War of the Rings: Rise of the Witch-King

[agonistes]

1760ys

We press ahead. Our army approaches Zaligarthar. I have moved troops into position to defend the roads. A troll is taken out by a mithril axe warrior:



There are more of them cruising around now. But I attack Zaligarthar anyway, despite my roads being in jeapardy.

The invasion force:



We take the city, and I slide some trolls over to help cover the invasion routes.



Knowing the mountain fighting is going to get tough, I put some cities to work on artillery:



Finally, a new city is founded. It is southwest of Rivendell, at a naval crossroads. A good vantage point. Well, not really. Just thought it would be cool to have a city there. And it is!

 

[agonistes]

1770ws


"Lord King, we are encountering tough resistance!"

read: all hell is breaking loose, and our plan to defend the invasion routes is a bust.



Dwarves are tearing up the roads and taking out trolls. I have no choice but to give up the roads and defend my cities. I am running low on trolls, and the orcs get eaten alive going on the offensive.


"Lord King, I have a plan."

"Very well, Kyriakos, tell me this plan."

 

[agonistes]

"It begins with Coldfells..."

Coldfells has the potential to be our main naval port. It is one of our only cities that is somewhat connected to the sea, and its infrastructure is nearly complete.



We build up a navy there, and ship troops out. Moving south down the river, we pass under The Bridge of Despair:



Then we land at and conquer Tharbad:



We move south, and build two cities at the next two river crossings. Then we take Headvorn:



After that there is just one more crossing to build a city at:



Our navy is free to move to the sea, then east and up through the Bay of Anduin past the Isle of Tolfalas:



We can make a landing just south of Minas Morgul:



This is a map of the route:




"Yes, a suprise attack on Mordor's southern flank. Very nice Kyriakos. Start work at once!"

 

[agonistes]

1780ys

The naval attack is put into action. I start building ships, and stocking troops at Coldfells. In a few turns though, I realize I need all the troops at my disposal to fight the dwarves, so I cancel the plans for now. Once the dwarves are dealt with, I can move ships down and pick up the troops for the trip.

A force of orcs led by a barrow-wight take Kheled-zaram, the dwarves northernmost city.



But a lone dwarf has snuck past my defensives and destroyed a mine on a resource tile. I angrily snuff him out with a troll:



We also suffer major road damage on the front. The invasion routes are all but gone:



In the capital, a minor wonder, the War Council, has built an army for us:

 

[agonistes]

1790ys

I manage to get my hands on a decent map of Mordor:



Meanwhile, a small dwarf army shows up:

 

[agonistes]

1800ys

1800 marks the official end of the Coalition of the Rings. Both Rohan and Gondor sign a peace treaty with Mordor. I had cleared out our old military alliances and then renewed about 5 turns before this happened.




"Again betrayed! Mordor shall pay for this!"

 

[agonistes]

1810ys


"We will put this betrayal to our advantage."



Arnor kindly declares on the Khazad for us. Soon after, the dwarven soldiers pull back.

Then I get this message:



Thanks to my tweaks to the mod, this is another tech that upgrades the troops of my enemies, but does nothing for me. At least the dwarves pulled back... . And I haven't seen a serious threat from the elves lately.

A few dwarves remain, and I need to keep an eye on them. What concerns me more is the stack of elves that appears:





"Son of a... !"

I quickly dispatch the dwarves, and take out one of the two elves right next to my city. Then I maneuver troops to cover my city:



The Battle of Zaligarthar begins!

 

[agonistes]

1810ys cont.

The Witch-King then puts the Great Betrayal to his advantage:



"Ah, mighty Sauron, let us discuss peace."
Angmar and Mordor sign a peace treaty. I try to get his world map:



That won't work for me... let's try something else:



Hee hee hee. Absolutely nasty. I take a look around and notice this:



Probably why Gondor signed the peace treaty. I also notice something else... strange beasts, far to the south:



As the turn ends, my new MPP pays off:



Thank you Dark (and dumb) Lord Sauron!

 

[agonistes]

1820ys

The elves move in, but rather than stick my troops out on a hill with no road, I let the elves get closer.

 

[agonistes]

1830ys



This is interesting because its one of the newly added civs, and a naval power. I haven't seen any of their moves yet, so I've no idea what could come of this. They have a few UUs, one being an early bombarding galley. Another is a longbow defender. Gondor is much stronger. I'll keep my eye on how this plays out.

Some excellent news for our defenders at Zaligarthar:




A nice little defensive boost. I also control the wonder that puts barracks in all of my cities.

The elves have moved onto a worked hill now. From there they can get onto a mountain, so I can't wait for them any longer. I have to make a sortie.





A classic pincer move. I don't have enough firepower to wipe them out, but I certainly weaken their ranks. The white indicates where the elves are unable to travel due to there not being a road on the southern hill.

 

[agonistes]

1840ys

The Battle of Zaligarthar continues!

The remains of the first stack move onto a mountain, as I feared. Then another stack shows up. The first of my artillery, an orc springald, arrives on the scene.

 

[agonistes]

1850ys

Now another force of elves shows up. Notice the pink line which shows the natural wall the elves must go around because their friends the dwarves destroyed the roads.




Meanwhile, the warg pack is on the move:

 

[agonistes]

1860-1890ys



I finally meet the Numenor. They have been warring with Arnor and Edenwaith for a while now. I get their map. They seem to be in good shape still, thankfully.

It seems the Battle of Zaligarthar is over! The elves fall back. Something to do with Mordor?



I take out a few dwarves and begin to position troops to defend workers so I can build a new invasion route towards Upper Moria:



A Mithril Axe Warrior makes his presence felt, but so do my new springalds, which redline him. My workers move down, covered by a handful of trolls.

 

[agonistes]

I just noticed that the elf and hobbit workers don't have terraformed checked in the editor. I fixed it, but that won't help this game. Should I continue w/ the story, or start over? The elves still seem to be doing okay.

 

[Verarde]

Continue. It would be a total waste of time for you if you restarted now.

 

[agonistes]

Yea... I may have to get some workers over to the elves/hobbits and do some terraforming for them. What a chore.

 

[agonistes]

Dog/house sitting this weekend. Don't know if I will get an update done.

 

[need my speed]

Could you upload your mod somewhere? Perhaps with Megauplaod or somesuch (you said you couldn't use teh downlaod database of this site, right?)? Also, what is the base mod (the mod you tweaked)?

And, of course, continue with this story; it's great!

 

[agonistes]

Also, what is the base mod (the mod you tweaked)?

Okay, I uploaded the tweaked version to atomic gamer. I will put the link in the first post. Hopefully it works.

 

[need my speed]

And you did! Thank you!