the use of the Ents and can arise in a stronghold defensively so as to make life a lot less fun for the Shadow.
Perhaps paradoxically, I believe the main reason I've come to this conclusion is that I am playing the Shadow much more militarily than in the base game. In the base game, it was a very viable strategy to focus on corrupting the Fellowship with character cards drawn via the Witch-king, at the expense of a somewhat slower military conquest. However, now with the additions of Galadriel and more importantly Smeagol, the Fellowship is a lot more difficult to corrupt, meaning the Shadow (ie. me, since it's self-play) usually opts for a faster military game, only playing character cards if they might slow down the Fellowship, not to stop them entirely. Since corruption is not an issue in this kind of game, moving the Fellowship quickly is key - therefore, the two dice it takes to separate and crown Aragorn are two dice too many. Moreover, Strider's guide ability very often makes the difference in Mordor, allowing it to be traversed easily enough in 2 turns instead of 3 due to the high likelihood of a couple of reveals showing up. This is a critical point, because musters rolled on the last turn are nearly useless, since by then the Shadow very likely has their last one or two targets safely under siege and the dice are much better used to speed the Fellowship through Mordor.
In fact, I find in a faster, military-oriented game musters are more useless for the FP in general. This is because there simply isn't time to construct a viable defense in the face of a fast Shadow onslaught.
Contrast this to the slightly slower game where the Shadow is hammering the Fellowship with corruption cards. In this case, the extra resources generated by the King not only produce musters which can buy the Fellowship much-needed time when the Shadow is moving at a more measured pace, but also frees up resources to actually PLAY FP character cards that help the Fellowship - which in the face of a Shadow military rush, invariably fall by the wayside. Lastly, it makes an FP military victory a final option in the face of imminent corruption defeat for the Fellowship.
It seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me that the correct response to a Shadow corruption-strategy is to split off a powerful companion who could absorb a lot of damage, but I now believe this to be true. However, in the face of a Shadow military rush, I believe that the extra die is insufficient motivation alone to justify crowning the King - he must also provide some additional military function to prove his worth and his mettle.