Game 249 Recently Finished

Specific Games
#1

Since Game 249 (3-nation Gunboat) finished recently with a FP victory, I thought I’d share a few highlights so that others can get some picture of how 2950 GB games are played. I was assigned the NGondor/SGondor/Northmen trio.

Turn 1: You will go bankrupt fast if you try to build and maintain big armies. So, amassing a huge force to try and take Minas Morgul and/or Cirith Ungol was not very feasible. As Northern Gondor, I decided my strategy should be to pick a fight with the Corsairs/Quiet Avenger/Khand trio. Much of that territory is OFF the maps of Mordor nations, so they would be disinclined to spend orders searching for NGondor armies in and around the Corsairs and QA lands. 3533 (unfortified Major Town of the QA) looked like a good target. My regent Ecthelion II started in hex 3026, so I decided to use Gondor’s early economic might to buy mounts and hire a cav army there for turn 1. Next turn, Ecthelion would be able to recruit 200 more heavy cavalry and march a good way towards 3533. He would be met at 3431 by Faramir, who was bringing 200hc split from the Minas Tirith army. 600hc, in the early turns of a 2950 game, is truly a decent army, so I felt good about their chances for success at 3533.

Turn 3: A captain of Gondor leads 1300hi and 600li at Osgiliath. This is a feint to make the Mordor nations think a major assault is coming for them. You have to make the Mordor nations prepare for the worst because all the recruitment will sap gold from their weak economies. Plus, Gondor can easily defeat the Wk at Minas Morgul. It’s a good idea because the Wk might spend another 5k gold to hire another army to defend his capital.

Here there should be summary of the navy question. Combined into one navy, Northern and Southern Gondor would have the greatest naval power in the game. And you might need all of it to fend off the Corsairs. So I targeted the Corsairs town/fort at 2730, sailing all of NGondor and SGondor’s ships there, with enough troops in the transports to capture the town. One possible parry the Corsairs could choose is to remove the harbor at 2730, so I prepared for that by having both of my navies be in hex 2829 before trying to enter 2730.

Turn 4: Corsairs blew the harbor, so my navies were stranded at 2829. No problem though: I improved relations to Friendly on both nations, transferred all of Northern Gondor’s ships to the SGondor navy commander, and he split army and marched his infantry to 2730. NGondor’s commander did the same. And all of the ships (24W, 16T) were at 2829 under the command of a new SGondor navy commander.

Also on Turn 4: the Northmen used their economic abilities to buy leather/cav to recruit heavy cavalry in the earlier turns and send that cav army (900hc) to Dilgul at 4217. The timing was right because they met an army under the Long Rider’s commander Hargrog. Northmen defeated Hargrog’s army, captured him in battle, and took his artifact.

Turn 5: the following turn, the Northmen recruited more hc at Dilgul and moved south to 4321 where they met a large Khand army. The following turn the tables turned on Girion II and he lost the battle and was captured by the Khand. Khand moved into an undefended Dilgul.

Also on Turn 5, Gondor captured 2730. They would hold it for the rest of the game. Further east at 3533, Ecthelion’s opening move came to fruition as his and Faramir’s cav armies defeated 400hi/200ma under the QA’s Ashturg on Turn 4. However, the QA sent 400hc st/st under Fuinur to take 3533 back and he did battle with Ecthelion’s 293 hc. One thing I love about this scenario: even 750pt combat artifacts and spells like Deflections can end up having a big impact. NGondor had two 750 blades and Goromil casting Resistances. The steel armor of the QA made the difference and Ecthelion was defeated. The QA would reclaim 3533 the following turn.

NGondor recruited another 300hi at Osgiliath and marched to Minas Morgul on Turn 03. The following turn they defeated a large army under the FK’s Shagrat and a small army under Bolg, capturing him. FK sent another army to 3124 and NGondor’s Baranor still held the field with 943hi/354li. But here he makes a serious mistake. After he won the battle, Baranor was inflicted with Sickness and reduced to 49 health. Would the mages of the Wk have enough to kill him the following turn? I bet “no” and lost that bet. A much smarter move would have been for Baranor to issue 215 and 250, defeating the FK, putting the Wk capital under siege (devastating in 2950 with all those fragile economies!), and robbing the Wk mages of a target for Sickness.

to be continued…

#2

Always good to see game reports. Especially in a game I was playing (and doing rather badly) in!

When your report is finished, could you email it to us (me@middleearthgames.com) so we can publish it in the newsletter?

#3

Can do, John! Looks like it’s a bit long for a game report, but I can slim it down a bit. What nations were you playing?

#4

Continuation of the Game 249 game report. Let’s pick it up at Turn 06, just outside the town/fort Osgiliath. It had been reported that two large armies sat outside the gates–a “large” army under the FK and a “large” army under the IK’s Lugronk. On Turn 05, Lugronk had threatened Osgiliath, but that attempt failed. Here comes an important point. Remember, in a 2950 GB game, these nations are played by different players who can’t communicate (unless through turns 1/06/11 etc diplos). The fog of war aspect of GB came into play on turn 06 when only Lugronk’s army charged the gates. It appears that the FK was awaiting reinforcements from Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol before attempting an assault. The result: IK failed to capture Osgiliath and Lugronk was killed.

On Turn 05, Northern Gondor’s finances were as follows: (3970 surplus) and 38,355 in reserve. By the end of turn 06, the FK was indeed reinforced by another FK army and a Wk army. And on Turn 07, the forces of the FK and Wk captured Osgiliath. And the Wk would hold it for the rest of the game.

A turn earlier, Din Ohtar sabotaged the bridge from Osgiliath to Minas Tirith. If he hadn’t done it, the Northern Gondor army commander at Minas Tirith was planning to do so. As I said before, NGondor’s strategy was to be active militarily vs. the Corsairs and QA, knowing there just wouldn’t be an economic foundation to try and capture the heavily fortified PCs in Mordor. Osgiliath and Bar-en-Tinnen at 3026 would have to be sacrificed to keep Gondor in the game. And true enough, the IK captured 3026 on Turn 06. But I believe the DS made a minor error using Din Ohtar to sabotage the bridge at 2924-3024. It would have been better for them if NGondor wasted the order doing that, but perhaps my bluffing worked to make the Mordor nations think Gondor would be putting major military pressure on them in and around the Morgul Vale.

Turn 08: The bridge at Pelargir was still up, so both Gondors sent relatively big armies across in an effort to take back 3026 and reduce the DS armies east of the river. In hex 3026, the following armies had gathered: Regent Adrahil with 887hc; Regent Imrahil with 860hi/331li; and from NGondor, Veteran Vorheim led 1500hi. The FK had 1892hi/ 220ma, and the IK had 769hi/190ma. In another instance of the GB fog of war coming into play, the FK must not have issued 230 orders because Vorheim’s 1500hi fought ONLY the IK’s army on their way to capturing their camp/tower at 3026. So he took only minor losses from army vs. army combat.

A turn later Vorheim was assassinated, probably by Din Ohtar in 3026, and the remainder of his army disbanded.

One more big battle would be fought in this area east of the river until an uneasy calm enveloped it for the remainder of the game. Again at 3026, on Turn 11, SGondor’s Veteran Vadican led 2399hi/100 li against the FK’s 600hi under Shagrat, 500hi under Kindle, and once more Bolg with 800 demoralized heavy infantry. Vadican was victorious this day, routing the three armies and killing Kindle, capturing Shagrat, and dealing “deadly” wounds to Bolg. Knowing that he was operating in extremely hostile territory which was no doubt crawling with DS assassins, Vadican decided to move just one hex northwest, to 3025, in order to issue the order to execute Shagrat. Then he braced himself for the worst of it and marched on to Osgiliath.

At this point (Turn 11), Northern Gondor’s finances were as follows: 63% tax rate, 6202 surplus and 2442 in reserve. Army maintenance, 3050 gold per turn. Both bridges blown and no fear of DS coming west across the river. But a whole horde of DS agents and casters loomed on the horizon.

to be continued…

#5

A slimmed down version sounds great, thanks.

I was 1/8/10. But I took far too long getting my curse squad up and running, went on the offensive too soon and paid the price. Also probably wasted too much effort keeping the Woodmen alive. But my first time playing that combo, so live and learn…

#6

Since most of last post focused on Northern Gondor, I thought I would report on Southern Gondor turns 10-15 and see what role they played. On turn 14, they had a tax rate of 59%, 27 pop centers, and a surplus of 20,030. Their military expense was 5700 per turn. With both of the bridges blown, I didn’t see a way for them to “conquer” Mordor. Instead, they served a crucial function transferring resources and gold to the Northmen who were holding their own in Rhun/Eastern Mordor. Since the Corsairs navy hadn’t yet made its move, I decided to keep the huge SGondor navy as a loaded gun on the look out.

That strategy came to a head on Turn 13 when a “navy” under Bragolmaite’ showed up at Dol Amroth (2227). It should be noted that the fortifications at the SGondor capital had been sabotaged to smithereens, so it was only the SGondor ships between the Corsairs navy and certain ruin. At this point in the game, SGondor still had NO BACK-UP MAJOR TOWN. Luckily, my decision at the start of the game to transfer the entire NGondor fleet over to SGondor paid dividends here.

In the Warm climate of the Shore/Plains of 2227, offshore a naval conflict took place in the early morning hours under a clear sky.
At the head of a fleet of 24 warships and 16 transports was Lord Angbor of the nation of Southern Gondor. At the head of a fleet of 18 warships and 8 transports was Lord Bragolmaitë of the nation of the Corsairs. On that day in history…
Lord Angbor ordered his ships to charge the enemy fleet.
Lord Bragolmaitë ordered his ships to meet the enemy fleet in standard battle formation.
Lord Angbor’s navy also used mighty artifacts and totally overwhelmed the ships under the command of Lord Bragolmaitë. Lord Bragolmaitë’s navy also used mighty artifacts and decimated the ships under the command of Lord Angbor.
After the battle. …Angbor’s forces were victorious in the battle, but suffered huge losses. Angbor appeared to have survived. Bragolmaitë’s forces were destroyed/routed in the battle. Bragolmaitë appeared to have survived.
A fortnight later, Bragolmaite’ was kidnapped by a SGondor agent, and so the Corsairs’ navy commander spent the rest of the game in chains.

But the nightmare was about to begin for SGondor as multiple DS spirit mastery companies arrived on the scene.

To be continued…

#7

I think if possible it could be better to use two fleets of 12 Warships under SG control. Artifacts and Spells make naval battles unpredictable.

#8

Doesn’t your point about artifacts and spells support the idea of combining NGondor and SGondor navies? After all, if they do combine, you have 100% chance of naval victory unless the Corsairs invest in new ships. I would rather have the sure victory than a chance of success in many circumstances.

#9

You could be right, but honestly I have never seen a Corsair navy use an artifact. That battle report seemed unusual. 2 are more mobile and could catch a Corsair navy.

#10

They have one 750 combat weapon, and if the character starting with it is too busy doing early turn orders to transfer it, he could become the navy commander conducting the naval invasion. You got me wondering if that could be a good starting strategy for the Corsairs/QA/Khand: transfer those 500 and 750 weapons to the Corsairs and let them go out seeking trouble. If they encounter the entire Gondor fleet, they will sink it because of the added strength from your combat artifacts.

#11

Yeah its a reasonable strategy. Gondor has a couple of decent staring mages who could name a new one and have them with the fleet too. There are a lot of things you can do with them. Caras Tolfalas is an easy turn 1 target for either N or S Gondor.

#12

END GAME stage for 249:

I mentioned earlier in this thread that SGondor was entering a nightmare stage of capital siege via DS Spirit Mastery. That was around turn 15. The following DS characters showed up at Dol Amroth (2227): Akhorahil, Celedhring, Naldugarth, and Storlaga. Turn 16, they killed Regent Angbor and moved away. My com/agen Golasgil (51c/60a) inherited command and then failed in his assassination attempt vs. Naldugarth. I felt had no choice but to take these kinds of risky assassination attempts with my 60-rank agents. Since the 615 orders were given at my capital, I thought I might get lucky and bump off a DS mage or two, thereby crippling his SM efforts. My other agent in the hex was Sulithor, who fortunately was named with a +20 bonus to stealth many turns ago. He trained his away up to 40-something, stole the Rat Gauntlets from a Corsairs agent, and then returned to Dol Amroth in service of its defense.

Turn 17, the bad guys returned. I anticipated this move to some extent by having Golasgil transfer commander to a newish 10c/20a. I was guessing that the DS at my capital were relying on Recon Area (925) orders to target my characters with their Sickness/Weakness spells, and I didn’t want Golasgil’s name to appear as army commander. So, turn 18, once again I tried a couple of assassination attempts: This time Golasgil’s dagger struck true, and Celedhring was assassinated with his 25 mage artifact going to Golasgil. Sulithor (60agent/20 stealth) failed to assassinated Akhorahil because he was too well guarded.

Also active in the region were two emissary companies of the Corsairs/QA. But whenever they flipped a SGondor village or two, I had armies sent their to capture the pcs back. I believe the loss of these pop centers had a crippling effect on the Corsairs loyalties overall because he was losing pcs in the Umbar region to White Wizard/Silvan/Rohan Influence Other orders.

Turn 19, a few more assassination attempts vs. those DS mages at 2227: this time Golasgil failed to kill Storlaga and was injured in the attempt by him. But Sulithor struck true with his attempt and assassinated the DrkLts mage Bolvag. With two of his mages killed, I knew that SGondor had earned some breathing room.

to be continued…