Galadriel Survival

[mrweasely]

Playing Twilight, how often do you see Galadriel surviving into the endgame when a good player is playing Shadow?

[magicgeek]

I dont think this is a fair question.

Good Shadow going corruption must crush Lorien.
Good Shadow going military should leave Galadriel alone, unless she is eaten first.

It is very telling of Mr W's play style though.

Lorien is not very important if you are trying to sprint.
Lorien is very important if Gandalf is stubbornly refusing to leave the FSP.

And Galadriel is safe, once the Elven rings are used.

I am beginning to think that Galadriel should not enter play in a lot of games, shadow should not let her. This does not mean she has not effected the game though.

[mrweasely]

Lorien is not very important if you are trying to sprint.
Lorien is very important if Gandalf is stubbornly refusing to leave the FSP.

Gandalf-as-guide + Galadriel = decent sprinting team.

• Galadriel gives you a die.
  
• Gandalf shields Strider, so the blueblood only has to take the guideship when the FSP is revealed.
  
• Gandalf makes the character deck worthwhile.
  
• Wizard's Staff.
  
• Galadriel zaps grey eye tiles, cutting time-wasting reveals by 40%
  

[magicgeek]

"Gandalf-as-guide + Galadriel = decent sprinting team. "

No, it isn't.

Galadriel makes Dice.
Gandalf uses Dice to generate half price Character cards.

But, the problem is that character cards are irrelevent in a full on sprint.

And Strider is doing nothing.
And you cant take random companions as casualties, corruption only please, so if it does go horribly unlucky the companions do nothing, the FSP gets poisoned, and you are discarding lots of useless cards.

I think Gandalf as Guide, Galadriel and with The King, is just so much better.
But no way is that sprinting.

Sprinting is killing Gandalf on turn1.
Rezzing him on turn 2
Dunking the ring on turn 6-7, with the shadow scoring 10 VP on that turn.

[mrweasely]

But, the problem is that character cards are irrelevent in a full on sprint.

I'm not sure why I'm saying this again, it obviously didn't get listened to the first time. Wizard's Staff speeds up the Fellowship by substituting a palantir for a tile (which possibly has a reveal icon, or even a stop icon in Mordor). Essentially its a blue '0' tile that you've got 98% chance of drawing once its on the table.

Then there are the blue tiles, which speed up a sprinting FSP, again because they may replace reveal tiles - Each replaces ~1/7th of a hiding-sword with a palantir - not a great exchange ratio, but that's not the sum total of their benefit, either. 3 rings for Elven Kings speeds a sprint for obvious reasons. So does There is Another Way. So does Mithril Coat.

The character seperators speed the fellowship by allowing Strider to take over the guideship mid-turn. Plus if you're sprinting, you're just not going to waste swords to separate, but you often don't want the full Fellowship of the Ring slowing you down, when Gollum is waiting in the wings.

All in all, character deck manipulation isn't huge, but it has a seat at the table in speeding up the Fellowship.

And Strider is doing nothing.

Huh? Strider does a lot. Strider takes over on any turn in which the Fellowship starts revealed. Strider takes over whenever you're sitting revealed, and a character seperates out. Strider in Gandalf's shadow is fully 2/3rds as good at using his ability as Strider in the front. Plus you get Gandalf!

[magicgeek]

Gandalf sprints.

Gandalf rolls 5 dice on turn 2.

Gandalf moves with a sword, rolls a 6, draws a 1R and curses.
Gandalf hides with a sword
Gandalf moves with a sword, rolls a 6, draws a 0R and curses.
Gandalf hides with a Ring. (Muster)
Gandalf plays Palantir for a Blue tile, and Draws a Card.



Strider Sprints.

Strider rolls 5 dice on turn 2.

Strider moves with a sword, rolls a 6, draws a 1R.
Strider hides with a Palantir
Strider moves with a sword, rolls a 6, draws a 0R.
Strider hides with a Muster.
Strider moves with a Sword.


Strider has moved further and not used a ring.


Since Strider is so much better at sprinting, Gandalf shouldn’t be there, so he should be somewhere else so Galadriels main effect isn’t as strong (her dice) and her other eye kill ability isn’t as strong either.

And the difference between
Gandalf rolls 5 dice on turn 2.
Strider rolls 5 dice on turn 2.

Is much bigger.
Gandalf got there by getting Elves.
Strider go there by moving the fellowship, and Rezzing Gandalf.
Getting the elves means you are commiting to muster Elves, not move the Fsp.
Getting Gandalf Dead means you are commiting to the FSP, that is sprinting.
Hey, mustering the Elves can work.
Preparing the Hunt pool for the long march can work too.
But it aint Sprinting.

And everything is still quite hard.


Mental Image Time
7 large Hard Men line up in tight lyrca, beside an one old man in a big hat and enormous beard.
Bang!
Look at that old man Sprint !
Old Man pulls out his staff, and teleports to the finish.

[mrweasely]

The example you cite is interesting but not the way I'd play. I'd save the ring and switch guides at the start of the next turn. Also, I'd play my blue tile at the beginning, so that if I want to kill Gandalf the Grey on the 1r, I can.

Strider's become a slower sprinter ever since he's taken to accidentally capturing Smeagol.

[genghissean]

That all depends if a good player is playing the FP or not. I vote according to my chances of survial.