Playing Orcs of Gundabad

[Chieftain Khuzaymah]

Hi all, I was wondering about your experiences with the OoG campaign with AI. A few days ago I had played almost all factions except for OoG and OotMM, which I thought would be the hardest. So I finally started the OoG campaign which I lost at the first try. I had to fight HE, Eriador and dwarves from east AND west because OotMM lost Dains halls to them which opened the way to Gundabad. I found myself flanked and with the wrong start I was killed. Normally against AI I start to work on eco which I also did with OoG, though after about 80 turns I noticed that I had 40k and this number was only increasing and I had no way of spending it!! Problem? OoG units are really cheap in recruitment AND upkeep and I should have upgraded my barracks before eco!

So the 2nd try... Plan: As I got flanked on all sides last time, secure one flank this time: I immediately started upgrading barracks this time and gathered up 1.5 stack in early game and marched to the east in anticipation of the loss of Dains Halls to the dwarves. So I arrived there but all seemed pretty Orcish still... So considering Rhun could be slaughtering Dale and Dwarves in the east I marched further to the East to flank them. I tried to stay neutral as much as possible in the west and had 3/4 stack to defend there which involved a lot of running from Coldfells up to Pitkäranta. The east: I marched there through the northern mountains, took wormcove and continued to besiege Erebor. Soon Erebor was mine but from there it took many many many turns to keep it safe and secure the rest of the area. I was playing ball with the Dwarves about Erebor while I was taking down Dale. Once secured and Melkor initiated I didnt have to wait for reinforcements that shouhld have come all from the west. Then finally the eastern part was secured... about turn ~150 and I possessed Wormcove, Azanulimbar, Erebor, Dale, Esgaroth, Grasgard and Riverrun.

This gave me some nice extra eco boost to finance the war for Eriador. Disbanded all armies in the east and only free upkeep as garrisons. The western stack had to run alot, had been replaced several times, but held the settlements pretty well. This is where I am at the moment, turn 250, very good eco, expanded through Eriador as in Fornost Erain, Nenuial, Annuminas, Bree, Staddle, Hoarwell, Imladris, Amon Sul. I am now fighting HE, Arnor and dwarves once again! Especially annoying the dwarves had been building up about 3-4 full stacks. It is looking pretty good now though, big enough economy to keep spamming units and I got one 10 star general smashing stack after stack with his 4000+ noob orcs.

So I will probably be conquering the rest of the dwarf, HE and arnor settlements, but the reason I made this thread is to see how you deal with OoG, or what your experiences were, because even though mine works and I like doing it this way, it is somewhat weird ^^

[AdmiralThrawn]

Now, I play MOS and that gives me total recruitment from the start. As such, this strategy might not be applicable to a regular game, but I have found that a quick blitz against Imladris can be very effective. Basically build a full stack and march south immediately on, say, turn 8. This should be enough to overpower Elrond's forces that early in the game (assuming no garrison script). This lets the OotMM focus east against the dwarves and elves leaving your flank secure. The fall of Durin's Halls is by no means certain and I generally don't bother reinforcing Gundabad unless there is a clear and present threat. Again though, this is all with MOS.

[riuk881]

I've not played OoG, but I found a guide by BeingDale here
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...re-people-too!

[Loki_999]

I've got an unfinished OoG campaign. I didn't find my economy running away from me until later as i did balance getting unit producing buildings up along with economic ones, and later i kept a good number of trolls in my armies so they sucked up the upkeep cash, so can't say even with quite a few regions now i'm rich. Its still a bit of a balancing act.

As for my strategy, it was pretty standard. OotMM kept Dwarves busy in the east, so it was mainly just me and Eriador for the main part. I did kick the Dwarves out of Kibil Dum and IIRC the settlement below that went rebel when he sent his few units up north to try and get Kibil back.

I did get Imladris, but it took a while. I play vanilla so garrison script does kick in, and my first attempt to take it was sorely beaten back as the archers just ripped apart my orcs before i could get to them. Second attempt i was more prepared, so HE are now confined to the far west. Eriador are down to just a few regions, and next stage will be linking up with Isengard before moving west to finish off Eriador and HE.

Its been a tricky game though, and burning through units like crazy.

Too many campaigns on the go at the moment though, will probably be a while before i return to that one.

[LuckyPistol]

I'd say Vanilla Gundabad is not so much easier, but a better experience in Vanilla than in MOS. Sure, MOS has the drums of the deep, but that's only for helping out OotMM as they will never return the favor if you get attacked. In MOS Snow Trolls and wargs have been nerfed, wargs lose their AP (something I do NOT agree with for gameplay issues) and Snow Trolls aren't worth recruiting when Mountain Trolls can do their job better. MOS also replaces Western Isengard with Dunland, who in my expereince doesn't do ******* until turn 80 or so. Maybe its an instance of the AI turtling to build cash, but they won't help in the fight against Eriador unless provoked. OotMM will become a non-factor in the game by turn 20 if they and Lorien don't make a ceasefire.

Vanilla Gundabad is what I call the evil equivalent to Gondor in terms of playstyle. There are so many choices you can make, including the option to turtle after gaining Imladris and not attacking the village west of Carn Dum. But its also difficult to turtle as a horde faction, rather impossible actually

Anyways, Vanilla Gundabad is a wonderful intermediate Horde faction. They have two types of trolls, and you get a unit of mountain trolls at the start of the game, DO NOT WASTE THEM! They get AP wargs who are easier to manage than the huge unit size of MOS's, and most of all their archers canbe used for more than fodder, despite being smaller in number. You cannot play the same way with MOS as you can Vanilla, in MOS you have to blitz blitz blitz and keep blitzing so you can create enough stacks to take on the dwarves at two fronts (OotMM will almost always lose Dain's Halls in MOS), as well as Imladris and Eriador. And if Arnor is reforged? You might as well start a new game, because you won't be beating MOS Arnor. Vanilla Arnor is no walk in the park either, but it is easier to focus on them by the time they do get reforged.

Basically you have two big choices when palying Vanilla Gundabad. Either take Imladris and have a half stack or so (preferably with wargs) patrol Dains Halls to help your goblin allies, or give Imladris/let OotMM take it to secure themselves with a good recruiting spot and money maker. Either way, the High Elves have to go or you won't make it to the barracks event, and if you do, by then you'll be surrounded by enemies with no allies. Personally, I keep Imladris for the unit production and Rhudaer mercs

Thats another thing, recruit mercs whenever possible. Rhudaer units -especially axemen- can turn the tide of battle, and if you haven't built Warg Cages yet, they have cavalry units.

[Chieftain Khuzaymah]

I notice most of you prefer to take on Imladris, this is what I tried the first attempt, but I failed hard. Maybe because I didnt send a full stack but 3-4 stack. But the garrison script sucks because elrond 8+ star general gets 5 units extra including some of the eldar...

Though why would you make wargs? they are not that cheap and they have real bad stats, only their charge bonus is nice, but against dwarves with super armour not that effective.. I am at turn 250 ( i play vanilla btw ) and I haven't fought a single battle yet, only used AR. If you have a stack of 4000+ orcs you can take up on any full stack eriador/arnor or elf stack you want, easy win. Just against a dwarves full stack you need 2 full stacks to beat them.

[Loki_999]

Wargs against Dwarves are not quite so effective, but none of your units except trolls are, and even trolls struggle.

But Wargs are awesome chargers and rip melee units to shreds. You've got to micromanage them though, and keep backing them out and charging from the sides/behind, otherwise they get minced.

I recommend having 2 units of Wargs per full stack.

PS: If you AR with orcs, good luck. You'll need twice the units to get victory.