Hardest Faction

[Halbard]

So, im going back on this game, and i wonder, what is, currently, the hardest faction to play as in VH/VH?
Maybe Gondor?

[Wizad]

Isengard, OotMM can be annoying, Gondor.
Isengard gets to fight High Elves, Rohan, Silvan Elves and Eriador at the same time. All during your vurnerable midgame.
The OotMM have weak units, but it mostly depends on your enemies. If High Elves focus on Isengard, Silvan Elves on Mordor and Dwarves on Rhun, it's a walk in the park.
Gondor gets to fight Harad stack spam and Mordor aggression. I'm assuming this is the most difficult campaign in the game if you turtle the first 40-70 turns. Harad gets to build up all of its military and you will get invaded by the Corsairs.

[lordcommander gorgoroth]

Isengard, OotMM can be annoying, Gondor.
Isengard gets to fight High Elves, Rohan, Silvan Elves and Eriador at the same time. All during your vurnerable midgame.
The OotMM have weak units, but it mostly depends on your enemies. If High Elves focus on Isengard, Silvan Elves on Mordor and Dwarves on Rhun, it's a walk in the park.
Gondor gets to fight Harad stack spam and Mordor aggression. I'm assuming this is the most difficult campaign in the game if you turtle the first 40-70 turns. Harad gets to build up all of its military and you will get invaded by the Corsairs.

the AI SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS as isengard, the mos mod and me giving them pitty money seemm to be the ony way their threatening, though when they do become powerful they will kick your ass cut it off and hang it up in orthanc, gondor is very hard if you rely on defending too much but hel i love it that why adds alot of challenge, i think the hardest to play might be gundabad or OoTMM, but i had a hard time with eriador though i never liked them.

[RuleBritannia]

Gondor for sure. You can effectively turtle as Isengard in the actual fort of Isengard at times, but with Gondor, you can face full stacks on your southern flanks pretty early on, along with huge Mordor armies across the Anduin and at Cair Andros, and then Isengard from the north if they defeat Rohan. There's no one place you can solidify your defense to trap your enemies in one place. Add that to their slow recruitment and you've got quite a challenge.

[DeadlyPhoenix]

xcept for the landbridges. Gondor is harder to defend now since Harad (and mordor) just walk in from the south. No ships needed for that and since there are at least 2 (maybe 3) landbridges - that's pretty hard to block cause you then need an army at the turtleneck (city) above osgiliath, an army at osgiliath itself and then at least 2 army's at the landbridges.

That's a lot of upkeep and in addition to that, harad then sails with an army past your landbridges, right into the middle (south-east) of your empire (whatever the town is called under tarnost)


But i already got further with Gondor than i ever got with isengard and orcs of gundabad seem pretty hard as well. Gundabad seems to be going well for the first 30 -40 turns but the moment you hit upon Eriador and the dwarves closing in from the West, you're pretty much done.

[Holy Harry]

You can push Mordor out of Ithilien in 15 turns, then take the rebel settlements and even take Minas Morgul if you conserve your troops and use the OP generals well. Then you just constantly siege the fort east of Minas Morgul which blocks that route for Mordor so they cannot get to you from that way. Then you put a decent army on the river ford near Henneth Annun to prevent attack from there. Then you can garrison a full stack across Minas Tirirth, Cair Andros and Osgiliaths which can be used to prevent any Mordor attacks from the North or that beat your ford army, and they cost nothing as upkeep in towns is free for them when you spread it out. Then all you do is concentrate on naval power and raid Harad while holding them at Barad Harn with more OP generals. Its a walk in the park when you play it like that. You prevent Harad from using the land bridge at Pelargir by either placing a ship across it or blocking with a unit, then make sure the settlement in southern Ithilien or the one closer to harad stays rebel so they don't attack north into Ithilien. Then all you do is raid Umbar and the coastal towns and steadily push them back. If you know how to do Gondor, its one of the easier factions. If you want to turtle, its much harder, but still not on the same level as Isengard. The main factors being you have cavalry generals which slaughter everything that moves while Isengard doesn't, and you have much better bottlenecks.

[joshko]

The most difficult for me is High Elves because it's so boring. I don't think I've made it past turn 30 with them.

[Wowwars]

xcept for the landbridges. Gondor is harder to defend now since Harad (and mordor) just walk in from the south. No ships needed for that and since there are at least 2 (maybe 3) landbridges - that's pretty hard to block cause you then need an army at the turtleneck (city) above osgiliath, an army at osgiliath itself and then at least 2 army's at the landbridges.

That's a lot of upkeep and in addition to that, harad then sails with an army past your landbridges, right into the middle (south-east) of your empire (whatever the town is called under tarnost)


But i already got further with Gondor than i ever got with isengard and orcs of gundabad seem pretty hard as well. Gundabad seems to be going well for the first 30 -40 turns but the moment you hit upon Eriador and the dwarves closing in from the West, you're pretty much done.

Gondorian ships > landbridges to pelagir/southern shore. Not at all much hard untill mordor starts attacking Rohan and hitting you from the north and if rohan falls Gondor is very likely to fall as well.

[TheDarkOne1994]

Hardest faction hands down IMO is Gonder because you have to fight a two front war and your armies are meant more for defending then conquering. I disagree with the argument about Isengard. Ive found Isengard to be quite easy as long as you get a ceasefire with Rohan. By getting a ceasefire you can focus on HE and FPoE and by playing your cards right have them both out of the way and have a bunch of new territory by turn 100. After that the conquest of Rohan is alot less formidable.

[Captain Adverse]

IMO I'd say Mordor, followed by Gondor.

Mordor has the largest territorial goal to achieve; eliminating Gondor, Rohan, High Elves, Silvan Elves, and Dwarves. With the High Elves and Dwarves you have to go into the far west, meanwhile facing a three front war with Gondor, Rohan, and the Silvan Elves. Mordor's AI "Allies" Harad and Rhun provide little real aid, often competing with Mordor rather than helping.

Gondor has the second largest territorial goal, eliminating Mordor and Harad. In this, Harad is the biggest pain since their early game forces (Serpent Guard, Southron Lancers, Warbands) are tougher than Gondors early forces and the Harad AI is very aggresssive as soon as they've gotten most of their forces near Barad Harn. It's tough in the early game to hold off both Mordor and Harad with the Militia forces initially available, then in the later game to fight across the vast tracks of Harad territory.

[Påsan]

I found Gondor pretty easy if you just play correctly, but Isenguard was damn hard in the middle game.

[Rhaenys Targaryen]

Gondor is fine imo because once I actually sent a fleet to Umbar and captured it, that pretty much crippled Harad. If you blitz Mordor you can beat them back into Mordor itself quickly.

[Holy Harry]

I find Isengard far harder than any other faction, followed by OotMM, then Dale and Gondor about equal. Gondor is very easy to defend, and as long as you control the seas there's virtually no chance of getting invaded. If you let Mordor and Harad build up then you may be in trouble, but only because of naval invasions since there are so many bottlenecks Gondor can use.

[Shingen]

Orcs of the misty mountains and Orcs of Gundabad are real tough.
If you think Gondor is tough you don't know how to use cavalry.

[Makus]

Build up a decent navy and small army, take umbar, blockade the haradrim docks and once harass sea power is crippled disband any ships not actively blockading the ports. Helps to cripple harad, and at the same time doesn't wreck your economy. Just holding cair Andros and one of the osgiliaths will allow you to turtle enough to confront mordor in force by the time you get aragorn

[Gallus]

1. Gondor turtle
2. Isengard
3. Dale

[sacrilege83]

Yeah I'm having a hard enough time with Gondor right now, the major upkeep and slow economy. Then Harad is knocking at my door from the south with huge armies. As soon as I defeat one in comes another 3 turns later! Does cpu get restricted by their economies or do they have unlimited amount of population and treasury meaning that the cpu cheats?

[zburanuki]

i have the same ''problem'' as Harad against gondor.they just keep coming and coming over and over again.not to mention the garrison script which give them extra forces out of nowhere. as for the most difficult faction i think that isengard is by far the winner.

[ppetrus]

Gondor is very easy if you play aggresively not giving AI chance to field a bigger army against you. Mordor is no too hard as is completely safe from two sides and has great recruitment centers. If only dealt with Gondor properly, it will grow such a powerhouse that none will stand against it. It is easier to get bored than defeated.

My types are Dwarves (no cavalry, no good archers and split for two regions of the same importance) and OotMM (very weak mid and high tier units, more direct enemies than any other faction).

[FC Groningen]

I also consider the orc factions really tough, also because of the many enemies you face. Especially the Orcs of the Misty Mountains can be attacked from anywhere.