You wanna swap Harad for the NW?! There’s rampant optimism for you 
Too late - it’s already been done. Happy to exchange the 3 nations in the south vs Harad for NW… :rolleyes:
You don’t know it yet but…
Clint (player)
Technically it’s 4 nations verses Harad 
lol and what I don’t know about the NW can’t hurt me! But if you think Cirdan’s death was significant then, alas! you are mistaken! Besides which, Carn Dum is going to fall in 3 turns… 
Yeh - prove it… :rolleyes: (Well actually I prefer you don’t)
Sorry been busy and just about to start a roleplaying campaign but I hope to get my turns in soon…
Clint (player)
Methinks I underestimated Clint’s strongest weapon in the north west… me! 
There just aren’t the words for me to describe my stupidity… And Cardolan had their first character kidnapped on T2!!
NG taking a hammering on all fronts - I’ve lost Osgiliath and now the FK is on Minas Arnor!! I was prepared to cede everything east of the river, but this is just silly
Huge Rhudaur army on 2711 means that the Woodies are in big trouble…
Things are a little better down south where Harad is continuing to take a drubbing, but even that is tainted by the QA about to take a Corsair MT!
Did I mention that the DkLts are slowly gnawing away at Rhovanion?!
Hats off to you, Clint: this is certainly fun! But I wouldn’t get too cocky just yet
I wanted to be the Free because I have much, much less experience there. And, to be honest, I think it’s starting to show! I also think I’m a little out of my depth vs Clint - so it’s gonna be my last 1v1 for a while I think! But this is certainly a steep learning curve, much like the FTF earlier this year. And it’s no coincidence that this turn I made more order errors than the other two combined and it’s worse than those two combined to boot!
Relating to the Strategy Article thread where people are discussing the natural advantages of the DS I thought I might chime in. I personally find the DS easier to play, but I’ve been on the receiving end of too many good FP teams to say that they’re massively more powerful. I find the DS easier for a number of reasons:
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Mages - the DS have better mages by far, which makes it much more likely that they’ll get hold of most or all of the better artifacts. These artifacts compound their mage and agent strength, as well as denying the Free the opportunity to neutralise them. They also have 2 nations that can mass produce mounts for huge HC armies or gold.
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Agents - agents cost less than armies. With fortifications to slow things down in the Mordor area fewer armies are needed - in fact they are really only needed to block enemy troops. Agent strength is magnified by agent artifacts, of which the DS already start with an abundance. Give them all to the CL and you can have 6 army killers without RoW or RoC - the rest is just gravy, and thats without the IK who should also be churning them out. Most nations also have the ability to supplement their economies through stealing gold.
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Commanders - the DS commanders are generally much better. This means that a) they are more reliable (which has a huge impact on downgrading relations and increasing taxes), and b) they rarely need to refuse challenge - which essentially can give them all an extra order in the early game. The multitude of combat artifacts only supplements this - even the solid commanders of NG need to refuse if there are Nazgul around, or if Uklurg has been given the FK command arties. The better commanders also allow for threats which mean that the troops can be “re-used” and you get more bang for your buck (as recruitment can be a problem for the DS).
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Emissary artifacts - the DS have both. It doesn’t sound like a lot but you get a huge tactical flexibility with lending them to other nations for strategic and/or essential population centre upgrades.
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Dragons - obviously. They are counterable, in fact they are not really relevant until t5+, but after that (much like agents) they are the most cost effective way of eliminating enemy armies. In G73 John/WK was able to hold the NW single handedly with the most successful dragon recruitment program I have ever seen. Even to the point where at times the WK sent other DS gold to help bail us out!
I have personally never found the DS economies a problem when outweighed by these advantages. The Free advantages - well that’s something I’m still desperately trying to learn about. You can certainly put thousands of troops in the field - and there’s just no need to recruit any character other than a commander with most nations. But eventually the gold thefts (more than the kidnappings/assassinations imho) become too much and paralyze nations one at a time - I have yet to see a massively successful anti-agent strategy; at least one that can stop literally dozens of A40s essentially destroying one nation at a time.
Just my thoughts - this would be where those strategy articles would come in handy right now!!!
JK
Clints tough, and one of the better military minds in the game from what I have seen and heard.
But every strategy has some drawbacks.
If what you said is true, then it sounds like this game is already over.
You can still beat the dark servants by limiting the economy, limiting the amount of armies he can put in the field and how many characters he can name.
You should have dropped the bridge at Osgiliath on turn one if you were not crashing Mordor. We did that in a game and got laughed at on the forum by our opposition. They stopped laughing and conceded on turn ten.
later,
Osgiliath with 8k leather, 20ks worth of Natsells for Timber was very kind of James I thought.
A couple of errors on my part but nothing particularly big time - it’s all pretty much going well. Just see if we can nail it with a good defence of the Harad land - which is actually looking not so bad as I first thought… 
(Well it would be difficult to be worse than I first thought!) :rolleyes:
Still not a big fan of Eothriam to 2703 on turn 3. I’ve tried it and it helps take out the WK that much quicker but at what cost. I suppose that if you don’t have any aggression against Mordor then you have to do something with those armies.
How’s the arty search going btw?! As James says it’s not over yet…
Remind me tell you about Hoarmurath at the end of the game… Wk down a pc this turn, with Rhudaur to be up the same PC so it’s all looking dandy with Mirkwood pretty secure now.
Clint (player)
It’s no self-deprecation to say that as the Freeps I suck! I don’t think this game is gonna last too much longer - maybe another 5 turns?! Arthedain is out (I messed up on a buyout :() and Woodies may well be out after this turn!
DS have RoW and RoC - lol and probably Tinculin as well NG is getting drubbed (although I at least pulled down the bridge at Minas Anor!!), the assault on Harad is… faltering! Hmm, about the only nation that’s doing “well” is the Eothraim!!
And yes, I got 27 stealth on a Noldo commander <sighs>
I have played MEPBM for 11 years (believe it or not - started when I was 13) and in that time I’ve almost exclusively played DS (perhaps playing FP fewer than 10 times in total). It shows! Following from other discussions re: the game balance - I think the game is balanced, but I think it takes needs the Free to start thinking like the DS - from a global perspective, rather than simply in theatres (the mistake in which I have fallen).
And just when you get your head around that Clint makes his DS think FP with HC galore
JK
I’d say that overall it’s good for me but 1910 is a bit of a shocker - thought I had enough troops to deal with that.
Now - I wasn’t going to sacrifice on the Woodmen capital, but now well…
Down south - well t’was a good turn - could probably have kept the PC if I had planned to have my plan work there but we’ll see. :rolleyes:
Don’t worry - I’ll turn my eyes to the Eothraim soon enough. Just need to to tidy up a few places first. Now we get Dragons and we’re off… :eek:
Note not everything has gone to plan, but heh, that’s okay. Haven’t accidentally blown anything up yet that I shouldn’t have so that’s a bonus for me.
Clint (player)
No like we didn’t tell you…
Awright JK?
Good turn for me over-all I reckon. South Harad now relatively safe and taking out the SG navy means that I’m safe long term now… North Harad looks much the same as well methinks and I’m starting to aggress in Mirkwood so it should be much longer before something else breaks there…
Haven’t really made any in-roads in NM land but working on the Eothraim now. Kills are starting to pick up but it appears mostly with challenges - seems you’ve got a little care-free there! :eek:
Pretty sure Ji Indur’s for the chop - he’s failed every action so far! Ah well can’t win them all uh?
Quite like the 1609 situation! Not quite sure how I’m going to deal with that but there you go - good to see the Noldo recruit!
Clint (player)
Lol “awright” indeedy, Clint!
Taking out the SG navy was a coup - I guess I’ll just have to reinforce NG after all
Keep working on the Eothraim - you need to But I suppose I should start to have multiple commanders in armies now With Eorl and Odagavia I didn’t refuse because I thought that I’d win! The other challenge was deliberate and was a gamble I was willing to take.
I should point out that I have finally performed my first kidnap! And I’ve never been so unlucky with agents dying after gold thefts before - I think I lost 3 this turn!! (And one of them had stealth :()
Lol I’d be happy to kill Ji for you if you want?
And after bankrupting Arthedain I had no choice but to recruit with the Noldo! Although they should always do army stuff anyway imho.
Finally, even without SG I don’t think you’re gonna win the South - I just have so many troops coming your way!
You’re definitely winning, but hopefully things will turn - in about 3 turns time if my plans come to full fruition
JK
Lol another turn another 10 minutes of checking, before all else, whether or not I’ve bankrupted another nation!
Things aren’t looking horrific, although you certainly have the upper hand.
NW is starting to come around, slowly but surely. Same for Mirkwood. Eoplex is under threat but secure. Harad attack has stalled but I’ll be killing that off soon too In fact the worst part is the assault on NG that is making some serious headway! I reckon I made a huge mistake in “conceding” Gondor!! But hey, 1v1s are about trying something different, after all…!
Finally, Briam is lucky - my greed got the better of me and I stole Galadriel’s mirror instead of knifing him Did she have fun playing with your army?!
JK
Losing as the stinkin’ pointy ears…
Interesting perception… I’ve done the first draft of my turns (wonders what you can achieve with da family away) and it’s looking good - interesting battle in the NW but we’ll see how what we can do about the Woodies…
Harad - what a revival uh! Gotta love the Mumak… Reckon you managed to get 3120 this turn - ah well but otherwise I’m content…
Clint (player)
Been a while so thought I’d taunt James a tad.
Bad luck with the challenge on Maben - but thanks for the nice trinkets - so that’s Ring of Impersonation to go and then I get the set uh?!
Harad has got to be one of the most interesting military battles I’ve played in ages. Agent support has been brought to play by both players and is affecting things but otherwise the slow trawl through the MTs is being attempted by the QA - although I suspect that you might have the troop advantage at present and might re-take some stuff but you gotta like them Mumaks sometimes! Still haven’t been able to make any headway on the Sindar pcs but at least 2711 and the towns were mine (if only for a short time).
How do you like Shoglic as an army commander?! Cute uh. That’s 2 armies, 1 character and 2 towns he’s got so far. If you’d be kind enough to cut your recruitment a little that would be a big help though. I’m finding it hard to build up any real steam with the troops and having to rely on agents to clear the way a little.
I appear to have lost an item if you can find it for me that would be a great help. Like what you’ve done with the Noldo, but I’m hoping it’s too little too late for the NW. I’ll take my first Cardolan town this turn I reckon and reduce the hordes to a manageable level but we’ll see.
Weird @1709 - no battle with 10k troops just a bunch of challenges. Shocked me I can tell you. Trying to work out if I took out the army or not though.
Hoping to give the Woodmen a bloody nose soon but we’ll see what happens in Mirkwood as I suspect that you might have plans to the contrary.
Clint (player)
Pmfji, but the cutest I’ve seen is Veteran Shoglic leading a CL army in battle against a FK army under Veteran Uthmag in the all neutral game.
Hey Clint,
Sorry for the delay in bebutting your taunts! This spin machine ain’t knackered yet! (lol although the spin machine will probably outlive the other machines by far… how true to life is that?! )
Yeah I did get unlucky with Tharudan challenging Maben - I’m guessing he had Durthang, which would have somewhat evened the odds…!
Harad is still interesting, although I admit that the wave that will hit next turn will probably be the nail in the coffin - damn you for scuppering SG’s navy!
Mirkwood is also fun with a major offensive on the Woodies. On the plus side Dol Guldur ain’t safe, so we’ll see who likes to swap what
As for the general troops thing, well if I slowed down where would the challenge be?! And as you’ve just bumped off another of my agents (albeit that I now have the grand total of 3 knives available) I’ve got nothing else to rely on! Now just imagine what the NW would be like if I hadn’t killed Arthedain?
All in all a great fun game. I’m under no illusions - mistakes have been made. What is important is that I learn from those mistakes and turn them into the sound whooping you so righteously deserve! (<= dying throes of the spin machine!)
Prediction - 3 turns (tops) till total and sound victory to Clint. Now I just want to see if I can make a few dents for pride’s sake
JK
Well I’ve done my provisional orders. Actually it looks like you’re holding the hordes off reasonably well but that the Agent superiority will take you down in the end now I suspect.
I expect the 2nd wave of SG any time… well about now actually… that would be 2527 right?! Just trying to get into you head there and see what you’re upto.
NW would have been interesting but if Arthedain was around I’d have played slightly differently there methinks. As it is the Noldo is pain enough - reckon you should have sent the dwarves off a turn earlier. Been focussing on the Corsairs at present as you might be aware. Quite fun with the QA/Ha comboing - Harad doing the dirty work, QA taking the PCs.
Dol G unsafe! Now I know you’re mad! :D:eek:
Clint (player)
Thanks for the game James - respect for the Noldo!
Clint (player)
Lol great fun game - I got spanked badly! I definitely learnt a lot about playing as the Free - i.e. that I know (mostly! :p) how to use armies but I can’t stop agents for toffee!!
I really enjoyed the fight down in Umbar and Harad, but far less so in Gondor and Rhovanion!!
JK