[Gaming Staff] An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields (ENDED - GOOD SIDE VICTORY)

[joerock22]

Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of Men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand! Men of the West!

Aragorn – the Battle of Morannon


And so it has come to this. The board is set. The pieces are moving. At long last, the future of Middle Earth will be decided. Will the forces of Sauron succeed in casting a great shadow across the land, or will the free peoples rise up and purge the land of the darkness? The fate of the world hangs in the balance.


Map




Map Explanation

Swayed by the pleas of his daughter, Arwen, Lord Elrond has a dramatic change of heart. Rather than leading what remains of his people to the Undying Lands, he will lead them into battle, one final time. For the freedom of the people of Middle Earth, the Elves will shed their noble blood. The light will not vanish from this world so easily.

This game was designed to include all of the factions people are familiar with from The Return of the King (i.e. Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, and Harad). To further game balance, the High Elves (the blue faction in the upper left corner of the map) have been added as a playable faction. Elrond will be placed with an army on the large island south of Gondor. He will have some ships as well, but the High Elves will need to send more troops and ships from their homelands. Chieftain and I agree that one player (the "Elves") will play both the High Elves and the Silvan Elves.


Players

The Alliance of the Free Peoples

Gondor: VACANT
Rohan: Belthasar Bolton
Dale: VACANT
The Elves: Captainnorway

The Alliance of Evil

Mordor: Hannibal2001
Isengard: VACANT
Harad: King of Dawn
Rhun: Jadli

Co-Admins
Joerock22
Chieftain Khuzaymah


Advisors

There is a fairly significant learning curve with Third Age: Total War hotseats. To give players a resource for advice and answers to questions, each team will have an advisor.

The advisors are not here to tell you what to do. They will only give advice to those who ask for it. Their job is to answer questions and provide guidance to players who seek it, nothing more. It is our hope that people will ask questions and allow us to pass on some wisdom. We can assist with economic management as well as military strategy. Each team will have its own advisor (who are also the co-admins of the hotseat), so there will be no conflicts of interest. All requests for advice will be held in strict confidence by the advisors.


The Alliance of Free Peoples
Advisor: Gandalf the Grey
Played by: Chieftain Khuzaymah



“Hope is kindled.”

Gandalf the Grey. In many ways, he is not what one would expect of a wizard. Some say years of smoking pipe weed have dulled his mind, as evidenced by some his more eccentric tendencies, including his queer affection for the halflings of the Shire. But do not be fooled. Gandalf may be seem almost carefree during times of peace, but when the darkness arises once more in the evil corners of Middle Earth, he will stand tall and lead the forces of righteousness to victory. Through his travels he has gained an unparalleled understanding of Middle Earth and its various inhabitants. The Free Peoples would do well to put this knowledge to good use.


The Alliance of Evil
Advisor: Saruman the White
Played by: Joerock22



“There will be no dawn, for men.”

Saruman. Lord of Isengard, leader of the Istari, wielder of the White Hand. He is one of the oldest and wisest beings in Middle Earth, and among the most clever. For only a brilliant mind could comprehend the truth, that the Age of Men is over. Battles must still be fought, but no man, elf, or dwarf can stand against the power of darkness and hope to prevail. All the world will be covered in shadow. The orcs are not known for their intelligence, and would be wise to heed the White Wizard’s counsel. Against the iron fist of the orc and the singular mind of Saruman, there is no victory.


Guide

It is also highly advisable to check out this guide.


Rules

This is a good vs. evil hotseat. You cannot attack members of your team in any circumstances.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Map:

• No capturing any settlements beyond the red line
• There is no restriction on where you can move your armies/agents, however
• Players may capture South Tharbad, but not North Tharbad

Administrative:

• Long campaign
• Manage all settlements
• M/M Difficulty

General

• You may reload your turn as many times as you want
• Turns must be taken within 24 hours or 48 hours with notification. If you cannot play your turn, please make arrangements for subbing (preferably with one of your teammates!)
• Please PM or VM the next player in line

Gameplay

• You are not allowed to attack any human opponent on turn 1, unless that player has already played his turn. Attacking includes starting a siege. There is no restriction on where you can move your armies/agents, however.
• No Invasions
• You must autoresolve all battles against other players. Battles against the AI (rebels) can be fought
• You may gift regions to another faction, but you must disband all but one unit immediately. This unit is considered a free "home guard" unit and cannot leave the settlement under any circumstances. The home guard unit must also be disbanded within 3 turns.
• No gifting settlements at risk of capture
• No heroic victories unless it is impossible to achieve a different result (at least 5 reloads)
• Post screenshots of all battles against other players: deployment screen and results screen. I think this makes following a hotseat much more interesting. Note – you do not need to post screenshots for lopsided battles, i.e. 1,000 vs. 100, but please mention the battle in your post
• No Assassins
• No surrounding armies with smaller stacks to deny a retreat. You are allowed to block bridges or river crossings
• Players are not allowed to siege a settlement in order to prevent enemy units from retreating inside it
• No mercenary transport ships
• All crossings points of the Anduin are in play
• Units defeated by a player coming after you in the turn order may not move or attack on your subsequent turn
• Bribing is allowed
• Sallying from a settlement under siege is not allowed if it results in the settlement falling to the besieging force immediately thereafter (on your turn)
• You are not allowed to lure an ambushing army a tile further to bring it in range of more of your forces. If all forces wishing to attack are within range of the ambushing army then it may be brought out of ambush and attacked with those forces.

Buildings

• No destroying any buildings if the settlement is at risk of capture
• Exterminating settlements is not allowed. You may sack or occupy
• On the turn you capture an enemy settlement, you are only allowed to destroy inns and cultural buildings. This rule stays in effect until you have held a captured settlement for 3 turns
• After you hold a captured settlement for 3 turns, buildings can be destroyed without restriction (provided the settlement is not at risk of capture)

Spies

• Whether a spy may open the gates of a settlement depends on the size of the settlement’s garrison. If a settlement is defended by 720+ elves, 900+ men, or 1500+ orcs, then spies may NOT open the gates. If a settlement is defended by fewer than this number, then spies may open the gates without restriction
• Note – Isengard must have 1500 soldiers in a settlement before it is safe from spies, even if some of those soldiers are dunlendings (men). This is because the standard unit size for Isengard is 250 across the board. Rhun, on the other hand, falls under the 900 man category because its standard unit size is 150
• The purpose of this rule is to allow players to defend their settlement without fear of losing their garrison due to spies. Its justification is that a settlement with more defenders has better surveillance and it would be harder for spies to operate. I also want to keep the rule simple, which is the reason for the hard limit. So basically if you defend a settlement with 6 full units worth of troops, you are safe from spies
• Spies may open the gates against the Rebels (AI) without restriction

Rules are open to change based on a vote by a majority of players

[Lord Ayedren]

I would like to play as the free people of Eriador if possible.

[Belthasar Bolton]

I volunteer for the alliance of free peoples

[Arglaxx]

Alliance of Evil for me, thanks.

[themzr]

Evil alliance please

[Hannibal2001]

Evil for me

[JCdestr0yer]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The alliance of the free people

[Potatoto]

I would like to take Orc of Gundabad or Men of Dale

[Alertoverlord]

I will do it! I will take the youngbloods to Mordor!
The Free People's, please!

[themzr]

I will do it! I will take the youngbloods to Mordor!
The Free People's, please!

*You shall die trying

(Rhun is my preference)

[JCdestr0yer]

*You shall die trying

Even IF we die. We die free people free people of middle earth.

[Captainnorway]

i will join, anything but ootmm since i allways play them in hs

[Hannibal2001]

Even IF we die. We die free people free people of middle earth.

The Eye will keep that in mind

[HouseStarkFTW]

I'll take whatever is open, no prefference

[Narsils_Shards]

Hit me with some of that good life

[joerock22]

Wow, what a great turnout! By my count we currently have 11 volunteers. I'll give it another couple days at least before we move forward. Anyone who is interested please post here. We can always start a second game. We will make sure everyone who wants to play gets to play.

[Potatoto]

And can some1 explain me what mean rule "no Invasions" ?

[Parafix]

I'll throw myself in for free peoples, to support a revive to the section. If the sign ups continue to grow i'll bow out for others to take the position.

[Narsils_Shards]

And can some1 explain me what mean rule "no Invasions" ?

If you played Third Age in the past, you would know that Invasions are the equivalent to Crusades/Jihads in vanilla, but for evil factions. This means that they get more movement, morale, the ability to recruit units from other evil factions. I think that last one depends on where they are, I've never tested it. The extra movement alone is a huge advantage to the evil factions as I've seen Invading armies full of infantry able to go from the middle of the Misty Mountains to the Eastwold past Lorien.

Also on my preference "good life."

[Ipcurve]

I will join the alliance of evil! I prefer to play rhun or harad