Maiden Voyage

by Heidi Wolters

Maiden Voyage is a section of this column that presents the first PBM gaming experiences of someone who has never participated in Play-By-Mail gaming before. Readers should remember that the impressions of a seasoned gamer may differ.

Middle-Earth Play-By-Mail - Part I

The first thing that impressed me was the art. On its cover, the rulebook sports an impressive rendition by Angus McBride of the scene at Minas Tirith when the gates have fallen and Gandalf stands face to face with the Witch-king. I also received a poster-quality terrain map of Middle-earth, with all of the pertinent regions. The only one missing was Eriador, the region which contains the Shire and Bree. The events covered in the game take place in the Third Age, circa 1650, well before Hobbits made the larger political scene.

The rulebook itself is fairly straightforward, which is important those of us who, like myself, panic at the sight of anything more complex than a manual can opener. Sequence of events and character orders are neatly laid out, and there is a separate list of orders listed by skill type, number, and code. I have found this to be extremely helpful as it saves me the time and and aggravation of rooting through the rulebook for every little thing.

There was only one problem: according to my nation's victory conditions, I am supposed to hold, at game's end, a population center belonging to an ally of mine. This bothered me somewhat, simply because the player in control of the nation to which that population center belongs is quite a pleasant fellow.

There are twenty-five nations active in the game, which fall into three categories: Free Peoples, Neutrals, and Dark Servants. The Free Peoples are self-governing, as are the Neutrals. Sauron, Tolkien's Dark Lord of Mordor, holds sway over all of the nations of Dark Servants. Each side seeks to crush the other either by military, espionage, or the finding of the One Ring, an artifact that Sauron created and infused with his own power. Typically, the Free peoples try to find and destroy it, while the Dark Servants strive to return it to their Master and see the Free Peoples defeated. To the Neutrals (who cannot win on their own, and must choose a side before game's end) it can be a powerful bargaining tool if the player handles his or her position correctly and very carefully.

As in The Lord of the Rings™, the Ring can only be destroyed in the fire of Mount Doom, in the very heart of Mordor. To accomplish this, a single character must find his or her way to Mount Doom. The order for the Ring's destruction/transferal must be given twice in the same turn, so the character cannot perform any other action that turn. They certainly don't make it easy.

My favorite nation is that of the Sinda Elves, and I was fortunate to be placed into a game where that position was open. GSI does their best to give each player his or her first choice in positions, but it's always best to have a second in mind, since there are no guarantees.

My first turn found me with several characters who are quite famous In Tolkien's realm, chief among them being Amroth, Nimrodel, and Thranduil. I have eight characters; three army commanders, two navy commanders, and two characters who are primarily mages but can also act as agents or emissaries. My forces were quite scattered at first, with my armies at the four corners of Mirkwood and my unattached characters frolicking in the fields by themselves. The armies I was given seemed a bit on the small side.

Among my first actions, of course, was the recruiting of a few hundred light and heavy infantry and some archers. I had my mage characters 'prentice magery,' an order which increases mage rank (a measure of how potent the mage is). Due to a lack of available revenue, I had the fellow defending my capital attempt to raise taxes to 50%. The population,of course, did not support this, so the attempt failed on several turns. Luckily, the rule is that if your nation's revenue fall below a viable level, taxes are automatically raised. It is, however, still possible to go bankrupt, once the tax rate reaches 100%, which will put you out of the game.

As I mentioned before, my forces were quite scattered. I had three armies in Mirkwood, one navy many miles east in Rhovanion, and one many miles southwest in Southern Gondor. At first, I decided to try to gather my forces together in Mirkwood, but the rivers aren't navigable that far north and it would have taken too long to anchor the ships and march those troops overland. My first thought was, "great, these navies are just going to end up as Sauron's chew toys." It took some time of worrying over my navies and literally chasing shadows in Mirkwood for me to realize that, "hey, those little index cards with the funny writing on them that appear with every turn are not just strange props, but actual communications from possible allies!"

It's important, especially for players, who, like myself, are new to Play-By-Mail, to contact fellow players. I spent a long time being lazy and shy and suffered for it. Strong alliances and trade agreements can be formed and it is possible to pick up some useful information and strategies from more experienced players. My contact with two of the other players (the Woodmen and the Noldo Elves) has benefitted me greatly. The player controlling the nation of the Woodmen is relatively new, but he was able to clue me in on where the good battles were going on, and we are supporting each other both with advice, and military aid. With his greater experience, the player controlling the Noldo Elves has been giving me advise on tactics and game diplomacy. Without his help, I would not have realized how important is to officially downgrade relations with enemy nations.

Armies tend to fight harder against opponents that they hate than against opponents they merely dislike. It's also nice to know that just because my armies are scattered, doesn't mean they'll end up as cannon fodder due to inferior numbers. I have friends to watch my back.

Finally, my turnsheets, straightforward though they are, made much more sense to me after I was made aware of the 'sequence of events' sheets.

As the game stands now, I have an army under Commander Thranduil joining the Woodmen and Noldo Elves in the Siege of Goblin Gate, and one army in the south under Regent Amroth about to engage the forces of the Dragon Lord near Dol Guldur, where I hope to meet up with my ally, Captain Waulfa of the Woodmen. Two mages are with Amroth's army. One of them is casting Barriers, a protection spell, and the other is summoning a wind storm. Nimrodel has just succeeded in slaying a Werewolf who'd been harassing one of my cities, and is moving to join one of the armies. One navy is guarding my nation's southernmost port city, and the other, under Commander Ohtar, is anchored at Ilanin, a city belonging to the Easterlings. The Easterlings are a Neutral nation, and as such must choose a side by the end of the game. It seems now that the Northmen are trying to aid in that attempt. These are my first experiences with combat and diplomacy, and I feel like I'm in a roller coaster car, poised at the top of the very first hill! My next resultsheet should be very interesting indeed....

Part II

As is par for the course for someone with an ego like my own, I was way over-confident.

While one of my armies, under Regent Amroth, was on its way down to take part in the siege of Dol Guldur along with the Woodmen and Noldo, I passed through a hex occupied by an army under Lieutenant Dûran of the Dog Lord's nation. I could have avoided it. Should have, in fact. However, I was too full of that new-player pride to heed the Woodmen's advice and my own better judgment. I marched straight on through to find that I was outclassed and outnumbered by about 200 troops. I still figured that with my troops' level of training, I'd be able to take him. Wrong. It wasn't a rout, exactly,but Amroth was a distinctly unhappy camper at the end of that turn. Commander Thranduil, on the other hand, was faring quite well in the north. Having learned something from Amroth's spectacular failure, I was more sensible with Thranduil and was successful in aiding in the overthrow of one of the Dog Lord's strongholds that was only a hex or two away from my capital.

No matter how well-trained your armies are, it's always a tense wait between turns, worrying about how your troops are, how good the enemy troops are, and whether or not someone's going to make a move on your capital while your armies are away - not that I've ever left my capital unguarded. It's also a fun wait, kind of like waiting to open your Christmas presents. Anticipation does wonders for the workings of the mind.

As I mentioned in my previous article, if you don't want your characters to be batted around like helpless balls of yarn, it's important to keep in contact with your fellow players. They often have a lot of insight to offer. After all, how else would one find out where the best sieges are occuring? It also saves a lot of page-flipping when one of your allies can say, "okay, now before you join in the siege, it would be best if you downgraded relations with the Dog Lord. That's order number...... " As I also mentioned before, it's neat to hook up with other Tolkien fans across the country. It's nice to be able to assume that the people you meet are not only as intelligence, knowledgeable as you are, but also have at least one common interest. A word of caution, though: these friendships can wreak havoc on your phone bill!

Right now I am licking my wounds and working on building up my finances. Upgrading troops can be an expensive process. Things are beginning to heat up quite a bit for us dwellers in Mirkwood.The Dwarves have fallen, and the Eothraim and Northmen have disappeared into the mists. I know of only five Free Peoples nations in the game. I feel that I will be able to hold out for at least a while longer, though, as long as I can keep my armies fed. I am quite anxious to see what happens next, as I also have a feeling that the rest of the Dark Servants will be ganging up on us. That will be quite a feast! We'll at least have a few chucks of their flesh to nibble on the way down!