Hello Everyone...
The following new games are filling up.
Waiting List: When I get 25 nations into the game I will allocate you your
choice of nation from the list of nations that you have sent me - please
send multiple nation choices.
2 nation game: You can play one or two Aligned nations, or one Neutral
nation.
Bofa: [Game 3] 2wk turnaround game - Veteran or Beginners game - (Vet: ALL
1650 orders available): 1 nation taken.
1650 [Game 133] 1wk: Waiting List, 2 nation game. 15 nations filled so
far.
Last Alliance [Game 145]: Send me a list of 5 nations. 2 nation game. Ask
for details. 16 nations so far. Waiting List.
1650 2wk [Game 17]: 1-7, 13, 14, 17-20, 22-25 available
2950 2wk [Game 232]: Email game. Waiting List. 18 nations taken.
1000 2wk [Game 146]: We have 1 SK, 1 DS nation in. 23 nations available.
Should I make this a 2 nation game?
Note please ask for variant games we can try to get you opposition for them
if you are interested - mostly Grudge teams though - if I get 10 players for
any single type of game then I will put it up for general availability below
and push it;
Grudge Games we need opposition for:
2950: None
1000: Mark Seward
1650: 1 World Championship team, Tommy (1wk), Mike B (1wk), Mike W (2wk),
Guy R (1wk)
WoTR: None Last Alliance: None
I have drop-outs available - don't forget you get a free turn for taking
these up...
E [Early] = 0-10 turn, M (Midgame]= 11-20, L [Late game] = 21+ [A= Aligned
if a Neutral, N= not aligned if a Neutral]
1000: None
2950: Drag (e)
1650: Blind (l)
4/3 [Player report] Game 73 Summation
Kev (Bobbins) has asked me to summarise the DS victory in game 73. So how
about the following:-
Game 73 came to its end on turn 19 with the Free folding quickly after the
fall of Minas Anor and then Pelargir. In truth the game had been over
before that but they put on a brave face and kept fighting, for which they
deserve a lot of credit.
The DS team enjoyed a good team spirit throughout, with only a few minor
incidents ruffling feathers over which we'll draw a veil... That really was
the key to our victory, working together - sharing artefacts and funds,
frequent communication and the inspirational leadership of Bobbins whose
Cloud Lord managed to notch up 38 kills in those 19 turns. Surely some kind
of record?! Paul Leard in his very first game of Middle Earth finished the
game with his Long Rider in 2nd place, partly through his own skills but
also through the excellent advice and support he enjoyed from the rest of
the team.
Nowhere was our team spirit exemplified more than in Eriador where the DS
Rhudaur under Jeremy Hill combined forces with the Witch King and Cloud Lord
agents to outthink and outfight Arthedain, Cardolan, Dunlendings, the Noldo,
Dwarves, Woodmen and the Sinda. It maybe that Rhudaur ended the game with
less vp's than most Free nations but there can be no doubting that, given a
couple more turns, his victory in the northwest would've been complete.
Also important to our victory was the poor diplomacy on the side of the
Free. At game end Rhudaur, Easterlings, Harad and Corsairs were all in the
DS ranks - giving us a huge advantage in terms of manpower and characters.
For the record our team consisted of:-
Witch King: Kev O' Keefe; later Robert Bolin, Dragon Lord: Robert Bolin
until he went broke later in the game with a misplaced shipment of gold
(oops), Dog Lord: Thomas Kampmann, Cloud Lord: Kev O' Keefe, Blind Sorcerer:
Jon Lowe, Ice King: Shaun Walker, Fire King: Matthew Riley, Long Rider:
Paul Leard, Dark Lieuts: Bruce Johnson (a truly great layer (sic)),
Corsairs: Paul Marshallsay, Harad: Ulrik Bisgaard, Rhudaur: Jeremy Hill,
Easterlings: Mark Anthony
Now, I'm off to wash Ren's socks. After all he has to hang his boots up and
the smell is NOT pleasant.........
Matthew a/c 104548
5/3 [Player report] Summary of ME FA 48
This game ended in turn 31 with a Free People victory. Since history is said
to be always written by the winners, well, I'll do my very best.
It started as a three-team-game with the North-Kingdom-Alliance neutral,
South-Kindom-alliance DS and the FP with 9 nations while the others had
eight each. The neutrals started in Eriador, the area west of the Misty
Mountains and North of the Gondorian Mountains. The DS settled in Gondor,
Harad, Khand and the south-western part of Mordor, while the FP occupied the
rest except the northern regions, with three nations in Mordor, four in
Mirkwood/Fangorn, and one each in the Iron Hills and at the Sea of Rhun.
Right from the beginning, there was heavy conflict between the two Kingdoms,
each supported by their local allies. But it was quite clear that there
would be war between the DS and us very soon. When the war came, I asked the
neutrals for a truce, but their leader Dave Tomley told me that a war at two
fronts was the nature of the game. The neutrals gave us some more time
before they attacked over the pass of Goblin Gate, but by turn six we were
fully engaged with their forces.
I will now try to give an account of the game from my point of view and then
follows a short description of every FP nation.
My setup was meant to be an allround-emissary-agent nation to support the
military frontline with ressources and characters. Unfortunately, the
frontline was at my backdoor and I had to go military myself very soon.
My location was in the south-east of Mordor and I thought this to be remote,
but I soon learned that it was in fact the center of the action for some
time. Looking at my first turnmap, I knew that this game would be very
interesting, but also probably very short for me. I had three DS as close
neighbors and a fourth not far away. On turn two, I also gathered that some
(if not all) of them had SNA "hire armies at no cost", because there were no
less than seven DS army icons on my map, even at villages.
After some thought, I realised that my chances to survive would lessen the
further the game would go on - after having improved all their pop centres
they could have simply overrun me with their masses of troops. So a truce
was no option and I prepared for war, improving my capital and backup to
cities a.s.a.p. My advantage was that both of them were in the mountains and
easy to defend. In turn four, the first battle was at hand, and I was able
to hold them off for some time. But by turn eleven, they finally had
captured both capital and backup, and without the help of my teammates, the
game would have been over for me.
But by then I could draw upon the help of my allies, both the agent-nation
and the weakness-nation had their squads ready where I needed them. Thus,
the DS pop centres were repeatedly "visited" and they had grave losses of
characters, armies and gold. Military support was also arriving from the
northern part of Mordor and by turn 14, the DS were asking for a truce,
since their war against the neutrals seemed not to go very well, either.
I was very reluctant to agree on a truce, for the reasons described above.
Why should we now let the DS recover to attack me again? And the benefits
the team would have had in other regions of the map were not substantial,
either. So I stated some demands to regain my lost pop centres, but the DS
disagreed and even after I had cut the demands down refused my proposal. So
the war went on and two turns later, the DS dropped. By then I was reduced
to half of my pops, had lost about 7000 hi and five characters, but I was
alive. It took me some time to recover but then I was able to support the
other front that now was far away from me with some troops and characters,
because now it was us against the Neutrals.
In the north, they repeatedly intruded Mirkwood and did some damage to our
pop centres. But the combined effort of the FP nations in that area drove
them out. After their tasks was fulfilled in the south, both weakness- and
agent-squads concentrated on the Neutrals in the Grey Mountain area and were
succesful soon.
The well-organised artefact-hunt payed off and we were in possesion of the
Ring of Wind and several lesser agent and stealth items. The Neutrals for a
while controlled large parts of Southern Gondor and even captured Minas
Tirith with great effort. After some time, we drove them out with combined
character and army attacks.
They seemed not to be able to draw enough troops to stop our growing forces,
and meanwhile we had developed strong economies such that gold was no
problem for any of our team. The Gap of Rohan fell and we crossed the Misty
Mountains. The agent and weakness-squads caused great losses, and although
the Neutrals too had some good agents, they were not nearly as succesful as
ours.
In turn 31, they conceded victory to us.
Here is our team in numerical order:
# 3 Glass Hammer played by Sam Roads, location Sea of Rhun
Mage/Weakness nation, also did a lot of artefact research. Had 31 kills
combined weakness and challenges. Very effective and teamlike, didn't give a
damn for own victory points.
# 4 Tleilaxu Tygers played by Clint Oldridge, location NE Mordor
Meant to be an Agent/Stealth nation, but had to go military as well. Great
economy, giftet much gold and many pops to teammates. Did a lot of scouting
for our agent and weakness squads. Very good agents in the late game, 19
kills.
# 5 Naglar played by Andrew Hay, location Fangorn Forest
Mage/Artefact hunting nation. Was unfortunately located close to the front
and had to hire lots of troops, lost his capital to the neutrals. Was
involved in a lot of fighting around the gap of Rohan. Andrew also did a
very good job keeping our artefact and character lists.
# 6 Galadrhun (myself, see above)
# 7 Old Race played by Marcus Mauermann, location SE Mirkwood
Military Nation with agent support. Highly involved in the fights in
Mirkwood and in the Gondor area, held the most strategic pops of our team.
Did a lot of our military coordination. Good economy, large armies, good
emis and agents.
# 8 Norveneor played by Mathias Bergolte, location SW Mirkwood
All-out military nation, was placed close to the neutral front and suffered
heavily from their attacks. Hired troops wherever possible and was able to
fight them off time after time. Also used his emis well. Invaded their
territory and did a lot to break the resistance. He also did a very good job
keeping the map, which was a lot of work.
# 9 Hospodars played be Holger Wenke, location NE Mirkwood
Our Agent nation. Very effective, sent his squads where we needed them. Had
37 kills at game end, held both the RoW and the RoC and some lesser
ag-arties.
# 10 Here's mine played by Kasper Ambeck-Madsen, location Iron Hills
Mage/Artefact hunting nation. Also had good emis and some large cavalry
armies. Unfortunately, Kasper got bored after the DS gave in and dropped.
Mathias (#8) took over and utilized the nation to good team effort. Held the
most artefacts at game end.
# 11 Mountain Guard played by Brian Thorsbro, location NW Mordor
Classic dwarven military nation. Very good commanders and challenge ranks.
Huge armies which dominated Gondor. Needed some support, but a very good job
for his first game at all.
All in all, this victory was due to our good team work and coordination. It
was great fun and I'd like to thank all my allies. I am looking forward to
see some of them in FA 144 (as well as our former enemies around Dave
Tomley).
At last, the final standings:
Galadrhun 1967, Old Race 1733, Tleilaxu Tygers 1517
Bernd Luehrsen
30/1 Two Face to Face events planned: One in the UK one in the US.
UK Game: We're now planning a Cardiff game July26 (Fri) - 28th (Sun) So far
we have 18 (+4 possibles) players for that. For those that that can't make
the Friday it's fine to have turns run by someone else for the Friday.
(Start early Friday afternoon).
US Game: Venue to be arranged. One in Minneapolis (very likely) and one in
Washington DC/Las Vegas OR Chicago Date 14-16th June (Fri-Sun) and 8-10th
June (Sat-Mon) . Same format as below. 67 players interested
UK: A deposit of �15 is needed per position. Turns cost �2.90 for the 1st
position and �2.50 for the 2nd position per turn.
US costs: $4.10 or $3.50 for the 2nd position, with $50 for flight and $25
deposit. (I estimate around $125 for US players for the w/end plus whatever
expenses you have). With 18 turns run.
Thanks
Clint
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