12 v 12 Rhu and Harad DS, Dun and Corsairs FP
FP have, through 10 turns, focussed on the extra-Mordor nations. DS have made some inroads v Northmen and Eothraim. Mordor is currently secure due to FP allocation elsewhere. Was that the correct strategy…?
Time will tell. I’m liking our DS odds right now. I think the FP missed on a couple things and took longer than originally planned to complete some initial assignments. Momentum…
BFK
18 turns have run. I’m the only player in this game on the forum. Okay, at least I won’t get into an argument…
Mordor is secure. The DS are pushing from the East through the middle of the map. Corsairs v Harad is in Stalemate and I suspect it will turn to “momentum DS” shortly.
While the FP can point to their files and claim there is no decisive blow, they can also point to their files and realize they have no hope.
I’m happy to run 37 turns in this one. I’ll leave it to our esteemed opposition to decide how to allocate their discretionary spending.
BFK
Congratulations Dark Servants! The Free People sent our surrender notice this evening. Well played!
Great work, DS team! My Rhudaur made it all the way to turn 8.
Turn 21. That was the longest game I’ve been involved with in a while, actually. Just starting to lose all track of things… Lots of good work by the character nations. LR and Dog ran rampant across the East. As the Fire King I was gradually building from stolen/built pops up north (2904, 3002, etc) without being involved in much else that everyone else was sending dozens of mail about - but it was fun to watch.
Urzahil got cursed 2 times this final turn. I presume Elrond got cursed 3 times then… 
BFK
Hail FP!
It was a great game. You made it tough for the DS by knocking out our WK and Rhudaur nations fairly early on in the game. Your armies tried really hard to drop the Dragon Lord also but we managed to break your attack up just in time and secure a nice command stack in the process! FP efforts against the Haradwaith were brutal and deliberate but the DS were able to come together over many turns to defend and rebuild the Harad to somewhat of their former status (at least on the south shore) before games end.
The DS character game was in full bloom as the game ended. Companies of emissaries, agents, and cursers (and sickness) were coordinating well to counter your hordes of armies trying desperately to break into Mordor. FP armies and characters pushed the FP high tides to the gates of Mordor and a brief incursion into the backdoor early in the game as well but the heart of Mordor was secured. The Dog Lord and Long Rider had secured the east of Middle Earth and the Fire King had shifted his abode north of Mirkwood as he liked the colder climates we found out.
We pushed hard on the Northmen and Eothraim but nothing fatal from what we could tell. Our company field days at your capital festivals were always a fun time! The final curse shoot-out proved to be a tense moment as well especially for Urzahil! lol
I would love to discuss or see a write-up from your sides perspective on how things went down.
Looking forward to our next game already. Your side played well!
/salute
Michael
CL
Hi Michael - hats off to you as the CL! I am looking forward to the results swap to see how you developed so many agents so well and fast. How many first time players did you have on the DS? We had 3. They all played well and 2 made it to the end. Hopefully they will keep on playing to enlarge our community.
I started with NG and Duns and picked up Cardolan when our third new player departed. I don’t think I have played NG effectively in the 3 games I have tried…hopefully next time.
We debated two initial strategies. Plan A was to crash the gates, but we could not get buy-in from all the nations. We went with Plan B which was to focus on the periphery regions. We succeeded in Angmar. We nearly succeeded against the Dragon Lord (avoidable mistakes cost us 3822 and the command stack). We failed in the south. Unfortunately, we had several drops (4 nations total) and we really needed tigher coordination for plan B to succeed.
We did have all of our nations at the end. EO was down to just a coulple controlled characters at one point but was recovering well at the end. Likewise, the NM was restocked with characters. However, our character development was very poor compared to yours and it is clear that we could not win despite the two-nation advantage.
If that last roll had gone our way (Elrond vs. Urzahil), we might have spent a few more turns hoping for more luck, but it really would have taken a lot more luck to turn it around. There are so many little things that could have gone the other way, like answering the riddle for Curufin correctly.
All those excuses aside, you all just plain out played us. The Dog Lord in particular exploited our weaknesses.
Cheers to your victory and good luck in the next one!
More games end before turn 10 than get into the 20’s, so thanks for forging on.
Brad FK
Greetings to all the free peoples! A very exciting game well-played to the very end! I haven’t played MEPBM for many, many years and was grateful to not only return to such an incredible realm and game, but to also become reacquainted with the game with such most excellent of players, on both sides. The Dog Lord position was my very first nation I played back some near three decades ago when the game was new and was very pleased to dive into the role yet again. There were some excellent counters you all provided against us during that great “chess-match” within the Rhovanion, end elsewhere…and struck a solid blow against me at the end by burning the Morannon down to ash and dust!
Thanks again for providing us your view of things with your behind-the-scenes insights and turns, as it paints a full picture of a pretty intense game and lends another point of view through your team’s eyes while playing against us.
Well played and hope to see you again in the game soon!
Sincerely,
Kevin
Dog Lord/ Quiet Avenger
Game 67
I enjoyed the game immensely. I played Harad and really felt the pressure. You guys did a very good job of chopping up North Harad and keeping a steady grind against me. The dragons really saved my bacon long enough for the CL to clear things out with SG and the Corsairs. Hats off to the FP for a hard fought game.
Matt Ashley/Harad