|
Post by mrweasely on Aug 17, 2006 7:16:21 GMT 1
I played a game tonight where Sauron went to war because he was attacked by Mighty Northern Power Rangers early. With that saved action die, Sauron played Orcs Multiplying Again, then took 12 hits from Dol Guldur + Moria and stomped slumbering Lorien into a scorched crater.
That's not to say Galadriel wasn't there. She was. She even got one muster in. It was close, and without a lucky draw of Grond, Hammer of my Underpants she'd have mustered out the elven bag in her defense, I'm sure.
But the elves simply started the whole war too far up the muster track to fend off an early Lorien rush, at least not once Orcs Multiplying Again hit the table.
My current thinking is to plan to spend the first two musters politically on the elves. That means if Lorien gets rushed, then they can at least get to 3 elites and a regular before the first fighting starts. If Lorien isn't rushed, Galdriel denial is mighty difficult.
This replaces my pre-expansion behavior of "1 muster for Gondor, then try like h*ll (and fail) to get one of the DEW powers to a musterable state before being wiped out."
Do the wise have advice on allocating the early musters, such that Gally comes into play and isn't immediately smote?
|
|
SevenSpirits
Nazgûl
PlayTester
Sauron meant no harm. He only wanted to draw the extra cards...
Posts: 283
|
Post by SevenSpirits on Aug 17, 2006 7:30:07 GMT 1
Well, I have always felt like early musters on elves in the expansion are very good. You get the extra die, and you get to muster WR up. Who really cares if they besiege MT without you getting a muster in? Attacking MT is so 2005. But I also have not been that successful as FP recently, so I can't say that's necessarily good advice.
|
|
|
Post by Goodgulf the Grey on Aug 17, 2006 16:21:22 GMT 1
This is a great topic and one that makes the expansion opening moves more interesting...
Early Musters on the Elves certainly will help the FP player get Galadriel and probably keep her around. This also can help if SP tries for DEW since WR will be able to muster a defense -- Disadvantage is that the SP can attack Gondor / Rohan early while they are far from war.
The problem is that the SP early moves don't "giveaway" his intentions and he can be flexible for turn 1 and usually turn 2 before he has to commit to a particular move. The FP will have about 3 Muster dice to use during the first 2 turns and must commit to something.
I still use most early Muster dice on cards if possible but if none are available and Sauron has not made his intentions obvious then I still tend to Muster once in Gondor and then either the Elves/North/Rohan depending on my overall strategy for that game.
|
|
|
Post by jimchris on Aug 18, 2006 7:12:03 GMT 1
In my opinion, it's the same old story: if FP reinforces a position, go somewhere else. As SP, if FP is using 3-4 muster dice to get Galadriel ASAP, I'll put MT under siege before the second elite comes in, or burn Rohan.
FP has a lot of things to do with the muster dice during the first couple of turns... getting galadriel, pushing Rohan for two, pushing Gondor for one and getting the Ents costs 7-8 dice - and that's without mustering any actual troops yet!
|
|
|
Post by mrweasely on Aug 18, 2006 18:18:18 GMT 1
I never push Rohan politically anymore, that's what Theodred's for. If I look to the defense of rohan at all, its to play an Edoras reinforcer, then move the 3-stack to Westmnet, and maybe on to Fords of Isen using spare army moves.
No matter how hard you try, Rohan is indefensible. Yet no matter how badly you suck it, Rohan is deadly in the rematch after Helm's Deep, due to the strange structure of Westmnet/Edoras/Anorien. So why try?
If I'm mustering elves, and Sauron's clearly marching on Minas Tirith, then yeah, I'll divert a muster or two to see that Minas Tirith gets its honorable 3r2e1L, but a fast MT conquest for the Shadow means a slow to impossible Dol Amroth, so I'm happy with an early MT.
|
|