Thanks Darrell
Mike,
also note that the nation pairings have historically been experimented with to try to find the balance for the DS (primarily). The nation pairings in the official rules seem to be the best we’ve so far discovered. In normal games, the DS communicate and are able to focus character assets effectively. In GB, this is a huge challenge. How to allocate K/A capable agents for maximal effect is a big challenge for an information starved CL. Similarly for LR. Getting a dragon to the right place at the right time is also more difficult as you only see your own camps’ dragon sightings. All in all, I believe GB is a bigger challenge for the DS (especially winter start games) than the FP. But as just noted in this one, the DS can win with perseverance and skill.
Dave
I assassinated 28 characters with Sinda, and 4 with Cardolan. Sinda also held 4 WK characters hostage from kidnaps at game end.
Notable kills: Ji Indur (with a 56 Cardo agent), Durkarian, Urgubal, Celedhring, Ashdurbuk Zalg, Wodurishak, Duran, Orduclax, Khamul, Lhachglin, Broggha, Erennis, Marendil, Rogrog, Tormog.
Of interest:
Assassinating Ulfang and Keemac on turn 27, then assassinating those same two again on turn 30.
Assassinating 7 of 8 Dragon Lord starting characters.
So the Cloud Lord blew it by not guarding Ji Indur. What a loser.
Wait, that was me.
Hmmm, I might have to change my style of play for future games.
tim
Hi all: apologize for the length…feel free to correct me if something seems amiss…anyway…here it goes.
I played the Witch King/Dark Lieutenants in Gunboat ME53. It was a fun one! I’d like to start out by thanking my team mates. For being in the early hole we recovered extremely well.
DragonLord/Corsairs, that was an excellent early kill of the Woodmen! Glad I could help killing off some of their armies.
Rhudaur/Cloud Lord, very nice defense in the north. We gave ‘em fits. Never saw the starting Dwarf 2212 army get nothing. That worked beautifully for us, huh. Sorry we tailed off with the help around turn 20ish. The Dun had two great assassins (using the LR agent arts) and the Sinda had two as well, hammering my commanders. The gold was well timed, let me hire banners everywhere to jack recruiting! Also, great relo- by Rhudaur to play Ice King in Mordor.
Long Rider, nice read of my Dark Lts moves against the Northmen, you timed 4217 perfectly!
Dog Lord/Blind Sorcerer, you were always on that front door. Hope I helped you out with a couple of those dragon armies from time to time. Also, your timing in the Osgiliath gap was beautiful, once the Fire King fell. They almost had us there.
It was a well fought game. Nice fighting team. I’d also like to say Cardi/Sinda…your agents were hammering me. North Gondor/Dun, your play was exceptional from what I could see. You forces were everywhere and your agents hurt too.
For anyone that might like to read it, here’s a basic summary of the war from the Witch King/Dark Lts position:
Early Game: Witch King built cities quick to increase recruiting and posted dragon spotting camps. It let the 2305 force beat the Starting Woodmen cap force and then have enough to take the banner off of 2508…just in front of the conquering Dragon Lord for an early kill.
In the west, troops were sent to Rhudaurs defense, bagging the Dwarven starting force at 1910 and trying to slow the Cardi/Dun advance. Arthedain was ignored, new recruiting and a risky tactic of allowing the castle at 1804 to do its damage and praying for a dragon. It came and the Arthedain masses were defeated at Mt. Gram. Although Argeleb II and Maruzor died in the campaign. The Arthedain victory at 1804 was short lived as Tormog and WK emissaries cleared and recaptured it.
The Dark Lts concentrated on defending the front door and building an economy. Crvarad (3621) was increased in size to a city and became a quick military base. Tormog took care of the Anduin bridges, paused a turn to kill an SG commander at 3120 and he an Carrog went to work in west…never to return.
Mid-Game: The Witch King was recruiting 1800 to 2100HI a turn. The 2305 army continually raided Mirkwood, defeated by Sinda assassins and Sinda/Dwarven troops. The Dwarves built a great army that made it to 2405, but Tormog and blocking armies ensured it never got to 2305.
Once the camp limit hit, both nations sent emissary companies after the dwarven/northmen pop centers. First to fall was 2904…and it became a city sized recruiting base for the Dark Lts. Then the western dwarven centers and Arthedain towns.
In Witch King west/ Rhudaur the enemy never ran out of troops. The CL agents clearly made several of them vanish. We just kept pouring troops in. After the second Arthedain assault, into the Witch King, I counter attacked into him. It took several turns, but a dragon and a Tormog sabotage led to the fall of his capital. The emissaries had ensured no back-ups.
At the front door (Osgiliath) we traded troops with the Eothraim, South Gondor and North Gondor. Had to knock the bridge at 2927 down a few more times too. Eventually, with a few dragons and much good help from the entire team, we won through and sent a raiding army into the Harad….burned a few towns and killed a nice sized leader before being kidnapped (can we have Herudor back now ).
On the plains. the Dark Lts forces from 2904 destroyed 3109 and took the Iron Hills. As the attack on 3109 occurred Dark Lt HC rolled over the western side of the Sea of Rhun, taking everything from 4017 to 4013. The perfect LR timing at 4217 let me use that force to take 3612 instead of back tracking. So went the Northmen.
With the Northmen out, only one remaining Dwarven starting center (2212) and a huge army not being able to move from 2405 due to kidnapping, The Dwarves either dropped of bank ruppted. The only way these to victories came about, I made a choice to trust my allies could hold Mordor with only the occasional army from me and you all did! Without that key, we don’t knock out either the Northmen or the Dwarves. In the mid-turns the two Gondors and Eothraim had serious pressure on as well.
End Game: The Witch Kings fun came to a quick end as Dun, Cardi and Sinda agents descended on me (I have 30 agent names if anyone would like them). Eventually the Dun army that rolled through the Rhudauran cap was in my only two assassin’s sites at 2006…but I picked up his two Long Rider agent artifact carrying agents at and took them out instead. That allowed me to form a couple of effective agent and emissary teams. The enemy emis/agents kept stealing and hitting. We began trading centers…although we were losing ground at around 3 to 2. Somewhere along the way the Noldo sent armies to reclaim the Arthedain capital, but I was able to assassinate em and turn that back. At the end 1804 (rebuilding), 2004 and 2407 were the only WK bases remaining west (as the Cardi/Sinda was poised to reclaim 2209…hardly counts).
The Dark Lts poured HC into the Eothraim, from 3621 and 3612. A dragon army also materialized from 2904/Iron Hills to eliminate the Eothraim capital defense forces. Once again, the Long Rider showed up as we took the last two MTs at 3112 and 3012. Given what Rhuduar/CL did in SG proper…makes sense why the Eothraim didn’t get a back up.
That’s most of the highlights…and my basic strategy, annoy in the west, and go after the somewhat isolated 2 nation combos to eliminate, from unexpected avenues of attack. Was quite a good fight DS allies.
Nice job by the Witch King/Dark combo. I thought your play in the Northwest was exceptional, especially with Northern Gondor/Duns playing so well. I think we would have held the North longer if not for the special service turn, but the free agents were doing some incredible damage to characters and recruiting capabilities.
tim
You ran the Rhduar/CL combo extremely well. I think the best thing you may have done, was fill that Ice King gap. With the early play from the NG/Dun and SG/Eothraim, it was the DogLord and I wouldn’t have held that front door without your troops…and the auto spotting that gave your CL agents. Very nice.
Not to mention, we took a good beating with in the NW and tied a bunch of them up. Was fun playing with you.
Steve Johnston
It was a blast playing with you as well Steve. In typical fashion the cloud lord supplied very few armies the entire game, so when the Ice king went down we figured Rhudaur recruiting from the south made sense as we always knew we would get kicked out of the North. We just hoped we got the Ice King capital before anyone else did.
Robert Glass as the Dog Lord played pretty good as well. Plus the Corsairs/Dragon Lord staying in the whole game made a difference.
Good luck in future games.
tim