Im about 10 turns into game 854 and thought I would talk about my initial plan and how things have progressed. The game is still ongoing, but I’m not revealing anything super critical.
It is a good idea to plan you first 5 turns and your first 8 champions out before even running turn 1.
My goal going into this game is to run a balanced game of characters, armies and pop centers, with the goal of building up my economy so I can afford the expensive characters and pay for the armies that come along with some of the champions.
Here were my choices for turn 1.
Samwise Gamgee, Merry, Pippin
I think the hobbits are a great deal. You get three characters right off the bat, all with decent emissary, agent skill, and stealth. They are also commanders too, which are always handy to have. As a bonus you even get a hidden town, which helps your economy. Also with the hobbits you get to maximize the number of characters you get on turn 2, which can then be used to recruit other champions and do other things like create camps, nat sells, etc.
Glorfindel
He’s a solid commander, emissary and also has 40 mage skill. Multi-class champions are great as you get lots of value per turn. For example, I have research artifact on him and almost every turn hes researching 4 artifacts a turn. He also comes with 1500 HI, which are key to securing Goblin Gate before it becomes a problem. I think taking out GG is a key priority for the FP.
New Commander
I chose to name a new 30 commander on turn 1. This will pay off big time for the FP. The goal is to hire an army turn 2 and combine with Glorfindel and move on Goblin Gate turn 4 with 2700 troops. Also, the new character allows you to do nat sells on turn 2,3,4 before any of your other characters would be able to as they are out recruiting other champions. This is almost an extra 60-70k gold, which for a small economy is very big.
Turn 3 recruits
Galadriel, Celeborn
What’s not to like, power mage with aritifacts, great emissary, and also comes with a hidden town and a great commander minion, Celeborn.
Dain
Another character that comes witha pop center, in this case 2 pop centers and 1000 HI. I want to continue my goal of building up my econ and this will net me 3 towns and a MT so far. Plan is to march his infantry south right away and through mirkwood.
Turn 4 Recruit
Legolas
Stellar agent and if you recruit him with Frodo, you can transfer the one ring and have a killer ready to go. In the mean time Gandalf and Galadriel will research artifacts trying to find some nice agent toys.
Turn 5 Recruits
Radagast
Another strong mage that comes with two pop centers. He also has agent and stealth which could be useful.
Theoden
Theoden is not the greatest champion, but does come with two pop centers which fits well into my strategy of building a solid economy that can support armies that I will recruit later.
Eowyn and Eomer
Mainly for the 2000 HC. Plan to use the cav to counter any DS armies that might show up at Moria or Isengard.
This nets me 8 champions and 15 characters which will get me through to turn 15.
To sum up the gains it is
Town - Hobbiton
Town - Caras Galadhon
Town - Edoras
Town - Helm’s Deep
MT - Erebor
Town - Esgaroth
Town - Buhr Rhosc
Camp - Rhosgobel
Troops
2500 HI
2000 HC
With taxes at 60% econ is pretty good. I just recruited Denethor and his 3000 HI and am so far so good econ wise. My sells every turn cover my deficit. The sell limit in my game is higher than 1650, selling about 30k per turn on turn 12, so don’t limit yourself to the 20k JO indicates.
My mages are casting 4-10 research artifacts a turn and I have recovered some decent agent toys and some artifacts that can cast lore spells. These are great, as with so many champions there are lots of extra orders that these artifacts can be used on and the intel is really nice to have. For example, I was able to challenge and kill Gollum due to a timely perceive mission. Tracking key characters is super critical, for the DS that is Ji Indur and Gollum early on, but casting a perceive mission on Murazor or Sauron is also good to see what they are up to. I tracked Gollum and Ji pretty much every turn and killed them both because of my intel.
We are on turn 11 now, so I won’t reveal my next goals. But I will update in a few turns.
So far, I have taken Goblin Gate, Moria, Dol Guldor and am knocking on the door of Mordor.
More to come, happy to answer any questions.