Started my new MOS Dale campaign VH/VH on my channel, hoping for some comments/discussion:D

[SusaVile]

Hey, just started my Dale campaign. Everyone has been very interested in Dale, it seems it's rarely played, let's see how I fare

Hoping for some feedback and comments there, thks! youtube- jahander23

[Finkeren]

Well, from my short, unsuccesful attempt at a Dale campaign on H/H, my limited experience tells me, that you have the advantage of only having to fight one "evil" faction from start. The bad news is, that until you get your mid-level archers, you're still gonna get whooped by Rhun in a bad way and untill you beat them, you're gonna have to content with a horrible economy. When I played Dale, I felt like OoG without trolls.

Definately a fun challenge, but not for the faint of heart.

[SusaVile]

Yeah, most people say that. Some advise that the best way is to provoke a lot of bridge battles and try to slowly upgrade your troops. I'll try to use the generals at their most efficiency and expand really early, so I can at least get somewhat of an economy going on. Let's see what happens

[Wolfeson]

I played a very successful H/H Dale campaign recently (vanilla, not MOS, though), and I agree your early turns will be annoying. My advice would be to focus very hard on infrastructure early; since you have so few towns at the start, you should be able to build constantly in all of them. Once you have the basic econ buildings done, try to get your archery ranges in Dale/Esgaroth up to Longbowman asap, and then basicly treat your armies like weaker elf forces. Also, some people will disagree with this because it prevents the Dwarves from sharing a border with Rhun, but I very much recommend trying to grab Kugavod (the town by the ne corner of the Sea of Rhun) as early as you can. That bridge right next to it is the best defense you could ask for on the eastern border (just make sure you keep an eye on the other crossing way up in the ne).

[LuckyPistol]

Rhun will be the bane of your existence for the first 100 turns or so, as they can't be blitzed by Dale. At all.
After you defeat Rhun, Mordor will quickly replace them as your next long and grueling campaign

There are a lot of ways you can succeed with Dale, they are flexible. But I have never had a campaign with so many battles. Like everyone says, build your economy and stay archer heavy. Hearth Watchmen are only a step above bree militia haha Your Dalesmen can take down Rhun generals with a good flank charge, so its all about using the hearthmen to absorb the blows while your archers pick apart the attacking infantry.

Dale is one of the harder campaings out there, but it is very fun

[SusaVile]

Rhun will be the bane of your existence for the first 100 turns or so, as they can't be blitzed by Dale. At all.
After you defeat Rhun, Mordor will quickly replace them as your next long and grueling campaign

When you say Rhûn can't be blitzed, you mean that I shouldn't be able to conquer them at all? Is there any script to help them out? I disabled the one you get to choose that gives them the "mysterious documents". So far, 15 turns, already conquering 2 of their territories, caught a nice break because they conquered Rhovanion and lost a general there, as long as some troops. It feels a little strange microing my armies around, but still, quite nice and interesting campaign. I didn't build roads initially because I realized they might help Rhûn much more than me. It's strange how I feel that every building and unit I build must have a purpose, it's not just "build whatever you want". Very nice, I'm loving it.

[SusaVile]

I've also considered using more ballista in the early game, to pick elite units quickly. It's costly, but it will allow more flexibility against cities as well. Probably I will manage to secure the lower rebel provinces and then go into Rhûn. Their bodyguards seem to be the biggest concern, probably they can take down 1-2 unit stacks with them easily, so it's a challenge . My biggest management difficulty is that most trade and wealth buildings seem to be not as effective as in medieval 2, so I'll go into more training facilities as soon as I can. Part 2 is now done, and at the 7th turn there's already a small Rhûn army against me, while I'm sieging the Huge Castle south of my initial position. If I can get that, it seems that I will be able to recruit some heavier troops in no time.