Hello Everyone
FLAGSHIP 100 has recently come out. Inside I find 11 Middle Earth reports
and 3 company reports! WOW! Most ever - thanks to all of you for the effor
you have made to do this. Awesome. Thanks also to the 76 players who sent
in their Ratings - we did nicely there - 2nd most voted for game. Very
happy with the results there... next year let's see if we can get more uh?!
Some of the other games that Harlequin run did very well here (Rumours and
Articles) and to round it out a CD from yours truly as well. So give
everyone a good slap on the back and thanks for everything - much
appreciated.
Ratings out of 10; Anticipation (A), GM (G), Depth (D, Interaction (I),
Value for Money (V) #Votes [#]
2000 A8.02 G8.26 D6.88 I7.98 V6.79 #42
2002 A7.80 G8.18 D7.68 I7.90 V6.80 #76
So the anticipation has gone down slightly, GM down (boo!) :-), Depth has
increased (Variants?), Value slightly up, 34 more voters!
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS We're taking Monday 23rd to Friday 27th off this year.
No turns will process during that time. So if NORMALLY your turn would fall
then it will instead process the same day a WEEK later. We'll have the
correct DUE date on your Turnsheet though - if in doubt get it in EARLY.
Have a good one...
UPDATE TO ACCOUNTS With each turn you should now receive in the main body of
the email a list of your last 10 transactions with us. This should enable
you to keep a track of any charges made to your account and get back to us
should there be a problem. Also we are now able to send out at the end of
each day an email informing you when we have added funds to your account.
NEW FAX: We've got a new North American fax number :
1-503-296-2325.
If you fax there it will get emailed to us. Much better if you can use
this. Do check as with any new system we might experience some problems.
UK etc please use the old one of: 029 2062 5532
RULEBOOK We're looking to upgrade the rulebook. Is there anyone out there
that is interested in contributing to this project? It's quite a biggy.
We're hoping to help new players into the game with examples of orders, some
tactical advise and basic economy, army, character, Pop Centre management.
Feel free to get in touch if you feel you are able to help here or just want
to know more. We've got permission to use appropriate quotes from "the Lord
of the Rings" and "the Hobbit". Around 3 or 4 paragraphs in length, giving
a reference (book and chapter). Feel free to send in your favourite quotes
and we can add them into the rulebook. Note NOT the other books only LotR
and tH. We have a fair bit of work done for this now - anyone else want to
contribute?
BOFA 1st TURN we need a selection of 1st turns for this beginners scenario
just in case anyone misses their first turn.
The following new games are filling up. (Descriptions of the type of game
follow - please check this when contacting me with regards to playing in
that game).
Waiting List: When I get all 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. All nations are potentially available
until I set up the game.
Upto 2 nation game: You can play one or two Aligned nations, or one Neutral
nation.
2 nation game: You must play two nations.
Bofa 2wk [Game 112] Beginners game: 4 available.
1650 2wk [Game 70]: (29/11/02) 15 available. Waiting List game.
1650 3wk [Game 119]: (19/11/02) 20 available. Prisoners and many postal
players involved.
1650 2wk [Game 72]: (31/11/02) Gunboat 3 nations each. 3 players needed.
Waiting List game.
2950 2wk [Game 220]: (31/11/02) 18 nations available. Waiting List game.
1000 2wk [Game 42]: (4/11/02) 6 DS 1 FP, 2 N. Waiting List game. (So far
most players want LAS)
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:
1000: David Ruzic 2950: None
1650:
Team 3) David Foreman (6x2)
Team 7) Tom Northrup FP (12 FP)
Team 8) Mark Schweitzer (6x2) - will get team together
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, P = Postal and Email game, G=
Grudge, 1w = 1week game, 3w = 3week game]
Bofa: None
1000: Neutral (E)
2950: Rhun (e), 1 nation (other dead) (E-gun), 2 gunb (E)
1650: S Gon (L), Dwarf (l), 4 gunb (E), 1 nation (other dead) (M- gun)
Player report 25/11 Khazad rul ok!
This is an unashamedly slanted report on game 228. I played Dwarves &
Northmen and later, Khand as well, so I write from their perspective.
Please forgive any gloating! 228 was a "War of the Ring" scenario, which is
based on 2950, but with the starting pop centres increased to 1650 levels
(not necessarily distributed the same), and some extra starting gold &
troops for the DS. The Woodies get a character and artifact boost to
reflect more accurately the powers of Beorn as Tolkien described him in "The
Hobbit". A couple of the overrated Witch-king characters lose a few points
in command skill but are compensated in emissary rank. As 228 was a grudge
game, the neutrals had to be pre-aligned. We offered the DS first choice of
nation, with FP choosing the next two, and DS choosing one of the remaining
two, the unwanted one being dropped. Happily the DS fell right into this
first trap we laid for them, predictably unable to resist taking White
Wizard as first choice. That enabled us FP to take Duns (agents at 40,
double scouting!) and, as a surprise, Khand (so we had a nation which could
be, literally, a PIA). The DS took Corsairs as their final choice so Rhun
was dropped. Might things have been different if they'd chosen Rhun? Read
on, then decide!
A key point of our strategy was to build as many camps as possible as fast
as possible so as to deny them to the DS and exert an economic stranglehold.
Four Dwarf armies went forth (pun unintentional!) posting camps before most
nations had got emis off the mark. Northmen were lucky enough to have both
their sole E40 and their A30 start at their capital so named a new E40, A30
and C30 straightaway. The conveyor belt of E40s was to prov decisive and
the Nor agents didn't do badly either! The early game went without a hitch.
We planted loads of camps, killed off the Witch-king, and quite cleverly
(IMHO) eliminated Dragon lord. Dol Guldur fell to armies, a Nor cav army
stormed Lug Gurzun, and Nor emis daringly nicked his final backup whose
loyalty had dropped drastically due to the fall of his other MTs.
Even more daring, Kynoden, Nor A50, stole Din Ohtar's best agent artifact
and dropped it in the Sea of Rhun! Thanks to Marc Pinnsonault for this and
other ideas. Having killed two DS nations, I thought, this will be a
cakewalk now. WRONG! To their great credit, the DS played much more
effectively from that point. It was understandable that they used Khand as
a punchbag, but they also inflicted such punishment on N Gondor that we
launched a premature attack on Morannon, by several nations, none with a
backup commander, to take the pressure off him. Needless to say, all but
one of our army commanders and their armies were wiped out by assassins!
That was the first - but not the last - major reverse we suffered. Round
about this point both teams lost players, ours, unfortunately, due to a
personality clash. We recruited a player whom we knew from previous games,
split the dropped nations between us, and carried on. This was where I
picked up Khand in addition to Dwa & Nor (we had previously agreed that one
of the DS could play 3 nations).
Khand had previously sent armies into Mordor and against QAv and Cor burning
pop centres but now came under heavy pressure from DS emis and agents. We
sent our own best company of agents to go toe-to-toe with the DS, but it was
only a partial success, as the local militia foiled half our agent actions!
Duh... Anyway, Khand survived, maybe helped by a Nor cavalry army which
charged through Mordor's back door and burned the CL capital! To be honest,
I'm not too clear what was happening elsewhere, except to note that there
was heavy fighting everywhere in the Gondor/Rohan area. In the Misty mts,
QAv took over some of the WiK pops, presumably in an effort to recruit
dragons, but we destroyed such pops wherever we found them. A farcical
situation arose when I marched a Dwa army to one such enemy pop, having
calculated the food down to the last grain of wheat, only to find that to
move into a mountain hex required ONE MORE food unit than the exact number
needed to feed the army... AAARGH! I didn't take that pop until the very
last turn of the game! Laurence Tilley put together a plan to co-ordinate
our cursers, agents and emis, and this was a major if not decisive factor in
our eventual victory. We now started to make a co-ordinated effort,
regardless of nation, to knock out DS capitals and other MTs. By brilliant
planning (who said lucky? Quiet at the back there) a Dwa army of 8000+ with
war machines hit Morannon at the same time as Nor & Khand cav armies charged
thru Mordor's Back Door burning anything that had been left standing by
previous raids. We were now knocking over 2-4 DS MTs per turn. Would this
be enough? A Khand MT fell to DS emis and a Rohan one to Gothmog. In a
clash of the curse squads, the DS got lucky and went first, killing Elrond
amongst others. The bloodshed increased as Ranger cavalry trampled
Gothmog's army, Balrog and all. On the very turn that Laurence suggested we
pulled our characters out of Mordor and sent them to help Rohan and Gondor,
the DS finally capitulated due to our agent/em/army pressure on Mordor.
Well done to all on my team, especially Laurence Tilley for the co-ordinated
plan, and I must also mention Marc Pinnsonault who gave us invaluable advice
before he dropped.
Thanks to all on the DS team for giving us such a good, hard-fought game. If
you are getting tired of same old 1650 or 2950, give WotR a go. It will
give you some different challenges at least!
Richard.
Thanks
Clint
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