The good old days

I was just remembering the good old days of 1650, when half the players dropped by turn 5 and the other half, if balanced, could have a titanic battle lasting 150 turns. Would it be a good variant for 1650 to play with only half the nations, and the other half fully present but “eliminated” (popcenter available for taking, characters for recruiting) ?

See below, based on my recollections of nations most dropped.

Eliminate DS: DragonLord, Ice King, Quiet Avenger, FK, DogLord, Rhudaur
Eliminate FP: Woodmen, Northmen, Eothraim, Cardolan, North Gondor, Harad

Jeremy

What hasn’t changed:

  • People who sign up to play, and then realize they are in way over their heads and drop before Turn 1 is due. Although, I’m sure these numbers are lower than they were 25 years ago.

What has changed:

  • People who miss a turn because their order sheet didn’t make it to GSI in time due to postal delivery issues, so they drop after a maintenance turn out of frustration.

I would be interested in a crazy variant like that Jeremy!

Jeremy,
Yes, I remember those days and was in one game that lasted over one year. I also remember your trip to Baltimore. Hoping that you and yours are happy and healthy. Interesting suggestion.
Andrew

Sheesh if you want to talk about the good olde days, then you have to talk about sending your turns in by post and discussing plans with your allies on the phone. These kids with their internet schtick just don’t know how good they have it!

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And having the game shut down for 3 months because Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.

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Quahog…that was funny! And yet I remember that!

Great aging comments here! Internet Schtick! Calling on the phone! Postal service! Dear lord, how did we do it!

Don’t forget - even before you could talk on the phone, you had to fill out 3x5 cards for each of your allies to mail in with your orders, just so you could find out what everyone’s number was.

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That was for those who’d give out their number. Some wouldn’t and you had to send them a letter and hope it would get to them before the turn ran …

I remember the “good old days”. Just hearing the envelope hitting the door mat on time gave the same feeling of triumph as assassinating Elrond.

It was hoping the post would arrive before school. Otherwise spending all day wondering what happened.

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