Nation Communication and Mutual Support for the Free

As I've said before it is dreadfully important for the nation competing for the same goals to coordinate. With the technology available today, it is becoming cheaper and easier to communicate. E-mail, fax, phone, and even the good old postal service (not to exclude this magazine either!) are all reliable mediums. Friday and Saturday afternoons here at Tong Ninja HQ are a madhouse with phone calls from our compatriots. Our phone bills came sometimes reach the deficit of a small nation, but are manageable all the same. It saves us money by being more productive in game time and accomplishing tasks more efficiently. Not only that, but we've met some really interesting people and it is a big help to first time players to talk to the more experienced ones and gather information.

Here's how it equates for the Free (and this goes for you DS-type players too):

Turn 0: This is the opportunity to find out who the other players are in your game. Contact the neighbors nearest your position at least. Seventy-five percent of the time they know other players in the game and you can go right down the line and put names to position really quick. There isn't a nation in the game that can't use some kind of help from any other. (Except maybe the Noldo who I will talk about specifically later.)

As for the Neutral nations, get a jump on trying to open lines of diplomacy early. They begin on the same turn everyone else does and receive notes on turn one too. (No duh!) Some players come in the game with a plan in mind and stick to it. Quite a few don't. Fifteen to ten odds are a lot better, especially for the Freeps. Don't let the chance to recruit help slip by simply blowing the opportunity off. It may even upset Neutral players if no one contacts them and offers something enough to fight against you. (Remember 15 to 10)

Turn 1-5: The great artifact hunt begins! Noldo, Sinda , Woodmen, and South Gondor should really be in touch with each other in this endeavor. Any one else with mages capable of Locate (true or not) should also join this circle. Ten mages casting to find the same three artifacts cuts into recovery time that the opposite side has to make a concerted effort to find the coveted artifacts of Middle-Earth. It won't do any good to now where Tinculin is if Maben, Celedhring, or one of those turns to get to the location and another two to actually retrieve the object, why not let another character from another nation who is closer and capable go get it. So what if you don't have it? At least your side will keep it out of enemy hands.

Okay, now you've got a riddle with no clue as to the answer. Instead of trying for 4 or 5 turns to guess the answer, ask one of the other experienced players. Heaven knows we call other people at least once a week with riddles. And another thing (excuse my opinionated chain logic here,) if your playing a character nation with no armies, why would you need to hold on to all the 1500+ combat artifacts? I can understand adding to your personal challenge, but other nations short on artifacts in the field could really use them to save a couple hundred troops. Cooperative coordination is the number one key to victory. The uncooperative friend of my nation is my enemy's ally whether they realize it or not.

Turn 6-10: Let's get down to business! So now you've got all the agent and mage artifacts you can possibly use? What now? Time to put some strategies into action. Want to try putting your slight of hand to work? Great! But where? Arthedain, Cardolan, and the Dwarves have put a real hurting on the Witch King, and he's down to his three major towns. Bankrupt him! Even with three major towns his tax base sucks. Having to pay for all his characters is enough to make his accountant run in terror. He doesn't need gold disappearing from his reserves (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more!) Ask the nations on the front lines for character information. Hey Tharudan! Khamul just blew through my north flank and commands the army all by himself! Can you get him off me, I'm allergic to dragons, or at least steal his artifacts so I can challenge him? Combat reports and rumors are a readily abundant source of target identification for agents. Woodmen double scouts don't hurt either. One goal begets another.

Yeah, but what about my mages now? They cast spells don't they? You've got all the Spirit Mastery artifacts, figure it out. Mages are in themselves combat artifacts, and mages with combat artifacts are a double whammy. (Come on Big Bucks! No Whammies!) Maybe I watch too much TV? NEVER! Put your mages in the field. Keep looking for artifacts ON characters, or characters themselves and help what agents are able to assassinate. Conjure Food/Mounts is a good economy booster, or troop help for nations that need the supplies.

Turn 11-15: Help, I've fallen and can't get up! (Okay, maybe it's cliché, but it works.) By this time all the big guns have either hit or missed. Time to start begging for help, if you haven't already. A 5K reserve and 20K deficit does not equal progress. It's a shame there's no Mr. Cash in the game (if you're from the southeast, you know what I mean,) but the Dwarves and Northern Gondor can be just as good as Billy Packer. (They don't announce basketball the same, but hey!) I'm sure the Harad won't mind charging interest, and if his navy repossesses your major town, it's not my fault! Some careful diplomacy will provide the money you need. I certainly have no problem sending money to whoever needs it as long as I can cover my own expenditures. Better to survive on your feet than to have Sauron wander in and turn you and your gold into a slag heap. Speaking of economics, right about turn 6 would be a great time to begin buy outs, and market crashes. Coordination with the Northmen will prove fruitful in the endeavor. You know he has 20% market manipulation and would be the best at driving prices down. If turn 6 falls at the beginning of spring, so much the better. The DS recovering from the winter won't be able to sell at a profitable amount to keep there war machines rolling.

Turn 16-20: Game End. So, Angmar sits in a cloud of smoke from burning towns and Olympic swimming trials are being held in the Sea of Rhûn? What now? Good lines of communication will show near the end of the game. You know those funny little statements the Great God of GSI carves in the front of your turn sheet? Well, you don't have to fulfill those requirements on your own. So you need Khazad-dum, send the Dwarves 25k and provide a backup of equal importance. It's only fair and it gives you extra victory points. If you have extra artifacts and only need ten additional send 'em to others. Help each other complete victory conditions. You may not win, but why deprive someone else of a record or placement? We are all on the same side after all and they can certainly return the favor in another game. One big happy DS-kickin', Sauron-stompin', nature-lovin', freedom-winnin', rock'n and rollin' bureaucratic war machine. (That's carp! I'm gonna tell Gandalf on you Elrond! Give me those artifacts!)

Okay, but we do win occasionally and should more often. See you on the field!