Just a thought but how about 1650 with EVERYONE staring as a Neutral ?
Little or no basis in Tolkein I know but just think about it, Elrond and Murazor in allegiance, BS Mages trying to curse CL agents, Harad, QA and Corsairs as a Southwestern mega power.
Discuss.
I must admit I was thinking the same thing myself a little while ago. Out on your own free to do as you will. picture WK, Rhu and Cardy deciding to divide Arthadain 3 ways or Elves Dwarves and orcs deciding to rid Middle Earth of those pesky Humans. Would be a cast iron bitch to run I imagine. :rolleyes:
Regards Herman
It could be done. We’d have to have 23 nations in a 1650 game though and keep one FP and one DS. Not sure how to organise a Victory that would have to be hand moderated I think.
Clint
Well NGon or SGon for the free is the obvious choice, Arthy could be another and the Fire King or Cloud for the DS, well any of the Mordor based ones really. I’m liking the sound of it already. 
Regards Herman
Noldo and Dark Lt’s as the FP and DS nations…makes sense I think…
The rest on thier own
I’d also been thinking of something similar and even started to draft something which I think is very similar to what is being suggested here.
I’d certainly give this variant a go.
[i]Last Man Standing
All nations’ relations are set to neutral for all other nations. You can upgrade and downgrade any nation you wish using the usual 180 & 185 orders.
The number of nation’s played by each player can vary game to game; 2-nations per player is probably preferable. One nation would be challenges for say the Rhudaur or the Woodmen but not insurmountable if they can use their diplomatic skills to persuade others they will be invaluable to them.
The idea is simply to be the last player, or strongest, with a functioning nation at the end of 50 turns. Everyone is your potential enemy or a potential friend, however to survive and prosper you will need to regularly form and break alliances.
Communication is positively encouraged, you will be given the list of all other players, no-one is obliged to talk to anyone else, swap pdf’s or give information but the more you do the more you will know what is happening in the game. Conversely the more you may give away the easier a target you may become.
Imagine the Dragon Lord and Woodmen battling to kick the Sinda out of Mirkwood or Arthedain going head to head with Cardolan and each begging the Witch King to support their cause.
How to allocate nations, well I guess there are many ways from having pre-selected combinations from which players give their preferences. The beauty of this variant being there is no reason why FP and DS nations cannot be combined.
There is still a little of the fog of war as there is no team to feed you their pdf’s any nation is only obliged to tell any other only what they wish. At the same as much diplomacy and backstabbing as anyone could wish for.[/i]
I’d play this variant, but I’d suggest that nations are allocated randomly, there would be certain nations that would always be chosen first.
Dave
I personaly would like to see individual nations utalized rather than a gunboat format. Random allocation in a gunboat format may find you with two nations alongside each other or someone with two agent nations etc. If everyone only has one nation you won’t get this problem. It also allows for more carnage as all 25 nations jocky for positions rather than just 12 players. A couple of the nations might need a bit of beefing up due to their scattered starting positions ie Drag Lord. I agree though it would have to be a random allocation or there would be 10 people wanting the Cloud Lord etc. Just some food for thought.
Regards Herman
At the same time there may also be problems in being Cloud Lord or Noldo.
Neighbours may see you as being the obvious threat and band together to take you out before you become too powerful.
I have an idea for a variation on this theme, its 6 free and 6 DS and the rest neutrals.
Dog, Dragon, Ice, Fire, Blind, Cloud < Mordor nations
NG, SG, Noldo, Sinda, Dwarves, Arthedain.
the rest are neutrals- Do you join the DS early and help save Mordor from the outside, stay neutral and let the battles unfold before choosing your allegiance, Or join the good fight to end Saurons reign?
Hmm. This all sounds like fun, actually! I really like the 6 on 6 idea.
Of the “all neutral” scenario, another consideration would be to effectively eliminate 2 nations, leave them their capitals only as “no go” hexes, 1 each for each allegiance. This would have to be hand moderated I’m assuming…? I nominate the Northmen as FP, tough call on who would be the DS…(Easterlings?) Definitely a single nation game, 23 players. Contact info shared at start then go crazy!
As per usual we need 12 players for a variant game like this. If someone can organise that we can look to set up this game.
Clint
Hell so far we have had about 4 different variants of the original idea, still it looks like there is a bit of support for this idea in a general sense. What are we going to run with, the six on six with remaining neutrals or one each and every one else neutral or everyone neutral? Let’s get the format settled and then work on numbers, I for one would be keen.
Regards Herman
well I would be definitely up for this, but I like the idea of brad most: two allegiance nations each side which are taboo, the rest of 23 all neutral. I’d stick with the proposed NM but would remove QA on the DS side. QA will be fair game for any corsair or harad player.
the 6 vs 6 variant is also nice, but thats another thing. lets follow up the original idea here.
Can’t believe that this has kicked off so well.
I am obviously up for playing in this scenario if it gets going.
Not too bothered about which Nations go out though.