I am curious about the Gunboat and Last Alliance variants to the game.....if you've information and care to share with a newer player.......
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I am curious about the Gunboat and Last Alliance variants to the game.....if you've information and care to share with a newer player.......
moshelljay@hotmail.com
RD: There are several variants to the basic game. Gunboat, as I understand it, is a basic game with every player taking 2 nations, Easterlings dropped, and no diplomacy. House rules are in the latest issue of Bree or you can just ask Harle.
There are also variants where assassinations and kidnaps are not allowed: NKA. Again, ask Harle for details of these.
I designed the Last Alliance variant. It is based on a few pages in Tolkien's "Silmarillion" in the chapter: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, plus titbits from LoR appendices and "Unfinished Tales." I took GSI's 4th Age game and set up the nations an characters according to my reading of the above. This resulted in a very polarized game, all the DS including Witch-king and Dragon lord being confined to Mordor apart from a few outposts. This in turn meant that some nations did not see any action for the first few turns. The victory conditions were simple: the FP had to slay Sauron (a character in this variant) or destroy Barad-dur (which became a city/citadel) within 24 turns. Any other result was a DS win.
There are no neutrals, and the balance of power between Good and Evil is near-as-dammit exactly the same as in 1650, altho the individual nations are different.
The first game of LA was a pretty easy win for the FP. No disrespect to the opposition, but I believe we had the better team. My concerns with this variant are that the DS lack the starting artifact advantage they have in 1650, and there are no dragons, which further handicaps the DS. If I were to play this again, I would want to see the DS power boosted just a little to compensate for these handicaps; but not too much, because after all, the DS only have to survive whereas the FP have to conquer to win. I must be honest: despite being on the winning side (I was Woodies), I didn't find this variant very exciting.
If you are interested in variant scenarios, you may also be interested in NKA (no assassinations or kidnaps); Mike Sankey's "no neutrals" (where the pops and some of the starting armies of the neutrals are all divided between FP & DS) and my other variant, "War of the Ring." Well you don't expect me to write all this without plugging my own personal favourite, do you?
I designed WotR because when GSI's 2950 game came out, I (and many others) were bitterly disappointed to find the economic base much smaller than 1650, so small that we could not come anywhere near the army sizes implied in the LoR book. Therefore, I simply took the 2950 scenario, and boosted the number and size of pops up to 1650 level. My team played DS first time round, and won after a tough fight; we are currently playing the FP and well on the way to winning again.
If I say so myself - and I am going to blow my own trumpet here - WotR is a damn good variant, better than the original 2950, well balanced and fun to play. So there.
I can't comment on Gunboat or NKA because I haven't found time to play either, but I do like both concepts. Long live variants!
Richard.
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···
----- Original Message -----
From: shelljay shelljay
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2002 6:47 PM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Variant Game Information
Thanx Richard for the information.....sounds like gunboat is more my grift than last alliance. I am also intrigued by your WotR variant...I have not played 2950 so I dont' have any experience with it. I am playing 4th age now so I have a limited experience there.
Thanks again,
JmR
···
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard DEVEREUX
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Cc: kevin@bobbins71.freeserve.co.uk
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2002 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Variant Game Information
----- Original Message -----
From: shelljay shelljay
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2002 6:47 PM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Variant Game Information
I am curious about the Gunboat and Last Alliance variants to the game.....if you've information and care to share with a newer player.......
moshelljay@hotmail.com
RD: There are several variants to the basic game. Gunboat, as I understand it, is a basic game with every player taking 2 nations, Easterlings dropped, and no diplomacy. House rules are in the latest issue of Bree or you can just ask Harle.
There are also variants where assassinations and kidnaps are not allowed: NKA. Again, ask Harle for details of these.
I designed the Last Alliance variant. It is based on a few pages in Tolkien's "Silmarillion" in the chapter: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, plus titbits from LoR appendices and "Unfinished Tales." I took GSI's 4th Age game and set up the nations an characters according to my reading of the above. This resulted in a very polarized game, all the DS including Witch-king and Dragon lord being confined to Mordor apart from a few outposts. This in turn meant that some nations did not see any action for the first few turns. The victory conditions were simple: the FP had to slay Sauron (a character in this variant) or destroy Barad-dur (which became a city/citadel) within 24 turns. Any other result was a DS win.
There are no neutrals, and the balance of power between Good and Evil is near-as-dammit exactly the same as in 1650, altho the individual nations are different.
The first game of LA was a pretty easy win for the FP. No disrespect to the opposition, but I believe we had the better team. My concerns with this variant are that the DS lack the starting artifact advantage they have in 1650, and there are no dragons, which further handicaps the DS. If I were to play this again, I would want to see the DS power boosted just a little to compensate for these handicaps; but not too much, because after all, the DS only have to survive whereas the FP have to conquer to win. I must be honest: despite being on the winning side (I was Woodies), I didn't find this variant very exciting.
If you are interested in variant scenarios, you may also be interested in NKA (no assassinations or kidnaps); Mike Sankey's "no neutrals" (where the pops and some of the starting armies of the neutrals are all divided between FP & DS) and my other variant, "War of the Ring." Well you don't expect me to write all this without plugging my own personal favourite, do you?
I designed WotR because when GSI's 2950 game came out, I (and many others) were bitterly disappointed to find the economic base much smaller than 1650, so small that we could not come anywhere near the army sizes implied in the LoR book. Therefore, I simply took the 2950 scenario, and boosted the number and size of pops up to 1650 level. My team played DS first time round, and won after a tough fight; we are currently playing the FP and well on the way to winning again.
If I say so myself - and I am going to blow my own trumpet here - WotR is a damn good variant, better than the original 2950, well balanced and fun to play. So there.
I can't comment on Gunboat or NKA because I haven't found time to play either, but I do like both concepts. Long live variants!
Richard.
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