The Corsairs are my favourite position in ME1650. The nation has a fantastic starting economy, great characters, the best navy in the world and an isolated position. If you can combine with Harad, the two nations can have a decisive impact on the end result. Harad and the Corsairs are economic superpowers. Behind the DS, they provide the one resource the DS lack...Gold. If these two nations go DS they can win the war for their team.
You have a fantastic navy. To use it properly all the prime targets for your navy belong to the FP. You are also close to Mordor and within striking distance of the Cloud Lord agents, it's much safer to have Ji Indur on your side than against you.
Without doubt this is a fun, exciting position to play. The only concern you should have is the play of Harad and the Easterlings. If they both decide to come after you at the start of the game you are in real trouble. If you have a sympathetic Harad player though, who is interested in joining you, then you can have a great game!
Strategy Guide by Brian Mason
Strategy Guide by Tom Walton
Anatomy of a Game Turns 1-25 by Tom Walton
Corsairs Starting Information
Strategy and Tactics: The Corsairs
By Brian Mason
It is rather difficult starting off this strategy and tactics column, discussing effective strategy for the Corsairs, and never having played them before. Especially, when I know I am going to be followed immediately by a better tactician than myself . So, I'm going to avoid some of the specific moves I have discussed before, and rather, concentrate on listing specifics about the Corsairs, and making a few observations which might assist the novice at the position.
How do the Corsairs compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton):
among all
among Neutrals
Total Tax Base
4th
2nd
Resource Base
25th
5th
Combat Strength
20th
5th
Character points
6th
1st
Artefacts
last
last
While the Corsairs have a good resource base, their production is on the poor side due to developed state of the population centres which it starts the game with. Expected production (not climate adjusted) for the nation would be as follows:
le
br
st
fo
ti
mo
go
production
345
212
123
2196
668
121
6722
Because of the poor production in almost all areas, to effectively recruit troops with good weapons or armour, to build ships or increase fortifications, the Corsairs must either manipulate the market (a difficult task given the poor production available for sales), take advantage of the market manipulation of others as it presents itself, or create new camps.Because of the close proximity of the Haradwaith, these can either be your closest ally or your most implacable enemy. The fact that very little which you do can go unnoticed by the Harad makes surreptitious actions difficult. The only area on your map not observable by the Harad are those hexes west of and including the 22 column, and only those south of and including the 36 row are unobservable by Southern Gondor. This leaves you only two hexes: 2139 and 2239 which can be developed without Harad knowledge.It is rather important that you decide rather quickly what course of action you will take with the Harad. If they cannot be trusted, almost every movement you make can be monitored. If you cannot trust them, then begin making plans right away for their destruction.
Another hex you might plan for early development would be 2538. Placing a tower there could slow movement of any force towards your capital. While other hexes, further along the road might be better, hexes east of and including the 26 column are seen by the Quiet Avenger, and their is no reason to advertise this to more than are necessary.
Because all but one of the Corsair population centres starts with a fortification, raising taxes to around 60% or so is possible early. The increased revenue of one turn would pay for the tower at 2437 preventing reduction. Raising taxes to this level will put you in the black, but not by much. If you do not anticipate early combat retiring some troops, especially the Men-at-Arms might be a good course of action.
With your excess gold create emissaries and camps. Most important to you is improving your economy. You are also paying for harbours and ports at the rate of 2000 gold per turn. First of all, a harbour is redundant at 2337, so get rid of it. I would also consider removing the harbours at 2236, 2137, 2337, 2039, and 2339. This would leave your only port at 2438 and your harbour which is closest to the rest of the map: 2136.
Fortunately, three of your four starting armies are off the Harad map. Therefore, it is relatively easy to combine these into an effective fighting force at 2136 early. The final point I wish to make is points for Corsair landing. Since you do not have to sail along coastlines you should avoid them as wandering navies of other alliances, can only slow you down. I comment now on places of attack ideally suited for the Corsairs.
There are many population centres which can be struck from sea with no warning at all. Among them are:
Arthedain
1211
Camp/Tower
S Gondor
2225
Town
Cardolan
1113
Town/Tower
S Gondor
2227
City/Fort
Cardolan
1014
Town
S Gondor
2328
Town/Tower
Cardolan
1015
Town
S Gondor
2527
M Town/Fort
Cardolan
1614
M Town/Castle *
S Gondor
2628
Town/Tower
Cardolan
1514
Town/Tower *
Sinda
2325
M Town/Fort
Cardolan
1317
Town/Tower *
Noldo
0408
M Town/Fort
Cardolan
1219
Town/Tower
Noldo
0508
Village
N Gondor
2926
Town/Tower
Noldo
0708
City/Fort
N Gondor
3026
Town/Tower
Noldo
0808
Village
N Gondor
2927
City/Castle
Noldo
0710
Town/Fort
N Gondor
3028
Town/Tower
Noldo
0611
M Town/Fort
Because of their location, Free People dwellings are the most easily struck. It is advisable to have an on ground commander doing a Recon in the area of a possible landing so that you know what to expect. Many of the population centres above are suitable only for a full scale invasion, and you'll want to know precisely what you are facing before striking there. But some of the population centres above, especially the unfortified ones, are well suited for raids by a small force simply to destroy. Again, since your force is small you'll want to not strike when their are armies present. So, again, a spotter for the raiding force is advisable.
While most damage can be done against the Free Peoples, it is also possible to do some dirty deeds against the Dark Servants and neutrals. Because of their location it is not always as easy, but a Corsair looking for fun, can, like Captain Blood, raid for king, country, and the forces of good.
Options include:
A surprise raid on the Witch-King. Making a landing at1302 will take some time (at least four turns), but can ruin his whole day.
Taking out the Quiet Avenger. This nation is much weaker than you. Simultaneous strikes on 2135 and 3034 are easily possible, and with adequate planning you can take out this pesky nuisance quickly.
Osgiliath, why not? It is easy for the Corsairs to reinforce this deadly bloodbath.
Dealing with the Haradwaith. Between the Corsairs and Southern Gondor the Haradwaith are an easy mark. With advance planning you can handle them on your own.
These are only some of the options for the Corsairs player. I'm sure more will be mentioned below.
Strategy & Tactics: The Corsairs
From Tom Walton
The nation of the Corsairs ranks as one of my all-time favourites in Middle-Earth. Something about having an entire kingdom of pirates and cut-throats at my beck and call, just dying to plunder and pillage the shores of distant lands, does much to fire up my interest in the game. Indeed, I could talk all day about the various Corsair tactics; the original text of this article was only half-finished and occupied about 50% of the Mouth.In the interests of not putting our loyal readers to sleep, I'm going to cut out the details and simply address those items that Brian didn't, or that I have a different opinion on. I'm assuming here that you already know a lot about the game and tactics, to keep this article as short as possible.
The Corsair strengths are easy to see: good tax base, well- fortified pop centres in an easily defensible area, some of the best characters in the game, and, of course, their incredible navy (supported by appropriate nation advantages). Their weaknesses are less obvious but critical, especially in the early game:
lousy resource base. As you can see from Brian's table, the Corsair resource base is tiny. When raising troops or conducting construction projects, the Corsairs will have to buy what they need from the market. This could be easy if the prices are low, or crippling if the prices are high.
pathetic army. The Corsair starting army truly stinks. The entire force is barely capable of taking out Vamag, and that only if it isn't heavily defended. Adequate for defence in the early game, it's nothing more than a nuisance when on the offensive.
naval weakness. I know this sounds like a contradiction in terms, since the Corsairs are capable of defeating any single player on the open seas. Alas, that's any SINGLE player. Should the Corsairs go evil, they'll face a combined Free Peoples fleet about twice the size of their own, easily strong enough to wipe them out if they get caught in naval battle.
neighbouring Haradrim. As Brian said, the Haradrim can either be co-operative or hostile. A Harad-Corsair combo can wreak havoc on the Free and cause some serious difficulties for the Dark Servants; a crazy or obnoxious Harad can force the Corsairs into a long, bloody war of attrition which'll occupy most of the game and ruin both nations.
In most of the games I've been in or heard about, neutrals tend to get paid a lot of attention until recruited. After they actually join an allegiance, the allegiance seems to forget about them, essentially telling them to 'sink or swim' on their own. Given that you won't be able to rely on your 'allies' most of the time, it's imperative that the Corsairs correct their weaknesses and strengthen their position prior to entering the fray. Here are some ideas:
consolidate the army and fleet immediately. Leave the navy in one big chunk and make sure the commander has a back-up and is well- guarded. I suggest two recruiting points: 2438 and 2136 (the latter because it's the most strategically located pop centre in Umbar).
name three or four emissaries out of the first four character slots. These emissaries should move out and begin to put down camps as fast as possible. Don't worry about doing upgrades to villages;the Corsairs have enough taxes, what they need right at the start are resources.
speaking of taxes, raise the tax rate to 79%. This will nearly double revenue. Better yet, when the Corsairs have eight or ten camps down, they can drop taxes to 60%, giving all of their camps a loyalty increase of 1-19 points. Instant village material.
if the Haradwaith aren't crazed for battle or simply too stupid to figure out they can't conquer the Corsairs at the beginning of the game, disband all troops except the heavy infantry. Don't start recruiting again until the Corsair economy is stable and running a nice surplus. While this is suicide for the Free Peoples and Dark Servants, the Corsairs can disband troops with little fear of invasion in the first ten turns.
if the market gods have smiled upon Umbar, think about building more warships. The stronger the fleet, the more likely it is the Corsairs will be able to defeat a combined Free force. Of course, if the Corsairs are leaning towards the Free, building warships is a waste of time.
think about blowing the bridge over the Harnen. This prevents a land invasion by enemy forces unless they're willing to march around and through Easterling territory, a very long haul even with cav.Ten turns of judicious planning will put the Corsairs in a position to inflict some serious damage upon their foes. Not only will they be able to shore up their weaknesses, but their nation will become an economic powerhouse capable of supporting a very large army. A few more suggestions:
most Corsair characters are double and triple classed. Attach them to armies right away and start training them in their off- skills. By doing this, the Corsairs can get some fairly skilled agents, emissaries and mages - without having to waste character slots or gold. At the same time, they'll also improve their already nice command ranks.
Meriot is a decent mage, able to learn 'locate artefact true' by turn 3 (sooner if he lucks out and already has a spell or two in this area). Artefacts are icing on the cake for the Corsair characters, improving upon their already excellent abilities. If Meriot is lucky and acts fast, he can pick up some nice artefacts before his competitors can reach them.
think about putting camps down in off-map areas. This can give the Corsairs a good resource and tax base well away from the action. While western Gondor is a good choice, it's also too obvious; I'd suggest south and east of the Easterling capitol, a place that virtually no one visits.
How to battle with the Corsairs? With the above plan, the Corsairs can become a powerhouse without having to plan to join any one allegiance. By turn 10, they're capable of doing serious damage to any opponent they choose. The tactics used will vary depending on the target:
Brian has already listed a set of good targets outside of Southern Gondor. If the Corsairs wish to make nuisance attacks, then put as many troops on the fleet as possible and move from town to town making threats. With a fleet, the Corsairs can threaten and move all in one turn, safe from attack by land-based forces.
Unfortunately, many of these threats will fail (since the Corsairs don't have a slew of good command artefacts), but those that succeed will put a crimp in the style of the target nation.If the Corsairs wish to make a major invasion intent on doing serious damage, or even with conquest in mind, I'd suggest first building 7 more transports. This gives them a lift capacity of 7500 HI, a very respectable force. Have the navy move to some hex in the area that isn't obvious, then on the next turn order the naval commander to split the army and move away. The new army will immediately be able to march to a target, while the fleet can flee to some place safe from interception by Free warships. At this point the Corsairs conduct a traditional land campaign, while the fleet goes back to pick up a second army (now recruiting) at Umbar.
Without proper agent support, the Corsairs can be decimated even before battle is joined.In this case, conquest of the Quiet Avenger is the first priority. This is an easy campaign if Harad isn't inclined to support them. In fact, with proper planning both of the QA major towns can be taken in one turn, and there's not a thing the QA can do about it. Destroying the QA navy is also a priority, to prevent counter invasion in Umbar.
After the south has been secured, I'd suggest making a landing in trouble spots in support of the Free. If Eriador is going down to the Witch-King and his allies, think about landing in Cardolan or Arthedain and lending 7500 HI worth of troops to the cause. This could turn around the battle completely. If the Gondors are struggling with the enemy, the Ithilien is a nice place to strike, as so many targets suggest themselves and are easy to reach. I wouldn't recommend a direct strike against Mordor proper until allies are ready and willing to come along, as this will only attract more agent attention than the Corsairs can really handle. If the Dark Servants are to be the enemy, the Corsairs may also want to move their capitol, preferably to a major town with a harbour that's entirely outside of Umbar.
An attack against Harad needs to be well-planned. Harad has a better economy and resource base than Umbar; by rights, it can conquer Umbar should war rear its head. Only the division of Harad into two nations gives the Corsairs an advantage in this campaign.
If Harad suspects such a strike and moves/raises all of its troops in the south, it may be able to make a surprise strike that Umbar can't counter (I did this in games 55 and 68 with great effect).
If Harad is the target, surprise is a useful ally. Lull the Haradrim into thinking that they're safe from the Corsairs, then hit them while they're not looking. If you insist on fighting a 'fair' war against a good opponent in the Harad position, you'll get your ass kicked (and deserve to, in this case).
As I said in the opening of this article, I could wax lyrical on the finer points of Corsairs strategy for pages. But in the interests of avoiding a cancellation of subscriptions, I'll end my comments here.
I'm especially interested in criticism and comments concerning neutral nations. I tend to play neutrals, and Dark Servants when I'm not doing that. So, anything regarding the neutrals, the Corsairs in particular this issue, would be most appreciated (especially if you see that I've made some major gaffe somewhere).
Game 97: The Corsair Point of View
From Tom Walton
Over the 25 issues of the Mouth, the request I think I've heard most often is for articles summarising how a game has progressed. Players want to hear about what other players did and what they planned, and how everything ultimately turned out. Alas, while the demand was high the supply of such articles approached a number close to zero.
For this final issue, we have for your reading pleasure a set of such articles from several nations representing all three allegiances. Finally, you'll get to see how other people actually play the game and why they do what they do.
Game 97 is somewhat unusual. It's my experience that in most games a side takes an advantage early on and general retains it, with the losers dropping out in increasing numbers as they each realise what the final outcome will be. In many of my games it's been painfully apparent who's going to win by turn 10, which of course kills the excitement. Not so in 97.
This game has swung back and forth among the allegiances for 28 turns, with no decided advantage yet in the hands of Mordor or the Free. Many people have dropped, yet in such a way as to leave each side fairly well balanced. And the balance is quite classic: economic and military might belong to the Free, while characters/artefacts/dragons are definitely the realm of the Dark Servants.
One note before we get going: this game is still very much alive, with critical (and thus secret) operations being carried out by both sides. As such, there are certain items of interest we can't reveal to you here as they would essentially end the game for that allegiance. This may leave you wondering 'well, why the hell didn't he do this?' He probably did, but he can't tell you about it just yet.
In addition to that, I know that some of these operations under the Corsair banner are in part due to planning that took place near the beginning of the game (under the 'what do I do if I'm forced to go Free again' header). This means that a few of my most interesting developments, which have been in progress for the entire game, will simply be omitted. It's unfortunate; I'd love to gloat over them with you, to be sure. Guess they'll just have to remain secret until the end.
Pre-Game
I came in biased to game 97. In games 55 and 59 I played Harad and the Corsairs, and was both times forced into the Free game by obnoxious Dark Servant players who's egos far outstripped their actual skill (as I soon showed the little rodents). So, when I got the Corsairs I said "damn! I want to go evil and sack the Free coastline! Time for a little viking!" Think about it: why play the Corsairs? For that huge navy, of course. The ability to beat any other single opponent, to land nearly 6,000 men anywhere you like, is enough to get the blood pumping. The problem: there aren't any real Dark Servant targets. If you really want to have fun with the Corsairs, to indulge your fantasies of pirating and pillaging, you need to go evil to do it. These two factors were weighing heavily on my mind when I got the packet, and so most of the plans I made involving possible strikes against the Free at various locations and times depending on what they did. My plans to battle the Dark Servants were vague at best, as I was intent on joining their ranks.
So, after several hours of thinking out the position I wrote up my cards to send out to the other players, putting in my token 'demand for stuff' to see who was actually interested in having the Corsairs as allies. The demands were quite small, involving a few +15/+20 command artefacts, a couple of combat weapons (so my commanders wouldn't have to 'refuse challenge' all the time) and as a bonus one emissary artefact if I went evil. I didn't ask for enormous amounts of gold, thousands of units of product, major towns, the Ring of Wind, or anything else of critical value. In comparison to what many other neutrals ask for, I thought I was being extremely reasonable (both sides could easily afford the artefacts, and in return they get one of the most powerful nations in the game to join their ranks).
Funny thing is, this token demand was to cause problems far out of proportion to it's worth later on. You can't imagine my surprise...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Turns 1-5: The Nation
Never being one to play it safe, I opted for the most expansive economic growth I could possibly cook up in the early game. It was my intent to become the strongest power in Middle-Earth in record time, with an economy that would allow me to field enormous forces and still run a surplus. The plan was ambitious, to say the least; I'd never attempted anything so expansive so early in the game, nor had I witnessed anyone else try it.
Specifically, I wanted to double my tax base as quickly as possible and purely through emissary action. Since the Corsairs already start with a base of 60,000 gold, adding another 60,000 meant the creation of 24 new villages or twelve new towns - no mean feat. This would also vastly increase the available resources, which the Corsairs are quite poor in at start (all of their pop centres except one is a major town or better at the start of the game).
To do this, I realised I'd need a large number of pure emissaries - six, to be exact. And they all had to be created within the first seven character slots. Fortunately, the Corsair characters are quite good and are multi-classed; I already had seven commanders, and these commanders could act as agents by improving their secondary skills. This meant that I didn't have to worry too much about being agent bait by foregoing the creation of pure agent characters. I also realised that despite my already-large tax base and an increase in tax rate to 60% (the highest you can go without an automatic loyalty drop), I'd need extra cash in quantity to finance the creation of camps and upgrades to villages. Once six of the villages came online they could in turn support the expansion effort on their own, but until then I needed money. I found the cash in three ways: first, I raised my tax rate as mentioned above; second, I sold everything I could from my stockpiled resources; and third, I disbanded all of my army excepting the fleet and 900 heavy infantry. This last may cause many players to cringe, but consider: I was a neutral in territory that wasn't even close to the front. No one in either allegiance had the resources to spare to start a war with me. That meant that the only possible early-game threat was from the Haradwaith - and I was willing to roll the dice on that one.
Besides, I figured that by the time anyone came looking to see what I was doing, I'd already be building the army back up. I hoped.
So, in the first few turns I consolidated my army and fleets, stationing a force at 2136 to counter the army at Vamag and another at the capitol. Three emissaries were created, as was one pure agent. The emissaries didn't train; they immediately left to go start putting down camps. I had every one of my characters train in a secondary skill (especially agent) to improve their abilities and their challenge ranks, while Meriot started learning how to locate artefacts.
Turns 1-5: The Diplomatic Scene
Of the 25 cards I'd sent out, I received a scant few replies. To my surprise, no one seemed at all interested in recruiting me to their allegiance, and some had been downright threatening. A couple of the Dark Servants also commented, in rather unflattering terms, on how silly I was being by making such outrageous artefact demands for my services(!). I was shocked. Knowing how powerful the Corsairs are, and how critical their location is (they can hit almost every Free position fairly quickly, or sail right up to Osgiliath and bang on Mordor's doors), I thought I'd see the allegiances trying to get me to come in as quickly as possible. The lack of response, along with the threats, were utterly unexpected.
(Note: threatening a neutral in the early game is just plain stupid. There's no other way to describe it. Someone who does this sort of thing is a moron of the first order and should be silenced by his allegiance before he pisses off the unaligned - and powerful - nations. It's also been my experience that those who threaten are consumed by an irrational belief that they're quite good at the game - one that I've never seen supported, since everyone who's done this to me plays like an idiot. Just thought I'd get my two cents in here.) Since I wanted to join the Dark Servants so I could turn the Free coastline into a wasteland, I decided not to vent my natural urge for revenge by immediately declaring war. I did, however, start drawing up more concrete plans for a war with Mordor (sigh), thinking that perhaps some dickless wonder might eventually push me past my rather low tolerance for over-inflated egos (note the somewhat bitter tone here; Dol Amroth once again ISN'T mine).
During this time, the only high point in communications with either side was the discover that Brian Mason, my most esteemed foe in game 62, was playing Rhudaur. I immediately offered to exchange information and such, and started working on him to come in with me as a team for one allegiance (with my sights set on Mordor). At this time, I didn't know Brian that well and the Mouth had a few months yet to start up. I also found that the Harad player was something of a dweeb and was playing at a less-than-respectable level. His actions spoke of plans either so obtuse I couldn't discern his intent, or of a complete inability to think beyond one turn. Though you should never underestimate your (possible) opponents, I placed my bets on the latter possibility.
And a bit of bad news: the Dark Lieutenants player turned out to be the same guy that played Harad in game 59. As the Corsairs, I'd made a sneak attack on him while he was fighting the Dark Servants; he didn't take it in a very sportsmanlike manner, so to avoid any conflicts I kept my identity secret in game 97.
Turn 6-10: The Nation
The plans to build up the economy were moving like clockwork. I put down a number of new camps and my emissaries were increasing their skills rapidly. I also had similar luck with my other characters, all of which were making large gains with each order.
Meriot actually learned the 'locate artefact true' spell quickly and determined soon after that most of the nifty items hadn't been grabbed yet. I targeted a few of these for pick-up and send a couple of characters out to retrieve the goodies. This made me wonder if perhaps many of the players were new, since veterans snap up the better mage and agent artefacts right away. The fact that they were still laying around by turn 10 made me think that either there'd been big drops or that the better mage nations were being played by less-than-experienced souls. My economy was stable enough by turn 7 that I started recruiting again. All new troops were either heavy infantry or heavy cavalry, and new production from camps in various rough hexes allowed me to equip them with good arms and armour fairly cheaply. By turn 10 my army was stronger than it had been at start, and much more durable. I breathed a small sigh of relief, since some tense diplomatic moments made me think that I might get hit while I still had only 900 HI to defend my nation with. Everything was going great, and I was actually ahead of schedule on the build-up at this point.
Turn 6-10: The Diplomatic Scene
Despite my hopes, the diplomacy with both sides was terrible. Most of the Free wouldn't even respond, and when they did it didn't even qualify as lukewarm. On the Dark Servant side, some players were enthused about having me join Sauron's ranks but didn't want to part with even the most petty of artefacts. Others wouldn't talk at all, while a few (most notably the Quiet Avenger) continued to make threats. I had planned to join a side by turn 10. There's no reason in the world why a neutral shouldn't be prepared to declare allegiance by this time, and in games where I play an allegiance power I mark a neutral for death if he fails to declare at this point. In my opinion, such a player is simply trying to rack up victory points without doing any of the fighting; so even if he joins my side, I'll come visit him with agents and emissaries and take him out of the top ranks. I'd much rather go down myself and take the offending neutral with me than have the neutral win because he sat on his ass the whole game.
By this time I was primed to declare allegiance - and no one wanted the Corsairs to join them. At least not enough to deliver a couple of artefacts to my commanders so I wouldn't have to 'refuse challenge' at every battle. I'd toned down my demands to a couple of +10 command artefacts and a few combat weapons, with again no takers (and a host of negative comments about how greedy I was!).
I was also pretty damned bored. I play the game to FIGHT, not to pick my nose and watch others have all the fun. Ten turns is five MONTHS without a good battle, and I was hankering for some death and mayhem. Unable to curb my violent impulses, I looked towards my neighbour - the incompetent (and still neutral) Harad for a bit of fun. I figured I'd occupy myself with his conquest while the allegiances got their act together. And perhaps they'd take me a bit more seriously if my nation included the mighty Haradwaith. Among the Dark Servants, I was having a few problems. The Witch-King made some suggestions to me that I should drop the game, as he liked it the way it was and didn't want me to spoil it; the Cloud Lord was always willing to brandish his I'll come punish you with agents" stick; and the Quiet Avenger was making threats of conquest on a regular basis (now this guy was truly out-to-lunch; the Quiet Avenger conquer the Corsairs? Give me a break.) Despite the fact that these are fighting words, I was still holding out the hope that Mordor might actually recruit me into the war; Southern Gondor's coastline was ENTIRELY undefended, enough to make any Corsair drool.
Among the neutrals, the Easterlings had gone evil, Brian declared for the Free on turn 11, and the Duns dropped the game (with just about everything degrading before anyone could reach it). I knew Brian fairly well at this point, and I was disappointed that he'd gone good since that meant I had a fair chance of fighting against him again, not with him. Players in both allegiances had also dropped out at this point, but I'm no longer clear on the order in which this happened. I do remember that Northern Gondor, a player about as bad as Harad, had dropped after losing almost all of his armies, characters, and artefacts to the Dark Servants.
Turns 11-15: The Nation
The economy was really booming at this point; I'd just hit the target level where new camps and villages were essentially free (because of previous build-up). My emissaries were having a heyday, with even the ones created on turn 6 being good enough to go on the offensive because of skill increases. My other characters were also doing quite well, with some agent ranks exceeding a score of 50. I determined that this would be adequate to defend against most assassinations and kidnappings, but named two more pure agents for additional protection. Since it looked more and more likely that I'd be going Free, these agents would be necessary to protect the prime characters from Mordor's assassins.
The army went from large to outrageous, as I built up to slam Harad but good with a three-pronged invasion. It was quite nicely planned to take every single town and major town in just two turns, and I believe it would've worked; but I never got the opportunity to test it out. Harad dropped the game while my forces were in mid-transfer, out of position, and all of his towns had degraded to camps or nothing by the time I marched. While I eventually ended up taking all five of his major towns, I lost 40,000 gold in tax base and 24 resource points because the player dropped. Needless to say, I was quite peeved at being deprived of even a token fight. I also just about finished picking up the artefacts that I wanted, and had transferred most of them to the appropriate characters.
Turn 11-15: The Diplomatic Scene
I'd pretty much figured out at this point that I was never going to get any command or combat artefacts from either side and was so bored that I had to declare simply to avoid losing interest in the game. It was still a toss-up; Brian was doing his best to recruit me to the Free while a couple of the Dark Servants (especially that annoying Quiet Avenger) were regularly ticking me off. But Southern Gondor was engaged in the Ithilien and had almost nothing left to defend his homeland with. I estimated I could take Dol Amroth, 2527, and four minor towns in two turns with little in the way of opposition. How often does that sort of opportunity drop in your lap? Better yet, the Noldo had opted for a military game and almost all of their forces were away; that meant I could conquer Southern Gondor in about three turns, then be in Lindon three turns later - smashing those silly elves. I never saw anyone else do that as the Corsairs, and I wanted to be the first to take the entire coastline of Middle Earth as mine. In the North, Brian's addition to the Free nearly spelled the doom of the Witch-King and his ally the Blind Sorcerer (who had towns up that way), both of whom were hanging on by the skin of their teeth (along with the aid of numerous dragons and Cloud Lord agents). Near Mordor, Southern Gondor was kicking various butts by himself, as his opposition was less than skilled in military endeavours. However, a number of Free had dropped, including the Northmen and Eothraim, so Mordor was expanding unchecked in the Rhovanion. The Easterlings were also causing problems, though not nearly as many as he should have been capable of.
My most pressing concern in Umbar at the moment was the Quiet Avenger. After I sent armies into Harad to take the major towns, the Quiet Avenger moved in a couple of forces of his own and again threatened to conquer me if I didn't declare for the Dark Servants (he also demanded that I give up the towns that I took). Now, I've never been very tolerant of that sort of thing, and have always attacked and destroyed anyone silly enough to actually display their foolishness on their sleeve; but Gondor beckoned...so I talked to the other Dark Servants and asked them to please reign in their cohort before I lost my temper.
The reply was mixed. Half of those who answered said they thought the Quiet Avenger was a jerk and sure, go ahead and conquer his ass. The other half said the Quiet Avenger was a jerk but he was also a Dark Servant, so any action on my part to curb his invasion would be construed as a declaration of war on Mordor. Talk about unity among the Dark Servants.
Turn 16-20: The Nation
Umbar was enormous at this point. I had 500 victory points for pop centers, 500 victory points for armies, and 500 victory points for characters. I didn't have that much for gold, as I was at this point buying enormous quantities of stuff to outfit my troops and to keep the treasury low to discourage agent theft.
(A note: Since turn 6 or so, Mordor had been making occasional forays into Umbar to steal gold. Some of the theft was conducted by the Dark Lieutenants, more by the Cloud Lord. I had essentially ignored these acts because they were sporadic rather than constant, and never more than one agent at a time. I had also beaten the crap out of a couple of their agents with my guards, a most satisfying retribution.) It was at this point that I made my intent known and declared for the Free. Ignoring my overwhelming might (which involved moving some mighty big armies into the Quiet Avengers range so that he could scout out their size), my southern neighbour marched right into the heart of Umbar and again threatened to take me out if I didn't go evil and give him stuff. I was speechless; was this guy suicidal, or brain-dead? In any event, I said 'to hell with it' and attacked the Quiet Avenger. On the first turn I took Vamag and destroyed most of his army, wrapping up with the capture of his capitol a couple of turns later. His resistance was so pathetic I took only minor losses during the campaign, and actually had a MORE troops after the final battle than I had when I first attacked (because of recruitment). A couple of Dark Servants responded with declarations of war and that pretty much put me in the Free camp whole-heartedly. No more diplomacy because I'm not neutral anymore.
Turn 16-20
The problem here is: how to best support the other Free? If the pressure can be taken off the remaining players in my allegiance, we can simply bowl over the Dark Servants with our superior economies. This means that I need to in some way distract Dark Servant characters and armies so that my allies can recover and go on the offensive. During this time, the battles are pretty much dead-locked everywhere but no-man's land (the Rhovanion, what's left of Northern Gondor). With this in mind, I decide to go with a two-part plan I'd envisioned earlier in the game. The first part involved a massive landing in the Ithilien with an army large enough to attract some notice; the second part required a medium-sized heavy cav force to move into Khand from off-map and wreak a little devastation. This two-pronged attack would no doubt draw off Dark Servant armies and agents, who'd think that they were responding to an imminent Corsair invasion of Mordor.
While I had the armies required for the campaign, everyone was out of place because the Quiet Avenger campaign scattered my forces. I spent the rest of this time period reconsolidating the expeditionary forces and moving the home guard off-map and away from probable scout/scrying areas.
Turn 21-25
The invasion didn't quite go off as planned. While putting together the fleet, I found I lacked a single agent order to cover everyone at the consolidation site. I picked the least able commander and left him without a guard for the turn. Up until this point, I regularly guarded (and often cross-guarded) every single commander and prime character at all times. With the agents and commander-agents at my disposal, this didn't present a problem. During this one turn, I found I needed an extra order to transfer some troops, which shorted me a guard order off that commander-agent. And wouldn't you know it? The Dark Servants picked Adumir, the unguarded character, to assassinate.
This in and of itself was of little concern, but the fleet sailed that turn to Osgiliath and Adumir was selected to be my sacrificial lamb for the invasion force. With Adumir dead, the fleet commander arrived with no one to split the army off to. Really, really unfortunate. At the same time, my cav in Khand made a sudden appearance from off map on to a major town and town of the Easterlings. My opponent had left nothing to block road access should I take this tack, nor did he even bother to scout or scry the terrain that I'd obviously have to march through to see if I was coming. Though I'd come from off-map, I had threatened away 3538 on the march and that should have tipped him off that something was up. Apparently it didn't. In Khand then, I destroyed both the major town and town, marching to the remaining town and the Easterling capitol.
Again, no one tried to block me, nor did any agents from Mordor show up to contest my actions. Rather confused, I wiped out the small Easterling army at the capitol, destroyed his other town, and put the entire army at Sturlurtsa to draw some attention. No response. I said "what the hell" again, burned the Easterling capitol to the ground, and took off for Mordor's back door.
In the Ithilien, I'd drawn a new back-up for the navy and moved up a third army into position for strike. I then moved two forces into 3028 and 3026, making sure I had enough troops in each to qualify as 'huge' on the Dark Servant pop centre reports. My thought was that if that didn't get their attention, they were already asleep at the wheel. I threatened away both sites and again marched on Osgiliath, this time taking the road so that I wouldn't miss any oncoming armies that might want to defend Mordor. While the military campaign was underway, my emissaries were hard at work stealing away pop centres from the Dark Servants. In a few turns I'd grabbed two major towns and a town, again with no response by agents (who should've been covering likely targets in order to catch the group coming in).
Remember, the point of this whole invasion was to get Dark Servant armies and agents off the backs of my allies and arrayed against my nation. It was never intended that they do any real damage; they were simply supposed to distract the enemy while the other Free recovered. So their success, due mostly to the fact that the Dark Servants did NOTHING while I attacked, was entirely unexpected.
By the end of this time period my forces had burned a city, a major town, and two towns; and had taken two major towns, a town, and two villages. That's a total loss of 52,500 gold in tax base and 24 resource points, all from a campaign which I thought (and intended to be) doomed from the start. I was quite happy with the damage done, but most displeased that Mordor's agents had decided to continue bothering my allies when they should've been busy countering my moves. I was also mightily perplexed; did Mordor think the Corsairs so ineffective they didn't even bother to show up? And why did no one come to fight for the Easterlings? In fact, where the hell were the Easterlings? I knew from my own scouting that losing over 50,000 gold in taxes was damn near a mortal blow for the Dark Servants, so why didn't they put up some resistance?
Turn 26-29
More players dropped between turns 21 and 29 from both sides, leaving whole regions undefended. This was worse for the Free than for the Dark Servants, as the entirety of Mirkwood and the Rhovanion lay open to conquest without opposition. Also, no one was left to contest passage through Northern Gondor into Eriador.
The Dark Servants once again took the advantage in the north, primarily because the Cardolan player was being a putz and refused to help in the fight. This allowed Mordor to sweep through Rhudaur and do considerable damage, though a bit too late to affect that nation. In the South, Southern Gondor proved more than able to hold his own, keeping his nation intact despite repeated invasions and agent strikes.
The army in the Ithilien ran into a very nice Dog Lord force of 3,000 well-trained heavy cav in steel - obviously his pride and joy (for me, 3,000 heavy cav in steel is about one out of six of my armies). Though the Dark Servants might think otherwise, I was overjoyed - finally I get to destroy some of Mordor's forces! I was sure that they'd simply hit me with agents and waste the two armies I had (both had lousy commanders and no backups), so the opportunity to inflict yet more harm before the armies went down was a welcome boon. In the ensuing battle I did indeed wipe out his army, though I lost all of my troops either to battle or the army commanders being kidnapped.
At this point I implemented the second phase of the plan I'd drawn up, since the first phase had gone so well. While most of that second phase is still in progress and can't be talked about yet, here are a few things which'll happen before this goes to print:
the cav force which destroyed Khand moved off-map and north. Rather than fly through Mordor's back door and get hit by agents, it's now in Rhun destroying all the nifty - and unguarded - pop centres in the area. Yet more damage to Mordor. Especially that poor Easterling bastard, who STILL hasn't moved to block my armies.
a secondary invasion force landed in Gondor to take back a major town that GSI mistakenly gave the Dark Servants. Linhir (2527) was lost to emissaries even though Gondor had an army there during the turn
a computer error which wasn't corrected. I decided to do the correcting for GSI. Where shall this huge army sail to next?
emissaries are at yet another major town and will take that before Mordor can respond. These same emissaries have put a number of other pop centres into jeopardy with loyalty reductions, allowing any single good character to move in and swipe them. This scatters the targets and makes it more difficult for the Dark Servants to figure out where I'm going (watching Dark Servant agents move to the wrong pop centres is quite funny, actually).
there are more Corsair armies on the march. Where might they be? In the obvious places? I don't think so. Remember, Mordor managed to take out two of six standing forces, both of which I've already replaced. They can see two; where are the other four? Are you guys using your palantirs? Aren't you a little bothered that the South isn't brimming with forces?
A Word on Info Gathering
One distinct advantage we've had over Mordor is in our information gathering activities. The Free (those of us who actually play, that is) have been quite diligent in scrying/scouting/locating/uncovering secrets, giving us a very good idea of where Mordor's forces and characters are, and what they're up to. We've also scouted out most of the new pop centres that the Dark Servants have built (quite a few, actually; Mordor proper is brimming with new camps/villages and even major towns!).
These operations have helped us enormously in our endeavours.
For example, my emissaries have avoided agent ambushes on several occasions because said agents were tracked by us. This is easily done, as we know most of the names and can always track agent/curses artefacts to see where the concentrations are occurring.
The Dark Servants are keeping par with us in the north but are doing an abysmal job in the South. A single scout/recon/scry would've located my infantry army on the march prior to moving into the Ithilien; a single good agent could've nailed it before it could act. The same goes for my cav in the east, which could have been found by one or two agents scouting from key positions a half-dozen turns running (now that force is in the open and will be harder to hunt down).
Oh, and never underestimate the power of the double-agent....
In Conclusion
There's a great deal I couldn't relate or even hint at in this article. At this time it seems that the war is a bit dicey in the North, but in a few turns that will definitely change. In the South, Gondor is intact and I hold a marked edge in troops and position over Mordor, despite the fact that I'm only one nation.
Earlier, both Southern Gondor and Rhudaur were suffering because of character losses. Now that's no longer a real concern. With the gold at our disposal, we can each afford to move our capitol every turn and still have a combined surplus of more than 50,000 gold in revenues - not to mention what we could sell to raise more cash (I think I need to buy new warehouses; what the hell am I going to do with 30,000 leather?).
So, now that we're all set character losses are no longer a concern. Like the Harad in any game, we can simply replace them each and every turn. Agents at the capitol? Send in a sacrificial lamb and move it; no big deal. And of course I still have a slew of very skilled agents and commander-agents to give Mordor a bad time (as the Dark Lieutenants well know). It's been my experience that once the Free are past the point where character losses are a concern, Mordor loses much of
it's power. If assassination does little except cost you gold, if you can destroy just one target with that army, then eventually the Dark Servants will fall. With most of their might concentrated in the character game, their advantage in this department can simply be ignored by the Free with their relatively enormous economic strength. We probably won't outfight them; like Grant, we'll simply wear them down by throwing army after army at them until there's nothing left. We also have a few other weapons which we can't speak of as yet, but here's one I've hinted at. The Corsairs have some of the best emissaries in the game (90+) and are using them to good effect; other Free powers also have comparable emissary teams. Mordor might wonder what these teams are doing if they aren't on the offensive, and how they're going to guard against them all when they join in the fun. If I alone can swipe a major town every turn - with just three characters, or only half the team - how will they fight the rest of the full teams that we have?
And Thanks
I couldn't help but do a little gloating in the article. Still, there wouldn't be a reason to gloat if some of the opposition wasn't so good. Without the absolutely heroic efforts of Brian Lowery (Witch-King) and Steve Latham (Blind Sorcerer), this game would've been over for the Dark Servants ten turns ago. I'm not only impressed with their ability to hang on under the bitterest of conditions, but also with their consummate skill in recruiting dragons. How many times did you guys save your butts that way? Seven, eight? Jesus, I lost count. Too bad GSI fixed the bug about tagging dragons, eh?
Though I've had a few personal clashes with both of my opponents, they've given me my most enjoyable game to date. Without good opposition, there's no point in playing; and these guys have proven time and time again that they are bound and DETERMINED not to lose. Hence the fact that Mordor isn't a province of Gondor again. I still think you're doomed, my enemy. But even if you do go down, you fought one of the best campaigns I've ever seen in Middle-Earth. Out of the twelve games I've been in, you've definitely made this one the most enjoyable of them all.
And hell; if I do end up losing to you, I certainly won't have anything to be ashamed about....
Tom