Returning to Middle-earth

    by Kevin Mcgee


    (originally printed in Flagship magazine)


    • Middle-earth Revisited
    • Rules
    • The Team Game
    • The Game Design
    • The New Scenario (2950)
    • Hints
    • The Bottom Line


    MIDDLE-EARTH PBM is many things, but most of all it is fun. The character-based system used in this game is a refreshing change of pace from other games where a player is pushing around stacks of faceless units, but be forewarned, don't give into the temptation of identifying too closely with your characters! Untoward things can happen to even the mightiest in Middle-earth.

    The game map for ME-PBM is a beautiful full color work of art representing north-western Middle-earth as it was in the Second and Third Ages. A hex grid is overlaid on the terrain features to regulate movement and give precise locations.


    Middle-earth revisited:

    First, for newer readers, a recap of the basic Middle-earth PBM game system which the new scenario also uses: if you're familiar with this, you may want to skip to the next section. The rule book is very professional, one of the best in PBM. The rules are well organized, with a table of contents and an index and nicely appointed with illustrations and tables. The turn results are all laser-printed and feature sketches of each of your nation's characters. The results of character orders are presented in a prose format, making a pleasant break from page after page of columns of numbers. The economic information and reports on a nation's population centers and military are a combination; mostly numeric values with text headers.


    Rules

    The rules are moderately complex, but easily understood. There are 138 different orders and 71 spells that offer a wide range of character actions, with orders divided up into character skill orders, movement orders and miscellaneous orders. The character skills are command, agent, emissary and mage. Command characters lead armies and navies, perform political tasks (e.g. raising or lowering the tax rate) and they can name multi-class characters. Agents are for many players the most fun or the most frustrating character type. Agents are used to steal gold or artifacts from other nations, and can also kidnap and assassinate other characters. If you play a Free nation you will learn all about agents and their skills - from the receiving end. Emissaries are needed to create or improve population centers and to influence other nation's population centers to your side. Emissaries are also used to uncover secrets about other nations, spread rumors and recruit other nation's characters outright or as double agents. Mages are the masters of magic and can cast spells that influence many aspects of the game. They are also the basis of the dreaded curse squads -groups of mages traveling together cast multiple curse spells on an unsuspecting enemy character.

    Mastering all the nuances and possible combinations of actions will take a new player considerable time and research. To shorten the learning curve, there is an abundance of material published formally and informally that discusses strategies and tactics for the game. The veteran players on the networks, or in your game are always happy to answer questions about ME-PBM. It is possible to start playing the game without an exhaustive examination of the rule book, but expect to make mistakes if you leap in feet first.


    The Team Game

    ME-PBM is very much a team game. There are ten nations each of the sides of good and evil and five neutral nations, a distribution which generates excellent diplomatic interaction. The early game produces tension as each team scrambles to develop its coordination and communications while simultaneously courting the neutral nations. As the game progresses, this tension translates into the inevitable military confrontations between the forces of good and evil.

    One of the most telling gauges of a game's popularity is the number of player-created add-ons it generates. In my year of playing ME-PBM, I have seen a computerized order entry program that is quite sophisticated, a computerized map and movement modeler and an excellent weekly newsletter that was circulated on the internet. There is a very lively exchange of thoughts and ideas on the networks such as Compuserve, America Online and the internet (Newsgroup:rec.games.pbm). There are also compilations of game data that are available if you want them.


    The Game Design

    Returning to the design: a player starts the game with eight characters and depending on which nation he is playing, various population centers, artifacts, armies and stockpiles. The different positions in ME-PBM vary widely in their starting power, resources and character potentials. The unpredictable course of each game and the fact that there is no inherent limit placed on the expansion of nations keeps the smaller nations from being considered uncompetitive. There is no question that playing the artifact-rich Noldo Elves or the Dunadan Rangers is more appealing to many than playing, say, the Woodmen. But if the the Witch-king of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgul, is sacking your towns and the assassin squads of Ji Indur, the Cloud Lord, are dogging the footsteps of your characters, a backwater position suddenly becomes very appealing. There is also the appeal to some of playing the harder position. You know how the bragging goes, "You won as Northern Gondor? Hmmm, not bad. I won one as the Woodmen". Silence, or a single, respectful 'Wow" follows.

    Something that ME-PBM has that many games do not is a realistic chance at a comeback. ME-PBM has a strategic situation that is fluid enough to allow you to replace almost any losses. You can replace population centers, characters or armies. The more developed the asset was when the loss occurred, the longer it will take to replace, but nothing in in the game is irreplaceable. There are many things your allies can do for you if the bad guys have been raining on your parade. One or more of your allies can subsidize your entire economy, transfer population centers to you or guard your remaining population centers with characters and armies. It is hard to knock someone completely out of the game if they have support from their friends. All that is necessary for a comeback is relief from the pressure from your opponents and the desire to try. In some other games, once your are behind the cure on development or expansion, there is no hope of catching up. This is not to imply that nations cannot be driven suddenly and finally from a game of ME-PBM. If a nation loses its capital and has no back up capital, or if it goes bankrupt, it is gone.

    Economics in ME-PBM is pretty abstract. There are seven categories of trade goods and gold, all of which can be produced, or mined. The goods can be used for construction and supply,or you can trade goods or gold with other nations and a world market. Players knowledgeable about the workings of the market can disrupt their opponents' economy by driving down the prices of selected trade goods.

    Combat and the military are also largely abstracted. A nation has available six types of troops plus warships, transports and war machines. There are four classes of weapons and four types of armor to equip your valiant troops with. Less obviously for newcomers to the game, there are several types of NPC units that can be recruited for service with your armies., the most notable being Dragons. NPC units are one of those areas in which veteran players have an advantage over beginning players without advice, as you need to know the secrets of recruiting them.

    The combat system is adequate and is not the focus of the game. Unfortunately, many nations are faced with raising large armies of naked troops armed with wooden clubs, something some players find dispiriting. Most players are able to overlook this and simply fight with the ill-equipped troops. The algorithm for combat and the majority of factors influencing the outcome are published in the rule book, making for intensive calculation when campaigns are being planned.

    One thing that is not mentioned in the advertisements for the game is that 'team games' and 'grudge matches' are available. A player sending in a solitary request for a position is matched with 24 other players and a game is started. This can be fine, but being a 'pick up game' you are really at the mercy of chance as to the quality and cooperativeness of your new teammates. However. you will, in my experience, meet many fine individuals and even a few exceptional ones in a typical game. Even after many years of gaming I continue to be pleasantly surprised and mildly in awe of the caliber of people involved in creating and playing PBM games. Never underestimate your opponents! Requesting a game setup as a pre-arranged team has some advantages, however. The best is that you don't have to spend the first turns trying to contact your new teammates.

    As an aside, I am playing on an 'All AOL' team where all the team members have an E-mail address on America Online, and an 'ALL CIS' game where all 25 players are on Compuserve. E-mail is a very convenient and inexpensive way of communicating with your allies. and enables teams to discuss roles and strategies at considerable length before the first turn is due. So., if you have some friends that would like to join you in a new game, bring whole gang and ask for a team setup!


    The New Scenario (2950)

    So much for the basic system. The game system is the same in the new scenario, so players familiar with the previous 1650 scenario can step right in and start playing. The differences lay in the nations, their initial set-ups, the artifacts and encounters in the game.,Some notes to help players choose the countries that suit their style: In the 2950 scenario the forces of light are; The Noldo, Sinda and Silvan Elves, the Rangers, the Dwarves, Northern and Southern Gondor, the Riders of Rohan, the Woodmen and the Northmen.

    The forces of darkness are the Nine Nazgul (Witch-king, Fire King, Ice King, Blind Sorcerer, Cloud Lord, Dog Lord, Dragon Lord, Long Rider and the Quiet Avenger and the Dark Lieutenants (of Sauron). The five neutrals are the Corsairs, the Khand Easterlings, the Rhun Easterlings, the Dunlendings and (Saruman) the White Wizard. Every nation starts this scenario in a weak economic and military position. Some are weaker than others.

    The neutrals are actually better off than many of the aligned positions, and the Corsairs have about the best economic base of any of the nations at the start of the game. Some of the nations, such as the Witch-king, the Noldo Elves and the White Wizard start the game with one or more awesome characters.

    These advantages are balanced out by greater strategic challenges. The Corsairs are neutral and must maintain that neutrality or, by choosing a side, make enemies of some of their neighbors. The Witch-king has great starting characters and a plethora of artifacts, but his holdings are split between Mordor and the northern end of the Misty Mountains. The Witch-king's capital is on the frontline with the Gondors facing Osgiliath across the Morgul Pass. In the Misty Mountains he is surrounded by four free nations!

    The Noldo have Elrond, the elven lords Glorfindel, Galdor, Gildor and Cirdan and an arsenal of artifacts that rivals the Witch-king's, but they have an enormous budgetary deficit that will bankrupt them quickly if it is not corrected. The nation of the White Wizard has the only player-controlled Maiar (Saruman) in the game and has a mountain-ringed citadel for his capital, but he is in the strategic Gap of Rohan where one provocative move could start a war he may not be ready to fight.

    These positions can be contrasted with such as the Fire King, the Khand Easterlings and the Northmen. The Fire King starts with an average collection of characters - even the Fire King himself is a pretty average Nazgul and an economy comparable to the other smaller positions. To balance this, his population centers are all inside fortress Mordor and safe from the first strikes by the Free Peoples. The Khand Easterlings are also a nation of average strengths, their major advantage being their location in the east and southeast of the map. If the Khand can keep good relations with the with the Dark Servant, his nation can grow unmolested. The Northmen are the only free people with a significant presence around the Sea of Rhun. They are pressed up against the Rhun Easterlings and a couple of Dwarven settlements on the shores of the sea. They are uncomfortably close to the Long Rider and the Blind sorcerer of the Dark Servants and in danger from a swift, killing strike.


    GM hints

    Before the 2950 scenario was released, GSI published some information about it in their monthly magazine Whispers of the Wood. One of the differences that they highlighted between the 2950 scenario and the older 1650 scenario was that the power levels in the new game would be much lower. This is indeed true: several of the nations start with only five population centers and a very small army. All the nations in the 2950 scenario will have to expend considerable effort in the early game to develop their economies. The nations of the 1650 scenario have the economic base and standing military to immediately start hostilities. In the 2950 scenario only a few position scan expect to start fighting on turn #1. The rest will be using their emissaries, agents and mages to develop their positions.

    In the review game for this article, I am playing the (neutral) Rhun Easterlings. As I write this I am readying my orders for the fourth turn and so far nothing spectacular has happened, as all sides are ramping up their economies. The (free people) Northmen have been communicative and we are trying to stay out of each other's way as we place camps. The (free) Dwarves have called once and we exchanged pleasantries, but he has been unwilling to help me in any substantive way. Neutral Saruman has written to me several times and we trade what news there is to be had. Saruman tells me that the neutral Dunlendings and Khand Easterlings are declaring for the Free Peoples. If that is true, then Saruman will most likely go Free also: most players reckon that Saruman and Dunlendings normally swing together.

    Of course, as a neutral I am not privy to the plans and intrigues of the two sides that are normally a large part of the early game news. If I turn the Rhun nation to the free peoples, I will be fighting the Dark Servants in the Rhovanion, the plains north of Mordor and possibly in the eastern area that is the rear of Mordor. If I choose to declare for Sauron, I will have to fight the Northmen and the Dwarves around the Sea of Rhun and in the Iron Hills. I don't want to tip my hand just yet!


    Bottom line

    In summary, ME-PBM 2950 is an excellent game of moderate complexity with a very well implemented character-based system. The'Tolkienesque' flavor is there for those that wish to enjoy it. The map, character and place names, artifact properties, NPC and famous starting character abilities are all faithful to Professor Tolkien's books. The combat and economic rules are abstracted to a large degree, but still work well. On a 1 to 10 scale, I would give it an 8.5. At the current $6.50 per turn, it is great gaming value.

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