Hi,
just had an idea, bear with me.
Sauron liked to stir things up all over Endor, in
pursuit of his goal of Mastery of Middle Earth. I see
the nasty warmonger as an opportunist - he had this
evil goal but there was no overall masterplan. These
stirrings manifested themselves as Wars (in fact you
could see the 2nd and 3rd Ages as the time of Sauron's
Wars). For example, the 'ring plot' led to the War of
the Elves and Sauron, and Tolkien always hints at wars
in the distand East.
Imagine this thesis holds true, then there is an
argument for creating a scenario around the time
Sauron was known as the Necromancer (I see the Angmar
War as separate, arguably it was the Witch King that
decided strategy and tactics). These wars take place
between the Misty Mountains and the Sea of Rhun, and
the Grey mountains and the north of Mordor.
However, what event marks the beginning of this
period: Sauron settling in Dol Guldor? the coming of
the Balrog? For the games sake, I thought that the
War of Dwarves and Orcs would be a brilliant beginning
- the orc nations start off with every major town/city
in the Mistys and the Dwarves gain 7 armies, each
representing a dwarven house (e.g. Broadbeams,
Longbeards). The Dwarves get a huge gold surplus to
pay for armies (the exhaustion of this gold represents
the dwarves returning to their other homes). Of
course, other nations in Rhovanion and around the
mistys get a look in.
What marks the end of this period? Well, surely it is
either the storming of Dol Guldor or the Battle of the
Five Armies? Therefore, one possible game ending is
the storming of Dol Guldor by the White Council
(company?). However, I would also suggest a special
setup to enact the 5 armies, i.e. if either DS or
Freep get Erebor, a chain of events is unleashed:
1. Freeps get Erebor then...
DS gain 5 armies to represent the gathering of orcs to
claim Erebor and the Freeps get lots of money
2. DS get Erebor then...well that is up to someone
with a better imagination than I
I think this idea of have special 'events' could
really work.
Anyway, the original idea for this was to play the War
of Dwarves and Orcs, but I thought the Necromancer
perspective made for a wider game. In fact, Sauron
spent a lot of this time trying to get back the
Dwarven rings (perhaps some of the other houses had
the remaining 3, aside from Durin's house). One of my
favourite moments in the Hobbit is when Thorin toys
with the idea of warring against Sauron - that is what
I love about the Khazad!
Enough.
No wait...another idea...The Return of the Istari.
How about a scenario that enacts the return of Alatar
and Pallando to the West?!?
Ray
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