LotR Battle Evening 7/11/06
<H1 style="MARGIN: 24pt 0in 0pt">
Pre-Show: Stonedogs (Dwarves) vs. Red Toof (Elves)</H1>
<?
Games 1 & 2: Control
In a control mission, there are multiple locations on the map, the longer you control these key locations the more points you earned. Both games had 20 minute time limit or win at 4,500 points, whichever came first. Both games were won quickly by points.
In game one I spent too much time exploring and recruiting hobbits from an outpost. Meanwhile the Dwarves captured two of the objectives and harried my base until it was too late.
Game 2 the elves played for keeps, getting on the objectives fast for a quick win before the dwarves could muster those annoying catapults (more on that later).
Game 3: Heroes
In game 3 we played a ?Heroes vs Heros? this is a quirky little variant, in which each player starts with just 5 heroes, and runs around the map trying to level them up and beat up each other. There is no building or anything. A fun little diversion. The dwarf heroes made shore work of my fortress and it was over?win to Stonedogs.
Game 4: VS
A ?Versus? match is a classic RTS match up. Both players build up and go at each other, game doesn?t end until one side is decimated.
Stonedogs will have to tell you about his early strategy (not sure what he did) but I went for a medium defense. Elvish strength is in their arrow upgrades, so I need to stay alive until I can afford them. I built 4 watchtowers spaced out evenly across the opening to the valley my base was in. Each tower contained two archer units, and had a spearman unit in porcupine formation with ?hold? orders at the base. Behind each tower was a healing structure and a heroic statue (increases my xp).
This defense was working reasonably well, and I did manage to get to my mighty arrow upgrades, however the dwarves showed up with a large war host backed by catapults. Dwarven catapults throw 2 rocks at a time!! Flaming shot started a massive ground fire that required I send my builders in to throw water. They decimated my formation, so I sent all my pikes straight at them. It was bloody, but they killed all the catapults.
It resulted in mutual destruction on the field, and after I did have about 3 battalions of archers and a battalion of pikes. With my defenses blown asunder, I decided to advance. This small force, fully upgraded, marched into the middle of the table, slaughtering almost everything they came across. The addition of an Ent or two allowed me to start pounding dwarven watch towers to rubble. Things were going great, and I felt like I was on a come back?
Then Stonedogs?s catapults started throwing flaming shot again, this time at my ents. My trees burned quickly, and despite some fancy maneuvering, I couldn?t counter. Stonedogs ?s resources were coming too fast, and he had built a second army that hit my base while my harassing force was in the field. By the time my force returned home, I?d lost all my builders and my fortress. Game over?victory dwarves.
<H1 style="MARGIN: 24pt 0in 0pt">
Main Event: Stonedogs (Dwavers), Red Toof (Elves), & Alphalegionaire (Mordor, Men)</H1>
Our first attempt at 3 player games were good fun. We decided to play ?King of the hill? which places a single building in the center. If a player can capture and hold the building for 4 minutes straight? he wins. If he loses control, the clock resets and he has to start over.
The first couple games involved Stonedogs and I rushing the objective and fighting it out, while Alphalegionaire, who chose Mordor, fiddled about with his build strategy. Stonedogs quickly won one, then the elves won one. Stonedogs also discovered there were inns on that map which, when captured, added some nice resources, which allowed him to get to catapults quickly.
The latter games were more interesting. Alphalegionaire switched to ?Men of the West? which he knew fairly well, and we all realized that an early rush on the objective was a bad idea with three players, as the first two would kill each other and the third would carry the day.
Big Game
In the first of these games, with the help of the inns I was able to quickly build up a good sized force of maxed archers, ents, and pikemen. Stonedogs was on the objective and had it well defended from the front, with catapults behind.
With about a minute left before Stonedogs would win, I made my move with a massive force. The plan was to circle the objective and hit Stonedogs in the rear, killing his catapults, blowing through his infantry and capture the building.
On my way, however, I ran into a large force of cavalry also moving towards Stonedogs?s rear. As my pikes slammed into the horses flanks and the arrows loosed, my first thought was ?Cool, look how well I can kill them? but my second thought was ?Oh crap, that?s Alphalegionaire!?. Although I did manage to kill his force with minimal loss, the delay was too long, and I couldn?t get to Stonedogs in time. Another win for the long beards.
I believe Stonedogs is still giggling about this little incident even now.
Big Game + 1
In the final game we all again played it cautious, until we had a good sized force. Stonedogs again got their first (which is no small feat, considering that dwarves are the slowest), but this time the elves did manage to get to the center and drive the dwarves back! With still over two minutes left on the Stonedogs win clock I killed his last guy near the building. I was just getting ready to move in for the capture, but I hadn?t figured on Alphalegionaire!
He had set up some beautifully positioned Trebuchets on a hill overlooking the objective. Elevation is a key element in the game, as it greatly increases your LOS and range. With massive rocks reigning down on the objective, there was no way for me to deploy troops to retake it. We were forced to fall back.
I knew I?d dealt a strong blow against Stonedogs, and that he had nobody there, but those Trebuchets wouldn?t let me hold it. I figured Alphalegionaire would surely sweep in under his siege equipment?s protection and grab the building (thus resetting the clock to 4 minutes).
With that in mind, my army regrouped behind the humans and I waited for some Ents to build. But time was still running out! Alphalegionaire hadn?t grabbed it! Oh Crap, not another Stonedogs win?
My elves surged forward, and my new Ents?never ones to be too hasty? were given orders to go into full aggressive stance in Hth combat mode and I clicked right in the center of Alphalegionaire?s trebuchet position.
Hoping my Ents would deal with the siege engines, the rest of my army surged to the center?
But too late? The clock ran out. Stonedogs win!!!
Great games? and they really highlighted how tactical the game can be. I also love that there are different game types for both short and long gaming sessions, depending on what you feel like. In particular, King of the Hill seems to remove the classic 3 player problem of 2 guys ganging up on one until he is destroyed. Instead, the time limit keeps you focused on grabbing the objective and defending like a mad man.
Full kudos to Stonedogs for totally dominating the evening with his mighty dwarves. And Alphalegionaire definitely taught us the value of cavalry, which I?ll be doing a bit more research on in the near future.
I look forward to seeing you in the future on the battlefields of Middle Earth.
?For Rivendell!?
