#War of the ring

[warfantasy]

Gondor's War Strategy

The Realm of Gondor was the most important and dangerous of Sauron’s enemies. It was also the closest, and thus the first to be attacked. Yet despite being the greatest military power still opposing Sauron, by the late Third Age it was in its twillight, having fallen into decay long ago. Gondor had been in retreat for centuries, losing all the lands it once held across the Anduin. Plague, civil…

[coopsgirl]

This day in Middle Earth history: March 28, TA 3019

Celeborn crosses Anduin; destruction of Dol Guldur begun.

More from the Appendices: Though grievous harm was done to the fair woods on the borders, the assaults were driven back; and when the Shadow passed, Celeborn came forth and led the host of Lorien over Anduin in many boats. They took Dol Guldur, and Galadriel threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed.

No more updates until April 8.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"GROND THEY NAMED IT, IN MEMORY OF THE HAMMER OF THE UNDERWORLD OF OLD."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on an illustration depicting Sauron's host during the Siege of Gondor, bringing up the hundred-foot long battering ram, Grond, to smash the Great Gate of Minas Tirith and burn the White City. March 3019 of the Third Age.

"Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it."

-- "The Siege of Gondor," Book IV of "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: The Return of the King," written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Source: www.instagram.com/tr.middlee_earth/p/CxtNQ_0Nknh.

[askzloyxp]

Him and I have about the same level of understanding this game

[madcat-world]

Caradhras the Cruel - D8P

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

War of the Ring - Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth by Andrea Piparo

[danielpsharma]

Episode 21: The Pass of Cirith Gorgor

Cirith Gorgor: Year: 3019.

[prototype-slim-bob]

“big mess” board game nite lmao

[miloscat]

[Review] The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring (PC)

I’m making an exception to my “no strategy games” rule for this old-school romp.

My epic quest of playing through LotR games is nearing its end. I decided to opt out of strategy and tactics games for the most part as they’re not my favourite genre these days, but I do have some fond memories of Starcraft, Homeworld, Total Annihilation, Age of Empires, etc. One thing that interested me about this one was its similarities to Starcraft and Warcraft 3 (as opposed to Battle for Middle-Earth’s more complex Total War-style take), and its place in the small group of games released after the movies but without using the movie licence. The result is usually a novel take on the universe that sometimes skirts the film depictions in amusing ways.

Like I said, it’s a Warcraft 3-style game ie. a traditional base-building real time strategy game in 3D graphics, with two resources and population caps, plus the addition of Hero units who have special skills and experience bars. It does take cues from Starcraft though; the Evil faction works pretty similarly to the Zerg, as you have to “corrupt” the land with structures in order to build on it, like the Zerg creep, and they have population-raising units like the Overlords. There’s a wide variety of unit types with the usual research upgrades and such; having so many was overwhelming at times so I recommend focusing on a few types on each map.

War of the Ring is showing its age now but lives on thanks to fan patches. I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to run it without the dedicated work of the community, not to mention the nice-to-have widescreen mod. This work seems to be mainly for the purposes of continuing multiplayer matches and expanding the game’s content, but I was only interested in the solo campaigns included in the package. And they’re pretty cool!

Most of the scenarios feel fresh due to mostly sticking to events that happen on the periphery of the story, or otherwise reinterpreting things into the typical base-building strategy battles. The Good campaign starts just pre-Fellowship with Gimli defending Erebor, Legolas hunting Gollum in Mirkwood, and Boromir fighting in Osgiliath. There’s a few maps that skip through the story: Lothlorien, a nice cinematic Helm’s Deep siege, and a pitched battle near the Black Gate (with a Balrog!), plus a few extras like retaking Minas Morgul and such. Strictly adapting the story would have been bland, so I liked this approach.

The Evil campaign, rather than doing a what-if story like Conquest did, has a series of flashbacks throughout the Third Age to Sauron and Saruman gathering power and winning their early victories in the overall war. This lets them stay in the continuity of the story while exploring parts of it you normally never see, which was very cool. Along the way there’s fun cutscenes with the orcs and even a new villainous “Hero” character in the tactical Haradrim Saleme. Also, she’s a lady! (The only one in the whole game, I think.)

For a game that’s simply applying a tie-in licence to an established game formula, War of the Ring does it quite well and represents a polished example of the genre with plenty of quality of life features. I love the chunky, stylised look of the characters and the way it explores the edges of the LotR story. There’s only two factions but plenty of diversity within them, and the Hero units adds some spice. I do wish you were able to zoom the view out a lot more, and I did encounter some crashes, especially on Helm’s Deep for some reason (it’s to be expected for a nearly 20-year old game, just make sure to save often). I’m glad I was able to get it running at all frankly, so on the whole it was a nice treat. I did have to turn the difficulty down to easy though, because I am an RTS scrub.

[doalg]

[dragonkingancalagon]

Gondor's War Strategy

Gondor’s War Strategy

The Realm of Gondor was the most important and dangerous of Sauron’s enemies. It was also the closest, and thus the first to be attacked. Yet despite being the greatest military power still opposing Sauron, by the late Third Age it was in its twillight, having fallen into decay long ago. Gondor had been in retreat for centuries, losing all the lands it once held across the Anduin. Plague, civil…

[alicebeckstrom]

But those who saw the things that were done in that time, deeds of valour and wonder, have elsewhere told the tale of the War of the Ring, and how it ended both in victory unlocked for and in sorrow long foreseen. ~ The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power

[coopsgirl]

This day in Middle Earth history: March 27, TA 3019

Bard II and Thorin III Stonehelm drive the enemy from Dale.

[oldschoolfrp]

Variant box cover for SPI’s big 1977 War of the Ring wargame, featuring character art from one of the posters for Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 film.

[thranduilofsmirkwood]

Fuck me it IS a lot of orcs.

Aragorn at the Black Gate of Mordor

Where's Brego?

Return of the King

LOTR Memes

[comparativelysuperlative]

War of the Ring is amazing. It’s like if someone started from LOTR Risk, tried to make it an adequate game, and succeeded so hard that you’re basically playing out alternate-history Middle-Earth.

But whether the RIng gets found or destroyed seemed kind of random. We’re looking for ways to ignore the Ring and play a more-or-less fair game about just the military victory. (The game is very biased against the good guys, as it obviously should be.) Candidates so far:

Free Peoples’ armies get endless reinforcements like the Shadow and also one free hit each combat round. (Probably going too far.)

Endless reinforcements, plus all members of the Fellowship can give the player one extra action die if split off. (Normally Gandalf and Aragorn can, raising it from four to six. This would make eleven, higher than the Shadow’s max of ten dice.)

Get the Ring to the Grey Havens. Get Gandalf to Orthanc. Roll a Will of the West. Isengard switches sides. (Balanced-ish and even historically plausible!)

Anyone who’s played this have opinions?