Campaign Reports

[webba84]

Not quite, each 'sub race' for every faction actually has 3 inherent traits - one trait is all positive, one trait is all negative, and one trait is a mix of both. The mixed trait is the most common for that sub race but there is a small chance that new family members will have one of the other two instead.

[Wambat]

@ Humanoid293: The tax thing is twofold: First, despite the low income of the Elves, low population growth is even more problematic. Second, high taxes in governed settlements will reduce the loyalty of those governors and cause costs that are counterproductive. Your high taxes need to be in settlements with no governors.


The exception is your King, who, if he is a governor, will remain loyal to himself no matter how high he sets his taxes. Having lots of high taxed settlements, I understand, can negatively affect your King’s authority, but you are not likely to be able to set high taxes in enough settlements for this to be a problem due to unrest.

[Wambat]

Turn 47: I just ended a 10+ year conflict with the Beornings, Dale and Tharbad. Amazingly, Glorfindel is still kicking around middle earth. I just managed to send him south of Mid-deeping (still in the hands of the Beornings) before the ceasefire was signed.


Rohan and RK are in a bad way, both being eaten up by Adunabar and Dunland. Glorfindel now has no way back to the Elven lands; if he is to respect the territories of other non-hostile factions, but I have no intentions of sending him back in any case. His job is now to wreak havoc with the foes of RK until finally fees the need to scratch that Western itch. So far I have been able to liquidate Adunabar’s Troll producing strongholds and have taken out two units of Hill Trolls; though doing so killed off all but three men of Glorfindel’s BG.


I hope that was the last of Adunabar’s Trolls, I am not sure how I am going to handle them once I have used up my Glorfindels. Of course, Adunabar has catapults as well which I will likely be hard put to deal with. Fortunately, there are plenty of mercenaries for hire in the area. Already my expeditionary force has ballooned to 1 regular cavalry, 6 regular infantry, and four more BG units.

[webba84]

Wow, it's a pretty big risk sending Glorfindel up against trolls, the only time I've ever seen him killed in battle was by a unit of trolls.

[Humanoid293]

I found any Unit of Elven Archers sufficient to take out a 12 Troll pack. Need about half their quiver, and time for that ofc .

[Wambat]

Wow, it's a pretty big risk sending Glorfindel up against trolls, the only time I've ever seen him killed in battle was by a unit of trolls.

It is a big risk, but Glorfindel is bound to leave sooner or later. Ideally I use him to take out the trolls in repeated charges, disengaging immediately each time. Sometimes the Trolls reak with their line and chase Glorfindel around; especially if they are in a small stack; then I might have to melee. In such cases I pause and zoom in to find Glorfindel in the mass, and use move orders to ensure he is not in direct contact with a Troll. The melee fight pretty much results in one-to-one loses as each Troll takes out one of the Elves as he falls. In that last battle it was a small stack, and I had to melee both Troll units.

[webba84]

In that last battle it was a small stack, and I had to melee both Troll units.

Yikes!

[demagogos nicator]

Here is brief report from my Dale campaign. My first task after the starting game was destroying N-Rhun froce near the Fort Carnen which I managed before they storm the fortress. Right after their defeat they sent an emissary to beg for ceasfire. I accepted ceasfire in exchange for their promise to pay me tribute of 100 per 10 years to cover my war expenses.

Then I started consolidating my kingdom. I send emissary to Rhovanion and Dorwinion to get trade rights and map information. Since in Rhovanion my emissary was recieved politely while in Dorwinion they thretten me with attack (despite offering me more than waht I asked for to awoid their attack) I decided to choose Rhovanion for my ally as I expected the war may start soon between both kingdoms (untill now it has not started).Soon after Dorwinion launched massive assault agains N-Rhun besieging both if their westmost settlements. N-Rhun asked me for alliance which I have accepted and I was thinking about supporting them militarily taking poorly defended Rathwin and Belegant leaving Kingdom of Dorwinion only with Iol Helcar (they took it early in the game form independent peoples) and making it my vasall. Despite I desired dearly for the riches of Dorwinion, for units of their halbeardiers and mainly for the acces to the Sea of Rhun someting in my mindset was against joining easterlings in attack against fellow northmen and I decided to wait a bit longer with invasion and use the time to destroy Okish horde near the Greymountain Hold to get my newly recruited units of Black Spears blooded.

While I was busy defeating orcs which appeared to be very costy victory Dorwininon armies were defeated by N-Rhun and Dorwinion lost Rathwin and Iol Helcar to its enemy. In the same time large Rhovanion force crossed my border and camped near Burne. Since I did not have anything ready to face the Rhovanion invsion I sent only to a small force of two units to shadow their moves. Despite heavily outnumbering me Rhovanion forces were reluctant to start the war and when my emissary reached them and offer Rhovanion king a gift they turned on march south east leaving my terrotory. Next turn Rhovanion forces besieged Rhatwin decalring war on N-Rhun but were defeted by defenders. I decided that I should wait no more and I have besieged Rathwin myslef with massive force (when Rhovanion attacked N-Rhun I decided to side with Rhovanion so I was free of any bonds towards N-Rhun). When I was ready to storm the walls and attack the city N-Rhun emissary aproched my and asked for ceasfire I offered them one but asked for city of Rathwin in return which they accepted and I was able to take heavy defended city without any loses.

However the peace between my and N-Rhun did not last long since soon after N-Rhun from Rathwin besieged Belegant and was about to eliminate the Dorwinion faction from game. Since Dorwinion was my ally now /with military acces rights I decided they I will save them for now and so started my third war with N-Rhun. I marched with my army from Rathwin southa and meet 2 N-Rhun stacks near Belegant.Althought the battle ended to be my only defeat so far and I lost a lot my best equiped army (fortunatelly unique Comapny of Black Arrow was not part of that army) Dorwinion was saved as enemies does no have any more enough men to take Belegant and they left the siege. N-Rhun was quick to use the destruction of my forces and besieged Rathwin where my hier to the throne Bram was camping with survivors from battle of Belegant and quickly assemblet militias from eastern part of my kingdom. the situation turned into several years longing siege which was finally lifted with the arrival of the reinforcements from the faraway capital and enemyforces were destroyed. Since this point war turned into my favour again. While I have been maintaing strong garrison in Rathwin and tying main enemy force nearby I assemebled another halfstack and defeting several smaller enemy armies near Fort Carnen and moved the frontline of conflict into the enemy territory. At this point N-Rhun was beging me fro ceasfire for third time in this game. Their proposal was however countered with demand to became my protectorate in exchange for 50.000 which they refused. Probably I should have offered more my treasury is constantly between 130.000 and 140.000 and I am making profit about 10.000 every turn.

Right now the battles have ceased for a few turns and both sides are preparing for further clashes. I will probably try to advance into the enemy territory take a few settlements and return them under the condition that N-Rhun becomes my protectorate as it is always useful to have buffer against large Rhun Confederacy. Maybe I will try to get Iol Helcar for myself as I would like to get a naval base on the coast of sea of Rhun in order to capture Tol Rhun and launch naval invasion into Rhun territories when the time is due. When I am done with N-Rhun I will probably attack my former ally Rhovanion as they attacked my other allies Beornings and pushed them out of all their lands east of Greenwood and now they are attacking their western lands from the south trough the Brownlands which they have conquered as well. However attacking Rhovanion may mess up my planed protectorate with N-Rhun as both factions entered into alliance. For now I support Beorning financially.

To name the few issue I have noticed:
1) Dale Mounted watch have their total defece slightly higher than Riders of Dale despite the later veras chain and is more expensive.
2) It seems there are still some issues with old portraits for acquired character as I were offered at least two youthful characters with grey hair. It is possible that this issue affects also agents even though they do not have age traits I have recruited several which started white haired or turned whithaired very early after I have recruited and they are still living despite I am using them for about 20 years already.
3.) Rhovanion Peasants at Arms whose I have acquired with Rathwin via diplomacy have still WIP unit cards.

[Wambat]

@demagogos nicator: I am happy to see a report with so much activity on the diplomatic front. Remember: you get all the money back from the protectorate the next turn, so there is really no reason not to offer all the money you have to get one. Also, you can force the Rhovanions to ceasefire with the Beornings by getting Rhovanion to ally with you.


If you have a military access treaty with the Beornings you can secure their borders with with three or four units: One for the pass through the woods, and two or three at the narrowest point east of the Anduin. So long as you are not at war with Rhovanion they will not attack your units on another faction's territory.

[demagogos nicator]

I am happy to see a report with so much activity on the diplomatic front.

Trying to achieving my goal trough diplomacy whenever possible was always my favourite way to play TW ever since I first launched RTW about 8 years ago. I always beleived that RTW diplomacy is not broken it just require some level of patience and experience with AI. What I usually lacked was enough money to perform it really efectivelly. However, in my current Dale campaign this is not a problem anymore. With enough money you can get from AI anything you want: In my Dorwinion campaing in open beta I manage to buy peacefull early game by paying tribute to all my neighbours, when I was ready for war and wanted to see some military action I just did not renew my tribute agreement with N-Rhun (it should always be done few turns in advance before it runs out otherwise AI may be alredy determined to attack you and it will not help) and it attacked me exactly the first turn after tribute stopped to flow. Coincidence? I do not thing so. Now in my Dale campaing N-Rhun was willing to give me two of its four regions for ceasfire and 33 000 miriam (well, I reloaded the earlier safe after doing this as was not something I really wanted to do, not untill their field armies are destroyed).

Remember: you get all the money back from the protectorate the next turn, so there is really no reason not to offer all the money you have to get one.

Well, that is a good thing to know I would have never guessed it works like this. When N-Rhun diplomat approached me next turn and asked for ceasfire I offered him 100 000 miriam for protectorate but he still refused. I guess it is becose they still have several field armies left. I shall destroy them all before any further negotiation. The probelm is that they want the peace with my for any price only to be able to destroy my ally Dorwinion which I do not want to let them do for the sake of honour. Therefore I will agree to ceasfire only when N-Rhun is not anymore a threat for my allies, still protectorate over them would be ideal solution.

Also, you can force the Rhovanions to ceasefire with the Beornings by getting Rhovanion to ally with you.

I do not think this is an option for now as Rhovanion is ally of my enemy N-Rhun. Anyway I do not mind them warring together as long as they do not wipe each other. As for now Beornings are still strong in the west and if something goes wrong I am trainging new army in Framsburg. Remember "Chaos is the ladder"

If you have a military access treaty with the Beornings you can secure their borders with with three or four units: One for the pass through the woods, and two or three at the narrowest point east of the Anduin. So long as you are not at war with Rhovanion they will not attack your units on another faction's territory.

Thanks for advice, I have not thought of this I may use it when necessary

[TW-fanboy]

Faction: Elves
Difficulty and unit size: as recommended
I began by conquering those mannish settlements that were advised to take in the factino description buidling (Lhun Valley and the two Anduin provinces between Lothlorien and East Lorien). East of the Misty Mountains I started a policy of province devemopment and fortification, while to the west in Eriador I sent Glorfindel and the Noldor Swordsmen on a pillage through Adunabar.
After some conquest, Adunabar offered peace and i demanded Rivendell in return, they agreed. Of course they backstabbed me and tried to take Mithlond and Rivendell. But Glorfindel defeated them in the East and the Lindon army in the west.
I started developing Rivendell and furthered the destruction of Adunabar in Eriador.
The Reunited Kingdom was weak, it had only its starting provinces in Eriador and lost Gondor to Dunaland and Adunabar, Rohan was split between them aswell. After the downfall of Adunabars power in Arnor, Tharbad aspired to become the new hegemon of Eriador, attacking me in Threeways and Sarnsford. Of course they were utterly crushed by the might of the Elves.
But I had to realise that I conquered to much, to fast, and could neither effectivly rule nor defend all of Eriador against the troika that was ADunabar, Dunland and Dale (it backstabbed the dwarves, became the great power in the North and came into Eriador through Gundabad and Angmar).
So I gave most of Arnor to the Reunited Kingdom, keeping only Eregion, Lhun and the Elven Lands for myselve. As The Nandor realms in Greenwood and Lorien were surrounded by Dale and their vassals, the Beornings, Thranduil led an preventive strike against Esgaroth and Dale, while a second force secured the northern border by taking Framsburg and Heorth. After cleaning the Anduin vales of the woodmen, I could start a final invasion of the Dale heartland, and with it conquered I saw the campaign victory window pop up.

Summary:
The campaign was really fun to play, the deep atmosphere and the rich lore you put into the made it truely a worthwhile experience. I love your RPG system with races, subraces and subfactions, do you by chance know any other TW mod that has something similar? (except for Europa Barbarorum, I already know and love that mod^^)
The problem of a shrinking population while still having the strongest units in the world makes up for interesting gameplay. YOu could always take any settlement and defeat any army you want to, but you have to plan if you can hold and integrate the settlement or if your losses defeating that army are worth it.
It is definitely the best mod I played since EB
I also really like your unit and settlement design, I especially adore the Noldor and imladris units aswell as the settlements of the Elves, they give such a unique feeling.

[demagogos nicator]

The campaign was really fun to play, the deep atmosphere and the rich lore you put into the made it truely a worthwhile experience. I love your RPG system with races, subraces and subfactions, do you by chance know any other TW mod that has something similar? (except for Europa Barbarorum, I already know and love that mod^^)

I totally agree. I do not think there is any other mod which has such sofisticated RPG system as FATW. The other mods which give me to the lesser extend some kind of similar RPG experience was Roma Total Realism VII with its Roman leadership system based of cursus honorum, das Heilige Romischen Reich 0.8 mod with hereditable and irevokable prvoncial titles, loyalty penalties, general-bischops etc. and Bellum Crucis 7 (or 6.3 if you want it in english) with competing noble houses inside your family tree.Last two of the mentioned mods are for M2TW, I consider dHRR 0.8 arguably better in this field than BC7.

[Wambat]

My Dwarven campaign is turning out very different to my expectations. My last experience with Dwarves was pre-release battles with Elves. Back then the Dwarven units were a match for the Elves, winning the majority of engagements, as once in melee the Elves could not compete. Now the Dwarves feel more like top tier RK units, only slower, and a lot less of them.


The Dwarves are a very difficult faction now, at least at the beginning. We will see how things go once I have my infrastructure well established. I have a feeling the Dwarves have a greater potential for expansion than the Elves due to their unsurpassed construction industry allowing them to convert provinces quicker and cheaper than any other faction.

I am on my second go with the Dwarves. My first time I thought I would blitz the Beornings and then send my armies (well, army) east. Unfortunately, the Beornings thought otherwise and left me with just enough troops to garrison their former territories, at which point all the neighbors of Narag-zigil pounced on me.


My second time around I took a more careful look at the map: Narag-zigil and Baraz-dûm are my only exposed provinces at the beginning, and the Lindon provinces will likely remain safe from aggression until Adunabar or Tharbad have eliminated all other competition in Eriador. I decided to send all my forces east of the Misty Mountains, including those at Dwarrowdelf, to Narag-zigil as the most exposed and least defended of my provinces.


I decided not to start pouncing on the Independents Peoples right away for a few reasons: the expensive conversion process would be much less painful after my construction industries are fully developed. By not attacking them right away, I am able to preserve the trade income with their territories, which is not insignificant. Eventually I will need to take Lune, Sarnford, and possibly Feorfeld, if Rohan doesn't take it. I am not ambitious about making the effort to subdue the northern Orc holds until I have a protectorate to gift them to.


My first project was to produce enough emissaries to make contact as quickly as possible with all the WotW factions on the map. Since I cannot produce scouts right away, I produce some extra emissaries to expose all the settlements on the map.


I got military access with a surprising number of factions: RK, Rohan, Elves and Dorwinion (and Dale, of course). I think asking for that very early on in a campaign; before everyone hates your guts; makes it far easier to get. I did not have to pay for any one of these. I tried to choose my alliances such that each was unlikely to make war on the other due to buffers or obstacles.


I was not able to get military access from the Beornings, but was still able to get my troops through their territories without them attacking me; though they are none too happy with me now. The Beornings are always dicks anyway.


Dale kind of screwed me on that by bribing Ereb-gobel away from Rhovanion, making it much more likely that Dorwinion will go to war with Dale and force me to break an alliance. Oh, well.


War wise, Dorwinion and Rhovanion went to war over Ereb-gobel. Being allied with Dorwinion I took the opportunity to insinuate myself into the war by setting a unit of mercenary horsemen (I have been buying up the mercenaries around Narag-zigil) next to Ereb-gobel besieged by Dorwinion. When Dorwinion attempted to take the settlement I sent my unit to the edge of the map and waited for the two other armies to inflict as much damage on each other as possible. Just before Rhovanion was set to break I exited the battle, causing Dorwinion to lose, but leaving Ereb-gobel with just one under-strength unit of bowmen defending. Ain't I a stinka?


This left Dorwinion's offensive blunted and gave me a nice manageable war to milk for diplomatic income. I quickly made over 7000 in contributions to my war effort from the WotW factions (those suckers) for laying siege to Ereb-gobel once again. Down in Iâth-in-Rhaw I sent another unit of mercenary horsemen to "join" Dorwinion's siege there. Dorwinion decided I was a partner on the battlefield and broke off the siege, returning to their territory; soil-sports.


Rhovanion sent up a relief force to break my pathetic siege of Ereb-gobel. I did some damage to the unsupported and under-strength bowmen from the city before running away to Dale's territory. This is where Dale unexpectedly bribed Ereb-gobel away from Rhovanion, which could easily cause me grief later if Dorwinion declares war on Dale over the province. What's a Machiavellian to do?


By this time I now have the majority of my armies in the Narag-zigil theater. I could take Iâth-in-Rhaw with the forces at hand, but this would place me between Dorwinion and what is left or Rhovanion. As Dorwinion is not yet at war with North Ruin, I don't want them getting ideas about expanding into my territories. Instead I take the opportunity to negotiate a ceasefire with Rhovanion, for which they pay 23000. Very satisfactory.


Now that I have my cake and eat it too, I am waiting for Dorwinion and Rhovanion to engage each-other again, but both seem reluctant to do so. Fine with me, really. If things continue static among the Northmen I will soon be able to grab the IP settlements around Lindon.

[CountMRVHS]

Try this Dwarf's one weird trick to making instant money from diplomacy! (Northmen HATE him!!!)

Well done - 23k for ceasefire isn't something I would have expected from Rhovanion. Also interesting to hear that military access is cheap early on. I think that's really important for the Dwarves in particular, since otherwise you may run into chokepoints around the Anduin. And in my last campaign the Elves were consistently blocking passage through Lorien; very frustrating.

That Rhovanion region is always interesting. You know there'll be war there, but how it will shake out differs quite a bit between campaigns.

[CountMRVHS]

Last night I started up a Dorwinion campaign and played for over 60 turns without a single battle. I love those

From past experience with 'extreme turtling' as Tharbad, I've seen that the AI is very slow to attack you if you never expand. Eventually, though, you *will* be attacked, so the trick with this sort of thing is ensuring that you'll be ready for war when it comes. And Dorwinion is rather well suited: you can get rich without expanding, and build up a strong army to deter the larger foes.

So for the past few decades, I've just been moving my main army around on my territory, first constructing watchtowers and then a couple of forts near crossings to hinder an enemy advance.

My neighbors have been rather peaceful. I got trade rights with everyone and alliances with Dale, Dwarves, and Rhovanion. (North Rhun wanted an alliance, but I opted not to accept on the grounds that they're Easterlings - also, such an alliance would halt the Dale-NR war, and potentially free up Dale to turn on me.)

With Rhovanion, I got Military Access (not for free, unfortunately; spent 7,000), thinking that I'd use their territory as a buffer while assisting them against Adunabar. Well, Adunabar got crushed between the RK and Rhun, who partitioned all of Mordor north of Nurn and have been fighting over Udun, Southern Rhovanion, and the Brown Lands.

The most threatening faction has been Rhun, in fact, who early on brought a near-full stack across North Rhun's territory (their ally) and parked it near the River Running. I've been shadowing that stack with my own army for years, as it moves between the crossing at Rathwin and the one near Belegant. I actually sort of welcome war with Rhun, since we don't share any borders and I think I'll be able to get them to agree to some pretty hefty ceasefire terms. But they've never attacked, probably partly *because* we don't share borders, partly because of my deterring stack.

Meanwhile, Dale has been slowly pushing back at North Rhun. In the early years, Dale didn't do too much - distracted, I imagine, by the nearby Orc-holds. Once those were dealt with, Dale conquered Gaurgaul and then Garth in relatively quick succession, and is pushing toward Fornhud. (This has caused me some alarm, so I've been training Scouts and Rogues to foment unrest and destroy infrastructure in Dale's new conquests. Last turn, a rebellion threw Dale out of Garth.)

During this eastward push, Dale came into conflict with Rhun.

And just last turn, Dale attacked that Rhun army that's standing at my border. My own army will reinforce my ally.

So my first battle in this campaign is a battle I didn't initiate, one in which I am neither the defender nor precisely the attacker.

After this, I'll see about expanding. I can send armies across Rhovanion's territory to fight Rhun there, or I can ship an army across the sea. I don't want to get too far afield, though, since I still need to maintain a force at home. But if I choose a good, wealthy target, I should be able to afford 2 good armies.

Man, I hope I haven't completely screwed up my campaign, but this whole not fighting thing has been immensely fun! I figure even if my little kingdom gets destroyed it'll have been worth it.

[Wambat]

You did not elect to take Tol Rhûn? I would recommend sending your forces across the Sea of Rhûn and razing the lands on the opposite shore rather than holding them.


I would also send a massive force of spies and scouts to wreak havoc upon Rhun's infrastructure. Once you see that they can no longer repair all the damaged buildings each turn you will know you have exhausted their cash reserves.


That would be a good time to strike; taking all their territories in the north and either gifting a southern border territory to a third party, or let it revolt, and then get a ceasefire from Rhun. From that point you would be in a good position to exert pressure on North Rhun to make them a protectorate.

[webba84]

Facing Wambat in some sort of multiplayer campaign would be a terrifying experience...

[CountMRVHS]

Facing Wambat in some sort of multiplayer campaign would be a terrifying experience...

Man, I'd love it if there was a way to do this...

You did not elect to take Tol Rhûn? I would recommend sending your forces across the Sea of Rhûn and razing the lands on the opposite shore rather than holding them.

No, not this time. I just turtled like a stubborn turtling turtle. Focused on nothing but building up my 2 towns and training enough troops to be a plausible threat.

I suspect that not expanding at all has allowed me to fly under the AI's radar for quite a long time. In the past, when I'd expand to Tol Run, the AI would pounce.


Unfortunately, the 3-way battle between me, Dale, and Rhun was anticlimactic - Rhun withdrew once they saw my troops. They paid me around 20k for a ceasefire (parcelled out over 4 turns), and I kept building.

My next move came around FO 400 (this is easily the longest I've gone without taking any territory). I put together a fairly elite army (2 FMs, 4 Dorwinion Watch, 2 Dorwinion Bows, 4 Rhovanion Axemen, 2 Rhovanion Foresters, 2 Rhovanion Scouts, 3 Rhovanion Hunters, 1 Mercenary Slinger) and put them on a ship. The army came from my garrisons - i.e., I kept the standing armies in my homelands fully intact, to preserve the deterrent, and then set about increasing my garrisons again.

The army landed on the SE corner of the Sea of Rhun and marched straight toward Tham. I think Tham is the key to the East. In the past, I've taken Raichost first because it's usually lightly held and has an excellent trade potential - but Tham is Rhun's major recruitment center; it's where they'll train their toughest units and crank out those endless infantry stacks. And the province is literally the heart of their homelands, commanding access into Rhovanion, the north, and down towards Khand/Mordor.

I besieged and was counterattacked immediately; won the battle and took the city.

I expected to begin a long, drawn-out war with Rhun - but surprisingly, they approached me with a ceasefire offer the next turn. I countered with trade rights and a demand for Raichost. They counter-offered, keeping Raichost on the table and asking for 42k. I got them down to around 20k (which is only fair, since I've been bleeding them dry with my previous ceasefire demands), and got Raichost without a fight. We've been at peace ever since.

I think this was a situation where Rhun had so many enemies that, even though we shared borders with my taking of their *capital*, they were still really eager for peace. Rhun had conquered west to Dagorlad and Lond Nurnen in Mordor, but were getting pushed back by the RK (Adunabar has just been eliminated). While Rhun doesn't border any other enemies, it is technically at war with Rohan, Dale, and the Dwarves. Also, I've been Mr. Passive-Aggressive Goody-Two-Shoes in this campaign; Tham was the very first settlement I took, and it brought me up to a grand total of 3 provinces. Whether that means my 'rep' is high, or simply the AI is more open to offers made by tiny factions, I'm not sure.

I would also send a massive force of spies and scouts to wreak havoc upon Rhun's infrastructure. Once you see that they can no longer repair all the damaged buildings each turn you will know you have exhausted their cash reserves.

I've been doing this with Dale. They have run into some difficult times in North Rhun's territory, conquering all the way over to the eastern edge of the map (Thordram), but losing land to rebellions (which have been instigated in part by my scouts and rogues).

That would be a good time to strike; taking all their territories in the north and either gifting a southern border territory to a third party, or let it revolt, and then get a ceasefire from Rhun. From that point you would be in a good position to exert pressure on North Rhun to make them a protectorate.

North Rhun just got eliminated - it was very strange. Dale managed to take their capital, and the Dwarves bribed their final settlement in the north. That just left Tol Rhun in their hands - and I had been trying to make it rebel via scouts/rogues, in the hopes that they would horde up north.

Right around the time they lost their last settlement on the mainland, North Rhun's major armies and FMs boarded a ship. I'm not sure exactly how the faction was eliminated - maybe my spies were successful in making Tol Rhun turn rebel, or possibly the FL died at sea? Either way, no horde was formed.

So now I'm finally taking Rol Rhun for myself and besieging Garth (which revolted). But Dale just attacked my long-time ally Rhovanion, so I think I'll abandon that siege and train my forces against Dale's homelands.

In the meantime, the RK may chase Rhun all the way to my territory... and while we are technically allies, I'm curious if there will be a war between us.


Oh, and Harondor has taken Umbar. I actually noticed this in my Tharbad campaign - Harondor was the dominant power in the south, and Harad was clearly on the back foot. So maybe Harad doesn't need to be nerfed so much after all? Or maybe we just need to bring the other campaigns' setups more in line with what we see in the Dorwinion and Tharbad campaigns?

[MasterOfNone]

I always take Tol Rhun early as Dorwinion so as to have a "safe space" #snowflake

Got absolutely hammered by North Rhun, Rhun and even Dale for a time (before a ceasefire). Rhun is now the ascendant power in the region, having taken Rhovanion and most of North Rhun. Hopefully Dale can weaken them. I lost my western settlement after several ferocious battles. I now hold the island and Belegant, the latter of which has been assaulted by a full Easterling stack every other turn or more!

[Wambat]

Facing Wambat in some sort of multiplayer campaign would be a terrifying experience...

Stop it! You have me blushing! Still, it's not like there isn't a trade-off: CountMRVHS did 60 turns in one night; that would probably take me several months. I am too much of an anal, nitpicking, neurotic, perfectionist, SOB.


Since my last post I have progressed an astounding 7 turns! Dowrinion surprised me by by besieging Iâth-in-Rhaw again; this time with two stacks. Dorwinion did not place them to support each other, so the first attack saw Dorwinion and Rhovanion amazingly equally matched, with both sides routing the other back and forth. Somehow the battle timer got turned on (I play with it off, typically) so I did not even have to force my "ally" to lose the battle, as he ran out of time trying to take out the last few enemy units with his last few archers. That was definitely the most fun I have had watching an AI battle.


Rhovanion recovered over 300 of the nearly 900 troops lost during the battle. No worries, as Dorwinion's second stack is ready to besiege the settlement again without a second's hesitation. You know I'll have their back


This is great news for me because I get another 20k payday for a new ceasefire with Rhovanion and can look forward to another one in the next couple of turns.


More worrying is the stack Rhun has sent around to the north of Belegant. I was afraid it would go straight for Iaur Helcar. While I would have welcomed North Rhun attacking and taking Belegant, so that I might then take that rich settlement for myself, Rhun has already a strong presence south of Narag-zigil, and I am not well equipped to repel endless Rhun hordes from the south.


Fortunately, Rhun seems not to be aware of Iaur Helcar, or does not care about it, and heads straight to Belegant, where I am able to block Rhun's stack at the ford. Also fortunate is the large number of mercenary cavalry available in the 4 different mercenary recruitment zones bordering Narag-zigil. I have enough of these units to block all the fords protecting Dorwinion from invasion (not until I say so, Rhun!), and I hope my one unit hiding along the path to Iaur Helcar will be enough to prevent that settlement being attacked.


Murphy's Law dictates: Since I have 90% of my troops near Narag-zigil, I should have no good opportunities for expansion in that theater (taking Iâth-in-Rhaw will guarantee attacks from Rhun and Dorwinion in short order). Nevertheless, I am not without options. I am finishing up on my construction industry projects and can now take and develop Lune and Sarnford quickly enough to move my capital back to the Narag-zigil area once my opportunity to expand there presents itself.


I am concerned that taking Sarnford, in particular, will prompt Adunabar to attack, so I plan to build up my military infrastructure in the two western settlements and produce some catapults to hold the two fords controlling access to my lands. My hope is that I will not be forced to expand further (farther?) in that region until Adunabar or Tharbad start gobbling up the Shire.


Turn 20 and I have not taken a single province. This feels weird for me. And the Dwarves certainly do pile up the dough: been over 100k in the bank since turn 10 and pretty much have all my provinces building, and buying every merc I can get my hands on. I don't think I will be able to handle Rhun on the battlefield until I can produce several Wain Bows.