Council of Elrond

Hi folks, come join us in Sacramento for a fun day of MECCG at Conquest Avalon.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. we have the good guys.
Wizards of Middle Earth is a game for 2 to 5 players in which each player takes the role of one of the five wizards sent to Middle Earth to beat Sauron. You build fellowships of heroes, gather treasures, slay monsters and rally groups of Free People to your cause. A council can be called by the first wizard to reach 20 points and then everyone else gets one last turn before the winner is determined. You can also win instantly by finding the One Ring and destroying it in Mount Doom.
This game uses a large map, cards, dice and a miniature of the five wizards. All components are provided. Players don’t need to bring anything but themselves. The game takes about 4 hours with a dedicated guide or teacher (me).
Even more background: This boardgames uses the components from the Wizards of Middle Earth Collectable Card Gam (MECCG) published from 1995 to 1999. It is a multiplayer variant and a game cube of that game. I’ve been running this game at conventions since 2006.

Then, Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. to 8 p.m.), we have the bad guys

Nazgul of Middle Earth is a game for 2 to 9 players in which each player takes the role of one of nine Nazgul commanded by Sauron. Your companies of trolls, orcs or minions will gather treasure, slay villages and recruit armies (or dragons) to your cause. An audience with the Dark Lord can be called by the first Nazgul to reach 20 points and they everyone else gets one last turn before the winner is determined. You can also win instantly by finding the ring and taking it to Sauron’s tower.

This game uses a large map, cards, dice and a miniature of the nine Nazgul. All components are provided. Players don’t need to bring anything but themselves. The game takes about 5 hours with a dedicated guide or teacher (me). Even more background: This boardgames uses the components from the Lidless Eye Collectable Card Gam (LECCG) published from 1997 to 1999.

The word on the streets is, if we can manage it, we would like to also have an actual MECCG tournament either Friday night or Sunday morning (why not both?) at the There And Back Again Cafe in Sacramento.
Holler back if you are interested and let's make it happen!

Goblin King,

We are planning to be there for Saturday' events. I hope we can attend the meetup at "there and back again cafe". Hopefully all three of us (me and the grown kiddos) can make it.

Red Arrow

hey gents,

just wondering how this ended up in my inbox,

Goblin King
Posts: 182
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:49 am
Contact: Contact Goblin King

Come to Sacramento for Conquest Avalon March 17 to 19

Sent: Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:47 am
From: Goblin King
Recipient: Red Arrow CoE Members
Hey Red Arrow,
We are having games on Saturday at Conquest Avalon! Basically Arda and Dark Arda.
But we also want to have a tournament either Friday night or Sunday morning (or both) at There And Back Again Cafe in Sacramento. So come if you can and bring the (grown) kiddos!
Goblin King

also on a note, I would need to check flights 1st

yours Vastor

Vastor,
Short answer. Operator error.
Sorry. Please disregard.

Here's a wee update:
We are definitely heading over to the There and Back Again Cafe on Sunday morning. Bring your hero constructed deck and we can get a game or two in while we are there!
If you don't have a constructed deck, I can bring a couple challenge decks also.

Brief report here from the Conquest Avalon. My oldest son and I drove to Sacramento Friday and picked up my youngest who happened to be staying in Sacramento.On Saturday at 10 we met the rest of the group to play Hero Arda. One group had three players while the other had four. It was nice to see old friends like Goblin King and Gene(surprise!) and make new ones at this convention. Nice to meet Chris, Kaoni and Brian.
After that we ate lunch and met again at 3pm for the Minion Arda event.This time it was just one big group of seven players. This was the game I really looked forward to playing. I've never played minion before even though I had lidless eye cards. It was interesting since the group was big enough that 3 players can have their turns simultaneously.
The next day we went to the There and Back Cafe. Six of us were there for coffee and toast. After Breakfast Ralph and company had to leave. But my sons and I decided to stay and enjoy the cafe a little longer. We eventually decided to play in a 3 way event. My two sons used their constructed decks. I haven't made a deck in a while so I just used a challenge deck. After that we had a late lunch or early dinner and dropped the one kid at his place and drove home.
*During both Arda events we had a really nice big map of middle earth that Kaoni brought. One was Hero and the other was minion. It really added to the game's enjoyment.
*That game cafe was a really nice Tolkien themed place. They're hoping to get a gaming group in Sacramento and that is a really nice place to do it!
*Brian whom I just met this convention was a recent attendee to the Lure of MECCG in Germany. He showed us some of the cards he got and showed us custom decks of MECCG one of which is the Middle earth the drinking game deck. Really cool!
*Chris gave me and my boys each a set of the custom wizard rune dice set. Those dice are really cool. Thanks!
Many thanks again to Goblin King for organizing this event!

Photos from Conquest Avalon last March

Nice report Red Arrow!
I'll add my own. So my planned day of gaming was almost cancelled entirely by the fact that I was hit by a motorist while bicycle commuting four days before this event!
But I passed off all the cards to one of my friends and he soldiered on for me! I did manage to make it for one event on crutches and that was Nazgul of Middle Earth.
The high point of the game came on Turn 2 when my Lieutenant of Dol Guldur and his Brood of Uglies decided to ambush the Lieutenant of Morgul at the Raider Hold. Prone to Violence is in play from the beginning of the game and all of his orcs were tapped out. I headed over and used Orc Quarrels to cancel the automatic attack at the scene. Lt. Dol Guldur had a saw-tooth blade and a swift stroke so he went right at Lt. of Morgul. I rolled a 7 on my first roll and a 7 on my second roll. Bringing my strike total to 16.
Lt. of Morgul rolled an 11! The crowd roared.
Then, on the body check he threw a 12! The crowd roared again.
I envisioned it that Lt. of Dol Guldur tried to ambush Lt. of Morgul during his breakfast. Morgy stood up, lopped off his head, then sat back down and finished his meal.
The game ended up being won by Morgy's (controlled by one of Red Arrow's sons) by 3 points (which was the MP value of my fallen officer.
A great time was had by all and because of simultaneous play, the game wrapped up in only 3 hours.