Tufkal2
Posts: 834
Joined: 12/31/2008
From: Germany
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Am just putting the finishing touches on my LotR scenario which will basically be a wargame with the Fellowship as an additional layer. The map and idea are thanks to Vic.
Will post this on the scenario bank and look for a playtester or two.
Here is the game description (screenshots will follow):
Overview
This scenario is HUMAN ONLY play.
Scenario simulates the end of the Third age with Ringwar and the prelude to the Ringwar.
The Free People win a military victory by capturing Barad Dur or win a decisive victory by having the Fellowship move to Mount Doom and destroy the One Ring there. The Free People will also win in if they manage to claim 50 victory points.
Sauron wins a military victory by occupying a total of 50 Victory points or wins a decisive victory by capturing the ring by killing Frodo.
Map scale is about 15 miles per hex.
Many thanks to Vic for creating the map and some of the special graphics, providing the idea and the great AG engine without which this mod would not have been possible.
Many thanks to Grymme for allowing me to use some of the graphics from his WotR mod.
This is playtest version 0.65
Open topics:
Balance?
Documentation
Some sound effects missing.
Timeline,
The game is subdivided into two distinct phases: Prelude to War and The Ringwar.
Prelude to War:
This is where the game starts. All nations are at peace but the peace is uneasy. Each round represents about ten years of time. Sauron and the Free People are gearing up for war, recruiting troops and bringing in allies. Units may move in war preparation but may not leave the borders of their home terrain or allied terrain. Ship movement is not possible.
Sauron keeps searching for the ring and his knowledge of the ring will slowly increase and once it reaches 100% he will eventually figure out the ring's location. This will trigger the further events. First the Free People will get a final warning that war is imminent. Next the Fellowship of the Ring flees Hobbiton immediately with the One Ring. Sauron will then declare war on the rest of Middle-Earth and the Ringwar starts.
In parallel to this the Free People try to figure out the story of Bilbo's treasure. The further they advance their storyline the better the Fellowship will be prepared in the Ringwar. Sauron will grow much stronger the longer he prepares but if he allows the Fellowship to advance to the point where the Council of Elrond is held before Sauron finds the Ring (only possible if Sauron stalls) then the Fellowship will succeed before the Ringwar and Sauron will forfeit the game.
Ringwar:
Now each round represents about 1-2 weeks of time. Sauron will try to either retrieve the ring by killing the ringbearer or conquer Middle-Earth. The Free People and Fellowship will win if they defeat Sauron in warfare or survive long enough to have the Fellowship destroy the One Ring at Mt. Doom.
With the beginning of the Ringwar all allied nations which have not yet done so will join Sauron or the Free People with all units. The Shire will remain neutral but Sauron can declare war on it or the Free Peole can activate the Shire.
Advancement of the Fellowship storyline is no longer possible once Sauron finds the Ring.
Units and Ships can move freely now. Due to the shorter timeframe there is no longer any automatic XP gained for units. Also recruitment is restricted to militia units and production costs are doubled.
Sauron
Too long you have waited to find the One Ring stolen from you by Isildur and retrieve it but now is the time...
At the start of the Prelude your puny orcs are not yet a match for the Free People. You should be aware that your power grows much faster during the Ringwar phase than the Free People's power since you have the farther larger recruiting base and more political points. It is the game designers expectation that the Prelude will last 4-6 rounds. If you take longer the Free People can probably be steamrolled in the Ringwar however the Fellowship will then be unstoppable, too, so you need to walk a tight line between attacking too early and attacking too late.
Be aware that an early activation of a country for either side makes that country MUCH stronger. The first countries activated will be the centers of gravity in the Ringwar. Reason is that their units gain experience, recruitment and (for the Free People most importantly) fortification.
You have 9 Nazguls at your disposal. Each Nazgul can be used in any of the following roles:
- strategic reserve (-> will generate one political point per round for you)
- as a combat unit (-> will block & hunt the Fellowship or can do combat)
- as a HQ unit(-> brings a new HQ into play which is well staffed to reflect the Nazgul's power)
Since your total is limited you must carefully consider where to use a Nazgul. Nazguls can interchange between the first two roles (via cards you can fly a Nazgul to any hex you control or retrieve one Nazgul per round) however once deployed as a HQ the Nazgul will stay there for the rest of the game. Nazgul slain in battle will slowly move back to Barad-Dur and become part of your strategic reserve again.
Do not underestimate how much the Nazgul can hurt the Fellowship. Even though you will rarely get information on the Fellowship (you will only be informed if you eliminate a decoy) just blocking the movement of the Fellowship gives your armies time to conquer ME. However this means that during the Ringwar you will be quite low on political points if your Nazgul are occupied with the Fellowship.
And militarily you are very strong but beware the heavy cavalry of Rohan and Gondor (Dol Amroth) charging Orcs in plain terrain. Also most of your units are purely led at the beginning.
Protect your siege engines at all costs. They are vulnerable against cavalry strikes in open terrain and can hardly be replaced. Without siege engines it is nearly impossible to take heavily entrenched positions.
FP+Fellowship,
Free People:
As the Free People you have to face that you will probably not be able to compete militarily with Sauron (unless Sauron starts the war before he is really prepared). However your defense can buy time for the Fellowship.
Be sure to activate key nations before the war. This will make a tremendous difference in the first round of the Ringwar as you can move into position and fortify. Some of the nations need more political points to activate than Gandalf provides per round so you might consider saving some. Also if needed you might like to fight the Nazgul militarily to save the Fellowship as it flees Hobbiton.
You might also go for limited counterattacks from the West or from Laketown against the local Orcs.
You share political points with the Fellowship. Be sure to leave them some if they need it.
Fellowship:
You are at your weakest in the beginning with just Frodo and Sam in the Fellowship and 9 Nazgul hunting you. Be sure to bring in more people as soon as possible and to flee to safety quickly.
In most of the Free People starting locations you will be able to gain significant support like hire Legolas, Boromir or Gimli or get some local equipment (there is one equipment type for each nation).
If you have Gandalf, Aragorn or Gollum with you your chances of getting around are much improved so be careful before loosing these. They bring some inherent bonuses as well as bring additional cards.
And be sure to always leave Sauron in the dark (literally) where the Fellowship really is as he has some nasty cards to play against you if he knows your true location.
Also be sure to spread out the Fellowship counters, you do not want more than one unit per hex.
Special_Rules,
1. There are two distinct sides in this game and exactly one side will win: Sauron(Evil) vs the Free People and the Fellowship (Good). The good side is divided into two regimes for technical reasons but if either of the regimes on the good side wins both are really the winner. There is no need or room for diplomacy of any sort in this game.
2. There is no research or strategic transfer in this game.
3. Each side has some captains in their HQ representing the local commander. With the exception of card play for Nazguls and Aragorn it is not possible to create additional HQs.
4. Some leaders cannot leave their home region since they are needed there. These are: Sauron, Saruman, the Balrog, Elrond and Galadriel.
5. Orcs have reduced morale and combat abilities (but are more numerous). Elves have increased morale and combat abilities. Uruk-Hai start with normal combat abilities which can be increased through Sarumans breeding experiments.
6. Each regime will get some cards to play each round. This is a random selection which is influenced by what happened previously (e.g. if a nation has joined the Free People they can gear up their production in the next turns, if the Haradrim are activated you can get some Mumakils). Unplayed cards are removed at the end of your turn and cannot be saved to the next turn.
7. There is one Fellowship unit and several decoys (Fred Bolger) available. All units will look the same to Sauron so he can never be sure where the Fellowship is and where the decoys are. This should work under all circumstances with one exception: If a Fellowship unit is loaded onto a transport ship and there is a Sauron unit in the same hex then Sauron will see what passengers are in the ship. So recommended to unload all passengers at the end of each turn.
8. Fellowship counters cannot be attacked by Sauron. However there are some cards to have Saurons creatures attack the Fellowship once per round. The attack works as follows:
Each Nazgul gives an attack strength of 5. Saruman and the Balrog give an attack addition of 10 if they are within 5 hexes (Saruman) or 3 hexes (Balrog). Also in Mordor the attack strenght is increased by 10. If none of the above is the case the minimum attack strength is3.
For each attack it is first seen if the Fellowship unit is found or not (25% for the initial Fellowship, 20% for the decoys) and then the Fellowship unit can try to deflect the attack (0% initially). Each attack that finds the Fellowship and is not deflected scores 1 hit. A counter that is hit will loose 50 readiness.The values will remain the same for the Decoys but for the Fellowship will change if more people join (easier to be found but can deflect better) and if some better equipment is readied and are reported each round.
9. The Fellowhip can walk through all land terrain however it get some restriction. Each Fellowship counter starting in enemy terrain looses 25 action points. Each Fellowship counter in 2-hex-range to as Nazgul or an evil-side starting location looses 25 action points (might be cumulative). Wach Fellowship counter starting in Mordor will loose an additional 25 action points and get a 40 point readiness reduction.
10. The Fellowship can be given diseased wounds. These will lead to a 1 hit point loss per round and characters will not heal anymore. However in a Free People starting location no loss due to diseased wounds will occur and there is a healing card available. Frodo will NOT die from a diseased wound. However he will not be able to throw the ring into Mount Doom while diseased either.
11. Each side can bring in allies. These are: Haradrim, Corsairs, Khand, Isengard, Dunlending, Easterlings and Moria for Sauron and Gondor, Rohan, Elves, Dwarves and Eriador for the Free People. All these will eventually join their respective sides (at the latest at the start of the Ringwar) but the sooner they are activated the much better prepared they will be. An unactivated nation is very vulnerable in the first rounds of the Ringwar. The Shire (being a peaceful nation) can join the Free People but this will either need a declaration of war by Sauron or an activation by the Free People.
12. There are a lot of references to "dark side starting location" or "Free People starting location". These are the towns, cities and fortifications etc of that side including the allies (so Isengard would be a among the "dark side starting locations" and Hobbiton would be among the Free People starting location). You can deploy units (via cards) in your starting locations but they will only become active once that nation joins the war on your side. So be prepared to wait a bit.
If a Free People starting location is occupied by Sauron after the Free People's move it is razed and does not have this ability any more although you can still recruit normally there.
13. In conquered locations of the enemy you will ever only be able to build supplies and supply wagons, never units.
14. It is NOT possible to build political points in this game but these are assigned depending on the political situation.
15. Crossing fords takes some additional time. The road over the ford is there just for optics, it does not help to cross the ford quicker.
16. Moving in your own territory is much easier than moving in enemy territory. Be wary of running into an enemy ambush while invading.
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