From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-16 Date: 04-15-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. The Mouth is edited by Brian Mason and Tom Walton. All correspondence can be sent to them at: Brian Mason - mason@chara.gsu.edu Tom Walton - kazandar@aol.com First Word How about the shortest editorial yet? Nothing earth-shaking going down, no real news to report. So let's skip my blathering this time around and get to the good stuff! Tom Dragons I'm in the process of completing a survey on the range of particular dragons that move outside the normal bounds of the Grey/Misty Mountains, the Withered Heath,and surrounding rough hexes. No real surprises here, but some information you may find marginally useful: Rough hexes in Northern Gondor: the group of rough hexes in Northern Gondor just east of Angrenost and south of Dol Guldur will sometimes see visits by dragons. The most common encounters are with Itangast, Khuzadrepa, and other dragons that are generally found in the Southern Misty Mountains. Strangely enough, these dragons won't be found in any of the non-rough hexes between this location and the Misty Mountains (i.e., no encounters in plains or forest hexes). Sarn Goriwing: Sarn Goriwing and the two rough hexes to the north will commonly be haunted by Nimanaur, Bairanax, and other dragons found in the Grey Mountains to the north. Again, they won't be found in the intervening forest or plains hexes. Iron Hills: dragon visits are very infrequent in these rough hexes, but the most common encounters are with Bairanax and Gostir. These dragons can also be found in the Northern Wastes between the Iron Hills and the Grey Mountains. No dragons range east or south of the Iron Hills (with the exception of Lamthanc in Mordor). All other dragons are encountered in the mountain hexes of the Misty or Grey Mountains, adjacent rough hexes, the Withered Heath (the plains hexes between the two branches of the Grey Mountains), or rarely, in the Northern Wastes north of the Grey Mountains. Dragons are not found in any other location on the map, unless attached to someone's army (so far as I know). If you're looking to find the recruitable dragons, the best places to be are pop centers in Angmar (mountains), Gundabad, Goblin's Gate, or the mountain hexes within this triangle. Most of the recruitable dragons have ranges which cross in this area. Encounters Tom Bombadil: Dave Rossell and Rochelle Neuman report that after a visit to Rochelle's army, Tom raise the morale a few points but did nothing else useful. Bear in mind that it appears that Tom's influence may be variable. Note that there were no encounter options; it was strictly an army encounter. Balrogs: okay folks, positive confirmation. When recruiting the Balrog, it's an army encounter and not a character encounter. The Balrog runs into your army (if you're a Dark Servant) and decides to join up for awhile. But he cautions that you'd better fight alot, or bad things could happen (eat the army commander?). Once again: if you get this as a character encounter, you CANNOT recruit the balrog. If you get this as an army encounter, he'll join a Dark Servant army automatically (for a Free/Neutral army, he'll attack and slaughter troops left and right). That settles the quest for the balrog info, which some of you sneaky persons had but wouldn't divulge. Hah! The editors of the Mouth will find out sooner or later, secretive ones; you can't hide anything from us for long.... Ents & Huorns: Another firm confirmation. You can't recruit ents through a character encounter. The only way to do it (and this is for Free Peoples) is to run an army through 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. Well, we had a great week for encounter info. These items were suspected since they appeared on other encounter lists, but it took awhile to get actual confirmation either from personal experience or from people we could trust not to dish us bad info. Hope this helps you some. We should also have a spate of new info on dragons coming soon - I'm trying out four new responses in this next set of turns alone. Other Notes From Tom Walton While many of your turn reports list email as having no additional charge, I recently spoke to GSI concerning the matter. They said that they had reconsidered and decided to tack on $1.00 to all email turns. Reason? To cover the expenses passed on to them by CIS. Checking with those of you who regularly access CIS, I found that the average charge is about $0.15 per file. Downloading mail (or cut-n-paste, if that's the way you operate) only takes about a minute for a file the size of a 21-character order sheet (actually less for me, but I'm erring on the side of caution). Since CIS charges $0.10 a minute, this would come to a total cost of $0.25 per email turn to GSI. If GSI were to do the wise thing and open an account on AOL, the cost would be nothing for incoming mail, plus about $0.06 per minute. That's a grand total of $0.06 per email turn - assuming that GSI has already used up the five free hours per month it gets with it's AOL account. I don't know about you, but this struck me as somewhat opportunistic. Unless GSI has terribly incompetent employees who need 9 minutes to download/cut a file, or they write out everything by hand from the email (this is clearly not the case), it seems the company doth overcharge quite a bit for the email service. In fact, it seems to be intent on making more profit (I see this behavior in government all the time - charging far beyond the actual cost of the service). After gawking at the reply I received on my question, I told GSI that I, for one, wouldn't be using the email service unless it was an emergency, as the charge was far too much. While it might help to avoid being special serviced, this has only happened to me three times in about 250-300 turns (I really don't know anymore). Even taking the low figure, that's one special service turn per 80 regular turns, or at email charge figures $80.00 to avoid a single special service turn. And I have notoriously slow mail service, rivaling our Canadian cohorts (I have to turn my mail around in 48 hours to get it to GSI on time). So is it worth it? I don't think so, but then, I'm in six games. That's $12.00 a month for me, equivalent to the cost of an entire new game. I'm curious to know what all of you out there think about the charges and the usefulness of email turns. News from the Net Editors' note: this is a new column suggested by Brian Mason. Brian uses his access to the newsgroup rec.games.pbm to digest the on going conversations and provide questions and answers that other people may have about ME-PBM. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Post #1 ---------------------------------------------------------------- What follows are more answers in response to Brian Lowery's post #1 from last week. ---------------------------------------------------------------- From Doug Christensen (trubador@aol.com) I'm also curious as to how this feature will work. In one of my games as the Long Rider I hold three major towns: 4215 (my capital), 3707, and 2912. I recieved a recon report for 3707 but not for 2912. Why? Also, will the MT/City recons tell you the composition and leaders of enemy armies like the Recon and ScoArea orders? ---------------------------------------------------------------- From Brian Cash (bcash@bnr.ca) Existing games are included. You will not get a recon from any mt/cities on your map, even if it is on the edge or corner. You will also not get a report if the loyalty is too low. I don't know what the cut-off is yet, but 15 is too low. I haven't heard any input on this yet. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Reply from Brian Mason Thusfar in other games of mine I've only seen it not work (with a loyalty of 40). I do, however, have a reliable report of results with a loyalty of 59. So apparently, the cut-off is somewhere between these two values. I am still looking for more data (hello out there) to firmly establish this. Send me info on loyalty of major towns and cities off your main map and whether or not they provided the info to mason@chara.gsu.edu. There was also some question as to whether or not this applied to all games or only new games. It has apparently been applied to all games, new and old. Also, the nagging question remains, does it provide you with only a map or does it also give you army information (as a recon does). As far as I know, the jury is still out on that. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Post #2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: v011l6fc@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (DAVE ROSSELL) Subject: ME-PBM Long Rider encounter? Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 18:18:00 GMT I've heard rumors that there's an encounter that will allow the Long Rider get an army out of its mountain-locked major town at 3229. Anyone hear anything about this, or how to get it? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Reply from Brian Mason This has been a longstanding rumor. As yet I have never heard of a confirmation of this. Anyone knowing anything, pass it along. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Reply from Tom Walton As Brian said, this is a long-standing rumor. GSI wouldn't deny or confirm it when I asked them, but they made it very clear that one shouldn't give credence to all rumors, for many aren't true (the reply was very strongly worded in the negative). I found this to be a roundabout way of saying that the rumor is bogus and not to waste any effort on it. So far as either of us know, no one has ever had this encounter. I class it with the nonexistent dragons, i.e., deliberate misinformation passed along to confuse and annoy other players. Other Notes From Darin Fitzpatrick RE: The "Kill Guard" order This order already exists; it goes by the name of "Issue Personal Challenge." In fact, an agent good enough to be assassinating someone probably has a much higher challenge rank than a typical guard. This tactic is especially effective if the agent also has some command rank (easy to build up quickly) and a good combat artifact. Ideally, this assassin could nail an average of one character per turn, moving and scouting and then challenging and assassinating. A corollary bit of advice is to have one's guards refuse personal challenges. In this case, two assassinations may be necessary (either with two assassins or over two turns.) RE: Nation Transport and Caravan Transport If you want to send all your stores of one resource (or a given percentage of them) to an ally, it is most efficient to "Nation Transport" to whichever Pop Center has the most of that particular resource, thus minimizing the 10% fee. Caravan Transport can originate in any Pop Center, not just the capital. This tactic ensures that your ally gets the most for your generosity. Also, if you happen to have a character in that Pop Center, you can now have him transport the goods, thus saving a capital order for something more useful. RE: Troop Diversity Many writers have complained about the lack of variety in troop recruitment. The fact that heavy troops are always best rob the game of a potentially critical strategic decision. It seems difficult, however, to come up with a simple solution, one that does not involve substantial restructuring of the combat system. I have collected a few thoughts about possible directions a solution might take: - light troops could gain movement bonuses, similar to those currently enjoyed by cavalry - light troops could have strength of 75% of the heavy troops (instead of 50%) - the distinction between light and heavy could be removed entirely, and the influence of weapons and training greatly increased - archers could have strength higher than heavy infantry (e.g. 12), but retain their low constitution - improved archers (as above) could require a resource to recruit, such as timber - a minimum armor/weapon requirement could be set for heavy troops - light troops could have higher strength than constitution - maintenance costs could be based on equipment (armor, weapons) rather than troop type, or on a combination of the two - certain troop types could complement each other, i.e. an army of only cavalry and archers could gain a 20% advantage - certain combat spells could affect some troops more than others (a Heat Metal spell against armor, or Wild Mounts against cavalry) Obviously, many factors influence most decisions in ME-PBM. It would be nice if the recruitment decision were also less simplistic and led to many possible army configurations. Reply to Darin Fitzpatrick From Tom Walton Only one point: if the enemy is using commander/agents for guards, they'll often have a higher challenge rank than enemy agents. This could make a challenge order on the part of the attacker a very risky proposition. Strategy & Tactics: The Long Rider By Brian Mason and Tom Walton From Brian Mason Coming rather close on the heels of the article on the Cloud Lord is another fun and exciting position which tends to be rather character based: the Long Rider. Basic Data ~~~~~~~~~~ How does the nation of the Long Rider compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #3): item for comparison among all among Dark Servants =================== ============== ========================= Total Tax Base tied for 21st tied for 7th Resource Base tied for 15th tied for 3rd Combat Strength 7th 1st Character points 10th 6th Artifacts tied for 6th 5th The Long Rider has pretty poor production. Expected production (Population Center Development, Brian Mason, "The Mouth," #2) which has not been adjusted for climate for the nation of the Long Rider would be as follows: material le br st mi fo ti mo go =========== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== production 1089 436 175 20 3414 0 234 2538 Among the Dark Servants, the Long Rider wins more often than any other position except that of the CLoud Lord (Winners & Losers in Middle-earth, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #8). This is a list of below of Long Rider characters, their starting abilities, and their assignments. Name co ag em ma st assignment ============== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==================== Din Ohtar 30 10 10 30 Agent #1 Drugandra 40 Army commander #1 Goldwine Frec 10 10 10 Train this puppy Hargrog 30 20 Army commander #2 Lomelinde 30 10 Agent #2 Morlammen 30 Mage #1 Uvatha 60 10 10 30 Army commander #3 Voisol 30 Mage #2 The Long Rider start the game in a very interesting position. Because of the command skill rank of Uvatha, the ability to create 40 commanders, the ability to summon mounts, the starting training rank of 20 for troops, and the impressive array of starting forces, this is potentially a very powerful position for armies. However, the Long Rider is in a rather unenviable position in two ways, one, the armies are scattered all over the east side of the map, and the only location suitable for recruiting at start (Tol Buruth) must ferry troops to get them in play, and doing that runs the risk of running into two navies (the Sinda and Northmen) which are superior to your own. On the other hand, you start the game with two of the best agents (due to Long Rider artifacts). So, there might be a desire to run a character game. How you decide to play the position might have a great deal to do with what characters you develop. For example, if it is possible to get your troops from Tol Buruth to one of the Major Towns on the Sea of Rhun and to take it (without encountering enemy navies en route) then it will be much easier to get into a military game, and you may then have the need to create good commanders and commander/agents to act as army commanders and back up commanders. If, on the other hand, you are unable to secure a recruiting base, you might be better served adopting a character based strategy. While the army you have starting at 4324 can engage in agressive action around the Sea of Rhun, in my opinion, you are still forced into a character strategy if you cannot move troops from Tol Buruth to the mainland freely. The only way to do that is by destroying the Sinda and Northmen navy, and the only way to do that is through the 4324 army winning an engagement along the coast or through direct agent action assassinating or kidnapping all commanders. So, the fundamental decision of how you might play the position depends a great deal on how the first few turns go. Accordingly, it is very difficult to plan strategy for character creation. The Character Situation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ However, in this area one thing is obvious. The Long Rider lacks decent emissaires. One should be named on turn one and he should name another, although you might want to leave the other two character slots open depending on how you want to play the position. To make your two new emissaries offensively effective you need to get their skill ranks above 50. To do this by InfOthr would take eight turns (More Character and Skill Improvement, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #3), however, if you can do it by CreCmp it could be done in only five turns (ibid), the problems of doing this are twofold: one, you have limited gold, two, you have few places you can do it safely. Because of the volitility of the Rhovanion region, creating camps anywhere on your starting map outside of Mordor invites their destruction. Even those you make in Mordor will be especially vulnerable. I would therefore recommend the far north (rows 01-03 all across). It does not appear on any maps of the Free Peoples, and if these are not discovered accidentally, they will form nice population centers to be improved later in the game. From these locations after turn 20 you can come down upon Arthedain or the Northmen from an unexpected location. What you do with Lomelinde and Din Ohtar is very important. These two characters can effectively lay siege to the Northmen capital. Move them on turn one and scout for characters. Assassinate or kidnap whoever shows up, and if no one shows up then have one of them scout for characters while the other steals gold, sabotages fortifications, etc. While these two excellent agents are present the Northmen will be unable to name new characters, raise his taxes, or use one of his primary recruiting locations. Your mages will take some time before they can train to a sufficient level to get into the artifact hunting business, so keep improving them, and have them cast offensive/defensive spells in your armies. Goldwine Frec is a puppy. It will take him quite a while to become an effective anything (6 turns to have any skill reach 30 rank), so keep him safe. He can, through time, become a very effective agent/emissary to be used to StlGld and InfOthr at enemy population centers and/or as a company commander. Use him for this later in the game. The Economic Situation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You are hurting. Raising taxes much at all threatens the loss of camps through loyalty drops. Captured population centers will be very hard to keep, and your troops are very expensive. The best way to improve your economy is to capture population centers with fortifications (which will help protect them), destroy unfortified population centers (these will be very difficult to hold). Taking these actions will also lose troops, which will also improve the economy.Actions must be taken fast. Sells will probably be necessary to keep things going early in the game. The Military Situation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The armies are spread out all over the map and will be dealt with individually. The Mordor force is weak compared to armies in the region, however, if the primary Dark Servant forces in Mordor (Fire King, Ice King, et al.) can keep the Gondors occupied, opportunities exsist to take 3028 and 3026. The Rhovanion force is very vulnerable to attacks by the Eothraim. It simply is not big enough to hold up. There are, however, many population centers surrounding the Sea of Rhun which make viable targets. The Tol Buruth army should try to reach the mainland, if only to be lost. The only exception to this would be if Uvatha commands it. If so, troops should be retired to cut costs and the Sea should be avoided. The chances of loss on the open sea (and thereby the death of Uvatha) are too great. Future Development of the position and final points ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The position has many opportunities, but how it handles the economic crisis early on will determine many things. Can the Long Rider develop population centers in the far North? Can Din Ohtar and Uvatha keep the Northmen from executing capital orders (thus weakening this position considerably)? Can the armies capture a few population centers and destroy the rest? All these questions are difficult ones to answer, and the success (or failure) of the Long Rider depends a great deal on them. There remains then the problem of Olbamarl. The tendency is to get complacent with this population center. There is a rumor, still unconfirmed, that it is possible to get to Olbamarl through an encounter, however, even if this rumor is disallowed, keep in mind that very agressive emissary action by the Northmen, Noldo, or a blitz by some other nation could take this place. It might be worthwhile to keep an army of 100 Men-at-Arms here just to require them to assassinate the commander and delay the InfOthrs by one turn. Watch out for agressive action in this area! Keep in mind that it will take you two turns to get agents from Northmen territory to Olbamarl. This might give your opponents enough time to take the place. From Tom Walton Considering that Brian has never played the Long Rider, he did a remarkable job in covering all the critical points. Rather than repeat his comments, I'll just add a few of my own: - I emphasize economic development with this nation. Even should you lose your armies, you'll still be running a deficit at a 60% tax rate. I'd suggest building three emissaries with your first four character slots and getting them out to create/upgrade camps right away. You'll need at least six villages to break even, just over character costs. For camp development, I suggest the Northern Wastes and the Grey Mountains. Both are off-map, both within reach of the Northmen. Both areas also have lousy production, but what you're looking for here is extra revenue. Putting the pop centers close to the primary targets is a good way to provide future recruitment sites as well. - I'd suggest building a new mage right away as well. With three mages in the stable, all can learn 'Conjure Mounts' while prenticing, adding to your stores each and every turn. If you're doing great economically, you can use these mounts for more cav. If not, you can sell them for additional revenue. Three 50-point mages will conjure 750 mounts a turn, a not inconsiderable figure. - Of initial characters, I'd also opt to retire Goldwine Frec and replace him with a 30-point agent. You can hand the new agent an artifact and make him effective right away. With Din Ohtar and Lomelinde, your team can go forth and steal gold to give the economy an added boost. - Of the armies, I'd send the Mordor cav force into 3028 right away and try to take it. If successful, move on to 3026 and repeat, then disband the cav and wait for the Gondors to repossess their property. The added gold is worth it in the early game, and the army isn't quite large enough to do anything else in the region. In the Rhun area, the cav force should hit the Northmen right away. Again, this army isn't capable of standing up to the Free, but with so many available targets you should be able to burn a few towns right off, hurting the enemy in future campaigns. At the least it'll prepare the way for other Dark Servants (e.g., Blind Sorcerer). For the naval force, I'm a bit more cautious. Sailing in the limited area of the Sea of Rhun is dangerous, and can result in the death of your characters if you get caught in the open. Unless your enemy doesn't know what he's doing, I'd suggest sitting tight and disbanding everything but the heavy infantry. Start recruiting more heavy infantry (until you hit your lift capacity), and wait for the opportunity to make a big strike. Don't worry, it'll come if the other Dark Servants are doing a proper job. - Acquiring/trading for another major town where you can actually recruit is a major concern. If your allies are recalcitrant, you may have to wait until you can create one of your own, relegating your nation to the character game for some time. If they're more friendly, you might be able to get a good one (trading the Dragon Lord backup for Olbamarl is a good choice). - If Uvatha starts in the capitol with Din Ohtar, consider having Uvatha transfer him an artifact and moving both him and Lomelinde to the Northmen capitol. Din Ohtar can challenge, and both agents can attempt a kidnap, taking out three Northmen characters on the second turn. This will cripple the Northmen right away (with thanks to Jeremy Richman for this neat little trick). It requires a bit of luck in character placement, but is well worth it if the cards fall your way. - the Long Rider position is one of the few that I favor a 'vanilla' approach for, i.e., a good mix of agents, emissaries, and mages. Unlike other DS positions, the Long Rider doesn't have access to a great character base, and his position often requires him to act without support from other Dark Servants. In playing this position, I'd say the most important rule is to act as if you won't get one whit of aid from any other Dark Servant - become self-sufficient early, and stay that way. The Long Rider is one of the toughest DS positions to play, but also one of the most likely to win if the player is canny. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone new to the game - it's just too easy to get your nation killed. Proper Usage of Nation Titles in Middle-earth By Darin Fitzpatrick In reading the various items in the Mouth, I have been slightly irritated by sloppy usage of Middle-earth terminology. At first, I thought that I was just a nit-picking Tolkien fan with a fixation, but I think that other players and writers may be interested. Evidence of respect for "flavor" and cohesion with the primary sources has shown up, for instance in the list of place names by Brian Mason. My pet peeve is the incorrect usage of "the" with nations. For instance, "The Arthedain moved his troops into the Rhudaur." Arthedain is a country (or kingdom), much like France or Germany. Other nations' titles are derived from peoples (Noldo Elves, Dwarves) or places (Haradwaith). I have compiled a table of correct usage for any purists out there. The column "Nation" gives the official ME-PBM title of the nation. "Derivation" lists the origin of the name, and "Usage" shows whether the definite article is appropriate. Nation Derivation Usage ============= ================ ========================= Northmen People the Northmen Woodmen People the Woodmen Eothraim People the Eothraim Arthedain Kingdom Arthedain, the Kingdom of Arthedain Cardolan Kingdom Cardolan, the Kingdom of Cardolan Northern Kingdom (part Northern Gondor Gondor of one) Southern Kingdom (part Southern Gondor Gondor of one) Dwarves People (race) the Dwarves, the Khazad Sinda Elves People (race) the Sinda Elves, the Sindar Noldo Elves People (race) the Noldo Elves, the Noldor Witch-King Leader the Witch-King, Angmar, the Realm of Angmar Dragon Lord Leader the Dragon Lord Dog Lord Leader the Dog Lord Cloud Lord Leader the Cloud Lord Blind Leader the Blind Sorcerer Sorcerer Ice King Leader the Ice King Quiet Avenger Leader the Quiet Avenger Fire King Leader the Fire King Long Rider Leader the Long Rider Dark Leaders the Dark Lieutenants Lieutenants Corsairs People (faction) the Corsairs Haradwaith Region the Haradwaith, the Haradrim (a people) Dunlendings People the Dunlendings, Dunland Rhudaur Kingdom Rhudaur, the Kingdom of Rhudaur Easterlings People the Easterlings Here are some real-world examples and ME parallels: "Germany moved troops into the Alsace." "Southern Gondor moved troops into the Haradwaith." "The Gauls routed Caesar's legions." "The Northmen destroyed the Dog Lord's capital." Looking at the nation titles, as established by GSI, I see that none incorporate "the" in the name. On resultsheets the titles are printed correctly in sentences, although computer-generated text is notorious for this kind of error. I have not found good adjectives derived from most of these names. "Gondorian armies" seems to work, but "Arthedainian" is bit hard to keep straight. The best solution is probably to avoid the adjective form by rephrasing: "Troops from Arthedain crossed the border into Rhudaur," rather than "Arthedainian troops crossed the Rhudaurian border." Another alternative is to use the name directly as an adjective: "An Eothraim army and two Northmen navies converged on the Easterling town." I realize that usage will not be cleaned up overnight, but perhaps some of those who are merely uninformed (as opposed to lazy) will avoid sloppy grammar. Tom's note: no doubt I've been guilty of the sloppy usage of place and nation names in ME. You've seen me use 'Arthedaini' and 'Cardolani' for plural forms, which to my knowledge have no historical basis. My only comment is this: as one who writes professionally on occasion, I've discovered that what you say is far more important than how you say it. Here in the Mouth we operate under the same philosophy and care not a whit how you mangle the English language, nor what damage you do Middle-Earth names or titles. So long as people can figure out what you're talking about, that's good enough for us. Of GAD Games and Middle-earth in Europe By Darin Fitzpatrick I was first introduced to ME-PBM by a friend in Virginia, who wanted desperately to get me involved in this great form of gaming. We had been forced to cancel our semi-regular MERP sessions since I am currently on an expatriate assignment for Rockwell International in Frankfurt, Germany. I had hoped that we could play by mail together, but alas, that would have meant 3-week turns at GSI. Fortunately, Mr. Feild (the eternally revered and perpetually misspelled) gave me the phone number for GAD Games in the UK. I signed right up and have been playing Southern Gondor since August 93. GAD Games runs the ME-PBM game under license from GSI. Their prices are comparable (4 pounds vs. $7, I believe) with a two-week turnaround. The staff are very helpful, answering most questions right away and researching tough ones with GSI. Also, they accept faxed-in turns at no extra charge. The software at GAD is, as far as I know, identical to that at GSI. I imagine that changes may not be implemented as soon, but the new agent, emissary, and transfer orders are definitely in effect. A notice announcing these changes appeared right around Christmas '93, along with the new, smaller format. I have not yet seen anything about Recons by Major Towns or Cities, but our first April turn has not been run yet. The prinout has been changed slightly to feature the GAD Games title, list prices in pounds, and also includes messages from Sean, the game manager. I specifically requested a beginners' game when I signed up, as I had heard about the killer level of play in the US. Since I am in Game 27, I assume that GAD does not have all that many players with more than a year or so of experience. Several British players I know are involved in several games at once, but all in all the total number of turns played does not yet approach that of the US. The result of these two factors is that the type of co-ordination and sophisticated play detailed in the Mouth has not been evident. Aside from the Haradwaith, however, no one has played particularly poorly, either. Quite a few players have dropped out, as well. One GAD game has finished. Game 16 was won by the Free People (batting 1.000), with the Dunlendings as overall winners. This news was announced in the "Special Messages" department. I am leaving Germany in August, so I will most likely not play another game with GAD. I will certainly finish this one, however, and though the postal system is slow, I may have the results faxed or e-mailed. I have had two result sheets faxed to me, and so far, I have not paid extra for this service, although GAD does list a charge for it. Even with a charge, however, it may be viable to play from the US via fax. I would request the large format printout for any faxes. Also, GAD now accepts VISA payments, so one needn't bother getting an international money order, like I had to. (What we won't do to feed the gaming habit...) All in all, I am very happy with GAD and wish them the best of luck in developing the European market. To anyone heading overseas for study, work, or long-term goofing off, I can highly recommend their services. Building a framework for your Team/Nation's success. By: Wes Fortin I've been a loyal reader of the 'Mouth since issue #1 and an often dissappointed reader of Whispers of the Wood for about a year and a half. I have seen lots of articles, including some fine ones by the two editors of this e-zine, about strategies on this nation or that and the various strengths and weaknesses of each. Having played a variety of nations (4 currently, and another on the way) and sharing the experiences of others, I noticed some common ground for all nations and teams. So, I decided to submit something that addresses these basic issues that often get forgotten in the micro level management of a nation. Assumptions: 1) All statements I'm about to make assume competant play by your opponents. Giving bozos the otch doesn't take very long. 2) Grudge (Team) Game vs. Standard (Pot Luck) Game. The only real difference between these two SHOULD be that in the grudge game you already know and communicate effectively with your team-mates. In the stardard game, you probably have to start from scratch. Hopefully, the teams of a grudge game have some sort of master plan, but this is often not the case. That said, let's get started with these survival hints. First, The National perspective 1) Every player should prepare for a very long game. The idea here is that you need to have certain expectations about yourself and your teammates in your planning. The mind-set that guides your plans are formed on the basis of your expectation of the game. If you expect to end the game in 15 turns and build your plans accordingly, you will not be prepared for turn 20. How many teams have broken up or become ineffective because they planned for 15 turns, experienced great victories, then lost momemtum as nations realized the enemy was still alive? There are also certain realities that each team member needs to accept. If you are the Dark Servants and you expect your armies to sweep over the land devastating everything in it's path, you need to read the 'Mouth more often. Dark Sevants are designed to fight the first 10-15 turns in attrition mode. They will loose armies and pop centers, and will often be fighting for life. Nothing worse than a ally who drops because they lost a major town on turn 5. If you, the Dark Servants, survive relatively intact after the Free People have rammed thier starting armies down your throats, your chances for victory go up dramatically. 2) Every player should seek to make thier nation self sufficient in all ways. This goal will define your character, army, and economic growth plans. Characters are fairly easy to prepare for. As a rule of thumb, EVERY nation should have two Agents, one Emissary, one Commander, and one Mage at 50+ rank by turn 15. If you start with these already, you can build to meet other needs and take advantage of any character advantage you may have. If not, guess what your first builds should be. I recommend building multiclass characters as much as possible/feasable. They cost more at first, but by turn 20, you'll be glad you did. Especially useful are Command/Agents and Agent/Emissaries. Mage/Agents are good for quick moving agents (learn transport spells) with a decent challenge rank, but real expensive. I find that paired command/agents cross-guarding in an army will stop most agents in the early part of the game. As they get better agent rank, they can be practically untouchable by enemy agents under the new rules. That brings me to my other point on characters. Strive to train in at least one skill each turn. Mages PreMgy, Commanders ArmyMan or TroopsMan, etc. Army needs are a bit more variable. If you can get to the front lines in two turns, you need to be building troops. They can help support your allies and if the enemy somehow gets troops into the backfield, you'll be glad you had something to throw at them. If you're four turns from any possible conflict (like the Noldo often are), pick up a pop center closer to the front. If you are all alone (like the Witch King often is), build armies on as many pop centers, larger than villages, as you can reasonably afford. YOU WILL NEED IT!!! Economic needs are also fairly basic. Every nation should strive to meet all it's expenses, have two turns worth of reserve, and close to a zero deficit (or, better yet a surplus) - all at 65% taxes. Most nations won't meet this goal, but everyone should strive for it. If you have a -10K deficit and are relying on that Food sale to save your lard, you aren't going to last long. So, the best way to do this is to add more pop centers. Emissaries should be creating camps and upgrading pop centers. You may even use an army commander to post camps, but this is real expensive. However, if you need the pop center base and don't have a decent emissary, this may be one of your only options. Tom's note: I'm not sure if the 65% tax statement is a typo or not. The break point for loyalty loss is 61% (at 60 or below you lose no loyalty, 61-70 it's an automatic loss of 1 point per turn per pop center). Also plan on losses! You WILL loose pop centers, characters, gold, armies. Prepare for it. If you're neck of the woods gets hot, build a MT elsewhere just in case! If you're down to two commanders - guess what you should build. If you're running low on funds and can't make it yourself, you need allied help. Don't get discouraged if that 5000 HI army with the high training and morale just got wacked when all 5 commanders were eliminated via assassination or curses. IT WILL HAPPEN! 3) Every player should know when they should be asking for help, and when they should help themselves. If you perpetually need money, turn after turn, you need to add to your taxbase so you don't need to rely on your allies. Orders do get hosed. But, if enemy armies are moving towards your capitol, you have no backup, and no way to stop them - it's time to ask for help. Don't wait till the last minute. Emissaries need to exist/be moved. Nothing worse than an ally saying "I need a backup this turn, or I may be eliminated" and you're emissary is on the otherside of the map harrassing the enemy. Or, the endangered ally has NO emissaries. Tom's note: I have a good example for this one. In a game where I play the Long Rider, the Eothraim showed up on the Ice King capitol. Various calculations showed that they couldn't possibly have enough force to blow away the IK army and take his major town. But, being the paranoid soul that I am, I decided to transfer Olbamarl to him anyway as a back-up. What do you know? The calculations were wrong, and Durthang fell. Only the timely transfer of Olbamarl kept the Ice King in the game. As Wes says, it pays off to plan ahead and plan for the worst. 4) Know thine neighbor! If your idea of diplomacy with a Neutral is "join or die" speach 336B, you are going to have another enemy. At the first turn, each nation should send cards to every player in the game, even the enemy, introducing yourself. If you need a Neutral on your side (and everyone does) you need to establish good HONEST communications with them. If they lie and are, in general, untrustworthy bozos, still be nice to them till your armies are firmly on all thier potential capitols. Then nuke 'em and move on. Most competant Neutrals will NOT lie to anyone - neither should you! Tom's note: heh heh heh - that's what YOU think, Wes! Talk to your enemy. Get to know them. You may get information. But more likely, it adds to the fun of the game. Furthermore, they might be your ally in the next game. Another good thing to keep in mind if you like to hose people over. If you're the Witch King and find out the Dragon Lord is the guy you treated in a lowdown dishonest fashion in the last game, you could be in for a short, lonely, game. Next, Team planning hints. 1) COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION. This does not mean talking at your team mates every turn, or writing long reports. This means exchanging ideas and information with the purpose of mutual success. I'm in a team game where we exchange reams of data each turn, but there is no coordination of effort. It's just useless data at that point. And we are facing a well coordinated team of Dark Servants and are slowly loosing ground. This is the single most important element to the game. 2) YOU are responsable for your nation's success or failure. This is not to say that a lack of assistance is necessarily your fault. No one is a mind reader! If you need help, it is your job to be the eyes for the team and to arrange for coordinated actions for your benefit. This is a survival trait for the Witch King, Dragon Lord, and Woodmen nations. 3) Be prepared to issue capitol orders. This means you should have a 50+ commander dedicated to that task. Yes, it's annoying having an expensive character just sitting there. But it's worse when you need to, for instance, upgrade relations with an allied Neutral so they can pass by your pop centers and forces instead of getting stopped every three hexes making them easy agent-bait. If you're ally needs gold, you've got lot's in the bank, but no one at home to issue that order - you may have just cost your team a nation, the 42 orders each turn that can come with it (assuming 21 characters) various resources and strategic positioning. 4) Keep team morale high. This is tied to communciation. If you are, for instance, the Noldo and no one knows what you are doing, some nations are getting pounded and they ask you for help but all your orders are taken with other tasks - they are going to get mad at you! 5) Be prepared for disasters. If the enemy concentrates on a single nation and your ally can get to one of your pop centers for that all important pop center transfer, but you never built up any pop centers to Major towns, your ally is hosed. If you won't build up your pop centers for yourself, at least do it for your allies since they may need that remote backup capitol someday 10 turns down the road. 6) Be prepare to get drilled! No nation in this game, even the Noldo, is exempt from the possibility of rapid and intense strikes. You can loose BIG very quickly if the enemy insists on your untimely demise. Player skill can prolong the process, and probably keep you alive. But you need to be mentally prepared for this worst-case scenario. If your answer to this is to drop the game, you've just cheated your allies. Of course, if they aren't much in the way of allies it's probably no loss. Players will remember those that bail out all the time, and will not play with them long. Player dropout is probably (and I think facts will bear me out on this) the single largest factor in team victory. Even a bunch of dopes can put up a decent fight if they stick together. But if the Cloud Lord drops because his pet character died, the whole alliance starts to unravel. Well, enough of my rantings. I hope this is of value to you. Especially newbees. If you want openning turn blow-by-blows, Tom and Brian offer sound advice in many past, and hopefully future, publications. If you want to lay the framework for a successful nation, this should help get you started. Fini The New Game By Brian Mason with added notes by Tom Walton What is Middle-earth like in T.A. 2940? First of all, keep in mind that there are some "historical innacuracies" in Middle-earth Play-By-Mail, T.A. 1640 (hereafter me pbm 1640). For example, in T.A. 1437, the palntir of Osgiliath was lost, also, most of Cardolan perished in the Great Plague of 1636, and while it is stated that the events of take place after the plague the ravages of the plague do not seem too severe (it is expressly stated in "The Lord of the Rings" that "most of the people of Cardolan perished.") While this may seem like picking nits, the fact that Northern Gondor still holds the Palantir of Osgiliath is in fact an error. So, keep in mind that what is described below is a historical description which will strive to be as accurate as possible. However, it remains pure speculation, and Bill and the people at GSI may intepret it in an entirely different manner. Probably the most specific and important difference is how exact it will be to the T.A. 2940 year. There were many important events that closely followed 2940 (many detailed in "The Hobbit" which is set, mostly, in T.A. 2941), specifically: 2941 - Bilbo find's One Ring, Smaug killed, Battle of the Five Armies, Erebor re-established, Dain II (Ironfoot) becomes King under the Mountain 2944 - Dale rebuilt, Bard becomes King 2951 - Sauron declares himself, Barad-Dur rebuilt, Aragorn's ancestry revealed to him by Elrond 2953 - Saruman fortifies Orthanc, Ecthelion II becomes Ruling Steward of Gondor, Thengel becomes King of Rohan 2954 - Ithilien abandoned So, how free and loose GSI is with dates (or how liberally they interpret "circa 2940") can have a great deal to do with how some nations, especially the Dwarves and Northmen, will be played. Careful reading of the nation descriptions (when these become available) will answer most of these questions. Caveat Emptor - The following nation descriptions will take a firm start date of 2940, so none of the above events will have taken place. However, the complexion of things changes quite dramatically in some cases if some of the above events have taken place. Comments about and possible changes to setups: Woodmen Could Beorn (the shapeshifter from "The Hobbit" be a Woodmen character? If so, he's going to be a very good one. Northmen Bard the Bowman (also from "The Hobbit" and destined to be King of the Northmen) should be a character. Many Northmen population centers lost to are destroyed by Easterlings, and Dale is destroyed by Smaug (2770). Tom's note: the Northmen pop centers around the Sea of Rhun were lost in the Easterling invasion. To my knowledge, the Northmen never returned to Rhun in the Third Age. Eothraim After being driven from the eastern side of Mirkwood, the Eothraim are given Calenardhon in return for rescuing Gondor in war with the Easterlings. Now the Rohirrim, they are given Northern Gondor population centers (less Angrenost, though Calmirie is uncertain) and name others (Edoras, Dunharrow, etc.). In 2903 Fengel becomes King, and they still possess Herugrim (artifact #181). Tom's note: by 2940, the Eothraim were almost as strong as all of Gondor militarily, though not so economically. They were certainly a more vibrant people. Arthedain These nations no longer exsist. The Palantiri & Cardolan of Annuminas and Amon Sul were lost, while the Ring of Barahir and Silver Rod of Anduni are in the keeping of Elrond. At least one Arthedani population center still exsists (Bree) and possibly others (although Tharbad has been abandoned for forty years). The Hobbits have had self government for almost five-hundred years, and they should possess many population centers. Could the location of Arthedain and Cardolan be replaced by a Hobbit position? What of the Rangers of the North? Although only nineteen years old Aragorn is Chieftan of the Dunedain of the North. Tom's note: this may not mean much. Rhudaur was destroyed prior to T.A. 1650, with the remnants firmly in the hands of the Witch-King. Yet it's still a nation, and a neutral one at that, in our game. A few petty kingdoms remain in Eriador in 2940 (mostly in the southwest), yet even together they couldn't match Arthedain or Cardolan of old. I'd have a problem with a nation of hobbits. Just can't see them going on a campaign of conquest, or even forming an army of any sort (other than a militia for self-defense). I'll be sorely disappointed if the hobbits constitute a Free nation in the new game. Northern Many population centers of Northern Gondor & Southern have been lost. Is this still two positions Gondor or is it one? Have some of the Southern Gondor positions of me-pbm 1640 been given to Northern Gondor to keep it the stronger of the two? Much of Northern Gondor given to the Rohirrim (Eothraim), Saruman (Angrenost), lost to Easterlings (Southern Rhovanion) and to Orcs and Haradrim (Ithilien). Gondor has weathered numerous attacks of Mordor, the Haradwaith, Corsairs and Easterlings. Minas Ithil and its palantir have been lost (2002) and Ithil renamed Minas Morgul. Minas Anor has been renamed Minas Tirith. Gondor is now ruled by the Stewards (since 2050) Osgiliath (2475) has been overrun. Turgon (2914) becomes Ruling Steward and builds the secret refuge of Henneth Annun (a hidden popultation center?) and the island of Cair Andros fortified to defend Anorien. Denethor II born is 10 years old. Of the four palantir possessed by Northern Gondor in me-pbm 1650 they now have one. Tom's note: Gondor has declined considerably in 1300 years in all respects. During this time, it also lost its close ties with the Elves. Dwarves This position is has also seen significant changes. First, in 1981 Khazad-Dum falls, in 1999 Erebor founded. From 2000 to 2590 the Dwarves settle in Southern Grey Mountains but are driven out by Dragons, mostly to Erebor and the Iron Hills. In 2770 Erebor taken over by Smaug, and the Dwarves flee to Iron Hills. From 2793-2799 is the War of the Dwarves and Orcs and in 2845 King Thrain II loses Dwarven Ring of Power to Sauron. The Dwarves will now possess several larger population centers in both the Blue Mountains and Iron Hills. The Dwarves of "The Hobbit" are all active characters in this time. Thorin Oakenshield is King. Tom's note: it's said that the Dwarves never really recovered from their war with the orcs, and continued to diminish in Middle-Earth. The dwarves also started several ventures in the northwestern hills of former Arthedain, and were rumored to have some operations in the rough terrain where Rhudaur used to be. Thorin Oakenshield was a part of some of these ventures. Sinda Elves In 1981 many Sylvan (Wood) Elves flee Lothlorien and Amroth and Nimrodel are lost. The Sinda port near South Gondor is gone. However, many other Sinda characters are still around, and Lothlorien (and presumably all the Sinda?) will now be led by Galadriel and Celeborn. Will this be split into two positions, one for Lothlorien and one for Northern Mirkwood. Tom's note: the unity among elves has declined considerably. While Elrond and Cirdan are still closely allied, Lothlorien and Thranduil's kingdom are clearly separate. Lothlorien has a number of Sinda Elves, with a few Noldo thrown in. Thranduil's kingdom is almost entirely Sylvan Elves, with some Sinda overlords (no Noldo). At this time, Thranduil holds nothing south of the Mirkwood road, and is having problems contesting everything south of the river (there are LOTS of orcs in Mirkwood). Noldo Elves Strange calling these the Noldo Elves when the most powerful of all Noldo is not one of their characters (Galadriel). These characters will only get better over time. And you thought the characters were impressive in me-pbm 1650? With the loss of Arthedain and Cardolan the Free Peoples are down two positions. It is possible that there may now be three rather than two Elven positions, making one and if there is a nation of Hobbits (or combined Hobbits and Rangers) that makes the other. Tom's note: while the Rangers are few and far between, really nothing more than a tribe of warriors under the command of the line of Arthedaini kings, they're also the real military power in Eriador. It's said that they alone were responsible for the protection of the hobbits, and from keeping orcs and other nasties from occupying Eriador (which was mostly unoccupied at this time). Generally, these positions will have fewer population centers, fewer troops, but possibly better characters. Witch-King Angmar fell in 1975, so he has moved to Minas Morgul. Dragon Lord This position is very strong if it also consists of the population centers at Mt. Gunabad and Khazad-Dum (a Balrog is here). Could there be two Dark Servant positions in the Mirkwood area? The population centers could support it. Is the Balrog a character or an encounter? Tom's note: Goblin-Gate is alive and well also, and with the dwarves being driven out of the Grey Mountains there are several major holds in this area that weren't present in 1650. While the orcs suffered considerably in the war with the Dwarves, they recovered much more quickly. In fact, the orcs of the Misty and Grey Mountains were so strong they nearly defeated the combined armies of Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Eagles at Erebor only a year later. Also of interest, Sauron was firmly established at Dol Guldur as the Necromancer at this time (he was driven out by the White Council the next year). Unlike the years around 1650, he'd stopped wandering Middle-Earth, and made only one other move after this time - to Barad-dur. Does that mean that Sauron won't be a wandering encounter anymore? Mordor nations More or less the same, although they will move around to keep the game fresh. Tom's note: true, but Mordor also has Minas Ithil (now Minas Morgul), as well as several newly-established orc-holds in the mountains on the Ithilien side (Gondor has given up trying to keep them contained). Orcs also travel freely from Morannon to Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains, virtually untouched by Gondor, the Northmen, or the Woodmen. It is possible that these may be like the Free Peoples of me-pbm 1650. Better in starting troops and population centers, although not as good in characters (though each position will have at leat one or two EXCELLENT characters). Neutrals Corsairs, Haradwaith, Easterlings, and Dunlendings more or less the same. Rhudaur has fallen but is possibly replaced by Saruman (with the Palantir of Orthanc) at Angrenost. Tom's note: the Easterling suffered grievously in their war with Gondor and Rohan, with the alliance collapsing following their ultimate defeat. Much of the Rhovanion was abandoned and left empty afterwards, though the kingdom of Khand remained intact. Some final observations by Tom: - In 2940, Eriador is a backwater of little importance, and would've remained so except for the discovery of the One Ring by Bilbo. Aside from the Noldo and the Rangers, there simply aren't any powers of any size in the entire region. In fact, following the final conflict with Angmar, most of the residents fled to Gondor and the area was thoroughly depopulated. It never recovered in the Third Age; in a conversation involving Gandalf, he refers to Eriador as being almost entirely empty of people of any sort (with the exception of Dunland). - the balance of power has shifted significantly in 1300 years. Mordor clearly has the upper hand militarily, with Sauron delaying his invasion only because he wished to find his Ring first. In fact, the evidence points to Mordor possessing more than enough force to defeat the Free at this time (the final conflict outside of Morannon during the War of the Ring gives a good idea of just what Sauron was capable of fielding - the guy believed in overkill). - though they may officially be neutral, the Easterlings and Haradrim have been cooperating with Sauron for centuries now, supplying Mordor with goods of all sorts. The Easterlings have also been hiring on to Sauron's armies in droves. - the seeds of corruption have been planted in Saruman by this time, but he has yet to succumb to the madness which possessed him during the final years of the War of the Ring. He hasn't fortified Orthanc, nor started his breeding program with orcs. I believe he has secured the aid of the Duns by this point, though not in great numbers. It could be that the Duns will be eliminated as a neutral power and some of their pop centers given to Saruman. What would a nation under Saruman be like? My guess is mediocre economy, small army, some good nation advantages (good agents/emissaries), and one of the best characters alive. - I'm told that the 2940 game will require a longer build-up than the 1650 game (in which almost every nation starts armed to the teeth). This makes sense for the Free, who're are much weaker; it doesn't make sense for the Dark Servants, who're quite a bit better established than they were 1300 years earlier. What it means from a player point of view is longer games and more money dished out to the company. If this is so (and I don't have official word on this), I won't be pleased. I don't know about you, but without exception all six games I'm in look as if they're going to drag on for a very, very long time (the first six were getting to be pretty damn long too, before I dropped out - even the ones where we whipped the enemy good early on). For example, one game just saw turn 30, and the balance of power is almost exactly what it was on turn 1; virtually nothing has changed, with almost all of the battles being fought outside Morannon or in the Ithilien. I for one don't want a game that'll take a significant portion of my adult life to complete (not to mention several hundred dollars). My attention span simply isn't long enough to find this kind of thing entertaining. Last Word Hello, everyone. Well, as you can plainly see, we have no survey results to report. Some of the comments I have received so far have been quite helpful, however, I'd truly like to see more of them. Take a few moments to fill out the survey, what, don't have it? Well, that's okay, for Last Word, this week is dedicated to reprinting it for your convenience. Just `cut' it out and email it to mason@chara.gsu.edu. And if it makes you feel any better, I haven't filled mine out yet either. And neither has Tom. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Email address: ___________________________________ 2. Name: ___________________________________ 3. Number of me-pbm games played: ___________________ 4. Number of turns played: __________________________ 5. Number of me-pbm games currently in: _____________ 6. Nations Played: __________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 7. Top 3 Finishes:___________________________________ __________________________________________________ 8. Rating of Editorials: ____________________________ 9. Usefulness of Editorials: ________________________ 10. Rating of Encounters: ____________________________ 11. Usefulness of Encounters: ________________________ 12. Rating of Dragons Section: _______________________ 13. Usefulness of Dragons Section: ___________________ 14. Rating of Q & A: _________________________________ 15. Usefulness of Q & A: _____________________________ 16. Rating of Wish List: _____________________________ 17. Usefulness of Wish List: _________________________ 18. Rating of How I got Shafted: _____________________ 19. Usefulness of How I got Shafted: _________________ 20. Rating of Strategy: ______________________________ 21. Usefulness of Strategy: __________________________ 22. Rating of Humor Articles: ________________________ 23. Usefulness of Humor Articles: ____________________ 24. Other Comments: __________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Explanation of questions: Questions 1 and 2: Believe it or not, we have people to whom we mail "The Mouth" whose name we don't even know! Question 3: This will give us an idea of the experience of the readership. Question 4: A probably more accurate gauge of experience. Question 5: How much does the readership play at one time. Question 6: What does the readership like to play. Question 7: How well has the readership done? Question 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22: How much do you like these sections of "The Mouth" on the following scale 0 = strongly dislike 1 = dislike 2 = neutral or no opinion 3 = like 4 = strongly like Question 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23: How useful are these sections of "The Mouth" to you on the following scale 0 = not at all useful 1 = rarely useful 2 = neutral or no opinion 3 = sometimes useful 4 = very useful Question 24: Your chance to sound off on on things that the survey does not adequately address. Thanks for your time. Brian