by Xithi
Lord Of The Rings: Our first session.We made it to 52, which doesn't seem to bad for a first attempt, albeit with Sauron starting on 15 on the corruption line.
As a group, we didn't have any obvious strategy, and found the Moria scenario probably took about half the game, as we were still getting to grips with the play. We found our swing at Helm's Deep however, and managed to get the ring over to the hobbit closest to the light for a bit, however that hobbit soon fell to corruption as well.
We shot through Shelob's Lair, which was the only scenario that we managed to complete on the main scenario line rather than the event line.
Moria was pretty hopeless though!
I'm amazed we got as far as we did, but all four of us succumbed to corruption in one foul sweep as we were unable to pay seven cards as a group and Sauron advanced three spaces.
This game is so very clever - it's a co-operative with a great theme which we enhanced with the music from the LOTR films gaining in intensity as the game progressed. My friends and I really felt a growing sense of unease and eventually doom as Sauron approached.
One tends to think of the fellowship's eventual triumph, but "losing" the game is a good reminder of just how bleak the situation gets and although three of us were very familiar with the books and films, the member of our group who was less familiar could still engage with it as a game and as a shared experience. She was also responsible for what became the catchphrase of the group: "Oh, Sauron!", said in a kind of Carry On / Open All Hours kind of voice full of disappointment, as if the dark lord had just come home and stomped his great big muddy boots all over the freshly mopped floor.
