Game 66 Ends on Turn 29 in DS Victory!
A game that started last November and wasn't much in doubt since the early summer has finally ended with the remaining FP holdouts honourably retiring their doomed positions.
The Dark Servants faced a great deal of adversity in this one from the get go. A powerful Human attack on both Western Gates combined with a turn 0 FP Rhudaur and a single erroneous failure to Refuse Challenge by the Dragon Lord put Mordor on the defensive and immediately washed out any hope of Northern/NorthWestern fronts. While the Witch King bankrupted himself, the Dragon Lord ebbed slowly from Mirkwood, our original BS was deposed in a peasants revolt, and the FP followed up the viscious starting-forces assault with....precious little. Mordor recovered, managed to withstand the winter economy and by Spring time was slowly and conservatively building both it's power and economic base.
Three curse squads and multiple assassins provided the character relief needed as sporadic FP forays at the Black Gate produced no tangible results. While Southern Gondor did manage to capture the Ice King capital early on, it was quickly reclaimed (capture?) and never again did the Free threaten Mordor.
Along with the early Rhudaur move, the Duns capitulated to the easy path. The Corsairs sent a starting army to the North West and maintained a military presence there all game from that single seed! After conquering the Noldo navy, they kept on wandering, taking the farthest Dwarven towns amongst others. The Easterlings smelled opportunity and assaulted the Free holdings in the Rhovanion, providing the Haradwaith with the "game balance" excuse, I guess, to go Free.
After the assault on Mordor fizzled, the Free spent their meagre character resources battling the Corsairs and allies in south Harad, but were eventually attritioned off and all of the Haradrim were Dark Servants of one nation or another by game end.
By the time the Dragon Lord was fully evicted from Sarn Goriwing, they had improved off-map pops adjacent to Angrenost, from which they were attacking the heart of Dunland at game end. This combined with off-map Fire King (that "boring" nation to play..?) major town in Southern Gondor created new military fronts the FP weren't prepared to handle as Mordor was increasingly sending well equiped forces out the Black Gate, and was poised to send over 6,000 troops across the new Osgiliath bridge to shred the remains of Gondor.
A personal highlight for me was watching the Quiet Avenger's starting naval force burn Rhudaur's backup of Fennas Drunin! I never thought he would get that far north, after burning a Cardolan town and a couple camps...but as an omen of FP teamwork, nobody stopped him...
No Free Nations were confirmed eliminated during play, a point for which they have taken considerably and deserved pride, but there was little doubt as to the final outcome of the 13 FP vs 11 DS battle. At game end, the weakest DS nation was at maximum characters and running a surplus, while many FP were on their last legs. The DS were committed, coordinating throughout, and excepting the deposed BS and eliminated WK, were the starting core who were determined to follow through with whatever victory conditions were imposed on them by the stubborn Free.
Victorious Dark Servants at Game End:
Dragon Lord - Brad Brunet
Dog Lord - Phil Vogel
Cloud Lord - Dave Griffiths
Blind Sorceror - Brian Medus
Ice King - Paul Young
Quiet Avenger - Carl Meyer
Fire King - Greg Clarke
Quiet Avenger - Mike Carr
Dark Lieutenants - Brian Hancock
Corsairs - Miriam Wishart
Easterlings - Lacy Jones
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]