From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-11 Date: 03-07-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. Editorial This is late. I've been very busy. The news of the week: Brian Mason has graciously accepted my request to become co-editor of the Mouth. Brian has been a frequent contributor in the past and will be adding his own thoughts in the editorial section from this point on (along with his articles, I hope!). He will also be mailing the Mouth out to some of the new subscribers, as he doesn't have to go through a sysop to do so. I've no doubt the Mouth will become much better than it is with this change. Some people have mentioned that they're still getting bizarre formating problems when they receive the Mouth (trailing lines, weird margins, etc.). If you're experiencing any of these difficulties, drop me a line and I'll see if we can't fix the problem. Last issue I suggested some format changes for submissions. Ignore these; some of you tried them and they resulted in mangled manuscripts that were very difficult to correct. Please, return to your old way of doing things - my ideas just didn't pan out. Big News #1: GSI is going to start running a new game set in the year 2940, about 70 years prior to the War of the Ring. The game should be up and running by this summer. This is not rumor, this is fact; Brian Mason confirmed it directly in a conversation with GSI, and Bill has reconfirmed it. The game system will be the same; nations, major characters, encounters, etc., will not. For those of you who like new stuff and a completely level playing field, this is the ticket for you! Big News #2: There won't be a Mouth this upcoming Friday. After today, I'll be in Portland with my girlfriend for the remainder of the week. During this time, my supervisor will have access to my account. She'll be reading all of my mail. That means YOUR messages, about the game or anything else. As you can imagine, this could have some rather serious ramifications where my job security is concerned. So, until I come back please route all submissions to Brian Mason, the new co-editor. His internet address is: mason@chara.gsu.edu. Brian, having gotten into deeper water than he might've realized, will keep your articles until I get back. I need to emphasize this for you all. I won't be here. I won't answer your messages, take submissions, or do anything else. A complete stranger will read - and delete - your mail. This stranger, if she suspects that what you send is not work-related, will take advantage of the situation to not only get me in trouble, but you as well (yes, she'll call your place of work after tracing your address to tell YOUR supervisor what YOU'RE doing on company time - she works for the gov't, after all, and can do this easier than you might think). So, until I get back: DO NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL. Let me repeat this: DO NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL. If you can't restrain yourself, send it to Brian. But: DO NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL. And take me off any mailing lists I'm currently on. I can't stress this enough; please, please, please, DO NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL. Once I'm back, I'll send out a note to all concerned that my account is back in my hands and that the Mouth is once again in business. Until that time: DO NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL!!!!! And if that isn't enough: anyone who forgets to NOT SEND ME ANY MAIL will be removed from the Mouth mailing list - permanently (the last time I requested this, I came back to find over 50 messages in my mailbox). I can't jeopardize my job over a game, and will take this measure to ensure that errant mail doesn't arrive in the future when I'm gone from work. My apologies in advance to those who're inconvenienced by this. Until real life becomes less interesting, Tom Encounters Here's a tidbit that may clear up some of the confusion concerning whether or not you can force an encounter: You can issue order 285 and give a reaction, rather than 290 and waste a turn. However, this doesn't give you any better chance of finding the encounter than order 290 does. So if you drop in on Amon Llhaw and do order 285, it's still a roll of the dice whether or not you locate the chair. It still makes more sense to do 285, just in case you get lucky. As for encounters that've already been revealed, ANYONE in the hex can react to them. That is, if someone finds a dragon, the dragon is open to all characters in the hex. Same goes for Amon Lhlaw/Hen, the Balrog, etc. Just think of it as a light bulb. If the encounter is 'on', everyone can see it; if it's 'off', we all have to fumble around in the dark until we find the switch - unless the light bulb comes on by itself. Dragons Nothing this time. Other Corrections and Notes Answer to Question #1 of Holger Eichmann from "The Mouth" #9 from Brian Mason: For those who do not have access to the startup info sheets, I provide this list of data. I hope there are lots of you out there that do not have this data. This was a lot of copying! Terrain abbreviations: sho = shore, pla = plains, rou = rough, for = forest, des = desert, swa = swamp, mou = mountains. WOODMEN | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 90 90 95 87 85 85| |severe | 92 92 92 97 90 87 87| |cold | 95 95 95 100 92 90 90| |cool | 97 97 97 102 95 92 92| |mild | 100 100 100 105 97 95 95| |warm | 97 97 97 102 95 92 92| |hot | 95 95 95 100 92 90 90| NORTHMEN | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 87 82 80 77 77 80| |severe | 90 90 85 82 80 80 82| |cold | 92 92 87 85 82 82 85| |cool | 95 95 90 87 85 85 87| |mild | 100 100 95 92 90 90 92| |warm | 97 97 92 90 87 87 90| |hot | 95 95 90 87 85 85 87| EOTHRAIM | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 97 87 77 82 77 77| |severe | 90 100 90 80 85 80 80| |cold | 92 102 92 82 87 82 82| |cool | 95 105 95 85 90 85 85| |mild | 100 110 100 90 95 90 90| |warm | 100 110 100 90 95 90 90| |hot | 95 105 95 85 90 85 85| ARTHEDAIN | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 92 90 85 85 82 85| |severe | 92 95 92 87 87 85 87| |cold | 95 97 95 90 90 87 90| |cool | 97 100 97 92 92 90 92| |mild | 100 102 100 95 95 92 95| |warm | 100 102 100 95 95 92 95| |hot | 95 97 95 90 90 87 90| CARDOLAN | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 92 90 90 85 85 82 85| |severe | 95 92 92 87 87 85 87| |cold | 97 95 95 90 90 87 90| |cool | 100 97 97 92 92 90 92| |mild | 102 100 100 95 95 92 95| |warm | 102 100 100 95 95 92 95| |hot | 97 95 95 90 90 87 90| NORTHERN GONDOR | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 92 92 87 85 85 82 85| |severe | 95 95 90 87 87 85 87| |cold | 97 97 92 90 90 87 90| |cool | 100 100 95 92 92 90 92| |mild | 102 102 97 95 95 92 95| |warm | 102 102 97 95 95 92 95| |hot | 97 97 92 90 90 87 90| SOUTHERN GONDOR | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 90 90 85 85 82 85| |severe | 92 92 92 87 87 85 87| |cold | 95 95 95 90 90 87 90| |cool | 97 97 97 92 92 90 92| |mild | 100 100 100 95 95 92 95| |warm | 100 100 100 95 95 92 95| |hot | 95 95 95 90 90 87 90| DWARVES | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 92 95 100 85 92 92 105| |severe | 95 97 102 87 95 95 107| |cold | 97 100 105 90 97 97 110| |cool | 97 100 105 92 97 97 110| |mild | 97 100 105 95 97 97 110| |warm | 97 100 105 95 97 97 110| |hot | 95 97 102 90 95 95 107| SINDA ELVES | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 92 90 87 100 87 85 85| |severe | 95 92 90 102 90 87 87| |cold | 97 95 92 105 92 90 90| |cool | 100 97 95 107 95 92 92| |mild | 102 100 97 110 97 95 95| |warm | 102 100 97 110 97 95 95| |hot | 97 95 92 105 92 90 90| NOLDO ELVES | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 95 92 90 97 90 87 87| |severe | 97 95 92 100 92 90 90| |cold | 100 97 95 102 95 92 92| |cool | 102 100 97 105 97 95 95| |mild | 102 100 97 105 97 95 95| |warm | 102 100 97 105 97 95 95| |hot | 97 95 92 100 92 90 90| WITCH KING | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 90 90 85 82 82 87| |severe | 92 92 92 87 85 85 90| |cold | 95 95 95 90 87 87 92| |cool | 97 97 97 92 90 90 95| |mild | 100 100 100 95 92 92 97| |warm | 97 97 97 92 90 90 95| |hot | 95 95 95 90 87 87 90| DRAGON LORD | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 82 87 85 85 80 80 82| |severe | 85 90 87 87 82 82 85| |cold | 87 92 90 90 85 85 87| |cool | 90 95 92 92 87 87 90| |mild | 95 100 97 97 92 92 95| |warm | 95 100 97 97 92 92 95| |hot | 95 100 97 97 92 92 95| DOG LORD | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 92 87 80 85 82 85| |severe | 92 95 90 82 87 85 87| |cold | 95 97 92 85 90 87 90| |cool | 97 100 95 87 92 90 92| |mild | 102 105 100 92 97 95 97| |warm | 102 105 100 92 97 95 97| |hot | 102 105 100 92 97 95 97| CLOUD LORD | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 87 85 82 85 82 85| |severe | 90 90 87 85 87 85 87| |cold | 92 92 90 87 90 87 90| |cool | 95 95 92 90 92 90 92| |mild | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| |warm | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| |hot | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| BLIND SORCERER | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 87 85 80 85 80 85| |severe | 92 90 87 82 87 82 87| |cold | 95 92 90 85 90 85 90| |cool | 97 95 92 87 92 87 92| |mild | 102 100 97 92 97 92 97| |warm | 102 100 97 92 97 92 97| |hot | 102 100 97 92 97 92 97| ICE KING | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 92 92 90 90 85 85 90| |severe | 95 95 92 92 87 87 92| |cold | 97 97 95 95 90 90 95| |cool | 97 97 95 95 90 90 95| |mild | 100 100 97 97 92 92 97| |warm | 100 100 97 97 92 92 97| |hot | 97 97 95 95 90 90 95| QUIET AVENGER | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 87 90 82 87 77 80| |severe | 92 90 92 85 90 80 82| |cold | 95 92 95 87 92 82 85| |cool | 97 95 97 90 95 85 87| |mild | 102 100 102 95 100 90 92| |warm | 105 102 105 97 102 92 95| |hot | 102 100 102 95 100 90 92| FIRE KING | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 87 87 82 87 80 85| |severe | 90 90 90 85 90 82 87| |cold | 92 92 92 87 92 85 90| |cool | 95 95 95 90 95 87 92| |mild | 100 100 100 95 100 92 97| |warm | 100 100 100 95 100 92 97| |hot | 100 100 100 95 100 92 97| LONG RIDER | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 92 87 77 85 80 85| |severe | 90 95 90 80 87 82 87| |cold | 92 97 92 82 90 85 90| |cool | 95 100 95 85 92 87 92| |mild | 100 105 100 90 97 92 97| |warm | 97 102 97 87 95 90 95| |hot | 97 102 97 87 95 90 95| DARK LIEUTENANTS | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 87 85 82 85 82 85| |severe | 90 90 87 85 87 85 87| |cold | 92 92 90 87 90 87 90| |cool | 95 95 92 90 92 90 92| |mild | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| |warm | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| |hot | 100 100 97 95 97 95 97| CORSAIRS | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 87 85 82 85 80 77| |severe | 92 90 87 85 87 82 80| |cold | 95 92 90 87 90 85 82| |cool | 97 95 92 90 92 87 85| |mild | 102 100 97 95 97 92 90| |warm | 102 100 97 95 97 92 90| |hot | 100 97 95 92 95 90 87| HARADWAITH | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 87 90 80 87 77 80| |severe | 92 90 92 82 90 80 82| |cold | 97 95 97 87 95 85 87| |cool | 100 97 100 90 97 87 90| |mild | 102 100 102 92 100 90 92| |warm | 105 102 105 95 102 92 95| |hot | 102 100 102 92 100 90 92| DUNLENDINGS | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 87 92 85 85 85 92| |severe | 90 90 95 87 87 87 95| |cold | 92 92 97 90 90 90 97| |cool | 95 95 100 92 92 92 100| |mild | 100 100 105 97 97 97 105| |warm | 97 97 102 95 95 95 102| |hot | 95 95 100 92 92 92 100| RHUDAUR | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 90 90 92 92 85 82 85| |severe | 92 92 95 95 87 85 87| |cold | 95 95 97 97 90 87 90| |cool | 97 97 100 100 92 90 92| |mild | 100 100 102 102 95 92 95| |warm | 100 100 102 102 95 92 95| |hot | 95 95 97 97 90 87 90| EASTERLINGS | | T E R R A I N | |climate|sho pla rou for des swa mou | |-------|----------------------------| |polar | 87 92 85 80 85 77 77| |severe | 90 95 87 82 87 80 80| |cold | 92 97 90 85 90 82 82| |cool | 95 100 92 87 92 85 85| |mild | 100 105 97 92 97 90 90| |warm | 97 102 95 90 95 87 87| |hot | 97 102 95 90 95 87 87| Answer to Question #2 of Holger Eichmann from "The Mouth" #9 from Brian Mason: On page 60 of the rule book the values of troop terrain modifiers are specified to range from 60-100. So, I have always assumed the following: Good = 100 Average = 80 Poor = 60 Answer to Question #3 of Holger Eichmann from "The Mouth" #9 from Brian Mason: On page 60 of the rule book the values of troop tactic modifiers are specified to range from 90-115. Again, arbitrarily, I have assumed the following: Best = 115 2nd best = 110 3rd best = 105 3rd worst = 100 2nd worst = 95 worst = 90 The combat example given in the rule book on pages 57 and 58 also provides some more data. In the example, the modifiers for heavy cavalry and light infantry with charge as the combat tactic are given. Also, the modifiers for heavy infantry and archers with flank as the combat tactic are given as well. I find it interesting that, although flank is the best modifier for heavy infantry, the modifier is only 110, not 115. However, despite this apparent discrepancy in the algorithm described above for the assignment of troop tactic modifier, it works for the other three troop types described. So, as a starting point, I'll stick with it. It seemed reasonable to select standard as 3rd worst, such that it's modifier is 100. This allows standard to be an unmodified attack. So, if we assign them in this manner, you get a matrix something like this (using standard abbreviations): | CH FL ST SU HR AM -----|----------------------------------- HC | 115 100 90 LC | 100 115 90 HI | 110 100 90 LI | 90 100 115 AR | 90 100 115 MA | 90 100 115 Assigning the other values is a bit more problematic, as there are no other examples of which I am aware, and no hard and fast descriptors. For estimating combat results I have used the above base values, and taken all others to be equal to 103 (the average of the remaining values). While this is a bit crude, the predicted versus actual losses in combat has always been within five percent, so as a first cut, this is not too bad! Regarding the other point made in Holger's question: I would not assume that tactic versus tactic modifier "isn't so important." In most cases the troop types within your army will make the choice of combat tactic obvious, if you have an eclectic group of combat types, scouting ahead can provide you with an advantage. For example, on turn 8 of game 62 (in my first ever combat) I had scouted before-hand and knew I was facing about 600 heavy cavalry and about 400 light cavalry. In my army I had 900 heavy infantry, 300 light infantry, and 1600 archers. The offensive value of the troops of heavy infantry and archers were about the same, meaning that either flank or ambush would be an acceptable strategy. Since I knew I was facing primarily heavy cavalry, I guessed the combat tactic of my adversary to be charge. Since the worst tactic versus tactic modifier for charge is ambush, I selected ambush as my combat tactic. The combat was successful. Editor's note: I believe Brian is referring to the incident where he as Cardolan trounced my cav whilst I was playing the Witch-King. Knowing Brian to be a crafty opponent, I thought to myself: "he knows my most likely tactic is 'charge', and he also knows that I know he might choose 'ambush', in which case 'flank' is the way to go. So he'll try to counter my 'flank'. Therefore, I should charge anyway." No dice. I out-thunk myself (is that a word?) and got creamed. To add insult to injury, the army commander also died. Reply to Doug Bergstrom From Darren Beyer Sounds like Doug is playing with a bunch of total S*@theads. I disagree totally with this style of play and would be advertising them to the MEPBM community as non-trustworthy allies(?). I don't know if you are still playing, but if you are, there are some things you can do to get back in it. 1) Ally with the Dark Servants. Call them up and tell them the story. Even though you are good and they may not trust your motives at first, make them believe. Send them gold, trade pop centers, they'll believe you soon enough. This happened in Game 45 where the famed (*) brothers coerced(forced) the Harad to go good (I'm evil) and he very quickly regretted his decision. He wanted nothing to do with his teammates and he and I struck somewhat of an alliance, he even offered the DS's a 10,000 gold bounty for each of the (*) characters killed! He gave map info as well which allowed me to catch up with a Corsair navy (he's a FP) and nail the commanders. I believed him and it paid off for both of us (until he dropped). (Editor's note: where you see (*), Darren provided a name which I removed. Refer to my standing rules on naming individual players, as outlined in the first edition of the Mouth). 2) Try and play a character game. Its tough with Harad early, but if the FP leave you alone, and I'm guessing they will after they think you are totally down and out, with a DS alliance you will have time to build your characters back. 3) Buy products, lower your taxes, disband armies. If you get an alliance with the DS's you won't need your armies. If you lower your taxes and buy products you won't have any money for the FP's to steal. Without armies or money, your victory points will go way down and you won't be as much of a target for the FP. You need to call them and say "OK enough is enough, my victory points are 700, you've done your damage now let me play." They may even forget about you. This also has the side effect of setting you up for later, you can always build good armies and you have the products to sell to get your money back. In the meantime, you've built your characters and your pop center loyalties will be high as a result of the lowered taxes. If you just want to screw the FP's consider: 4) Move 2 of your armies (with guards) onto a FP army. Both armies issue stand and defend. Since you will have "Neutral" relations with this nation (although you are "good"), I believe, but am not sure, that the Stand and Defend order will prevent them from moving past you. If each of the armies issues the order for an opposite direction you will trap his army. He can't attack you to get away, he'll have to move agents into destroy your armies by assassination/kidnap. If you've got good guards you could survive for a while and possibly take out an agent in the process, you could even lay a trap by contacting a DS agent power. 5) Use your commanders and agents to provide scouts/recons for the DS's. 6) Transfer all your money, supplies, and pop centers to the DS's then retire your characters and drop. Reply to Doug Bergstrom From Tom Walton I have a simple philosophy for the game: winning takes a far second place to enjoyment. If you choose the wrong side and don't mind losing, there are any number of ways to take suitable revenge. Darren beat me to the punch on most of them, but here's a couple of more: (1) Pretend to be an eager ally. Get info on the locations of all forces and characters on your side, then feed this information to the 'enemy'. Set up your allegiance for devastating ambushes. (2) Use your agents for covert attacks, gold thefts, and so forth. Make sure your agents aren't among characters that started the game, or are characters your 'team' knows about (in case they show up on reports or rumors). (3) Use your emissaries to double the agents and emissaries of the team and pass along all the relevant info. This will really hurt the Free Peoples in your particular case. These are low-down, scum-bag tricks. However, if your team has stabbed you in the back as you've said, they're fair game for a taste of their own medicine. There's no requirement for 'nice' play under these circumstances; all bets are off (remember that, my allies!) From Doug Bergstrom Watch Out! Maybe GSI has corrected all the gliches, maybe not....in one game the following occured to my wife's position. Turn 3 Turn 4 camp loyalty 25 disappeared (no nation message) camp loyalty 8 emissary inf loy. now loy - 5 camp loyalty 10 disappeared (no nation message) Army 1 Training 44 HI Training 45 " 33 LI 32 33 AR 32 31 MA 32 * no recruiting, combat or training was done Emissary 2022 (didn't do an emissary com) Commander 60 58 +agent secondary 23 23 (guarded) Emissary 2822 (influenced loyalty) A character wasn't available due to lack of funds, but showed up on the turnsheet to be sent in. She called them and they refused to do anything until she made copies and sent (next day mail) them in. Yes, they apologized and did do corrections (plus some free turns). Point being everyone can have a bad day - even GSI. ME-PBM Wish List From Dan Arai Well, here's my idea to balance the game out for the Dark Servants. To balance out the Quiet Avenger, make the Corsairs evil, and the Haradwaith good. This would give the Dark Servants some much needed naval strength, while lending some support to the Quiet Avenger. The Harad would just about balance out the Corsairs. I think Cardolan is much more viable as a neutral than either Dunland or Rhuaur, so make Cardolan Neutral, Dunland good, and transplant a dark servant to Rhudaur's territory. (Note--I think that no matter who gets displaced, whatever he had should be distributed among the remaining DS in Mordor.) This change might actually make the Witch-King and Dragon-Lord positions viable. I think Cardolan would be a much better neutral than Dunland, for a variety of reasons. I think they have more to offer--a strong economy and the ability to raise and maintain immense armies. With Rhudaur and the Witch-King already evil, it makes the fighting in the NW much more unsure, so it would be possible for Cardolan to go either way. As it stands, however, Dunland is too easy to be taken out of the game (1 MT), and really isn't viable to go Dark Servant, considering it's surrounded by the free. This would make for two teams of 11, with two true neutrals left (Easterlings and Cardolan.) I'd like to hear other suggestions on how to re-balance the game as well. I'm particularly interested in keeping good-evil-neutral balance among what I see as the 5 geographical regions: NW, (Witch-King, Rhudaur, Noldo, Arthedain, Cardolan, and to some extent Dunland and Dwarves) Mirkwood (Dragon Lord, Sinda, Woodmen, some Eothraim, Dwarves, Northmen) West Mordor/Gondors (N Gondor, S Gondor, most of the Dark Servants) East Mordor/Sea of Rhun (Long Rider, Blind Sorceror, Easterlings, Northmen, other Dwarves.) South (Quiet Avenger, Haradwaith, Corsairs, elements of Easterlings.) From Doug Bergstrom I will throw this one out for you experts to do the calculations and come up with a reasonable theory (if you even think it is a good idea). IDEA: How about giving a graduatated scale of points per turn if you belong to an alliance? Like maybe 10-25, points (you experts can figure out what might work) per turn. Why? this would press the neutrals into joining a side quicker, plus it would keep them from sitting out till end game to decide ex. in one of my games it is turn 34, Harad has just joined the FP, he has 2000VP. (the following section arrived the next day) Changes: I wrote you about the points per turn system but didn't really elaborate, or did I. Anyway looking at it I think 10pt per turn belonging to an alliance will work. So if a neutral sat out (not declaring) for 10 turns he is behind 100pts, not insurmountable given their advantages, he sits out 20 turns he is behind 200 pts (or rather alliance members are ahead 200pts) still not insurmountable but his can make a difference. But if he sits out till game end to try join alliance (ex. game 27 alliance members would be ahead 340 pts) his is definately something to think about. What would this accomplish? 1) Neutrals would be more inclined to chose a side earlier. But not enough effect that it would force them to choose immediately. 2) An undeclared neutral would be less inclined to sit out to game end and declare-expecting an easy 1st place. 3) This would eliminate serious game changes like forcing only so many neutrals per side, all this might accomplish is drops from the neutral that doesn't get to join who he wants-which is his right. 4) Alliance nations get somewhat of a bonus for being in the battle per se from the beginning. Problems (as I see them): 1) Would this remove the freedom of being a neutral? Force them to declare immediately? 2) Would they automatically go to the winning side? Depends on how long they wait. 3) Would it stop neutrals from undercover support to one side? (I don't think so for in return for their sneakyness they could get consesstions and after 20 turns I doubt if anyone would not know their real inclinations). 4) Would GSI do this? 5) How do you guys perceive this action? From Dave Rossell It'd be great if GSI were to make available a book for sale containing the set-ups of every nation. New players start off with a serious disadvantage in ME-PBM. The biggest disadvantage is a lack of information. And newbies don't know that other people know where their stuff is. A new Dragon Lord player might rejoice that he has a hidden pop center in the middle of Mirkwood, and be sorely puzzled when a Sinda army shows up there. Give newbies a chance- give them the option of having some of the same info the veterans do. Give the Woodmen a break! They are easily the weakest of the Free People nations. A determined Dragon Lord should be able to take them out relatively easily, unless the Woodmen work *very* closely with the dwarves. The woodmen don't have a single character that can stand up to even the Dragon Lord's midrange. And the Woodman economy requires sell orders. If the Dragon Lord stations a good character on Maethelburg, the woodmen won't have enough orders left to keep their heads above water. If GSI won't alter the woodmen setup to improve its economy or characters, at least change that deceptive advertising in the book. "Deft agents" my ass. The woodman nation is weak both economically and character-wise. No one has ever won playing the woodmen. This should tell GSI something! From Tom Walton Some of these may be a rehash. Sorry about that. - make dragons rare, and recruiting them even rarer. The dragon list that's been painstakingly built from many sources here in the Mouth makes recruiting these monsters much too easy. And there's at least one other list that I suspect is good and even more extensive, though I can't include the data missing from the Mouth's list because it's impossible to confirm the results under my own rules (in any case, the number of recruitable dragons doesn't change). Historically (speaking in Tolkienish terms), dragons didn't participate in organized battle after the fall of Morgoth. Not at any time. So why can we recruit them in this game? It's been suggested that it balances the Dark Servants against the Free Peoples, but if this is true it's rather lame. First, as a balancing mechanism it isn't affected by the skill of individual players (all you need is a good dragon list and a little luck); second, dragons are the ME equivalent of nukes - a no-brainer battle-winner. To put it bluntly, that sucks. It counters the skilled play we've spent hard-earned money on, and puts the new guy at a real disadvantage should he get surprised with this. - expand the encounter set. Make some encounters one-time-only events. Add encounters which may benefit the nation several turns down the road, rather than immediately (so it takes some thought to put together cause and effect). - as others have said, make training and commander skill much more important than what weapons/armor the troops are carrying. Make morale more important as well (perhaps have the army break and dissolve once casualty percentages exceed current morale). - as an alternative, remove arms/armor from the equation altogether. Infantry with no arms/armor are militia (2/2), infantry with bronze weapons/armor are light (5/5), infantry with steel arms/armor are heavy (10/10). Makes more sense than the current system, has the side benefit of making training/command rank/morale the primary determinants of army effectiveness. A combined example of the last two would be: Step 1: determine base troop strength by type Step 2: multiply troop strength by the average of training and command skill as a percentage. Step 3: combine troop strengths to find army strength. So, 500 men with bronze (arms/armor would be one characteristic, not two) would qualify as light infantry (5/5). Basic strength is 2500 points. Give them a training of 40 and a commander with a skill rank of 70, which produces a mean score of 55. Multiply this as a percentage (55%) against base strength and you end up with an actual strength of 1,375 points. Now, use morale like this. Average it with the mean score found by adding together training and command rank to produce a route percentage. For this example, let's say morale is 65. With a mean score of 55 added in, we get an average of 60 as the route percentage. This army will stand up to 60% casualties (1500 points of damage) before it breaks and dissolves. Or better yet, before it has a CHANCE of breaking and dissolving (checked by the computer each round). You see that training, command rank, and morale make BIG differences. A skilled and energetic army is quite capable of defeating an unskilled and demoralized army several times it's own size; perhaps many times it's own size. - rather than have combat weapons increase army damage, have them increase morale. There aren't any instances in Tolkien's works where magic swords 'deflect many a blow', etc. The weapons were more a tool for inspiring the troops than anything else (men cheered the appearance of Anduril outside the walls of Minas Tirith because it meant the King was on the field, not because it would 'kill a score of troops before they knew what was happening'). - add encounters which allow a character to summon aid. For example, a character encounters eagles, which promise to help him in the future. The character later issues an order to 'call' the eagles, which then arrive and join his army. Kind of a trump card. How I Got Shafted in ME-PBM Nothing this time. Chucking Woodmen, and All That Dan DeYoung's article on the Woodmen sparked a comment this issue: From Brian Mason This was a great deal of fun to read! It was great to get out the maps and setups and look things over, plot out moves, and see how things would go. I must agree with Tom Walton's comments that the strategy relies on the Dragon Lord doing those specific things. I'm not sure that (especially given Dan's Woodmen strategy) the Dragon Lord should do these specified moves. As a matter of fact, were I playing the Dragon Lord, I would read this article as a strategy session on what NOT to do. Also, let me point out that in my (albeit flawed) Dragon Lord strategy from "The Mouth" #8, the Dragon Lord concentrated his forces on the Sinda Elves. While the Woodmen is a tempting target for the Dragon Lord, attempting to destroy cities which have no fortifications (once the more than adequate Dragon Lord spell casters learn "Reveal Population Center" was too tempting a target. Strategy & Tactics: The Quiet Avenger by Brian Mason How does the nation of the Quiet Avenger compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton): among all players among DS Total Tax Base 20th 5th Resource Base 19th 7th Combat Strength 22nd 10th Character points 9th 5th Artifacts 17th 10th Oddly enough, the position of possibly the weakest of the Dark Servants, the Quiet Avenger, probably has most in common with the strongest of the Dark Servants, the Witch-King. What I mean by this is that the fortune of the Quiet Avenger, like that of the Witch King, is almost completely dependant on the actions of her neighboring neutrals. Given this overdependance on what the neutrals may or may not do, too much advance planning is probably not advisable. What here follows is not so much a complete plan, but rather, a collection of observations whereby the Quiet Avenger might be able to get off to a good start. The Quiet Avenger is the weakest of the Dark Servants, and the chance of the Quiet Avenger to play a significant role in the early party of the game is virtually non-existant. The Quiet Avenger is surrounded by three neutrals, any one of which is vastly superior. Offensive navy opertations become impossible due, not only to the neutrals, but also to the significantly greater naval force of North and South Gondor, as well as the Sinda and Noldo Elves. Because all but one of the Quiet Avenger population centers has some type of fortification, increasing Quiet Avenger taxes is a viable option. Going to 70% will get her "in the black", and additional gains can be made by getting rid of unnecessary troops and taking a great risk and developing economically for a late game surge. While this is a "high risk" approach, it is not as foolish as it may initially seem because of the vast armies which neighbor her. If they come after you "full bore" it is really immaterial how much you have recruited to stop them, because it will not be enough. The idea here, then, is to develop the nation into a tremendous economic force, and allow the rest to follow behind that. Specifics: Turn one: Get combat artifacts into use, get backup commanders into armies. Retire all light infantry, archers, and men-at-arms. Get the navy in one location. Change the tax rate to 70%. Other orders to develop character skills, Adunaphel as a mage and emissary. Turn two: Continue repositioning forces such that, at the end of this turn you have all light cavalry in a army at Lugarlur, while all the heavy infantry, along with the navy, is at Vamag. While this is only 1500 troops total, having troops is not as important at this point, as having South Gondor and the neutrals see icons. Name first emissary. Turn three: Name another emissary. First emissary moves off to develop in the left three columns of the Quiet Avenger map. These are off everyone elses map, and the rough terrain promises to provide a variety of resources for future army development. Turn four onward: These continue as those above. I would have the Quiet Avenger fill all character slots available, up to turn 10 with emissaries, and create camps, develop camps into villages, and villages into towns, with a major town or two as backup population centers. As the camps spring up in rough most will produce gold, and this will quickly have this emissary production in a "paying for itself" mode. Then, available gold should be spent on timber to place a tower on each unfortified population center. Reply to Brian Mason From Tom Walton I consider the QA to be in pretty much the same position as the Dragon Lord. With two neighboring neutrals and a third just a hop, skip, and jump away, the actions of others will make or break your nation. Given that, you might as well play as if the neutrals will go evil and leave your nation be. For those who think the QA capable of taking on Harad or the Corsairs, such is only possible if these positions are being run by less than skilled players. In three of four games playing Harad or the Corsairs, I've been forced into an attack on the QA; in two games I easily conquered the position in just a few turns, while in the third my rash opponent (who thought he could beat the Corsairs) is about to go down. The QA isn't even a challenge for a Southern neutral with a grudge (in fact, the position is so weak you can divert just a portion of your forces to do the job, while carrying on business as usual elsewhere). In my last game I went DS and the QA position, incredibly weak at start, is now quite powerful. After a joint conquest of the Corsairs and the forced declaration of the Easterlings for our side (yep, we actually THREATENED the guy into submission; must've been the 5,000 heavy cav I had marching to his capitol), his position is now among the safest and strongest among the DS. In fact, he just mounted a rather large naval landing in Southern Gondor, much to everyone's surprise. Given time and a friendly, powerful, neutral ally, the QA can do quite well. If a neutral attacks and allies aren't forthcoming, or (Morgoth forbid), both neutrals attack, you might as well call it quits. Not a position for those who don't like taking chances or who aren't good at diplomacy. A final note: the navy can be effective if Southern Gondor fumbles the ball and doesn't eliminate it right off. A landing in western Gondor off-map can cause considerable havoc, as can a surprise landing in Cardolan. The potential for establishing a permanent base of operations is slim due to the low transport capacity, but you can be one hell of an irritation to your enemies. Flopsy the Nazgul Editor's Note: Brian Mason sent this to me for kicks. I laughed so hard I had to put it in the Mouth. I don't know who the original author is, and apologize profusely for using his/her material without permission - but I just had to show this to you. Tom, I ran across this poem which was performed at last year's Mythopoeic Society Conference which is sung to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman" and thought I'd pass it along to my favorite Witch-King. Flopsy the Nazgul was a nasty, wicked beast With two eyes of red in his ugly head And he flew out of the East Flopsy the Nazgul, oh, a hobbit he did seek `Cause he had THAT Ring so he took to wing and havoc he did wreak Oh there must have been some magic in that Ring that Sauron made `Cause even in full sunlight The Nazgul didn't fade Flopsy the Nazgul went flying o'er the land The he saw that Babe, with her sword she played As she tossed it hand to hand Flopsy the Nazgul didn't want to fight that day But she looked so fine, he said, "What's your sign? And together we can play!" Oh there must have been some magic in that blade that Merry drew `Cause when he struck it in his knee The Nazgul screamed, "Boo Hoo!" Flopsy the Nazgul, though a hobbit he would slay Lost his iron crwon, saying: "Don't you frown, I'll be back again someday." Floppity-flop-flop, floppity-flop-flop Look at Flopsy flee Floppity-flop-flop, floppity-flop! With a sword stuck in his knee...