This is cool, I hate the current prevailing attitude that seems to be if you lose a couple of nations you concede defeat. The whole ethos of Tolkein’s books was survival against the odds. Fair play to you all! but we’re still going to show no mercy 
Simon.
Hello,
All very quite out there - you DS chaps don’t seem to be saying much. Perhaps it is because you do not have very much to talk about right now !!
Regards
Faisal (eothraim & looking forward to some friendly banter)
Yes, alas, we are rapidly getting crushed into little bits of orc goo. Pretty much helpless here all around as you run riot across all of Middle Earth. Where’s Sauron when you need him? I can hardly make fun of the Free when Rhudaur has (at long last) been completely smashed. I put up a good fight though, 28 turns! At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I took a few of your characters and troops with me!
Bradford - QA
I am amazed it took them so long given the position you found yourself in, either good play or poor play or both by either side.
But i prefer to think it was good play on part of the dark side
Vandal
They’ve been getting crushed into orc goo for a long time. We just turned the blender on high. Ta-ta, Cloud Lord. With the last little bits of Rhudaur that kept cropping up here and there finally stamped out I wonder how many DS nations are left? hard to keep count as the number keeps falling. I heard Sauron got smart and ran away to the far east where the pickings are easier.
Christian (who has returned from the nether realms)
–Of Nation X
Hee hee! Another entertaining turn… Flipped the Easterling capital on him (city/castle). Of course, the Harad is running around doing the same thing to us, and the Easterlings decided to march to my capital (the QA capital, that is) with an army.
Bradford
Hello,
Whilst the musical chairs of major towns continues, the unquestionable truth is that the number of seats is decreasing and that more and more of them have FP bums on them 
.
I wonder how much longer the DS can hang on ?
Regards
Faisal
We’ve discussed things on our side, and we’ve agreed (the four of us remaining, running six positions) that the time has come to yield to the superior forces of the Free. Oh, we could drag things out indefiniately (the Corsairs, QA, and Rhudaur are all far stronger than you might think) but we’ve been fighting 12 to 6 odds for twelve turns now, and the sheer numbers of opposing forces are telling. To prolong our defeat would require abandoning the CL and Dark Lts. economically, and 12 to 4 is even harder to fight than 12 to 6. My compliments again on a war well fought!
As for the QA, I had my fun making a run on the North Gondor capital(s) (did you notice them exploding three turns in a row? Alas, you hid his capital when we moved to knock out the last one) and then the Harad (you kept moving armies in to “cover”) and then the Easterlings, but alas, I’m scrambling to reclaim Mordor at this point and all of the major towns that we’d lost. Losing my capital to the Easterling horde was annoying, but the QA economy was disgustingly good by Dark Servant standards-- 6000 surplus with a 39% tax rate and piles of emissaries. I had the satisfaction of taking his capital on the same turn, but then my HC force moving to smash 4228 walked into the Easterling forces rushing home to defend Khand. Bah!
As for Rhudaur, their economy is solid with a fairly large stack of emissaries, though you haven’t really seen the sweeping emissary company that the QA is fielding becuase several of those emissaries haven’t built up sufficiently yet (in the 50s). I was planning on lurking for another four or five turns, then re-igniting the military war in Angmar (I can’t win, but it would have been fun).
I hope that you all enjoyed the game…
Bradford Fisher, Rhudaur (and after turn 17, QA as well)…
Bradford,
Firstly I would like to commend you and your collegues on a game well played and to thank you personally for the help and direction yo gave to myself at the start of the game.
I look forward to crossing paths with you again - Perhaps next time we will be team mates rather than opponants.
Best Regards
Faisal
Impressibe display none the less in a lost cause
Vandal
Yes, quite impressive. Bradford your play was truly worthy of Ken and Kevins’ commendations. These last 4 players/6 nations were rather frustrating to play against–for a while the FP seemed to be losing ground as the player base dwindled along with FP enthusaism and coordination.
But the delayed demise of the DS was rewarding in some ways. Coming back for the end-game of musical MTs taught me a lot–in my prior two games I was eliminated in the teens before I got to experience the real character war.
We did have a few things up our sleeve–a 3rd curse squad to support even more emi strikes for example. “New Mordor” was about to get hammered in every way.
Maybe we will cross swords or paths again someday–would be a pleasure.
Christian
(Cardolan in the beginning. Then left the game for a while in the late teens. Then returned several turns ago–about the time we hid North Gondor’s capital–to play Cardolan and later the Elves.)
PS–I was never fooled by your “Rhudaur is lost” bluffs–I just tried to play along. I thought you might hide out at 2039, and then in the early teens or so we scry’d the Corsairs cap and 2039 was suspiciously not on the list of MTs–later we confirmed it was your new capital.
Bradford,
2 things…
How do we officially close out the game with harlequin - Do you guys need to formally notify them that you are conceding the game?
Would you and you collegues be amenable to swapping PDF’s/XML’s. I would be really interested to see what the final complete map looked like.
Faisal
I’m certainly willing to send you my .pdfs once the game is officially closed. I sent our concession to Middle Earth Games Thursday night, but it’s an individual game, so they need to hear from each of the four dark servant players directly. They replied to us as a group, but the emails may (or may not) have all gone through.
Christian-- yes, Rhudaur’s capital was at 2039. It was a 100 loyalty city (laugh) and I had another major town at 2339, and a few villages and camps scattered around. Rhudaur would have been a lot stronger, but I lost three 70+ emissaries to dragons and spiders of all things!
Bradford, you breathed life into a game that was threatening to be a landslide. More power to your elbow as they say!
I was certainly impressed by your emmies especially when an invisible company took 3630 away from me with just 3 Infothrs when it started at 58 loyalty . . .
At times I think we took our foot off the gas but I think that the momentum was gathering more pace in our favour as you indicate.
I for one thoroughly enjoyed the game despite being kicked from one end of the map to the other and almost back again! Taking over the Easterlings and burning 3034 was a little recompense .
Simon.
My 1st game and I thouroughtly enjoyed it. Started out as the Fire King, I made a basic error when I tought I could disband an army by moving my commander away from it! That put paid to the FK. I then took over the Cloud Lord poition the following turn, right until the end. I was hoping to catch one of your agent or emissary teams, but that’s not an easy thing to do. I took over the Long Rider position for the last 2 turns to. At the end the Cloud Lord, Long Rider and Dark Lts only had one MT each. Well done to the FP team. I’m quite happy to swap xml/pdf files too.
John.
Great game,
First one for me in four years, slightly rusty at game start but soon got back into swing of it and shall miss the buzz of getting the turn results. Champing at the bit to start another!
Thank you to the remaining DS for keeping the fight going and making it much more enjoyable for all.
Glad we got to the end without losing a nation, though we were down to six players for the twelve nations…
I’d be keen on swaping final pdfs and exchanging some war-stories on great plays and disasters to piece together some of the storyline.
Having allies that stick through bad times as well as good until the end is a great asset, so if any of you (DS) would like to play again but on the same team (or opposite again if you prefer a re-match!) then let us know. Not sure yet if we are all going to sign up straight away but it would be good to know if you are keen.
Yours
Nick
(Northmen)
Send me an email to br_fisher@yahoo.com, and I’ll forward you my final pdfs (QA and Rhudaur). Keep in mind that the last five turns we were playing with an eye toward immediate (and therefore far riskier) goals, rather than long-term objectives.
Six players with twelve nations? No wonder I couldn’t drive out the Harad, Easterlings, or Northern Gondor.
Bradford
I’ve invited Bradford to join the FP yahoo group. I’d be more than happy to invite the other three remaining DS players if any of you are interested. Please email me at otscotty@yahoo.com if you are interested.
This was my first ever game of MEPBM. I’ve really had a blast. I’m especially thankful for all the help I received along the way. My team was extremely patient with me. I’m also quite thankful for the help Bradford provided early in the game while still a neutral. Thanks for a fantastic inaugural game.
Scotty
the Gondors
I’ve posted Rhudaur and the Quiet Avenger’s final turn reports on the Free site. Interesting to see the opposition’s final reports as well.
Bradford