Recognize all the names…
10 years ago…
Ok, well this is my very first game. Until recent I’ve never heard of ME PBM (if you can believe it). The last PBM I played was Hyborian War, and that was over 20years ago. Looking at the rules ME appears far superior.
Looking forward to playing with you all…
I hope To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of the women. …
(Oh wait, wrong game…)
-Brian
produces some lembas bread and hands it to Arfanhil
What Elrond meant to say was ‘Join us! We have cookies!’ :hug:
-Amroth of Lothlorien
I have read the posts with interest. Mighty Haradwaith can be contacted at jeremylis@hotmail.com and is keen to hear from Corsairs, QA and Southern Gondor in particular.
Jerry
Greetings all!
The nation of the Woodmen is eager to join in glorious battle against the dark forces of Sauron.
Sam
Blind Sorcerer - doug.bierbower@verizon.net
Any neutrals who want to start a dialogue – let’s figure out how to get you what you need. I am happy to help.
Holy crap Mike, how many games you in now??? LOL Good to be retired huhhhhhhh??? LOL
Hey Paul,
Am in 7 games and SHHHHHHHHHHHHH – don’t tell the wife 
or she might make me go get a job !! She thinks I am only in 4 games !!
Ok DS and FP alike, I’m going to establish some “rules” regarding the neutrality of the Dunlendings in what appears to be a forthcoming conflict within Middle Earth.
The following statement has been scripted by the glorious Enion for all to heed.
We are a Sovereign nation within Middle Earth who wish to remain at peace. As such the borders of the Dunlendings nation are CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.
Firstly, this means the establishment of the borders themselves.
Western Border - From hex 1425 along the coast and everything to the East of the major river is Dunlendings territory all the way to hex 1714.
Northern Border - Hexes 1714 to 2114 (south of the minor river) are Dunlendings territory.
Eastern Border - The western Misty Mountain hexes from 2114 to 2019 are Dunlendings territory.
Southern Border - Mountain hexes from 1425 to 2021 are Dunlendings territory as is the plains hex at 1920.
Any infringement of these borders by military forces OR by representatives of nations (characters) will be deemed as an act of WAR.
To clarify this, any armies appearing in these areas will be met with an immediate declaration to the other side and also with deadly aggression. Any encounter rumours that I receive within these areas will also meet the same end - I will find out who the character belongs to and immediately declare for the other side.
There are NO exceptions to this. So if you screw up your orders and send a character to the wrong place or move an army in the wrong direction then you know what to expect. If it does happen then don’t even bother apologising - it will be too late. You may wish to pass this message on to members of your team that perhaps don’t read this forum.
So, if you discover Tinculin or the Ring of Wind in Dunlendings territory then you have 3 choices. You take the risk of incurring my wrath and go to get it anyway, you leave it until later in the game when I may have made my decision to declare or perhaps you might wish to tell me the location of it as a measure of goodwill. And no - Dog Lord - you do not have permission to try to run your cavalry through my nation to go help the Witch King.
Regarding the Tharbad bridge and the nation of Cardolan. I consider part of this bridge to be Dunlending property. I understand the strategic need to perhaps destroy the bridge to protect your southern border, however, I will require compensation in the region of 10,000 gold PRIOR to the destruction of the bridge. If the bridge is destroyed before the gold is received then this will be considered as an act of war and the above rules apply.
I will drop a note on this forum each turn just so you can’t use the excuse “I thought you had dropped” - don’t worry - I won’t drop.
While these rules are adherred to I will keep to my word and remain neutral until at least game turn 5. If you have been good boys and girls up until then I’ll have to consider my options.
My intentions during these turns are to give myself a good economic base and to build up my military forces for self protection.
So regardless of any other influences in the game, you have seen the rules and know what the consequences of breaking them are. I will keep to my word and attack anybody that breaks them regardless of game balance or anything. If these does lead to the destruction of my nation then so be it.
Alan Gowler
On behalf of Enion
Dunlendings
MEPBM Game 76
Greeting mighty nations of DS and FP… Ovatha here to accept diplomats of both the the Free and the Dark alike… Be mindful to be respectful in your your diplo’s for the Gods we worship fear none! misonor@yahoo.com
Greeting Mighty Dun Nation,
Very straight forward communication I like that !! Free Peoples of middle Earth have no problem abiding by your territory restrictions !! This is your only restrition that we agree with right off the bat – as for an arty in your territory – now that we know where you stand on this subject we will approach that as a team when and if it happens an arty is within those boundries and decide what to do then as a team !!
Now regarding the THARBAD Bridge – Its just what you called it THARBAD bridge – not nin-in-Eilph bridge so exclusive rights would be that its Cardolon’s – but we shall not argue over ownership of the bridge and will conceed that half is yours and thus 5000 Gold Compensation is all that would be required from us if we decide to take it down , The free think this is more then fair Compensation !!
Either way it goes – welcome and good luck
Mike (noldo) on behalf of free nation of ME
Personally – -- just want to say I got a kick out of your posted message – been a long time since I seen something Like that – LOL
Greeting Ovatha ,
with you aboard that makes 5 neutrals all acounted for – Glad don’t have to send out communications through Clint and Co !! We shall gladly be contacting you and all other neutrals and giving sit-reps to all who provide us an address to send one to – Duns gonna be a little hard as he didn’t provide one and I will not post a sit-rep – Like to use sit-rep to ferret out spy’s !! Welcome aboard
Mike – (noldo)
Ok, I’ve considered my response to this carefully… I did consider not replying to it at all but decided that as it is the first turn I would generously add more detail to what I’ve written earlier.
It’s possible that I haven’t been totally clear in the details of my “rules” and the consequences of not adherring to them. It’s perhaps worth me going into why I’ve decided to set the rules.
Basically, I don’t want to have to make a decision on which way to declare. I want the FP or the DS to do it for me by breaking the rules. In that way I absolutely can’t be accused of “doing the dirty” on anybody. I feel that the rules that I have set are fair. They obviously impact slightly more on the FP because of my geographical position in the game. The reason for claiming the Misty Mountain hexes is to offset the effect of this by stopping the DS camping them for Dragon recruitment. In roleplaying terms I am simply looking after the best interests of my people - to attack the first side that threatens me in any way.
I labelled the bridge in question the “Tharbad Bridge” to make it totally clear to the Cardolan player which bridge I am talking about. I’m certainly not going to get into an argument over what the name should or shouldn’t be. The cost of rebuilding a bridge over a major river is 5,000 gold and uses 10,000 timber. It is very rare that the price of timber falls to 2, meaning that the total cost of rebuilding the bridge will effectively be 25,000+ gold. (More than likely much more). Therefore I feel that the 10,000 gold required to take down the bridge is more than generous.
So, in summary, the rules that I have set are not negotiable. Any infringement of them (by either side) will result in a declaration to the opposing side. As I’ve already stated, if the rules are broken (by either side) then as far as I’m concerned that will be the declaration of war. In other words it won’t need me to tell the side concerned that I will be attacking them.
The bottom line of this (for both sides) is to read the rules carefully. If it’s decided that you don’t want the alliegience of the Dunlendings then by all means feel free to infringe the rules to your hearts content…
Alan Gowler
On behalf of Enion
Dunlendings
MEPBM Game 76
I don’t think it was Mike’s intention to be rude, and I can assure you all of the Free do respect the right of the Dunlendings to claim sovereignty over the area that you’re suggesting (and the bridge).
We were just wondering amongst ourselves whether the price for the bridge’s destruction was negotiable or whether you had fixed it at 10,000. The reason is that in your original post you stated that you required ‘compensation in the region of 10,000 gold’, which we took to mean that you were willing to be flexible over the issue.
Now that we know you’re not, that’s fine. I can assure that none of us wish to make an enemy of the Dunlendings.
Gajendra
Envoy of the Sindar
Many thanks for the quick reply!
I totally understand that Mike’s intention wasn’t to be rude. (Apologies if the tone of my reply came across that way)!
I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I worded the original post badly and should have used “to the sum of” instead of “in the region of”.
My bad! (The price is still 10,000 though)! 
Alan
First turn is in, everything went to plan for me. This is really just a quick note to NG to let you know that the army at 1920 has no hostile intentions, I’m just posting a camp. (This is within the boundaries that I set out at the start).
As I can’t see much on my map, I’d appreciate somebody giving me a quick overview of what’s happening. On this forum please.
Alan Gowler
Dunlendings
Alan – Duns,
Quick sit-rep – Looks like so far everyone is doing really nothing but Normal moves !! Fk has moved a large army onto 3124 , NG has caught and stopped the starting LR cavalry at 3129 !! Sg and harad navy stopped one another at 2729 !!
Eothraim/NG are facing a small army of the Dark Lts at 3018 , Dwarves is on 3506 of the Dragn Lord – while Dragon ord hasn’t moved anything but n army onto the sinda villge at 2915 !!
Wk has moved onto 2405 as well as a small army (cav) i would expect onto 1406 !! No Sign of Dog Lord , IK and rest of Dark Lts troops !! If missed anythng will post it or unless evils get to it before I do !! Good gameing !!
Mike – Noldo
Mike said it all really. There’s nothing too remarkable to report yet.
If there is anything in particular you would like to know, though, feel free to get in touch.
Gajendra (Sinda Elves)
Just submitted my orders for the next turn (just to make sure that you know I’m still alive and kicking with no intention of dropping)!
Alan Gowler
Dunlendings
Heh, no worries. None of the FP thought you had been swallowed by the Mouth of Sauron or had fallen into the Crack of Doom…(sorry couldn’t resist that last one).
We’ll give you the highlights of what occurred elsewhere in Middle Earth when we get the results of the turn tomorrow.
Ovatha reviews His royal gaurds with dilplomat of Sauron in tow. listening to his promises of gold and plunder… Ovatha mutters under his breath remembering the past alliances with them lead to glory but also nothing more than death to his people and little wealth his kingdom has only come in times of peace… Upon the mention of Sauron willing to let him keep the lands he captures in Rhun Ovatha eyes turns to flame and pulls Usriev cleaving the diplomat in half… The blood sprays all over himself and several of the royal guards nearby!.. Ovatha roars to War! We shall take what we please from Sauron for our own glory! Gorovod go to the white city and declare our intent to join the Free!