Gandalf leads his Rohirrim Men to victory!
Our LOTR games died down for a bit because of school work, but now they're back in full swing - we even have a new member in our playgroup.
For this game, I was playing my Gandalf Rohan/Besieger deck against Ninad's Gondor Wraith/Uruk deck and Will (the new guy) who was borrowing my Gondor Knights/Ringwraiths deck.
Starting:
Me: Gandalf, Leader of Men; Eowyn, Desperate Maiden
Will: Denethor, Steward of the City; Faramir, Prince of Ithilien
Ninad: Dead Man of Dunharrow; Oathbreaker
(all of us are playing variations of frodo, no abilities are used)
Will bids 2 to got first, Ninad bids 1 to go second, I bid 0 and go last
Will's turn 1: Starting location is Steps of Edoras. Will plays a hobbit sword and moves to Rohirrim Camp; Ninad plays Worthy of Mordor for 0 and an Uruk Pikeman with an Isengard Sword for all 6 tokens. Will assigns Denethor to fight, playing War and Valor to defeat and kill the Pikeman. Will moves again to The Dimholt. I play Great Siege-Towers for 1 token, leaving 3 in the pool. Will sits.
Ninad's turn 1: Ninad plays Gandalf, Defender of the West and another Dead Man of Dunharrow. I play Orc Destroyer, and Will plays Ulare Lemenya, Black Enemy. Ninad assigns Gandalf to the Orc Destroy, loses and takes a wound. Ninad assigns one Dead Man to Ulare Lemenya. Will plays a Houses of Lamentation, and Ninad plays an End of Game, winning and killing the Nazgul. Ninad moves again. Will plays Morgul Predator; Ninad assigns the Predator to Gandalf and the Destroyer to Oathbreaker, taking a wound on each and stopping.
My turn 1: Hobbit sword, Swift steed on eowyn; move; Ninad plays crushing Uruk; Gandalf takes the wounds, I move again; Ninad plays another Crushing Uruk; I assign frodo and eowyn; I play longspear on eowyn; he exerts both to get rid of sword and longspear, and stop
Will's turn 2: Will plays Isildur and a knights spear on faramir; moves to Isenwash; Ninad plays squad of uruk-hai; Will assigns Faramir; playing dagger strike to win and wound the uruk twice; Will moves to City Gates; Ninad plays Patrol of Uruk-Hai, 2 Vicious Uruk; I play Gorgoroth Garrison; Will assigns Faramir to Squad and Patrol, Denethor on the Garrison, and Isildur and Frodo each on a Vicious Uruk; Faramir dies, Will assigns two threat wounds on Frodo, and one on Denethor; Denethor loses and takes a wound, Isildur loses and takes a wound, and Frodo loses and takes 2 burdens; Will stops
Ninad's turn 2: He heals Gandalf of 2 wounds and moves; I play Shagrat and Some Secret Art of Flame; Ninad assigns gandalf, takes 2 wounds and stops.
My turn 2: I heal Gandalf for 2, Eowyn for 2, and frodo for 1; I play strong arms at city gates and move; Will plays Lemenya with a Nazgul Blade; use eowyn and dernhelm's blade to kill lemenya (exertion from steed); I move; Ninad plays Tyrannical Uruk, Will plays Ulare Nertea; Eowyn takes 1 wound from the Uruk; I play all save 1 on gandalf, will plays houses of lemntation, I take a wound; I stop.
Will's turn 3: He plays Aragorn with Anduril and a steed, a Gondorian Knight, and Ingold; ninad plays an uruk pikeman and a vicious uruk with a berserker torch; I play a gorgoroth axeman and a gorgoroth sapper. Aragorn kills the vicious uruk, but Isilur dies to the pikeman. The knight and Ingold each take a wound from the besiegers, and Will stops.
Ninad's turn 3: Ninad heals Gandalf's wound and plays spectral sword on his Oathbreaker. I play orc taskmaster and exert it once to give Will enough shadow tokens to play Ulare Nelya, Black Hunter with a Steed of Mordor. Ninad assigns the Oathbreaker to my Orc, and I remove 2 tokens from Great Siege towers to pump him; he plays end of game to win combat and uses the +1 damage to kill my orc. Ulare Nelya wins, the first round against Gandalf, and Will draws twice; in fierce combat phase, Ninad uses uses his Oathbreaker and pumps it with Sentinels of Numenor to defeat the Nazgul. He then stops.
My Turn 3: I play an Enraged Horseman with a Swift Steed, Deor, and Gandalf's Hat; will plays Ulare Lemenya, Black Enemy and equips it with a discarded Steed of Mordor; Ninad plays Uruk Pikeman and Our Foes are Weak on Gandalf. I put Eowyn against the Uruk and discard the Swift Steed after it exerts the minion to kill it. I then use a Longspear (as a skirmish action) and Wind in His Face on my Horseman to kill the Nazgul. I move and use Gandalf's Hat to clear the shadow pool. Ninad plays Patrol of Uruk Hai and Swarming Uruk (both of which are annoyingly unwoundable); The horseman fends off the Swarming Uruk with help from Deor,but Gandalf takes 2 wounds so I stop.
Will's turn 4: Will plays 2 gondorian blades, one on Ingold and one on the Gondorian Knight, and a Knight's Spear on Denethor. I play 2 Gorgoroth Sappers, a Gorgoroth Engineer, a Gorgoroth Garrison, an Orc Butcher, and a tower walkway (i draw 2 because of osiligoth crossing) resulting in a total of 5 strength 9 HP 2 minons, with 6 tokens to give them +1 from Great Siege Towers! Aragorn kills 1, but when 4 of his other companions take wounds, Will is forced to stop.
Ninad's turn 4: Ninad plays a Hobbit Sword and a O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! I play an Orc Rager, an Orc Savage, and an Orc Fanatic. Ninad assigns the Savage to Gandalf, and I discard both and remove two tokens from Great Siege Towers to make my Savage an 18 and potentially overwhelming Gandalf. He responds mysterious wizard and merely takes a wound, then moves again. I play another Orc Rager and and Orc Destroyer, while Will plays Ulare Nelya, Assailing Minion with The Witch King's Beast, Fell Creature. Ninad assigns the Rager to Frodo, who takes a wound, and Gandalf to the Nazgul, preventing the wound with Intimidate. The Savage and Destoryer each are wounded by a wraith. In fierce comabt, Ninad assigns Frodo to the Nazgul and uses two Noble Intentions. For reference, Frodo is now strength 13 (+1 from the ring, +2 from the Hobbit sword, +1 from O Elbereth!, and +3 from each NOble Intentions) and defeats Ulare Nelya!
My Turn 4: At this point, everyone is at site 7, so I realize if I don't push to 9, someone else will. Since my free people better than my shadow, I play Eomer, Guardian of the Eastmark, a Swift Steed on Eowyn, and a Hobbit sword on frodo and prepare for the worst. Luck was on my side though, and the only minion they had was a Morgul Predator! I let my Enraged Horseman take a wound, exert Eomer bounce the Predator, use Gandalf's Hat to remove remaining shadow tokens. My opponents both concede since they don't have the minions to get past my 4 companions to Frodo!