I just finished misplaying the Harad for the first time in game 251. The only reason that I made it to the end was because the Corsairs and South Gondor screwed up even worse then I did. As with any game, I learned a lot for not only my mistakes but, also the mistakes of my enemies.

The things that really stand out about the Harad are its powerful economic strength, the major river that divides the nation, it is a neutral, and it's close neighbors South Gondor and even more critically, the Corsairs.

I will harp on this a bit, but the most dangerous threat you have in the early to mid game is the Corsairs. If you choose the same side, then you two will probably sweep the southern areas of all enemies. If you join battle, then you should win but, you will cripple your nation to do it.

Your characters are a problem. You only have 5 commanders and you really need at least 8. You have several emissaries, but, they are all better off as something other then pure emissary actions and none of them are better then a 10. You don't have enough agents and really should not count on agent help that may not be given. The mages you start with are enough, but it will be a long time before they are really effective and two of those are also emissaries.

For your first 4 character slots, I suggest you name 3 pure emissaries and one 10 Commander/20 Agent. The second batch of characters should be one 20 Emissary/10 Agent. Use the Emissaries to place camps till the pop center limit is reached and then have them upgrade pop centers till you are ready to move over to offensive Emissary actions. If you stack those 3 with Carlon and the Emissary/Agent you will have a 5 Emissary company with scouting abilities. The 6 commanders you will have after turn 1 should set up armies at 2730, 2732, 2734, and 2535. Use the pure Commanders at the capital and recruit 1600 HI a turn. You have enough gold to do this and to spare. This will give you the ability to defend both sides of your realm and the sea lift ability will let you move troops from one area to the other. If the corsairs go light while you go dark, you will really need the 5600 HI you can have raised on both sides of the river. One important thing to consider is to have some cavalry with each armies to enable you to recruit the mumakil since they are often found in the area.

Popular theory says that if you go dark you should blow all the docks. I have to disagree. If you go dark and you get the Corsairs to go dark with you, then the Gondor fleets become far less able to harm you. If you go dark and the Corsairs light, then blowing the harbors will still let the Gondors hit the Northern areas through the clear hex at 2632 while the Corsairs can go overland. The exception is if you can get enough agent help from the DS to nuke all the harbors in 2 turns. But if you choose that option, make the southern ones the ones you pay the most attention to. If you can, you want the Corsairs on your side and if you can not get that, second best is to go light.

The town at 2430 is very important. If you upgrade it to a major town and blow the harbor there, you have a secure backup capitol. If you do that, you need to make sure that it does not fall to Emissary action as you will have a very tough time getting it back.

One the short term, the Quiet Avenger is not a threat. However, if you can be tricked into a war with the corsairs, then the Quiet Avenger is best placed to pick up the pieces and in fact this is one of his best strategies. That is exactly what happened in my game and the Quiet Avenger placed second. If you choose to hit the Quiet Avenger take out both Varmag and the capitol on the same turn. Use the navy and a pure cavalry army to get the cap so that there is not a warning as any move of your forces towards the Quiet Avenger capitol is a sure tip off. If you can get the Corsairs to kill of Varmag, then you should be able to take out the Quiet Avenger in double quick time

Once again, it can not be stressed enough to get the Corsairs to declare for the same side as you if it is at all possible. The Quiet Avenger is a joke. South Gondor has it's hands full sending forces to defeat Mordor and really can not afford to send the troops to defeat you. That leaves the Corsairs who have a larger navy and if you are not very careful will out-recruit you. While you should win in the long run, you are going to get cut to bits trying.

Good luck!