Post by mrweasely on Feb 26, 2007 17:57:57 GMT 1
Last night two friends sat down to learn the game. The game is about 400% heavier than the games they usually play, so this was going to be a hard sell. Ultimately, I think we had a pleasant, albeit intense, evening. Also, we finished the game, and it was fairly close - Sauron military victory with the ring probably unmade the next turn.
Even though I could have set up the game in 1/3rd the time, I forced my two players to set up their own forces. I've found that if new players don't physcially put their orcs in Dol Guldur, their eyes are drawn only to Mordor/Orthanc, and they never use their northern forces.
The first turn we skipped the card-draw phase. Otherwise, new players obsess too much about what the cards do (which they can only use once), and gloss over learning what the action dice do (which they have to use every turn). This was aided by the fact that neither of them rolled any event die results. Had they rolled event dice, I'd just have had them set aside the cards for the start of the next turn.
When the Free were staring at their first 4 dice and wondering what to do, I just told him: spend that first sword on moving the fellowship. Then I'd explain the mechanics by example. Afterwards I concluded with "Do that about 16 more times and you'll win the game". Injecting this victory condition into the Free's head on turn 1, before they get distracted by military defense, is essential. I'm sure you've seen the result otherwise.
Sauron's first muster was used to get Isengard to war, which let me explain the political track. His second muster gets Saruman, which leads to an explanation of Minions.
We were playing with National Action Tokens, so I got to explain activation when the free spent their Elven Action Token.
___________________________________
Turn 2:
The fellowship got hunted for the first time at step 3. The '1r' tile took out Strider on a random. The free player started to tear up, thinking all was lost, but I just deadpanned it as "something that happens all the time in this game". Its essential to keep up morale by putting setbacks in perspective.
Isengard spills over the fords with just its initial forces. Rohan builds for counter attack.
Minas Tirith is spared from early attack by Sauron forgetting to go to war.
_______________________________
Turns 3,4,5,6
The fellowship hits a rough patch, getting revealed often and not rolling many character dice.
Helm's Deep falls, but the orcs find themselves besieged by Rhorrim and Gandalf the White.
Ents kill baldie (of course). I didn't bother to explain about ents and Sauruman. A burned hand teaches best, and one die isn't such a big difference with National Action Tokens in play.
Gondor is trashed. Dol Amroth holds on by a thread.
______________________________________________
Isengard reinforcements hold Helm's Deep. Gandalf the White is killed in battle. Edoras falls.
I take this moment of introspection by the Free player to comment that sooner or later he'll lose militarily, and that the only path to victory is by destroying the ring. So it might be wise to start shunting the WoWs into FSP movment instead of musters.
The fellowship sprints 4 spaces on 4 dice, and declares in the black gate. All are impressed.
The Shadow is Moving 3 Spaces teleports in the big Southron force to seal Dol Amroth's fate. The shadow has 8 VP and despairs of winning, for there are no more victory points on his side of the table. I point out that there are quite a lot of victory points in the north, and Dol Guldur has a not-insignificant army.
Woodland Realm falls next turn. Sauron wins militarily.
The fellowship was 2 out from the cracks, and would have dunked next turn barring bad luck.
Even though I could have set up the game in 1/3rd the time, I forced my two players to set up their own forces. I've found that if new players don't physcially put their orcs in Dol Guldur, their eyes are drawn only to Mordor/Orthanc, and they never use their northern forces.
The first turn we skipped the card-draw phase. Otherwise, new players obsess too much about what the cards do (which they can only use once), and gloss over learning what the action dice do (which they have to use every turn). This was aided by the fact that neither of them rolled any event die results. Had they rolled event dice, I'd just have had them set aside the cards for the start of the next turn.
When the Free were staring at their first 4 dice and wondering what to do, I just told him: spend that first sword on moving the fellowship. Then I'd explain the mechanics by example. Afterwards I concluded with "Do that about 16 more times and you'll win the game". Injecting this victory condition into the Free's head on turn 1, before they get distracted by military defense, is essential. I'm sure you've seen the result otherwise.
Sauron's first muster was used to get Isengard to war, which let me explain the political track. His second muster gets Saruman, which leads to an explanation of Minions.
We were playing with National Action Tokens, so I got to explain activation when the free spent their Elven Action Token.
___________________________________
Turn 2:
The fellowship got hunted for the first time at step 3. The '1r' tile took out Strider on a random. The free player started to tear up, thinking all was lost, but I just deadpanned it as "something that happens all the time in this game". Its essential to keep up morale by putting setbacks in perspective.
Isengard spills over the fords with just its initial forces. Rohan builds for counter attack.
Minas Tirith is spared from early attack by Sauron forgetting to go to war.
_______________________________
Turns 3,4,5,6
The fellowship hits a rough patch, getting revealed often and not rolling many character dice.
Helm's Deep falls, but the orcs find themselves besieged by Rhorrim and Gandalf the White.
Ents kill baldie (of course). I didn't bother to explain about ents and Sauruman. A burned hand teaches best, and one die isn't such a big difference with National Action Tokens in play.
Gondor is trashed. Dol Amroth holds on by a thread.
______________________________________________
Isengard reinforcements hold Helm's Deep. Gandalf the White is killed in battle. Edoras falls.
I take this moment of introspection by the Free player to comment that sooner or later he'll lose militarily, and that the only path to victory is by destroying the ring. So it might be wise to start shunting the WoWs into FSP movment instead of musters.
The fellowship sprints 4 spaces on 4 dice, and declares in the black gate. All are impressed.
The Shadow is Moving 3 Spaces teleports in the big Southron force to seal Dol Amroth's fate. The shadow has 8 VP and despairs of winning, for there are no more victory points on his side of the table. I point out that there are quite a lot of victory points in the north, and Dol Guldur has a not-insignificant army.
Woodland Realm falls next turn. Sauron wins militarily.
The fellowship was 2 out from the cracks, and would have dunked next turn barring bad luck.