In every game I've played in the 1650 scenario, the Eothraim have moved on masse to eliminate the Ice King. This is the inherent weakness of this position. If you lose you capital then your out because you have no pop centres big enough to be backups. Durthang is extremely vulnerable at game start. You have a great army at the beginning (one you can't afford) but without help from the Dark Lts or Dog Lord, there is nothing you can do to stop the Eothraim knocking you out. You can move your entire army to 3120 on turn 1. If the Dog Lord moves his army there as well you will probably meet all 4 Eothraim starting armies and between you, you can take them out. Only by co-operating will you win.
This position is certainly interesting. Lose your starting army by doing as much damage as possible. You need to increase your economy by putting down camps and stealing gold but this can achieved thanks to the good characters you possess. The Ice King can become an important position if you survive the initial onslaught.
This position is a exciting one for a new player, however, too often the player doesn't get long to enjoy it!
Strategy Guide by Brian Mason
Strategy Guide by Tom Walton
Ice King Starting Information
Strategy & Tactics: The Ice King
From Brian Mason
Lets start this with a look at the basic data.
Basic Data
How does the nation of the Ice King compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #3):
among all
among Dark Servants
Total Tax Base
tied for last
tied for last
Resource Base
tied for 11th
2nd
Combat Strength
14th
5th
Character points
tied for 12th
8th
Artefacts tied for
10th
6th
The Ice King starts in a pretty poor position. The only areas he is good in, resource base, is the very reason his tax base is so low: most of his population centres are camps. Expected production (Population Centre Development, Brian Mason, "The Mouth," #2) which has not been adjusted for climate for the nation of the Ice King would be as follows:
le
br
st
mi
fo
ti
mo
go
production
33
1015
397
44
1223
405
42
7134
Army Strategy
The Ice King military is the primary reason why the Ice King starts in such a disadvantageous position economically. An interesting strategy was put forth by the Ice King in game 131. He moved all but 100 men-at-arms to Osgiliath. I was playing Northern Gondor and had decided to send four of my six armies to Osgiliath to regroup. Since neither the Fire King, nor any of the other Mordor nations can reach Osgiliath on turn one, the result was decided quickly: a complete victory for Northern Gondor.
Doing this makes the Ice King capital of Durthang (and thus the entire position) very vulnerable. Fortunately for the Ice King player in this game he was able to secure a backup capital from one of the other players before Southern Gondor destroyed the location.
A more difficult plan from an economic standpoint, but possibly a safer one would be to hold on until some other Mordor nation (certainly the Fire King, and maybe others) is also prepared to move onto Osgiliath.
It is important, both for the Ice King and also for the rest of Mordor, that Durthang be held. This means a significant garrison force (say about 2500 heavy infantry) well equipped.
One of the biggest problems to an effective army strategy is the lack of locations to recruit. A possible move, for a defensive standpoint, would be to post a camp and fortify at 3023. This location will impede the progress of armies from the Gondors towards Durthang from Osgiliath and can give you an extra turn to recruit more troops and for you and your allies to get agents in location to deal with armies.
However, all this is mere prelude to what is probably the forte of the Ice King. Getting into the character game.
Economy
To be sure, you are hurting. Sells can be important to you, and the lack of fortifications at your camps prevents raising taxes to a high value. Losing your army is the best thing to do. But as a Klingon would say, "they should die well."
Character Strategy
You will need some cash to name some characters. A couple of emissaries to go out and place camps and a couple of agents because of your bonus and possible stealth rank. I'd name two emissaries in the initial allotment and two agents. I'd strongly consider making agents all my subsequent creations.
You have one excellent and two pretty good mages. I'd load all the mage artefacts onto Hoarmurath and have him start locating artefacts right away. The other two can train, learn and cast lore spells, and go get the artefacts which Hoarmurath finds. Gorthog should name an agent and then go out and get to work. Guard his way up to 50, and then begin stealing. Possibly work up an arrangement with another Dark Servant to steal from each other until such time as you are both ready to go steal from the wealth Gondors. Virsh can also be ready for aggressive actions before too long. However, the greatest gains can possibly be made with Gaurhir.
It will take him (her? it? look at that mug shot!) a while to get into a decent rank, however, the 30 stealth is marvellous, and if you are unlucky at getting stealth with your agents, Gaurhir may be your only one. Always have him train in agent rank but don't forget his mage ability. With his mage rank he can learn the movement spells, and if you can get teleport that would be marvellous. A teleporting assassin, wowzers!
On a personal level, this strikes me as a fun position. If you watch your economy and don't put yourself in a sweating bullets position, you can have a lot of fun here.
Strategy & Tactics: The Ice King
From Tom Walton
The Ice King is yet another one of those positions I avoid like the plague. Like the Fire King, the fortune of this nation rests entirely upon the competence of your neighbours. Get stuck with a bad draw and you're history even before the first turn comes back in the mail.
Still, it is a nice little nation to play if you can expect some reasonably skilled strategy from the other Dark Servants.
For example, the Ice King is one of the few nations wherein you can indulge both in the character game (agents) and the military game at the same time (well, you pretty much don't have a choice but to play the military game, at least not until the Eothraim and the Gondors are beaten). And unlike the Fire King or Dog Lord, you generally get to pick where, and even sometimes when, you want to engage the enemy.
The biggest drawback to the position at start is the fact that it has only one major town - Durthang. This tempts the Free to come and destroy it in the first few turns, in the hopes that the Ice King will be forced out of the game. And sometimes it actually works.
Still, this drawback isn't as dire as it first appears. If even a couple of your neighbours are competent, they'll realise that allowing another Dark Servant to be eliminated early will seriously hurt their own war efforts, and so will be inclined to provide you with a backup capitol in a pinch. Should this be the case, the Free troops committed to Durthang will essentially be wasted and will probably weaken one of the two major fronts enough for a counterattack by Mordor to punch through.
An example: in one of my games, the Eothraim marched on Durthang with their army and destroyed it, but not before the Ice King got a new capitol. While the horse-lovers were engaged in wanton mayhem, the Dark Lieutenants and the Dog Lord found themselves essentially unopposed in the Rhovanion (it takes nearly the entire Eothraim army to capture Durthang). Seizing the opportunity, these two players sped into the target-rich plains and quickly managed to take every pop centre within marching distance. The Eothraim never recovered sufficiently to counter them (after losing all those troops at Durthang) and were eventually forced out of the war. The Ice King, on the other hand, went on to become a major power - after exacting suitable revenge via agent actions on the enemy.
So, Durthang isn't really threatened unless your allies aren't allies or the Free aren't aware that diverting troops will hurt them elsewhere. The only other comments I have concern characters. Invest in agents. Lots of agents. You'll never match the Cloud Lord, but with a few good artefacts you can place a close second. This not only furthers your own goals but protects you from any players who might be inclined to pay you a 'visit' in the end-game to knock you down a few places.
Also buy up a few emissaries. With such a weak economy and little chance of gaining pop centres through military action (at least early on), your only way to get things moving are to place a host of camps. Put most down in safe places in Mordor, but a few in the mountains elsewhere (as a prelude to a second recruiting centre) might be a good idea. The southern Misty Mountains, or the Grey Mountains, are particularly tempting.