Strategy Guide for the Sinda 2950
by Mark?
The nature of the terrain between Caras Galadhon and Dol Guldur makes it possible for you to force march infantry in an interference pattern that guarantees you will intercept any army from Dol Guldur while still allowing you to end up back home if you don't run into him.
EVERY turn until you have a backup major town you must assume the DS are about to reveal Caras Galadhon and attack it. Every turn you need a plan to prevent that.
Count, count, count. Add up the Dragon Lord's starting forces plus all the troops he could possibly have recruited since tha last time you encountered his forces. You must always have a good estimate of the maximum of his potential strength so you know what you need to offset it. Then count your own recruits, the loyalty of Caras Galadhon, and the value of any fort you have built and calculate whether or not the Dragon could potentially take Caras Galadhon. Finally, count your own costs and resources. You start out fairly rich but your expensive characters make it tough to support troops.
All of the above concerns can be reduced or eliminated if you can neutralize the Dragon Lord. Cooperate closely with the Woodmen, Silvans, Noldor, and Northmen to round up, corner, and destroy every single dragon Lord army before it can hurt you and your allies. With cooperation this can be done in a few turns, and your life will suddenly become much easier. Without joint planning the Dragon Lord
can sneak armies past you and take out small pop centers your allies cannot afford to lose.
Get Galadriel into a company immediately. With someone else (Feamire or a newly named C/A are good choices) to move her around she can create a camp and cast a lore spell every turn. The Free need
her to learn and cast Locate Artifact True as quickly as possible, but your economy also demands that she place camps. If she starts at one of your towns, have her upgrade it to give to an instant backup. If she starts at Caras Galadhon consider having her raise it to a city.
Name emissaries and Commander/Agents. Very rarely should you be naming any other type of character.
Hound your allies to give you agent artifacts. NG should give you Woodshadow and don't let him whine about it. He can't use it and you can. Likewise the Dwarves should be handing over their two agent
artifacts. The only excuse for not giving them to you is giving them to another agent nation (Elves, maybe Rangers). Tharudan is generally best used as an agent. In return you have to work closely with your allies to provide them with lore spells, agent help, and possibly gold.