Encounters By Brian Mason
Types of Encounters
Encounters come in two basic types: army encounters and character encounters. Army encounters show up as reports by the army commander. They do not allow any response. Character encounters show up either as something to be investigated (a hidden path, cave entrance, underground maze, etc.), or as a specific situation with a list of options. They only occur for characters traveling alone or with a company.
Occurrence of Encounters
A random function determines whether an encounter occurs. If one does occur, it is reported late in the turn sequence -- after movement. Thus the encounter takes place at a character's new location. If several characters are at the same location, it is randomly determined who will get the encounter.
If the encounter is not reported to any character, you can't interact with it. For example, if you move to Amon Lhaw, but don't get a report of either seeing the High Seat or finding a hidden path, you cannot use the chair. I once tried this, issuing order 285. I got the response that no circumstances were around to react to. Later in the turn, I encountered the chair after all.
[Tom's note: this is true, and in contradiction to some of the info GSI gave out about a year or so ago. The encounter MUST be found by at least one character in the hex for any character in the hex to react to it.]
Since encounters take place after movement, moving a new character to an encounter location involves another random function. If the encounter is an NPC, it may move away before your character gets there. (Dragon chasing is a good example of this.) Also, Gandalf will still be in an encounter hex after he interacts with an army, but he will leave the next turn -- before a second encounter can occur.
Encounters also take place after scouting and recons. I recently had a turn in which I was moving my army with an allied army. My recon showed him in my hex at the end of movement, but an encounter destroyed his army after the recon. This implies that icons that you see might not really be there!
Responses to Encounters
Army encounters do not allow any response. They are over by the time they are reported. Unknown encounters are meant to be investigated, using the order 290, InvEnc. This order will cause you to get the full encounter description the next turn, assuming you stay in the hex. I don't know if you can investigate, move the investigating character away, move a new character to the hex, and still get the full encounter.
Some encounters, when investigated, will simply happen, without allowing any response. A typical example is the spirits & wights who guard some hidden artifacts. You either beat them or you don't. If you give order 285 after an unknown encounter, you will experience the full encounter as if you had already seen its description. If you guessed what the encounter was, you might have given the correct response.
Otherwise you are shooting in the dark, and may or may not have a response that "fits" the encounter. You might want to try this for encounters that don't move (Amon Lhaw, Lonely Mountain, Paths of the Dead) or if you can see an NPC in a pop center.
If a character gets a report of an unknown encounter, another character in the same hex, and of the same nation, can issue the InvEnc order. Note that this is more limited than the RspEnc order.
Full encounters with a list of responses require the order 285, RspEnc. I have not seen a difference between giving the "FLEE" response and simply ignoring the encounter, although some encounters may differentiate the two. Riddles also require order 285.
Another character of any nation in the same hex can also respond to the encounter. I don't think you have to be friendly with the first character's nation, so you could get a Nation Message that so-and-so had an encounter at your location and "steal" the encounter. It is possible that you have to be in a company with the first character (or of the same nation) in order to do this, but I've never tried it.
If more than one character gives a response, they will all have the encounter. Of course, if one defeats an NPC, the others cannot also encounter it.
A character with or in command of an army cannot have a character encounter. They can therefore not respond to a character encounter seen by another character. The rulebook blatantly misstates this; it should read, "Only characters traveling alone or with a company can respond...."
Success in Encounters
Some encounters are pure combat, and they seem to be based solely on challenge rank, including all artifacts. The spirits & wights that guard hidden artifacts seem to work the same way. Certain artifacts give bonuses when fighting certain types of creatures (undead, spiders, wolves, etc.)
Others will be easier for characters with certain skills; GSI specifically states this fact. Except for agents stealing from sleeping dragons, I have never seen any compilation of skill-based success rates in encounters. This would make a very interesting project.
Allegiance clearly influences some encounters. Nation may also play a part. It is also possible that only certain specific characters can succeed in an encounter. The "NAME" response for dragons implies this; it might prove true for Aragorn and the Paths of the Dead.
Some luck is also clearly involved in the outcome of an encounter. A powerful character giving the "right" response can still die. I hope I have cleared up some confusion without creating more. Encounters can have a very great influence on the game and can also be a lot of fun. Be prepared, and enjoy!
Some Encounter Myths from Tom Walton
I haven't done this in quite some time, so I though I'd recap some encounter myths for the newer players. Olbamarl: no matter what you hear, there isn't any encounter which'll allow an army to find a secret path to Olbamarl. Armies can't march to or from Olbamarl (3329) - period.
Paths of the Dead: the army of the dead in the trilogy cannot be recruited at the Paths in the 1650 game. Maybe in the 2950 game, but definitely not in the 1650 game.
Demon of Aglarond: the Demon of Aglarond is not a balrog, and the 'a balrog' report you see at pop centers near Isengard isn't the Demon of Aglarond ('a balrog' really is a balrog).
Balrogs: balrogs can be encountered by both armies and characters. Any character encountering a balrog - good or evil - will engage in battle regardless of the response given. A Free/Neutral army that encounters a balrog will lose quite a few troops, while a Dark Servant army will get the balrog in much the same way as Free armies pick up Ents in Fangorn Forest.
Ents: can only be recruited by Free armies that march through Fangorn forest. There aren't ents in any other forest, and they can't be recruited in character encounters.
Eagles, Woses, Hobbits: can only be recruited by Free armies. They can't be recruited in character encounters. Hobbits are only found in Arthedain, and Woses are only encountered in the forest hexes in Calenardhon and Cardolan (perhaps only at 2622 in the 2950 game).
Dragons: no, not all dragons are recruitable. This is simply untrue. And yes, several dragons can be recruited by the Free. Apart from the dragons listed in our database, other I.C.E. dragons do not exist!
Werewolves/Vampires: can't be recruited into armies no matter what anyone tells you. There is no 'favorable' response for Dark Servant characters (best result is getting away without fighting).
Sauron: can't be encountered by characters, only armies. Evil characters with armies may receive a skill boost; good characters with armies will probably be slaughtered wholesale. Don't confuse vampires with Sauron, as some people do.
There are many other rumors concerning various sites, but in the 1650 game our database lists all of the 'fixed' encounters. Any others you hear about are random (barrows, etc.) or simply aren't true. Believe it or not, a small number of players get some strange kick out of distributing bad encounter lists or lying to new players - beware of these devious souls.
Character Success in Encounters from Lawrence G. Tilley
"Incidentally, I don't understand why so many players use high-powered characters in artefact encounters. Do they think that the higher rank the character, the greater chance of success? Not so! The chances of getting the artefact are random regardless of the character's skills. If the guarding spirits are in a bad mood, a powerful character can get killed just as easily as a new one.
Personally, I always use new emis, who can create camp at the same time as reacting to the encounter, thus improving the economy and their skills as thay go. If they die, they are much easier to replace that Akhorahil, for example (yet, I've seen him killed in an artefact encounter - ridiculous but true)."
Richards assertion does rather tie in with the last issue of the "Mouth where someone was talking about character combat with dragons being random, and not comparable to challenge of a dragon.
Reply from Tom: character challenge ranks sometimes matter and sometimes don't, depending on the encounter and what one does with it. With regards to dragons, if you choose an option and that option results in combat, the character challenge rank has no effect on the outcome; however, if you personally challenge the dragon, the challenge rank determines whether the character lives or dies.
As far as spirits go in artifact encounters, the challenge rank of the character is of primary importance. It's a straight fight between the character and the spirits. That means that it's possible that your character will be munched by bad luck, or that a particular poor character will pull victory out of thin air - just like in any other challenge combat.
Take it from someone who's done this many, many times - it's better to have a go at the spirits with someone who can actually fight rather than a piss-poor emissary. The emissary is likely to die even if there aren't any wights present.
Army Only Encounters
Giant Eagles: Brian Lowery and Steve Latham went to the trouble of calculating the combat worth of Eagles. It looks like they're worth about 10,000 points. It may be somewhat variable, as Mumakil are; Eagles in lone encounters take out a range of points rather than a single amount. Recruitable only for Free Armies. Found mostly in northern mountains.
Ents & Huorns: I recently had the good fortune to fight ents and huorns in one of my games. Unfortunately, we were defeated after a protracted battle and so were unable to estimate the actual combat strength of the ents. The only thing I was able to ascertain with any certainty is that ents are worth at least 20,000 points. Recruitable only for Free armies. Found in Fangorn Forest.
If you get the encounter, they'll join automatically. Unfortunately for Dark Servants and Neutrals, an encounter with ents is a very bad thing and will result in massive casualties among the offending armies. This makes Fangorn a great base for the Free, as they have a built-in patrol ready to take on any invading Dark Servants. Eric Ker and Keith Petersen, along with a couple of others who's names I can't remember, have reported what appears to be two distinct Ent encounters. One is Huorns and Ents, another is Treebeard and ents. The first seems to be a straight army add (like Eagles), the second an army add plus the addition of a character (Treebeard, who's like any other NPC). The information is sketchy, since no one's challenged or located Treebeard to see if he stands out in the same way that Saruman, Gandalf, etc. do (so far as I know).
Another type of Ents not mentioned are Skinbark Ents and from my experience they wont help reduce fortifications.
Encounter for Commander Ren the Unclean (DS) at 2316
The forest has become very dense during the past few days. Scouts and night guards have reported hearing muttered words when no one was apparently there. Several guards have detected movement but then found no person or animal in that area. Early one morning, the reason became clear. Standing there in our path was a large group of Huorns and Ents. Their aged bark wrinkled as they gazed steadfastly at us and their strong limbs seemed to move from side to side as if waiting for some type of signal. The first troops in our battle line were the first to fall. Our weapons proved to be ineffective and it seemed that the forest came alive around us. Cries of pain and alarm were heard up and down the column. Suddenly it was over and a thought lay deep in all of our minds. "Don't come back!"
Mumakil: Mumakil will sometimes attack armies they encounter without provocation. Rather surprising, but the sources are good. Non-Aligned. Must have Cav in your army to recruit.
Hobbits: the Hobbiton clan of Hobbits has been discovered to provide no combat bonus whatsoever to the army it's attached to. Other clans of hobbits may or may not provide a combat bonus, but this one most certainly doesn't. They do, however, increase the morale of the army they're attached to each and every turn, and this bonus to morale remains even after the hobbits leave the army. Hobbits can be encountered by Dark Servant armies, but they give no options and have no effect on the army or attached characters.
Graveyard: It is variable and will effect Free Peoples, Neutrals or Dark Servants - spirits will come forth and ruin your food supplies or give you armour and weapons.
When being let off....
"As we crossed an ancient grave yard last night, the ground seemed to erupt with the dead! Rotting bodies, Skeletons, and Ghosts streamed out of their graves and moved towards our troops. Suddenly, however, they stopped, and a single Ghost moved forward. "Hail, warriors, We are the scouts who fell to a vile ambush many years ago. But I see that you are not the ones for which we search. You may pass."
And with these words, the Spirits returned to their graves with a sigh of despair."
This was in reaction to a Dark Servant force, which found mithril arms and armor in it's baggage train after the encounter.
When getting attacked...
As we crossed an ancient graveyard last night, the ground seemed to erupt with the dead! Rotting bodies, Skeletons, and Ghosts streamed out of their graves and attacked the troops. Cries of pain were echoed by the haunting cries of anguish emitted by these Spirits as they cleaved and swung and grappled with our ranks. Just as we thought we had driven them off, a new onslaught of rotting bodies climbed out of our baggage train and renewed the fight. It was long into the night before we were able to cease the battle and count our losses. Not only did we lose troops, but our food supplies were totally destroyed!
This happened to a Dark Servant army that did not move or have anyone join it.
All I did this turn was recruit troops. The direct result was a loss of 156 of my 500HC in ST/ST. I only had 1 food in the army.
Woses: information provided by David Ringrose leads us to believe that Woses are worth about 10,000 points in combat, maybe more. Some conflicting tales on their effectiveness indicate that the encounter may provide a variable, rather than fixed, bonus. There's also some evidence that certain Wose groups both scout and fight, while others only scout. Recruitable for the Free Peoples.
Saruman: Is supposed to be a good army encounter (he influences away DS pop centres and disbands DS armies. However, Holger Eichmann reports that Saruman attacked and disbanded one of his Eothraim armies(!). I saw a copy of his report, and it clearly identifies the fact that the computer knew he was Eothraim.
I'm told Saruman has also attacked a North Gondor army. He influenced loyalty down and killed 96 cavalry troops for 2 turns running.
Saruman attacked my Long Rider army of 1200HC in steel/steel disbanding the lot!! I wasn't happy!
*Yesterday, a Mage dressed all in white stood across our path and demanded that we make way for him. He declined to give his name and merely ordered our troops off the road so that he could get by. "I am on important business and can not be detained by petty soldiers, so move aside!" He then attempted to just walk through our midst as if we would merely move aside. My guards, of course, immediately moved to detain him.
"You DARE to detain Saruman the White? Now you pay attention to the power of those who wield TRUE power!" At that he spread his arms wide and ghostly images began to descend upon us. The images were truly frightening and some of the troops fainted on the spot. Others tried to fight, but nothing could stop the terror that wound its way tightly around each of our hearts. We fled, and it was all I could do to try to reassemble as many of our troops as I could!*
Balrog: Found in the Mountains. Comprable to a dragon (better) reported picked up by a Dog Lord army!! Just moved onto it, and then it joined! The Balrog runs into your army (if you're a Dark Servant) and decides to join up for a while. But he cautions that you'd better fight alot, or bad things could happen (eat the army commander?).
It's not a good idea to try and steal the two artefacts of the Balrog of Moria. Death is almost certainly the result.
Fell Beasts: encountered by Cardolan army, but didn't kill troops or destroy food! Possibly recruitable for DS.
Sauron: He encountered a Noldo army containing 3000 HC in 48 Armour and 100 LC with 40 Armour. The encounter left the army commander (not all commanders in the army) dead. The army still lives with 518 HC and 21 LC. The estimated strength of Sauron is therefore 60000 due to the Constitution loss of the army. If he encounters a Free People army he does considerable damge and can kill multiple characters, if he encounters a Dark Servant army he improves a random skill of all characters and might grant a Mage access to lost list spells.
Encounter for Warlord Drurgandra at 4324
Two nights ago, as we were setting up the night watches for the camp, dusk seemed to settle more quickly over the area. Many of the troops looked to see if something was hiding the setting sun, but the sky was cloudless. Nevertheless, our eyes squinted as the darkness closed quickly around us. Before any alarm could be sounded, a voice boomed into our very souls and a chill pervaded each of our bodies. "Well done! Your presence does much to reassure me that my followers have done as I asked! I see in your dark hearts that you seek to quench your thirst for blood in the ranks of those who have opposed us. Excellent! Your thirst shall be slaked! Your Commander and his officers will now step forward that I might remind them of who they serve!!" Without hesitation, I stepped forward toward who I know was our Lord Sauron. Others hesitated behind me. My Lord blessed us with his bounty and raised my abilities to do his will. I give all praise to his name!
Lossoth: only encountered in the Northern Wastes (hexrows xx01 to xx03), the Lossoth are a Free-aligned army encounter. If they run into Neutral or Dark Servant armies, they'll attack, killing several hundred troops.
Lossoth will follow a FP army for a couple of turns before joining. They increase morale approx 15 points and give a free recon. It's not known if they give any combat bonus but I expect so.
Gandalf: The Gandalf army encounter does give characters emissary rank. In one game, ongoing, one army moved into the hex the same turn Gandalf arrived. The army got the Gandalf encounter and the commander went from a 30C 10M to a 30C 20E 10M. The next turn another army with two characters moved in. Commander went from a 45C to a 45C 10E and his backup guard went from 20C 10A to 20C 10A 10E. He appears to share out 20E points among characters in the army. He may possibly improve mage ranks as well. He also taught the "weakness" spell to the first commander/mage in addition to giving him 20E points.
Gandalf's ranks are as follows: Command 30-39, Agent 30-39, Emissary 60-69, Mage 80-89. Base challenge rank for Gandalf standing at about 115 (165). Gandalf carries Narya, which boosts his challenge rank by 50 points.
Gandalf will increase loyalty on FP pop centres and decrease loyalty on Neutral and DS pop centres.
An interesting fact about Gandalf. His ring Narya (Mage +50) is usually stolen off him during the game. However, this isn't the end of the matter. Gandalf will track you down and if you are a Free People, ask for the ring back, if you are a DS you will be attacked. You can flee this encounter, if you are a Free People and lucky, but he will continue to track you. My character was eventually reduced to 1 health.
Celeborn, Galadriel: If either of these NPC's runs into a Dark Servant or Neutral force, they'll destroy a large number of troops with spells. They won't, however, harm any characters traveling with the armies, even if the armies are disbanded. However, Celeborn has been reported as not destroying any troops in a Dragon Lord army encounter.
If encountered by a Free Peoples force, Galadriel will offer to increase the mage rank of any attached characters (usually 10-15 points), and will possibly teach a spell or two as well. She may also increase the morale of the army (usually 10-20 points). Celeborn will usually offer to increase the command rank of any attached characters. Celeborn increased the Command rank of my 3 Dwarven characters by 8, 6 and 9 points. He also reduces morale of any DS pop centres he comes across. However, I've had the following information...
"I was playing Dwarves when GSI still ran it and was moving HC thru mirkwood and got the celeborn encounter and he wounded my commander..i didn't think he attacked good armies but it was the case."