The Free People lose more ME 1650 games than I would expect. They have more and better population centers. Their characters and artifacts are at least in the running with the Dark Servants. If everything is taken into account the Free Peoples probably have the advantage. Why then do the Free lose games? Is it Dragons? Neutrals?

The title of the article says "money," so is that my answer?

Well... yes, but there is more to the story.

Geography and the defense of Mordor:

The geography of Mordor forces the Dark Servants into an efficient organized division of labor. The Fire King has to guard the West entrance into Mordor for his own survival. The Dog Lord must likewise guard the Northwest entrance. The Dark Lieutenant and Ice King are similarly bound to the use and defense of those entrances. The Cloud Lord, while more concerned with the defense of the South of Mordor, does not have to worry about an attack from this direction for a decent number of turns--if ever. So what to do with those starting troops? Without a word said, those Cloud Lord troops are usually sent to those very same West or Northwest gates of Mordor.

The Northeast entrance to Mordor is the same story--new names. The Long Rider and the Dragon Lord have vested interests in the general area.

Even the Blind Sorcerer finds his troops channeled into one of these passes, again defacto cooperation is the result!

In brief: Eight of the ten Dark Servants, even if they do not speak a word to each other, are funneled by the geography of Mordor into common logical operational areas. Additionally, the compact geography of Mordor assures that what threatens one player threatens his neighbor--again the seeds of cooperation are here. This is a tremendous advantage for the Dark Servants in, especially, the early stages of the game.

The contrasts to the Free Peoples' geographical position are stark and obvious. Where does the Eothraim operate--the Northeast gate, Northwest gate, does he conserve forces, or hit the Dragon Lord? The other Free Peoples situated near Mordor, in general, have a similar plethora of distracting possibilities. South Gondor can even ignore Mordor and sail off to attack the Quiet Avenger--I've even seen South Gondor sail off to attack the Witch-king!

To approximate the cooperative impetus the geography of Mordor gives the Dark Servants, an enormous amount of communication must go into coordinating the efforts of the Free.

Cooperation, Mutual Support, and Trust--Impediments to a Free People victory:

The above discussion establishes the major hurtle to a Free People military victory: The Free People must be disciplined about cooperation to a much greater degree than the Dark Servants. Furthermore, there are two other key ingredients: the Free must mutually support each other and, within reason, trust each other. (Note my differentiation between "cooperation" and "mutual support")

Cooperation: means my armies will join your armies at this location.

Mutual Support: means I will send you gold because you need it, I will risk my characters to defend yours because you need it, I will give you this major town because you need it . . . In addition to making cooperation more difficult, Middle-earth geography inhibits the Free from mutually supporting each other. For instance, it is not always obvious to the Noldo just how and why he should help North Gondor half a world away.

Trust: Economics adds to the situation in an even more subtle manner. The Free are, in general, economically well off to the point that they can function independently. This is one less avenue for the bonds of cooperation, mutual support, and trust to form (via helping each other). i.e. You don't trust your neighbor now because you didn't need to trust each other earlier.

Picture this scenario for the Dark Servants: it is the middle of winter and Free armies are at the gates of Mordor. Money is given, dragon locations shared, emergency backup capitals are discussed and offered . . . The Darks, to survive, need to share surpluses, plans, and information--this builds up a base of cooperation, mutual support, and trust that can be called upon even in the later stages of the game. In general, the Free Peoples just do not have this team building impetus thrust upon them.

The Free Peoples are driven apart not only by geography, but even their own wealth (money)! The deadly combination of wealth, lack of geographic focus, and lack of team building fosters a fatal independence and isolated operating methodology among the Free Peoples.

Money, the root of all Evil:

If cooperation, mutual support, and trust are the keys to Free People victory, corruption is the key to a Free People defeat. The Free playing style can easily degenerate into one of pinching pennies, suspicion of motives, and an immediate angling for the win. Never mind a strong North Gondor may allow an Arthedain win--"Arthedain did their part vs. the Witch-king, we deserve a rest..." etc. It can boil down to, "You fight while I build up my economy." Strong characters, a large tax base--all can be measures of a country's wealth and come under my definition of "money".

Which brings is back to the title of the article: Yes, money can be a more formidable force in preventing a Free victory than Sauron.

Concluding thoughts:

Geography: So did GSI allow a design flaw in their game? Not at all. The geography adds to a perfect simulation of Middle-earth. Now I don't think the game designer said "Let us allow the geographical layout of Mordor to simulate the organizational of effects of Sauron dictatorially directing his forces out of Mordor." But, that is the end result!

Economics: The game designer may or may not have said, "The rich and spread out nature of the Free Kingdoms will simulate the difficulties of the Free Peoples in uniting against Sauron." Whatever the reasons, the geography and economics of the game helps create the perfect simulation of the two forces at the outset of war--the Dark united, the Free divided. Just ask Gandalf. This is a wonderful touch to the game, as it hits the mark dead on.

The Hope: Often as a Dark Servant I ended my letters to my fellow Darks, "Come let us liberate these Free Peoples from the clutches of their hedonistic ways and add meaning to their life in the service Sauron." I refrained from calling the Dark Servants "Evil" and the Free People "Good". In that light I would like to give Free Peoples a warning (myself included)--If you are a Free People who is not also Good, your heart is already Sauron's. Will not your empire soon follow?

This is a charming, fun morality play that is built into the game. I really enjoy it. If you play Free People you must take the hard and honest way to win the game--trust, generosity, cooperation . . . If you fall from grace in your motivations and actions the "good" cause begins to fall apart and the Dark Servants are much closer to victory. Just how true is that to the morality of real life--the good road (the Free Peoples road) is not the easy road. ("Once you start down the Dark path Luke..." oops--wrong genre.)

OK, now you know why the Free People lose games. To overcome Sauron-- to win-- as the 'Good' Free Peoples of Middle-earth you actually have to act Good. What a shock!