War of the Rings: Rise of the Witch-King

[agonistes]

Rise of the Witch-King


Mod: LotM

Civs: 22
Map: 362x362 Middle Earth Map
Difficulty: High King (4)
Victory Conditions: Conquest

Notes:
1) Pre-placed cities
2) Limited settler production (2/20 turns)

3) Alliances:
a) Mordor/Isengard/Harad/Easterlings
b) Iron Hill Dwarves/Northmen
c) Arnor/Shire
d) Khazad Dwarves/Moriquendi

4) Angmar has an early barrow-wight wonder instead of spider wonder
5) No corruption
6) Gondor starts with 2 Citadel Guards; Númenor and Anduin start with a few ships

*Angmar can build Nazgul, but I will limit it to 1 (the Witch-King), and it has weaker stats at the start. Mordor can build the Rings of Power (and thus produce Nazgul) from the start.

Per some requests, here is my version of LotM as of 7/10/11:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/file.php?id=92656

**** Currently Angmar can produce Nazgul. You probably want to edit that out if you aren't playing as Angmar. I gave it to them for cosmetic effect for my current game.

And here is the map with the placed cities. (Note: If you redistrute resources with the editor, I suggest making the ruins, windmills, and similar resources 'strategic' beforehand, set the appearance ratio to about 140 or 160, then redistribute. Reset them to 'bonus' afterwards to prevent colonies. Also, for Oliphaunts and Bag End, remove them from the grasslands/plains terrains before redistributing, then hand place them after putting them back in.)

 

[agonistes]

Chapter I: The Fall of Rivendell



"A cold wind blows from the north. I, Dwimmerlaik, have at last freed myself from the chains of Sauron. Long has Angmar bowed to Mordor... but no more! Now my time has come."



In the highest tower of Carn Dûm, the Witch-King plots. The might of Sauron is great. Before his armies march to Mordor, perhaps it would be wise to build up a power base. Scouts are sent out.

 

[agonistes]

70ys

It is not long before we meet a neighboring civilization. To the south we meet King Valandil, leader of the Dúnedain.



Arnor foolishly agrees to trade with us. Little do they know Angmar hungers. We trade them survival for farming.

The civilizations may be rapidly advancing in technology right now, but the slow expansion due to the limit on settler production will see a sharp rise in the time between new advances in the near future.

The same year, our starting settler founds our first new city:



"My orcs will celebrate with wine!"

 

[agonistes]

130-190ys

Arnor is quite close to Angmar's southern border.

"I must scout the region more." With an eye to conquest, Dwimmerlaik orders his troops to scout the area.



Their nearest city, Thalis, is well defended on a hill:

 

[agonistes]

220ys

Every civ starts with one great leader, an army, and a settler. I was hoping to use mine for a second army, but it is a long way to Mordor (60+ turns just to get there). I decide to use my leader to build Angmar's first wonder, the Tower of the Witch-King. It provides a small production boost, and sprouts lower level barrow-wights every 18 turns.



Once the first barrow-wight is out, I'll stuff him into an army.

Strategically, the real problem is the Khazad dwarves. With their insane production, cities on mountains (yes, cities can be founded on mountains), and units that have strong offense and defense in one unit, they are problem. They and their elf allies not only control the road to Mordor, they are a very real threat. One of the human player's biggest advantages is that the AI often marches offensive units unprotected, and so they can be cherry picked. The dwarves don't have this issue once they discover Mithril. And attacking 8/8 dwarves who are moving through the mountains is not wise. It becomes a defensive game. Best to take the dwarves out, or at least weaken them, before they get to that point.

 

[agonistes]

Here is a view of the editor's mini map.

The quick route to Mordor is in red. There is not a road the whole way. The purple are the dwarves, who are in a locked alliance with the elves in yellow. The large blue cirlce is Mordor. The small blue circle is Dol Guldur, Sauron's northernmost city. It is on a mountain.

There is a road from Dol Guldur down to Barad-Dûr. To invade Mordor, it would be useful to have a road there. And take Dol Guldur as a staging point.



Just to the north of the dwarves, west of the mountains, is, of course, Rivendell. It is controlled by the Noldor, a second civ of elves. They are not in a locked alliance, and the rest of their cities are far to the southwest and east.

 

[agonistes]

A little bit of what I may have to wade through:



I like the idea of Moria being the dwarf capital, in case you were wondering. Enough so that I divided the city into 3 parts: Moria, Upper Moria, and Lower Moria.

 

[agonistes]

A few enticing screen shots before we continue with the story:

Osgiliath and Minas Tirith (Kyriakos' cities look fab!):



The Lonely Mountain (Iron Hill Dwarves):



Bag End:



And the legendary Helm's Deep:

 

[agonistes]

235-295ys

Angmar scouts locate another civilization, south of Coldfells (our southwest border):



We scout the area some. There appears to be but one city.



It too is on a hill, just as is Thalis. There is already a road to Thalis, but Rivendell appears to be unsupported, and is on the way to Mordor. Dwimmerlaik is deep in thought.

Far to the east, another scout comes across some ruins. They look dwarvish, but no one is home:

 

[agonistes]

310ys

Angmar produces its first (non-start) settlers! Where to found some cities...

On our eastern frontier are two good spots:





But for now, Dwimmerlaik orders the settlers to found cities closer to home:

 

[agonistes]

310-340ys

Our scouts find three more civs! The Khazad and Iron Hill Dwarves, and the hobbits.



Dwimmerlaik decides to cease tech trading. Right now, Angmar is driving to build the Mathom House, LotM's Great Library. A technological advantage will be everything in this game, particularly in a war between Angmar and Mordor, who both get wonders that produce nasty units every 60 and 100 turns, respectively.

 

[agonistes]

385ys

Angmar's scouts find a second race of elves, the Moriquendi:



Galadriel wishes to trade us Military Training for Sacred Cult (first decent offensive unit for shrine/temple).

"Forgive me, Lady Galadriel, but I fear Angmar must decline." We are close to completing the Mathom House.

490ys

Angmar's clever goblin engineers complete the Mathom House!



We have made contact with enough civs that a tech flood should start. The next turn, it does.

Now Angmar is concentrating on grabbing wonder techs, and the capital, Carn Dûm, and the Orc-holds are building wonders.

Two cities are focusing on building up troops thanks to our new techs, and a few are focused on workers in order to build strategic roads.

 

[agonistes]

505ys

A big year!

Dwimmerlaik rubs his hands together. "Yesss, a barrow-wight has come forth. It is Wethrin the Cruel. Now our army has a general. Let us plan for war!"



The Witch-King's first army, the Wailing Legion, marches. But to where?

 

[agonistes]

Dwimmerlaik studies the map:



White: Angmar (not all cities are shown)
Yellow: Arnor (human) - very spread out
Dark Green - Noldor (elves) - notice two cities, not close to one another
Light Green - Moriquendi (elves) - again, spread out
Aqua - Edenwaith (human)
Brown - Northmen (human)
Orange - The Shire (hobbits)
Purple - Khazad (dwarves)
Pink - IHD (Iron Hill Dwarves, dwarves)

Red shows existing roads, blue possible routes to Mordor.

 

[agonistes]

It is difficult to see on the min map, but just to the east and west of the mountains that run from Angmar to Khazad are two rivers. These and the mountains form three natural barriers.

Already, two workers are building a road on the west side of the Misty Mountains towards Rivendell.

Arnor is close, and studying the roads shows a two-pronged attack is possible. But that strategy would require two decent armies. Right now Angmar has one Army, and two Orc Warriors. We must rely on the strength of the barrow-wight as the tip of the spear. It seems Rivendell is the optimal city to attack.

If Rivendell is taken, then a road from Coldfells to Rivendell starts the path to Mordor. The question is where to go after that. Due east, over the Misty Mountains? Or south, through Moria and the Moriquendi. East may seem easier, but seeing the elven cities are split up, I expect alot of traffic on the road there.

Having the roads is not enough. They must be controlled.

"Send the legion to Rivendell at once! Prepare for war!"
The goblins howl with glee.

 

[Verarde]

Quite interesting! I look forward to the continuation!

 

[agonistes]

580-655ys

The scouts encounter an ally of our foe Sauron. Troops of Isengard! The wizard has been building quite an army. Roughly a dozen troops pass by.



In 610ys our next two settlers pop. The Witch-King sends them on a long trip, with secret plans...



Then in 655, Angmar at last discovers the Torog, the first of our non-wonder tech targets!



Soon all of the cities will be building troll dens. I decide not to switch cities over from whatever it is they are currently building. But the trolls dens become the number one priority!

 

[agonistes]

685ys

Another exciting year. Dwimmerlaik decides to send a missive to Sauron, while scouts encounter the troops of Rohan.





To the southeast, the Wailing Legion arrives at Rivendell!



Time for war,Gil-Galad!

 

[agonistes]

715-745ys: The Battle of Rivendell

The battle begins well enough. Wethrin the Cruel takes out two elf warriors. But then a bowman makes a sortie.



The bowman is a skirmisher. My Army could easily take him down, but I have two orc warriors not far, headed that way. I decide to let him go, and focus on attacking the city. But for reasons that cannot be revealed yet, it is crucial that skirmisher does not get away.



730ys. The battle continues. Rivendell is heavily fortified. Luckily the defenders are not well equipped, and poorly trained. The skirmisher seems to have taken up a defensive position on the south side of the river. My orc warriors continue southward.



745ys and finally Rivendell falls. The skirmisher has still not moved. Soon my orcs will take him out. Thankfully, for not far behind the warriors are my two settlers who will be fortifying the position at Rivendell with a couple of new cities.



Notice the nice luxury resources (olive oil) near Rivendell. Also notice the Dúnedain bowman to the west. This could be an issue down the road. I need that area very secured, and not just to protect Angmarian interests. I need that road clear.

 

[agonistes]

775-790ys

"Come now, Gil-galad, Rivendell is ours. Will you not have peace with Dwimmerlaik?" The Noldor want nothing to do with us. Jerks.

775 and a second barrow-wight comes forth from the Tower:



My capital is relatively undefended, but the trip to Rivendell is very long (@20 turns), and I need troops there for defense. The Witch-King sends his minion Ulathur on a road trip.

790ys and Angmar discovers the Dominion of Thralls, allowing for our first new government. But because Carn Dûm is a few turns from completing The Great Tower, I hold off on switching over.

Also in 790, our troops encounter an old friend:



"Ah, Sauron, Lord of Mordor. I trust you are well? Have you tried the hot pockets?"