Strategy and Tactics: Rhudaur (1650)

Lord Arfanhil stood before Broggha, Chieftain of the Wastclans venting his irritation. "I tell you , we have to choose soon! We cannot remain neutral, as you seem to think we can, without getting crushed by the coming conflict!" Broggha laughed.
"Oh really? Been to the training grounds recently? I think that our forces are more than sufficient to keep our neighbors at bay."
"That," sneered Arfanhil, "is part of the problem. Or have you forgotten that soldiers have to be paid? We can ill afford the legions we have now, let alone the numbers we'll need in the coming conflict. I tell you Broggha, we're standing on the edge of a precipice, and the moment we slip there's going to be a long fall..."

Rhudaur has the misfortune of being perhaps the single-most precarious neutral position on the map. Just as Poland is the doormat of Europe, Rhudaur is the doormat of Angmar and can get stepped on by armies both coming and going. Unlike the Harad, Corsairs, and Dunlend; Rhudaur cannot be ignored because its towns lies practically on top of the Witch-King. Unlike the Easterlings, Rhudaur does not have a core of relatively secure population centers to rely upon should things go badly. Thus, Rhudaur walks upon a diplomatic tightrope, and every turn of its precarious neutrality will have you sweating bullets. You must communicate with both sides if Rhudaur is to survive, and be very careful in what you say--any slip is likely to result in your getting attacked. Therefore, this article focuses first upon the player-to-player communications, not the other way around, or your kingdom is going to get reduced to smoldering wreckage. As the set-up warns, you truly are between the anvil and the hammer.

A diplomatic nightmare:

• War in Angmar, (Arthedain and Cardolan): The armies of Arthedain and Cardolan are going to strike against the Witch-King, and it is a short jaunt from there into Rhudaur itself. How do you know that they won't turn against you to remove a potential threat? Unlike the Witch-King, the Free can make short-work of your lightly-fortified population centers should they chose to do so. Nor are the Free going to like watching the huge Rhudaurian armies sitting idly by, circling like vultures while the war rages. Pressure is going get exerted on you to join in, and you can't wait too long! Should you wish to join the Dark Servants, you must intervene before the Witch-King loses any of his initial Major Towns or you will be joining him on the chopping block shortly thereafter. Should you wish to join the Free, you need to strike against Angmar to get a share in the spoils.

• War in Angmar, (Witch-King): A completely separate problem is the armies of the Witch-King. Don't kid yourself about how mighty your starting armies are. The forces of the Witch-King are every bit as powerful at the game's start, and his characters and artifacts are far, far superior. He's going to have dragons, he can turn your characters into hamburger in any challenge, and he can destroy your towns and major towns far more easily than you can his. It is not unheard of (though in my opinion a mistake) for the Witch-King to march on a neutral Rhudaur. Don't let this happen! You and he can ill afford to battle each other. His armies can easily get destroyed in the process of reducing half of your realm to a smoldering wreckage, armies he needs to battle the Free. Do not get into a war with the Witch-King while you're neutral! On the other hand, you don't want his armies sitting at home, either. Promise not to attack him while neutral, and keep this promise. You want to see the Witch-King battling Arthedain and Cardolan on their soil, not on his. This keeps all armies involved away from Rhudaur, and temporarily solves diplomatic problems #1 and #2. This in turn allows you to delay your decision as to which side to join and will allow you jump in to subjugate Eridor or destroy Angmar as you see fit. When Free armies begin battling in Angmar, it's a sure sign that you're going to begin feeling the pressure to declare.

• Bribery (Both sides, but generally the Witch-King): It's quite possible that there is going to be some straightforward "Join us and we'll give you X" going on. I Strongly advise against conditioning your joining a side based on bribes. First, It'll irritate whoever gives it to you, and your diplomatic headaches are great enough without intensifying them. On the Free side of things, the Free have enough to do without wasting orders giving you things, for these are orders that could be better used destroying Angmar; increasing your security. ("Gee, my army would have been there to shield your capital but I had to transfer that artifact to you..." On the Dark Servant side of things, NEVER accept a bribe from the Witch-King (unless, of course, he is completely incompetent thus will be of no help anyway). He has enough to do without being bothered by greedy neutrals making him waste orders. Furthermore, any artifacts he transfers you will just undermine his own security, and hasten his destruction. (Remember what I said about your head going on the chopping block shortly after the Witch-King falls if you go evil?) The Witch-King characters are also less likely to be lost than yours. preserving those artifacts for the Dark Servant team. If the Dark Servants want to bribe you, (and you are going to join them) I'd suggest two. First, demand that the Cloud Lord send two agents up to help immediately, and get that promise in blood. The Dark Servants might ignore the pleadings of assistance from the Witch-King, but you and he together might be able to get them to send direct aid (if they haven't already). The other "bribe" you'll want is a town (which you'll upgrade) or a major town in Mordor. Aside from financial support, it'll give you a retreat should things go badly.

• Imladris (Noldo): Yet another source of trouble is Imladris at 2209. The Noldo have and army there, and you can assume that they're going to be raising troops there every turn. Those troops cannot march to war against the Witch-King without cutting across your territory, interfering in the Free's war against Angmar. The major town itself provides a temptation for your armies, particularly if the Dark Servants reveal it for you, and you're not going to like staring at that Free icon every turn. "What if it marches on me?"(See #1). This is a problem best ignored. Do not attack it while you are neutral, and do not allow the Noldo army there to march across your territory. If you declare for the Dark Servants, you can assault it easily enough then. If you declare for the Free, you're going to want a large army to be there to help you against the Witch-King. Either way, don't screw around with it, and promise the Noldo not to mess with it even if it gets revealed while you are undeclared. Keep this promise.

• Goblin Gate (Dragon Lord): Like Imladris, this is a problem best ignored until you declare. You can't really affect it as long as Imladris is in the way, so why worry about it? You can send troops to support it or take then...

• The Army of Khazad-dum (Dwarves): Ever hear of the expression, "Better him than me?" It applies here. You want the Dwarves to march east from 2211. If you join the Dark Servants, you'll have a short life span if he hasn't marched east by the time you declare, for you can be easily crushed by the Dwarves. Keep in mind that if the Dwarves march on Goblin Gate they can easily go into Rhudaur next if they haven't already turned back into Mirkwood; and you'll need a large army to face them. If you join the Free, you'll want him to march east to crush the Dragon Lord anyway. Either way, you don't want to fight it and you want him pounding the Dragon Lord (sorry Khamul!) As a side note, I'd pretty much stake out a claim to the entire area between the rivers south of Rhudaur for camp placement, and I'd stand firm on this against the Free (probably the Dwarves) and Dunlend. The Dwarves can easily place camps out west by the Noldo, and Dunlend has tons of hexes crying out for camps. You don't, and putting them within easy access of Arthedain and the Witch-King isn't particularly appealing.

• The Ruins of 1609: Someone is going to put a camp here, and it isn't going to you (at least while you're neutral). True, it would be nice to have a camp here, but it'll cause far more trouble than it's worth. Arthedain isn't going to like seeing anything preventing him from marching on you if you decide to go evil, and he's going to block the road against the Witch-King. It isn't worth it to aggravate any tensions between you and the Free by trying to get a camp there. (If you are declaring for the Dark Servants and there isn't one there yet, then by all means, put one down. It'll give you one turn's notice before the Free can assault your home areas.)

• Dunlendings: A neutral Dunlend. Wouldn't it be nice to go the same way as them? Shouldn't you discuss which way you're going to declare with him? Absolutely not. Tell him that you're not sure which way you're going to declare, that you're not leaning either way, and that you haven't decided yet. Your position is entirely too tenuous to risk either side getting a whiff of which way you're going to declare prematurely. If the wrong side hears which way you're leaning, all of your diplomatic headaches are going to get far worse than they already are (if they don't just destroy you.) On the other hand, don't blab to either side which way he is leaning either; Neutral should stick together...

• Your armies: Your last, and probably worst, diplomatic problem is your armies. As things stand at the game's start, you cannot afford them and have probably three turns before you exhaust your gold reserves. Additionally, your armies are large and capable of doing a fair amount of damage to either side if you use them quickly. Hence, your economy and your desire for quick military gain are going to temp you into leaping into the fray quickly. This is a bad idea. Don't let greed get in the way of a considered decision. Do not attempt to conquer your neighbors until you have declared and have reached a decision as to which way you want to go after careful thought. If you attack the Witch-King immediately, he'll burn several of your population centers because you won't have enough support from the Free yet. If you attack Cardolan or Arthedain "instantly" it is unlikely you'll really be ready for them. You'll take (maybe) a town or two, then get thrown back. Then all those armies...the Dwarves, Imladris, and anyone else the Free has, will devote their full attention to crushing you (as the easier target) before you are ready for them. Remember, you've got a road right down the middle of your nation and lightly fortified towns sitting in the center of the easily reachable plains. Attacking a neutral Dunlend is also a bad idea. First, he might declare just before you smash him, earning you the hatred of his new allies. Second, he may declare the same way you intend to, and you'll have antagonized or eliminated and ally. You also cannot hold any population centers you take from Dunlend unless the Free let you hold them.

So if attacking anyone early on is a bad idea, what do you do with those armies? How can you afford them? There is no easy answer. I see two possibilities besides and immediate assault against your neighbors ( addressed above). First, you can raise your taxes, with the obvious results and consequences. This will ease the pressure on your economy while you decide which side to support. The other possibility is to disband most of the troops and then massively raise them again shortly before you declare.

The option of disbanding troops requires careful play. First, do not tell anyone that you've done this, unless you want to encourage an attack. Second, do not disband everything! Keep "shadow" armies moving around on your map, and keep some of your men-at-arms to inflate the apparent size of these armies. This is the tactic I used in game 190, disbanding all but the heavy calvary and a few hundred heavy infantry and men-at-arms (saving some 13,000 gold per turn for a total of 78,000 gold by the time I declared... money I was able to pour into camps and characters). Though the saving are considerable, a word for the wise. This particular tack is extremely dangerous.It leaves you wide open for an assault by either side, and requires a turn or two to "gear up" before you pick a side. Whatever you decide to do to deal with your armies, be careful! You cannot repulse and assault from either side without taking massive damage, so keep your ear to the ground and stay on good terms with your neighbors.

Diplomatic Conclusions:

A couple of general pointers: First, the instant a non-Rhudaurian army appears upon any of your population centers, you must pick a side and declare immediately; preferably against the cretin who marched on you. Make it clear to both sides (in a friendly way) that you will declare if marched on, that you know what you're doing (if you don't, learn fast), and that you don't intend to make them wait "forever" while you make up your mind. You should declare by turn 10 regardless, but circumstances can easily hasten the need for your decision.

Second, you must declare before the Witch-King is beaten, whichever side you choose. If you join the Free, you must join in (don't try it alone) before he is broken to get a share of the spoils. If you join the Dark Servants, you must declare before the Free take any of the Witch-King major towns, and intervene in a massive assault against the Free home areas (and send the Witch-King support in Angmar). This requires careful timing to decide when you "must" declare. If the Witch-King is fighting in Arthedain, you still have time. If Free armies are pouring into Angmar without equally strong Witch-King armies to fight them (don't forget dragons!) it's definitely time.

Third, don't get greedy. Don't pick a side because of bribes... it'll come back to haunt you.

Tactical and Strategic Moves:

Dark Servants Rhudaur: It goes without saying that you should immediately try to sway Dunlend to your side. If he has joined the Free already (or does so later), divert an army to try to knock him out of the war as he has a sole major town within easy reach. You'll need to raise troops at both major towns and at least one of your towns every turn, as well as recruiting some dragons. One force should be sent to smash Imladris and de-fang the Noldo while everything else gets hurled against Arthedain. Intercept, delay, and destroy the enemy armies before they reach Rhudaur or you're doomed. Work closely with the Witch-King and pray he is competent, for you will become the main Free target the instant you declare. Unlike the Witch-King, your major towns are easily reachable and lightly fortified. If you and the Witch-King are good, you may be able to hold Arthedain, Cardolan, Noldo, and the Dwarves at bay for some time. Concentrate on wiping out Arthedain, for unless you can eliminate one of your foes (or the Free screw up) you're trying to cheat fate. Keep waves of armies of armies pouring out of Rhudaur, and remember that the longer you hold out, the longer you prevent the Free in the west from assisting North Gondor, the Woodmen, and the Sinda. Naturally you'll want to set up a retreat of some kind in Mordor on the side while the war rages...

Free Peoples Rhudaur: First, unless you are prepared to turn a good portion of your realm into cannon fodder, do not fight the Witch-King alone. (For that matter, don't declare Free until you have direct military support in Angmar.) Your first goal should be to capture 1907 and 1906, and burn 2006. The fortifications at 1907 and 1906 will shield and delay Witch-King armies attempting to attack Rhudaur. Do not capture or hold any Witch-King population centers in the mountains. Burn them and remove the fortifications. Anything left in the mountains will eventually be turned into a forward base for the Dark Servants; once they're emissaries are good enough to influence them away. Then you'll have to go back to burn them like you should have in the first place.

A Free Rhudaur needs to destroy the Witch-King (and any Dark Servants Dunlend) as quickly as possibly so that it may begin pouring military support into Mirkwood and North Gondor for use against the Dark Servants coming out of Mordor. You cannot afford to crush the Witch-King and become complacent any more than Arthedain, Cardolan, or the Noldo can, or the Free will lose. Set up a base in Mirkwood or North Gondor and begin raising forces close to the front.

Finally, you will need to think about improving your relations with the Noldo, Arthedain, and Cardolan or your forces will get in each other's way. Additionally, improving relations with the Noldo will release the Noldo to march across Rhudaur out of Imladris without getting stuck in your fortifications, increasing the pressure on the Witch-King.

"So we are agreed?" asked Broggha.
Arfanhil nodded. "Yes. I'll give the necessary instructions." Arfanhil left.
Broggha rose and walked to the northwest window. He was silent for a moment, staring first north, then west. shaking his head , he muttered softly to himself. "May we live to see the dawn..."