[MEQ] - Middle-Earth Quest #2 - Game Over - The Dark Lord Wins

NotoriusBEN

It should send off warning bells that I have the capability to screw with you, yet I choose not to.

Iron Weasel

The bells have been ringing since last round, Oh Mighty Evil One. I assume you are simply marshalling your strength for the hammer-blow against the World of Men.

Doesn't mean I'm going to sit around the Tower of Ecthelion waiting for the End.

Anyway, as the Dark Lord has apparently chosen not to feed me to a sandworm ...

Two cards to Pelargir.
Back up the Hill to Minas Tirith.

End turn, take an encounter.

stever777

4. Encounter

Lowest numbered card that could affect your location -
The Houses of Healing - Shuffle your Rest Pool and Damage Pool into your Life Pool -OR- Gain 1 favor and discard one of your Corruption cards.

Your choice?

Iron Weasel

I don't think it makes a difference.
Shuffle, I guess.

stever777

Eleanor of Gondor - Iron Weasel - End of Turn

Location: Minas Tirith (Gondor)
Hand Size: 1
Life Pool: 25
Rest Pool: 0
Damage Pool: 0
Favor: 0
Items:
Quests: Hidden in the Ash Mountains - Task: Explore Barad-dûr. - Result: Gain 2 favor or 1 level of agility. Then remove 1 influence from the Shadow Pool.
Advancements: 1 Skill Card; +1 Strength
Corruption:
Reckless - When Sauron draws Peril cards on your turn, he may draw 1 additional card. - 1 Favor Removal Cost
Greedy - When Sauron Plays a Shadow card on your turn, he may then draw a new Shadow card. - 2 Favor Removal Cost
Special: Noble Bloodline - Once per turn, gain 1 Favor when you complete a Quest or consult a Character.

Argalad of Mirkwood - @jakobagger - Start of Turn

Location: Rivendell (The Misty Mountains)
Hand Size: 6
Life Pool: 3
Rest Pool: 4
Damage Pool: 14
Favor: 0
Items: Boat - Your movement cost, for moving along a water path is 1 card (of any terrain type). You may also treat The Grey Havens and Belfalas as if a path connected them with a movement cost of 3 cards (any terrain types).
Quests: Echoes of Bolg's Army - Task: Explore Mount Gundabad. - Result: Gain 2 favor or 1 level of fortitude. Then force Sauron to discard 1 random Shadow card from his hand.
Advancements: 2 Skill Cards; +1 Agility
Corruption:
Special: Scout - Once per turn, you may look at the faces of all monster tokens in an adjacent location.

There are now no characters on the board, offering Hero's choice of Favor or something else.

Location Reference

Will Sauron play a Shadow card on Argalad at the start of the turn?

NotoriusBEN

In true villain bravado, I'll reveal to you all my master plan.

For those of you hoping for an elf to come and rescue Middle Earth in the nick of time, well... He's not going to make it.
Unlike a certain Cobra Commander, I've kept my weather dominator on the hush hush so that scrappy heroes like yourselves wouldn't interfere with my plans at the last moment.

SHADOW - Pool Req'd = 10 - Winter Storm - Play at the start of hero's turn. - The current hero may not move more than once during his next Travel step.

What does this mean? Argalad has no chance of getting to Isengard. There most definitely is a Monster in Fangorn and Helms Deep. Further more, through my connections with the seedier elements of Middle Earth, The Gap of Rohan and the Dunlands are too perilous for Argalad to move through unscathed. He will be forced to stop on any of these locations due to the freak April Blizzard of about 30 feet of snow.

Alright, so what about fighting the ring wraiths in the finale? Yea, that's not going to happen either. I've moved the remnants of the orcs that *were* gathering in Mt Gundabad through the old dwarven tunnels to the staging area in Isengard, where they will integrate with the heartier stock of Uruk-hai. In mere days, they will spread from Isengard and set Rohan ablaze, leaving no one to come to the aid of Minas Tirith from the other armies in Mordor. During the ensuing chaos of battle, no one will be able to stop my ring wraiths as they travel to Eriador where they will scour the land and find my ring, and return it to me.

SAURON'S MISSION - To Rule Them All: Sauron wins if the Conquest Story marker (red) is in Stage III.

Game. Set. Match.

stever777

It's true! The Dark Lord wins!

stever777

Congrats, Ben!
GG all!

stever777

Can't some group save Middle-Earth??!!
We'll find out soon enough in Game #3!
Coming soon to a forum near you!

caliber

Good game Dark Lord! We were doing pretty good the first few rounds, but then we just couldn't keep up with the onslought after that. I figured if that was your mission, we had about no chance of winning and well, here we are. Good game! This is pretty fun.

Iron Weasel

GG all.

Thanks for hosting, stever.

NotoriusBEN

yep, I had fun being evil. why did you guys go after Gothmog? I wasn't complaining, but if you guys used the effort to kill gothmog for the black serpent, you'd have ruined me.

I feel oddly hollow now... no evils to hatch and plan for and generally be a mean guy...

stever777

HEROES' MISSION - Minas Morgul Kept At Bay: The heroes win if there are 2 or less minions in play.

NotoriusBEN

ahh, that's why.

caliber

You defended Gothmog so damn well; if we had taken him down we'd have hunted the Serpent next. But we were so wounded after that fight, and then the Witch-King came out and backed the Serpent up and ... well that was all she wrote, essentially.

NotoriusBEN

truth be told, i was playing by the seat of my pants that whole game. I was literally drawing the cards and true monster tokens that I needed the turns that I needed them to happen. I think I only had 2 blanks the whole game.
my act 1 draws, were a bit weak because I had so many cards that required 5 to 8 influence, but I knew that if I could keep the gap somewhat close, I could at least get a ringwraith battle.

I had back up plans for yellow and black plots, but everything I had revolved around the Uruk hai in Isengard, especially since the Gundabad orcs were taken care of 1 turn earlier than I wanted them to be (teach me to leave only perils to guard it). It was just a matter of trying to make the yellow and black plots that were out there look precariously easy to stop as we neared the Shadow Falls :P

the despondant corruption and that of sands and serpents event actually put my insta-win into a very real possibility.