Gents:
Current roster is 15 players (6DS, 5FP, 2 kingdoms, 2 undeclared). If
you're interested, this is the time to join; reply to me directly at
theduck@newsguy.com with your allegiance choice. If there isn't much
interest in neutral positions, we're happy to start with all nations
aligned. Below is Ernie Hakey's novella about the rules variations
that are currently intended (the map referenced is the standard ME
regional map used for grudge matches; if you need a jpeg copy, email
me). If anyone has comments or suggestions, reply to either the group
or me personally at theduck@newsguy.com.
Keith
ยทยทยท
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Rules Variations
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NKA Game -- No +20 to K/A SNA, no 615/620 orders allowed. If you
forget, it is the player's responsibility to say if/when his character
got glitched, etc.
Kingdoms may not both join the same side -- will be first come, first
served. (Note -- MEGames is doing that in game 147 which started with
11 DS, 11 FP, the 2 Kingdoms and 1 solo Neutral -- so they already
have the concept, as it were.)
Each regular nation must place their three capital choices in a
non-mountain hex located in one of the four Regions allocated to their
Allegiance. Other pop centers may be placed anywhere within three
hexes of the capital as desired, as long as at least 6 hexes from the
Kingdom capitals and not in any proscribed hexes as normal, including
in mountains or within a neighboring region! My suggested region
breakdown is located further below.
Nation placement notes:
Since a player can locate a capital in any non-mountain hex within an
allowed region, and regions will be allocated to try to maximize
inter-Allegiance borders for maximum potential for conflict <grin>,
there will still be lots of nation-bouncing possibilities, i.e.
capitals too close, as well as possible pop. center bouncing -- which
is why players will still need to select three capital locations at
least 10 hexes apart -- which may well mean in different regions. It
also means that capital insurance may well still be useful!
Okay -- suggested region breakdown (from the attached map):
Neutrals
--------
Eregion (NK etc.)
Gondor (SK etc.)
Khand
Rhovanion
The regions of Khand and Rhovanion were selected in order to break up
the other regions efficiently, as well as give non-Kingdom Neutrals a
couple of different types of areas to choose from. Khand especially
is rich, but potentially isolated from Kingdom assistance, Rhovanion
is less rich but closer to the SK. As there will probably be fewer
Neutrals than other Allegiances, depending on how the Neutral nations
decide to locate themselves, some areas of those four regions should
be open for expansion -- and if the neutrals wish they can try to
provide themselves with a little bit of time for choosing sides or
whatever.
Setup I:
Allegiance A
------------
Lindon
Mirkwood
Harad
N. Mordor
Allegiance B
------------
Angmar
Dunland
Rhun
S. Mordor
OR
Setup II:
Allegiance A
------------
Lindon
Mirkwood
Rhun
S. Mordor
Allegiance B
------------
Angmar
Dunland
Harad
N. Mordor
We would ask MEGames to randomly select either Setup I or Setup II,
and then randomly replace A and B with the DS and FP (or vice versa)
designations, and then let players know the breakdown of regions for
each Allegiance. That way, we are not preplanning to select a certain
set of regions for our own allegiance, nor planning any particular
locations for our own nations, in advance, but will have to wait for
them to flip a coin a couple times.
Note that both 'invulnerable' mountain hexes, 3329 and 4215, will be
on the same side -- but that should be balanced by the fact that the
rich region of Harad is on the opposite side, and that capitals cannot
start in those mountain hexes. Also, Harad has the third
'invulnerable' location, 2430, assuming it has no docks, and that CAN
be a capital location since it is Hills, not mountains. (The rest of
its pop centers would be vulnerable to attack however, so having it
as a capital would have a down side...)
In each 'zone' -- NW vs SE -- I tried to balance the regions in terms
of resources, strategic positioning, etc. In the NW it was easy --
with four regions surrounding the NK, two had to be in each
allegiance, and alternating them was the only way to go. Similarly,
in the SE, there are four aligned regions in a series -- given that I
made Rhovanion and Khand be Neutral regions -- so again alternating
regions meant Harad and N. Mordor were a pair, Rhun and S. Mordor were
a pair. But picking which NW pair worked best with which SE pair so
that each Allegiance had a viable set of regions to choose from wasn't
easy, so I figured, let coin toss by Clint decide!