09-19-2007, 01:06 PM
A New MEPBM Scenario based on 'The Hobbit' JEFFERY A DOBBERPUHL and SCOTT MOYES play head to head in this new variant...
J R R TOLKEIN’S The Hobbit ends with a climactic battle which this new Middle Earth PBM scenario recreates in a brand-new game of ten turns, Battle of the Five Armies. For this demo game of Battle of the Five Armies, Jeffery and Scott play against each other with multiple positions, instead of just one each as usual. Scott plays the Free Peoples with the Elves, the Dwarfs, the Northmen and Bilbo Baggins. Jeffery plays the Dark Servants with the Warg Riders, the Goblins, the Necromancer and Gollum. But which side is going to win?
First thoughts
Scott Moyes: This is a condensed full battle game with non-stop action from turn 1. With the condensed rulebook, the game is easy to understand, but hard to master. The possibilities are endless: should you attack, defend or manoeuver? Each and every turn will tax your planning skills and you’ll eagerly await the arrival of your next turn report.
Jeffery A Dobberpuhl: Being a big Hobbit fan, I was excited to see what kind of forces were going to be used in this game. The first thing I did was go to the http://www.middleearthgames.com website and downloaded all five nation sheets. Every game starts with the same turn zero (first turn), so both sides get to see exactly what they are up against. I was going to be the Goblins and the Warg Riders, my opponent was assigned the other three: The Dwarves, The Elves, and the Northmen. These nations start out tough! You get great characters, big armies, and lots of resources. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw The Necromancer was going to be one of my characters! This was going to be a very interesting game.
The goal of the game is fairly straight forward: take out your enemy. You have ten turns to do this. This was going to be tough because my opponent gets three nations to my two. I decided to look at the big picture of what was going on so I downloaded the Scenario Map from the website and printed it out. What a great resource! All the nation population centers and armies are clearly marked out. This was a great move for me, because it showed how consolidated my forces were, while my opponents were scattered. A plan began to form!
The Goblins: The Goblin nation is a nifty infantry-army driven nation. Commander after commander is at your disposal. Since the goblins get to hire new armies for free, I decided to use this to my advantage. I decided to send out my initial three armies to do battle, and reserve as many commanders as possible to hire new armies for the next wave.
First, I checked my economy. Despite some great starting gold, my nation was already spending more than I was making. I quickly decided to sell off some extra resources and had two of my characters sell off gold and mounts. That gold would come in handy later. Second, I looked at the map. There was one enemy town just one hex away, and it looked to be owned by the Northmen. Ha! They would be my first victims! I issued orders to my commanders to move two armies into hex 3105.
Next, I saw the Lonely Mountain sitting at hex 3107. One of my special victory conditions is to try and hold this at the end of the game. I can see why. It sits right next to a crossroads. If I can control it, maybe I can control the flow of enemy armies. I issue orders to my other commanders to march on 3107.
Finally, I rechecked my turn. I had hired new armies, made some gold, and marched on two enemy population centers. Good enough. I typed up my turns in the Automagic program (a nifty Excel spread sheet program available from the website) and sent in the turn.
The Warg Riders: I took a look at the Warg Riders startup sheet. This is a nation that focuses on wizards and wolfriders (heavy cavalry). It doesn’t get as many commanders as the Goblins, but it really doesn’t need them. If the wizards get a chance to use their battle magic in combat, it could get really ugly for the enemy. Also, wolfriders are about as tough an army as you can make in this game. They have speed, strength, and a hardy defense that will make them tough to take down.
First, I checked my economy. Just like the Goblins, this nation starts out with lots of gold, but also operates at a loss. I decided to sell more food to pay for my military operations.
Second, I checked out my wizards. All of them had the ability to conjure mounts out of thin air! This would be useful as a single wolf normally costs 30 gold and I would need hundreds of wolves to be successful against the enemy. I ordered three of the wizards to conjure more wolves. Then I let loose a maniacal laugh. I think it helps to cackle evilly when filling out a turn sheet for a nation of wolf conjuring wizards!
Third, I checked out the map. I found that I could bring more armies to 3107. This would give me a huge stack of resources for the next turn. I could strike at the Elves, the Northmen, or the Dwarves, depending on what my enemy threw at me. I issued orders to bring more armies to the Lonely Mountain. Then, I saw that I had one army at Sarn Goriwing, right in the middle of Mirkwood, that would not be able to make it to 3107. However, there was an elf town just three hexes away and it looked undefended! I decided to charge into the pesky elves and see if I could take it next turn. This was a bit of a risk, because the elves have a big army just two moves away from Sarn Goriwing. I decided to laugh at the puny elves and throw caution to the wind.
Fourth, I saw that the Necromancer has the ability to see what an enemy character is doing! I decided to use him to track the movements of Bilbo. After all, Bilbo has the One Ring, an artifact that increases an agent’s stealth by 40 points! Since most skills are ranked on a 1-100 basis, 40 points is a healthy increase. I’m hoping to get lucky and find myself in a position to get the ring back from Bilbo. Finally, I decided to send Gollum out to steal enemy resources. Gollum is a 20 point agent with a 40 stealth. Stealth makes agent actions work better, so I’m hoping he can steal some gold or something from a Northmen camp next turn. I have him guard the population center he is in (to increase his skill) and then move to 2910. I double check my turns and send them in. What will happen next? I can’t wait for my next turn sheets!
Turn 1
Scott Moyes: Tactical maps were neatly spread out over the solid gold table. Neat lines of the advancing armies, both good in blue and evil in red, were already on the maps. The Burglar, Bilbo Baggins, was tasked with making the marks on them and he was darn good at it. Thorin Oakenshield then said, ‘Bilbo, what does all these pretty marks mean?’ Bilbo looked up from the charts and said, ‘What all this means is that most of the planning you put forth has come to pass. The Elves are hard pressed in a couple of places, but overall, it is as you planned. There are a couple of surprises, though. Would you like a more complete briefing?’
The Dwarves, Elves and Men gathered folded their arms, leaned forward and all nodded. Bilbo went on, ‘Well, according to the reports, we are hard pressed in a couple of areas. Somehow Captain Krusnak of the Warg Riders slipped by the blocking efforts of the Elven Armies commanded by Regent Thranduil and Lord Ohtar and they have landed at Hen Gwerion. This is not good as Captain Krusnak has 900 Warg Riders and should be able to take the town. According to our plan, the Elven Commander Argaldor has blocked the eastward movement of the Warg Riders on the Northern Road, but - bad news! - this army is commanded by The Necromancer himself.
Commander Argaldor will be but a small block in the road for The Necromancer as he has 800 Warg Riders with him. Elven Hero Dorlas also, according to plan, blocked the Goblin armies from moving south. There are two armies there, a small army under Captain Anglach and a large army under Commander Gashbuz. So, for the Elves, the hot spots are at Hen Gwerion and along the Northern Road.
There are bright spots for the Elves: Commander Camthalion has a small army at Mithrond, Lord Legolas has a small army at Crug Abarr, Lord Ohtar has an army at the Warg Rider camp of Lag Slif and Regent Thranduil has an army of Heavy Cavalry at the Northmen camp of Amon Gastal.’ The Elves present shook their heads as visions of the massacre of the North Road armies passed through their heads. Bilbo went on, ‘The Dwarven armies are now in theatre. Commander Bombur has a small army east of the Northmen town of Bur Edhel. Just behind him is the main army of Regent Dain II. Hero Fili and his small army is the only Dwarven army in battle at this time. The Goblin camp of Lag Deras is just east of us. I don’t remember it being there on any maps I’ve ever seen. Anyway, Hero Gloin is back at Iron Hold with a small army and of course, Thorin, you are here with your small army.’
Bilbo picked up some ale, drank the whole mug, and then went on, ‘The Northmen are pressed at Buhr Edhel. There is a small Goblin army under Veteran Angulion. Also, just south of Buhr Edhel, on the north/south road, Commander Girion II and his army ran into a whole bunch of trouble. Well, there is some good news too, Hero Swithwulf and his Heavy Cavalry army is also there. They are facing a huge Goblin army under Regent Duran, a large Goblin army under Captain Ogrod and an army of Warg Riders under Commander Rashkuk. I know they were supposed to meet them at Buhr Edhel, but they apparently went around it. Hero Koldana and his small army is at Nuath.’
‘How did all those armies get south of Buhr Edhel?’ screamed the Northmen representative. Bilbo replied, ‘Don’t scream at me, I’m only relaying the news that all your commanders sent in.’ Thorin, staring at the map, then said, ‘Well, allies. We can fight this one of two ways. We can fight a defensive battle, which will never end. Or we can go for it. By fighting a defensive battle, the treasure here is probably safe, but if we go for it, it could fall into their hands. What say you, allies?’ ‘Let us hear more of the second choice...’
Jeffery A Dobberpuhl: Wow! My opponent sure is aggressive. I had hoped to camp out on the Lonely Mountain with a bunch of armies and from there intercept his movements at will. He must have had the same plan. As it is, our armies bumped into each other at a variety of places on the road. Battles will occur at 2805, 3005, 3105, 3106, 2808, 3207 and 3010. Fortunately for me, in most of those battles I have massive army superiority. Because of the way army combat works in Middle Earth Play By Mail, whenever you win a combat, there is a chance you will capture or kill enemy characters. I’m really hoping this will be the result.
With both nations, I decided to focus on elven population centers as much as possible. If I can eliminate the Elves, the dwarves should be too far away to really help the northmen.
Goblins: The Goblins seem to have had the best combat placement. From what I can tell, I have a good chance at taking out a number of enemy armies. Further, in a couple of battles, my commanders are better than his commanders. What this means is that I can risk having my commanders issue personal challenges to some of the characters traveling in his armies. Since this comes before army combat, there is a chance I will kill off the character commanding his armies, disarming those armies before they even get to fight. We will just have to see how that works out. In the meantime, I purchased some steel at 3104 and then used the steel to armor 400 heavy infantry. I hope these hard-as-nails orcs will help me with the dwarves, with their enormous 3000 heavy infantry, come knocking on my doors!
Warg Riders: Well, last turn, I risked moving out of 2809 (Sarn Goriwing) to kill off an elf town at 3010. I made it to 3010 without enemy interference, but those pesky elves moved next to Sarn Goriwing. Grrrr. This means they might move in next turn and burn the place to the ground. Speaking of burning, I decided to destroy all enemy population centers that I can this turn. This is because I don’t believe I’ve seen all the enemy armies yet, and I don’t believe I will be able to hold on to these towns. Since in this basic game, we can’t make new population centers, I’m hoping to deprive the enemy of as many resources permanently as possible.
The Necromancer (insert maniacal laugh here) used his magic to track Bilbo. The li’l hobbit had decided to improve his agent skills and then move. Since the spell I used doesn’t give me where he moved, I decided to switch to Reveal Character. This spell will tell me within one hex of where the thief has moved to - gotta find that ring...
J R R TOLKEIN’S The Hobbit ends with a climactic battle which this new Middle Earth PBM scenario recreates in a brand-new game of ten turns, Battle of the Five Armies. For this demo game of Battle of the Five Armies, Jeffery and Scott play against each other with multiple positions, instead of just one each as usual. Scott plays the Free Peoples with the Elves, the Dwarfs, the Northmen and Bilbo Baggins. Jeffery plays the Dark Servants with the Warg Riders, the Goblins, the Necromancer and Gollum. But which side is going to win?
First thoughts
Scott Moyes: This is a condensed full battle game with non-stop action from turn 1. With the condensed rulebook, the game is easy to understand, but hard to master. The possibilities are endless: should you attack, defend or manoeuver? Each and every turn will tax your planning skills and you’ll eagerly await the arrival of your next turn report.
Jeffery A Dobberpuhl: Being a big Hobbit fan, I was excited to see what kind of forces were going to be used in this game. The first thing I did was go to the http://www.middleearthgames.com website and downloaded all five nation sheets. Every game starts with the same turn zero (first turn), so both sides get to see exactly what they are up against. I was going to be the Goblins and the Warg Riders, my opponent was assigned the other three: The Dwarves, The Elves, and the Northmen. These nations start out tough! You get great characters, big armies, and lots of resources. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw The Necromancer was going to be one of my characters! This was going to be a very interesting game.
The goal of the game is fairly straight forward: take out your enemy. You have ten turns to do this. This was going to be tough because my opponent gets three nations to my two. I decided to look at the big picture of what was going on so I downloaded the Scenario Map from the website and printed it out. What a great resource! All the nation population centers and armies are clearly marked out. This was a great move for me, because it showed how consolidated my forces were, while my opponents were scattered. A plan began to form!
The Goblins: The Goblin nation is a nifty infantry-army driven nation. Commander after commander is at your disposal. Since the goblins get to hire new armies for free, I decided to use this to my advantage. I decided to send out my initial three armies to do battle, and reserve as many commanders as possible to hire new armies for the next wave.
First, I checked my economy. Despite some great starting gold, my nation was already spending more than I was making. I quickly decided to sell off some extra resources and had two of my characters sell off gold and mounts. That gold would come in handy later. Second, I looked at the map. There was one enemy town just one hex away, and it looked to be owned by the Northmen. Ha! They would be my first victims! I issued orders to my commanders to move two armies into hex 3105.
Next, I saw the Lonely Mountain sitting at hex 3107. One of my special victory conditions is to try and hold this at the end of the game. I can see why. It sits right next to a crossroads. If I can control it, maybe I can control the flow of enemy armies. I issue orders to my other commanders to march on 3107.
Finally, I rechecked my turn. I had hired new armies, made some gold, and marched on two enemy population centers. Good enough. I typed up my turns in the Automagic program (a nifty Excel spread sheet program available from the website) and sent in the turn.
The Warg Riders: I took a look at the Warg Riders startup sheet. This is a nation that focuses on wizards and wolfriders (heavy cavalry). It doesn’t get as many commanders as the Goblins, but it really doesn’t need them. If the wizards get a chance to use their battle magic in combat, it could get really ugly for the enemy. Also, wolfriders are about as tough an army as you can make in this game. They have speed, strength, and a hardy defense that will make them tough to take down.
First, I checked my economy. Just like the Goblins, this nation starts out with lots of gold, but also operates at a loss. I decided to sell more food to pay for my military operations.
Second, I checked out my wizards. All of them had the ability to conjure mounts out of thin air! This would be useful as a single wolf normally costs 30 gold and I would need hundreds of wolves to be successful against the enemy. I ordered three of the wizards to conjure more wolves. Then I let loose a maniacal laugh. I think it helps to cackle evilly when filling out a turn sheet for a nation of wolf conjuring wizards!
Third, I checked out the map. I found that I could bring more armies to 3107. This would give me a huge stack of resources for the next turn. I could strike at the Elves, the Northmen, or the Dwarves, depending on what my enemy threw at me. I issued orders to bring more armies to the Lonely Mountain. Then, I saw that I had one army at Sarn Goriwing, right in the middle of Mirkwood, that would not be able to make it to 3107. However, there was an elf town just three hexes away and it looked undefended! I decided to charge into the pesky elves and see if I could take it next turn. This was a bit of a risk, because the elves have a big army just two moves away from Sarn Goriwing. I decided to laugh at the puny elves and throw caution to the wind.
Fourth, I saw that the Necromancer has the ability to see what an enemy character is doing! I decided to use him to track the movements of Bilbo. After all, Bilbo has the One Ring, an artifact that increases an agent’s stealth by 40 points! Since most skills are ranked on a 1-100 basis, 40 points is a healthy increase. I’m hoping to get lucky and find myself in a position to get the ring back from Bilbo. Finally, I decided to send Gollum out to steal enemy resources. Gollum is a 20 point agent with a 40 stealth. Stealth makes agent actions work better, so I’m hoping he can steal some gold or something from a Northmen camp next turn. I have him guard the population center he is in (to increase his skill) and then move to 2910. I double check my turns and send them in. What will happen next? I can’t wait for my next turn sheets!
Turn 1
Scott Moyes: Tactical maps were neatly spread out over the solid gold table. Neat lines of the advancing armies, both good in blue and evil in red, were already on the maps. The Burglar, Bilbo Baggins, was tasked with making the marks on them and he was darn good at it. Thorin Oakenshield then said, ‘Bilbo, what does all these pretty marks mean?’ Bilbo looked up from the charts and said, ‘What all this means is that most of the planning you put forth has come to pass. The Elves are hard pressed in a couple of places, but overall, it is as you planned. There are a couple of surprises, though. Would you like a more complete briefing?’
The Dwarves, Elves and Men gathered folded their arms, leaned forward and all nodded. Bilbo went on, ‘Well, according to the reports, we are hard pressed in a couple of areas. Somehow Captain Krusnak of the Warg Riders slipped by the blocking efforts of the Elven Armies commanded by Regent Thranduil and Lord Ohtar and they have landed at Hen Gwerion. This is not good as Captain Krusnak has 900 Warg Riders and should be able to take the town. According to our plan, the Elven Commander Argaldor has blocked the eastward movement of the Warg Riders on the Northern Road, but - bad news! - this army is commanded by The Necromancer himself.
Commander Argaldor will be but a small block in the road for The Necromancer as he has 800 Warg Riders with him. Elven Hero Dorlas also, according to plan, blocked the Goblin armies from moving south. There are two armies there, a small army under Captain Anglach and a large army under Commander Gashbuz. So, for the Elves, the hot spots are at Hen Gwerion and along the Northern Road.
There are bright spots for the Elves: Commander Camthalion has a small army at Mithrond, Lord Legolas has a small army at Crug Abarr, Lord Ohtar has an army at the Warg Rider camp of Lag Slif and Regent Thranduil has an army of Heavy Cavalry at the Northmen camp of Amon Gastal.’ The Elves present shook their heads as visions of the massacre of the North Road armies passed through their heads. Bilbo went on, ‘The Dwarven armies are now in theatre. Commander Bombur has a small army east of the Northmen town of Bur Edhel. Just behind him is the main army of Regent Dain II. Hero Fili and his small army is the only Dwarven army in battle at this time. The Goblin camp of Lag Deras is just east of us. I don’t remember it being there on any maps I’ve ever seen. Anyway, Hero Gloin is back at Iron Hold with a small army and of course, Thorin, you are here with your small army.’
Bilbo picked up some ale, drank the whole mug, and then went on, ‘The Northmen are pressed at Buhr Edhel. There is a small Goblin army under Veteran Angulion. Also, just south of Buhr Edhel, on the north/south road, Commander Girion II and his army ran into a whole bunch of trouble. Well, there is some good news too, Hero Swithwulf and his Heavy Cavalry army is also there. They are facing a huge Goblin army under Regent Duran, a large Goblin army under Captain Ogrod and an army of Warg Riders under Commander Rashkuk. I know they were supposed to meet them at Buhr Edhel, but they apparently went around it. Hero Koldana and his small army is at Nuath.’
‘How did all those armies get south of Buhr Edhel?’ screamed the Northmen representative. Bilbo replied, ‘Don’t scream at me, I’m only relaying the news that all your commanders sent in.’ Thorin, staring at the map, then said, ‘Well, allies. We can fight this one of two ways. We can fight a defensive battle, which will never end. Or we can go for it. By fighting a defensive battle, the treasure here is probably safe, but if we go for it, it could fall into their hands. What say you, allies?’ ‘Let us hear more of the second choice...’
Jeffery A Dobberpuhl: Wow! My opponent sure is aggressive. I had hoped to camp out on the Lonely Mountain with a bunch of armies and from there intercept his movements at will. He must have had the same plan. As it is, our armies bumped into each other at a variety of places on the road. Battles will occur at 2805, 3005, 3105, 3106, 2808, 3207 and 3010. Fortunately for me, in most of those battles I have massive army superiority. Because of the way army combat works in Middle Earth Play By Mail, whenever you win a combat, there is a chance you will capture or kill enemy characters. I’m really hoping this will be the result.
With both nations, I decided to focus on elven population centers as much as possible. If I can eliminate the Elves, the dwarves should be too far away to really help the northmen.
Goblins: The Goblins seem to have had the best combat placement. From what I can tell, I have a good chance at taking out a number of enemy armies. Further, in a couple of battles, my commanders are better than his commanders. What this means is that I can risk having my commanders issue personal challenges to some of the characters traveling in his armies. Since this comes before army combat, there is a chance I will kill off the character commanding his armies, disarming those armies before they even get to fight. We will just have to see how that works out. In the meantime, I purchased some steel at 3104 and then used the steel to armor 400 heavy infantry. I hope these hard-as-nails orcs will help me with the dwarves, with their enormous 3000 heavy infantry, come knocking on my doors!
Warg Riders: Well, last turn, I risked moving out of 2809 (Sarn Goriwing) to kill off an elf town at 3010. I made it to 3010 without enemy interference, but those pesky elves moved next to Sarn Goriwing. Grrrr. This means they might move in next turn and burn the place to the ground. Speaking of burning, I decided to destroy all enemy population centers that I can this turn. This is because I don’t believe I’ve seen all the enemy armies yet, and I don’t believe I will be able to hold on to these towns. Since in this basic game, we can’t make new population centers, I’m hoping to deprive the enemy of as many resources permanently as possible.
The Necromancer (insert maniacal laugh here) used his magic to track Bilbo. The li’l hobbit had decided to improve his agent skills and then move. Since the spell I used doesn’t give me where he moved, I decided to switch to Reveal Character. This spell will tell me within one hex of where the thief has moved to - gotta find that ring...
Jeffery A Dobberpuhl
2004-10-07
2004-10-07