new alignment for grudge games

mepbmlist
#1

Hi,

Wow! I believe my game 77 GMs and friends team (including 5 players in their
first game) could defeat the best ME players in the world if we had 4
neutrals.

Er, Sam ... We could defeat them anyway - come on Mr. Team Captain Sir, don't do us down!

I don't understand how the DS could deal with North Gondor, South Gondor,
Harad and the Corsairs all being in the Ithil Pass on turn 5 with about
20,000 troops.

I agree - in this scenario the DS would lose in a remarkably short time. DS agent power
would be helpless against the sheer weight of military might that could be pushed through
the Ithil pass. Moreover, the scale of DS losses would be immense before they had the chance
to recruit any dragons.

Aside from anything else, I remain unconvinced, big time that (given a decent team set-upon
on both sides) the DS have much of an innate advantage anyway. I know this is possibly
contoversial, but I would be against any further changes that beefed up the DS just on the
basis of accumulated figures from the past - the situation NOW seems rather different.

Dividing up the neutrals in a different way is certainly interesting, but I wonder if the
answer might be to be even more creative - depending on how much leeway there is in the
set-up proceedure. I like the idea of giving Rhudaur a MT/t in the Misty Mountains - but one
could also play around with the other Neutral positions. For instance giving Dunland a
back-up MT if they are to be DS - assuming they are to be in play at all.

Without time to go into all the possibilities myself at present, I would suggest that the
best way forward for anyone seeking a fresh experience in a grudge game would be to look at
a more radical set-up.

Colin.

#2

--- In mepbmlist@y..., Colin Forbes <colin@t...> wrote:

Aside from anything else, I remain unconvinced, big time that

(given a decent team set-upon

on both sides) the DS have much of an innate advantage anyway.

The DS have beaten the Free 2-1 over the long term. The reasons for
that are varied, but have little to do with starting set ups. As
this thread includes "Grudge" in it's title, one would have to
assume that many of those reasons would not be relevant. Given
two equal-ish teams, there ain't no hope for the DS against the
kind of firepower available to the Free with both southern neuts.

Now....it DOES sound like an exciting set up for Harly to dump
14 newbies into against 11 vets.....I'd play the Rhudaur when you
get this "training" game going! :wink:

(apologies to those who have requested I justify saying this, or
anything else, but I feel it to be quite obvious...)

Regards,

Brad of the Clan Valadan

#3

The DS have beaten the Free 2-1 over the long term.

Hi,

I would add that this figure is based on normal games with neutrals. Its too
easy to convince a neutral to go dark... they start wondering about the
Cloud Lord's pointy sticks and the difficulty of downgrading to all the
dangerous DS.

Even Rhudaur tends to go dark, just to stop the game being boring in the NW.

Now....it DOES sound like an exciting set up for Harly to dump
14 newbies into against 11 vets.....I'd play the Rhudaur when you
get this "training" game going! :wink:

My money's on the vets :slight_smile:

(I am most impressed with some of the DS in game 59, especially their
ability to manipulate the market at will)

Sam