Gondor VH/VH - useful tricks

[Angbor]

I'm playing Gondor on VH/VH and it's pretty more challenging than in 2.x. Harad is really agressive, and Gondor's economy is quite weak in first turns. Do you know any interesting tips and tricks to make it easier?

Example:

Besiege Henneth Annun with one cavalry unit. Orcs will attack you next turn. Don't fight them, just go the farthest corner of map, stupid orcs will follow you. After that, run to the central place in cave. Infantry is to slow to return there on time, and you have nice heroic win

After taking Minas Morgul, try to conquer Cirith Ungol. Give it to Rhun or Isengard, and Morgul Vale is blocked! Mordor can only attack you through Black Gate, and Ithilien is quite safe. I've done it quickly, and powerfull stack with Olog Hais didn't attack me, but Mirkwood.

[Ekaddon]

Besiege Henneth Annun with one cavalry unit. Orcs will attack you next turn. Don't fight them, just go the farthest corner of map, stupid orcs will follow you. After that, run to the central place in cave. Infantry is to slow to return there on time, and you have nice heroic win

Heroic cheat? Cheating does make games easy, yes.

I've done it quickly, and powerfull stack with Olog Hais didn't attack me, but Mirkwood.

If done early you risk garnison units, so should always wait for an enemy army to stand outside the city. But how did you end up in Mirkwood? Or the Silvans made war on you (how by this stage).

[pojansetan]

i just end play as gondor on vh/vh..my trick is:
1) adopt general bodyguard as much as u can.. i use 8 unit card of bodyguard and the rest archer to defeat Harad. bodyguard will replenish unit every turn with free =)
2) def on cair andros and west osglitiath till i defeat harad in the south
3) send army to raid and destroy umbar and sell it for money
4)ologhai? i burn it using fire arrow ithielien and ballista/cata/trebuchet and charge using bodyguard
5)kill enemy general 1st XD. i kill nazgul and witchking using stake ithielien ranger

about barad dur, i think it should at least have the tower of sauron's eye, not just common teutonic knight fortress

[Angbor]

But how did you end up in Mirkwood? Or the Silvans made war on you (how by this stage).

After taking Morgul, always attacks you strong Mordor army with Olog Hais. In my campaign this stack went north, to fight with elves.

[k/t]

Remove some of the scripted armies and things will be much easier.

[ppetrus]

Add more scripted armies and things will get much more interesting.

[Trailhog250]

Remove some of the scripted armies and things will be much easier.

^that and +rep

Add more scripted armies and things will get much more interesting.

Well..... While more armies make it 'harder' it also makes it 'duller' and creates unnecessary battles. For some, more armies means a higher difficulty; for me it's like a grand opening of the attrition wars of Middle-Earth I completly understand why KK and his team did this though, they had to make the AI challenging. And while the AI is superb, a good TW player can still win most of the time. (only some of my early VH campaigns ended in disaster) Therefore, you simply let the AI 'cheat' to make up for it's lack of real-time thinking. But even KK said that the cheats have been toned down for 3.1.

@Angbor, I have not played 3.1 yet so I can't really give any advice... But I have always played on VH/VH and then removing the AI scripts in the campaign_script file. (see F.A.Q. for details)

[Tar-Aldarion]

low taxes everywhere, except perhaps Minas Tirith, then withdraw all governors from those places and send half of them to Linhir and half to the eastern front. Move against Mordor first, taking all of Ithilien, the fighting with Mordor will be at the Henneth Annun river ford and Minas Morgul, which is easy as hell to defend with some rangers, infantry and artillery. Then move south against Harad, who are a way more balanced, harder opponent...

Also if Edoras is taken in an invasion, try to take it, it's a nice city.

[Commander Ruunu]

Interesting indeed, I was just to go to forums to report possible bug, but ended up here.

So, I am having VH/VH game right now. It's about turn 50 and my expansion includes Ithilien, Cair Andros and both Osgiliaths ( can't remember if I owned them at the start of the game). What I did was I also andvanced to Harondor, but this place is rather stalemate place, where one can only bleed their army. I would suggest to any new player to avoid battles with Harad because their armies are in quite good quality and I always end up with 30-50% casualities. I have three armies, one under Denethor in Ithilien, one under Faramir in Osgiliath and one under Boromir and Imrahil who are under way to Umbar. I thought it would be easier to start the conquests from south. I will probably concentrate on Mordor after I have defated Harad. I dare not to battle yet against the Nazguls.

I also raised my taxes everywhere to high in the start in order to get some money, but after economy improved in lowered them. Always have some cavalry in your armies in order to lessen your casualities, those militia can't really stand in pitched battles.

Hope that helps someone.

EDIT: And I really think I have seen improvement in AI. I once fought against Harad in village and they tried to attack me from 4 sides. That really was cool.

[Tar-Aldarion]

So, I am having VH/VH game right now. It's about turn 50 and my expansion includes Ithilien, Cair Andros and both Osgiliaths ( can't remember if I owned them at the start of the game). What I did was I also andvanced to Harondor, but this place is rather stalemate place, where one can only bleed their army. I would suggest to any new player to avoid battles with Harad because their armies are in quite good quality and I always end up with 30-50% casualities. I have three armies, one under Denethor in Ithilien, one under Faramir in Osgiliath and one under Boromir and Imrahil who are under way to Umbar. I thought it would be easier to start the conquests from south. I will probably concentrate on Mordor after I have defated Harad.

Try to rush to the Harnen bridges, if you can afford enough soldiers, and catapults, to guard them, nothing more fun than watching mumakil panic and trample 4000 harad soldiers on the bridges.

[FC Groningen]

I would actually go for Harad first. Above all, you do not want to fight Harad's full stacks with Mumakil on your southern fronts while probably still being occupied with Mordor (at the same moment they gain access to trolls, but they are less of a problem). Above all, you need Umbar. Harad's faction heir is present there, so take the opportunity to kill him while being at it. First of all, gather as many troops as possible and see if you can rush both East Osgiliath and Henneth Annun. Forget about Cair andros for now; simply move past it. You may also try to move past east osgiliath (use a boat if necessary) and rush Minas Morgul. Depending on whether you play with the garrison script active and such or not, you may want to push a small army against the walls of Minas Morgul and then attack it so the city garrison has to jump in. (Avoids garrison scripts) After, you can either keep a small army at the pass between Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol, or attack Cirith Ungol and give it to Isengard or one of the orc factions to prevent attacks there. (In case an invasion takes place on your lands, the pass is no longer safe however) With Henneth Annun and the pass secured, you could post an army on the bridge near Henneth Annun and have denied Mordor access to your lands. They usually try to move north or cross the river near Amon hen and attack Rohan from then on. You might be able to get a surprisingly favorable ceasefire at this point. You need to realise this in about 20/25 turns or less.

In the meantime, you have built up some extra troops and developed your economy somewhat. Minas Tirith needs "barracks" constructed as they give you access to spearmen, which you need against Harad. Send a decent general with a well formed stack on a boat (maybe you can send the remainder of your veteran troops along on a second boat) to Umbar. Above all, avoid building a large fleet as it is expensive; just try to avoid enemy ships and reload if you bump into them and you're sent off the wrong direction. Ignore Goben Tolfalas for now, along with Barad Harn. Harad usually becomes a pain around turn 40/50, so there is still time. Around turn 30, you must have landed your troops on the shores of Umbar and siege the town. If able, avoid the garrison script here again by attacking an army outside the city walls. Once you take it, Vatavea is fair game as well and recommendable to take. It has no garrison script, a port and only borders the province of Umbar. I usually sent my secondary force there and then join up with the forces at Umbar.

From there on, Harad usually focusses on removing you there, preventing them from moving up. It's Harad's only major settlement and I believe you've taken all ports in Harad's possession (not sure this is still the case in 3.1) which prevents further naval campaigns against you. Harad needs cities to produce Mumakil units, so above all, don't let them retake it; keep it instead as it is a very nice base of operations. From there on, I found the easiest way to eliminate Harad is to seek out their family members and have them killed in battle. They usually "defend" their family members very poorly and twice, I killed the entire family tree after Harad's faction leader and another family member came to attack Umbar. If you cannot find them, they usually hang around Hyarmen, Gobel Ancalimon and sometimes Hamen. Once you've taken care of Harad, Mordor should be easy at this point.

[SpanishGuy]

The key is to finish with Harad ASAP. Sending a full stack to the south and take Umbar and Vatavea will make things easier. This would divide Harad, that will try to recover their lost citys in the south and will want to expand north. Meanwhile you have to resist Mordor attacks in Cair Andros and East Osgiliath (3/4 stacks in each city will be enough to resist them, commanded by Boromir and Faramir).

[Tar-Aldarion]

The key is to finish with Harad ASAP. Sending a full stack to the south and take Umbar and Vatavea will make things easier. This would divide Harad, that will try to recover their lost citys in the south and will want to expand north. Meanwhile you have to resist Mordor attacks in Cair Andros and East Osgiliath (3/4 stacks in each city will be enough to resist them, commanded by Boromir and Faramir).

Minas Ithil (Morgul) and the Annûn stream are a far more favorable defensive point, and about Harad, all cities you take and can't hold: Kill, Rape, Pillage!

[SpanishGuy]

Minas Ithil (Morgul) and the Annûn stream are a far more favorable defensive point, and about Harad, all cities you take and can't hold: Kill, Rape, Pillage!

Well when you feal ready to take Minas Morgul its something easy to do with a full stack army but i prefer Mordor having the Ithilien settlements than Harad, fighting Harad in three borders can be impossible

If you finish with Harad you will have a really impresive economy (maybe enough to keep three quality full stacks) and taking Mordor will be really easy

[Påsan]

Played with VH/VH, Personal rules: No Cheats, No Stakes, No 'Generals Bodyguard' armies, No blitzing.

Apart from the first attack on Eastern Osgiliath, I was never really threatened. Use Imrahil and his amazing free Swan Knights to fight Rhun and use Boromir in Osgiliath. Also don't surrender Ithilen, Don't go on the defensive. I play an 'active defence' where I have a base at Osgiliath, but every time I defeat an army there, I strike out and counter attack before the enemy can get new units. At the end, I held Ithilen with no problems.

Then I upgraded all my armies to full plate, exterminated Rhun and GG Mordor.

[k/t]

By "Rhun" he means "Harad".

[Shingen]

There are 2 rebels armies of Ilithian Rangers hiding in the woods of Ilithia. With a good diplomate you can bribe them. It is quite expensive to get them but if you once got them they help alot.
Just keep some units at the river to fight Mordor armies going for you and while this destroy Harad.
btw. cav charges are great against orks! Fight them on the field where you can use your cav effective.

[PotatoHunter]

I'm pretty deep in my VH VH gondor Campaign. So far I'm working into Harad, have a good portion of Arnor reclaimed (Arnor itself is getting massacred). and have control of Ithilien and just razed Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol into the ground (go in, take city, destroy all buildings) and then pulled back. So I got a few good tips. Tho I also have a good Rohan AI kicking butt (for the first time ever)

Near Pelargir they have that lame crossing where they can come across...block it with a boat. Done deal.

Need near infinite funds? Take a good navy with a good sized army (10 units will do) of some good infanty (I used a mix of pelargir marines, gondor spearmen, ithilien rangers and a general) and hit their coastal cities. Go in, sack them, destroy every building, then give the settlement to an ally or something in exchange for watever u might want. Then pull out and repeat later on.

Defending the north entrance to Ithilien is easy. Just park an army on the river crossing between Henneth Annun and Cair Andros. I use Faramir and about 9 Ithilien archer units (full gold chevrons). Easy pickings.

I'll think of others in a bit, haven't played in a week.