I'm not saying it won't work -- just the only Dragon-slaying I have actually
seen in a game was done pretty much solo -- no help from the rest of his
team -- by a Noldo player. Didn't require any significant cooperation from his
allies at all, really. Though I think he got the inspiration when Gandalf or
Galadriel (I forget which) showed up real early where he had a newly named
A30 who had gotten nice stealth, so he figured "what the heck, I'll steal the
elven ring" and bingo, suddenly he had a second +50 mage artifact in hand.
Passed that on to Elrond and things, hmmm, I bet with a little more mojo
Elrond could start killing those pesky Dragons... So he went after the 3rd Ring
and soon went on a killing spree.
The commander with lots of command items should work also -- especially if
the Arthedain and Dwarves are cooperating, which they should be of course but
you know not all games see a grudge-like teamwork evolve. 
You
definitely want the big Arthedain command artifact as well as the Dwarven Ring of
Power amongst your collection of command artifacts.
The major danger, though, of sending out a schmuck commander to do the work,
is if you run across a mediocre DS agent -- especially if you are prowling
DS mountain camps looking for dragons to slay before they DS can recruit them,
where you are likely to show up and the DS agent of course won't -- is that
a mediocre DS agent could well snuff out a low-ranking commander (artifacts
not helping with the "don't K/A me" chance) whereas it should take someone a
lot more competent to snuff someone like Elrond. And if prowling FP camps in
the mountains instead, there is a small chance at least that an enemy agent
will show up, and Elrond can either challenge or double the guy, while a
commander would just have to challenge him. And if the agent is refusing and
stealing while waiting for a dragon to appear, then a challenge won't work.
Anyway, the schmuck commander takes more risk of being nailed and having all
those command artifacts fall into enemy hands. Or even if the commander
himself is not nailed, the danger exists of the artifacts being stolen, if say
the enemy has located the Dwarven Ring and sees a chance to snatch it.
The danger still exists with Elrond of course -- but not only do I advocate
Elrond be in a company so he can be carted around while doing two orders, but
the company commander should be a CA who can guard Elrond each turn. So the
chance of either nailing Elrond or stealing one of the big mage artifacts is
reduced both due to Elrond being a harder target as well as being guarded.
I expect that if the commander is used instead, nobody wastes another
commander acting as a company commander, since the commander himself has no other
useful second order and may as well move himself. On the other hand, Elrond is
one of those guys the DS do like to track, so if he ever stays in one place,
they might catch up to him with a big gun agent. So the danger is less
overall, but if the enemy CAN catch up to Elrond, the payoff is bigger.
Yes, the mage artifacts are certainly also useful in putting together a
Curses squad -- fortunately none of them are actually needed to LEARN the spells,
though the +50s help, they don't provide access. Tinculin, on the other
hand, should not be given to a dragon slayer but instead be passed around like
other Spirit Mastery artifacts getting mages to learn the spells -- it is ~+40
and therefore certainly could help slay dragons but the Curses learning is
also very important.
All of which is purely theoretical for me anyway -- I pretty much only play
4th Age these days, where sadly just about all the dragons seemed to have
passed away and no artifacts give access to learning lost list spells either. On
the other hand, for those who think the DS have too many useful encounters
in 1650 and 2950, 4th Age goes the other way -- lots of FP encounters are
still there, Eagles, Ents, Hobbits, Woses to name some of the good ones, but I
have yet to see any critters join DS armies except one -- A Balrog is still
hanging around the White Mountains...
But going back to the original point -- I think the more the FP are working
like a grudge team, the more viable the commander dragon-slayer is compared to
the mage. And one advantage of using the command artifacts for
dragon-slaying that you didn't mention but which I feel compelled to point out, in many,
if not most, games, the command artifacts end up on commanders of armies who
get captured in battle or targetted by assassins etc., and therefore
gradually -- or even rapidly -- end up in DS hands anyway. Putting them on a
dragon-slayer will tend to keep them much safer, strange as that sounds -- and
keeping those artifacts out of enemy hands is a good thing, so to speak. The
mage artifacts already are less likely to get snatched by the enemy -- as long
as those using them remember to move around a bit. Getting some mages in a
company and moving them around WHILE they are learning Spirit Mastery is a good
idea, otherwise you may well find that just as you thought you were almost
ready to go out and Curse some DS agents, the DS agents find you, kill you, and
take your stuff...
Heh. Speaking of command artifacts being vulnerable due to being on army
commanders, in one game as the Long Rider I got lucky, took a guess and found
Bain early and whacked him, getting his stuff, including the two command
artifacts. Later in that same game, I managed to threaten Khazad-dum away from
the Dwarves -- using those two command artifacts as well as others...
Enough babble -- both techniques should work, the main thing is, having a
plan of some sort is much better than having no plan at all, and those damn
dragons DO manage to turn the tide in far too many battles...
-- E3
In a message dated 2/14/2007 8:33:55 AM Eastern Standard Time,
bbme@rogers.com writes:
Give a commander the top 5 command artifacts and a
"hidden" ability sword (it's worth it) and dragons
die, snuff, like gnats. The FP mage deficit is huge
and all artifacts are required to create credible
cursers/LAT'cursers/LAT'<WBR>ers/Revealers. Plus, y
com and other necessary toys quickly, else you intend
on waiting until you find and *successfully* steal
those nice mage artifacts.
How hard is it to get a commander up to 200? Throw in
2 "bonus vs dragon" type artifacts and you can
consider him over 300 vs Dragons. Dime a dozen
commander. I guess it's an opinion thing, but I'll
take a +20 mage toy over any 3 +20 com toys for the FP
any day.
Brad
Probably because, with a mage, you don't necessarily
need 6 artifacts, plus your best challenger to start
with is more of a mage than a commander. Start with
Elrond, add three Elvish Rings (i.e. you have to
snarf the other two from Galadriel and Gandalf) and
grab a weapon whose "hidden" ability is a bonus
against dragons...though the latter may be for
encounters only rather than challenges, so heck,
just grab a +2250weapon.And it isn't necessarily a waste of mage artifacts
either -- put Elrond in a company, and each turn, he
can case a lore spell such as LAT with a damn good
chance of success. SO hey, while playing
"slide-the-blade-"slide-the-b"slide-the-"slide-the"slide-the-bl
with the great wyrms, he can also be playing "let's
find the One Ring and be done with this farce"
casting LAT each turn. Meanwhile the CA company
commander guards him and moves the company...
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--- _DrakaraGM@aol.Dra_ (mailto:DrakaraGM@aol.com) wrote: