Game Pace

[Kris]

I am curious how many turns usually go by before the Shadow player begins his attacks. Or to put it another way, how long does the Free People's player have to prepare the West for the onslaught?

[Veldrin]

Kris said:

I am curious how many turns usually go by before the Shadow player begins his attacks. Or to put it another way, how long does the Free People's player have to prepare the West for the onslaught?

Difficult to answer, I would say that it depends on in what area of Middle Earth the initial attack comes.

Sometimes the Shadow will strike in the north-east first; this takes some movement from the S&E armies from Rhûn and the Sauron army from Dol Guldur. And both nations must be at war.

Sometimes the attack come at the fords of Isen and that is the fastest attack possible since Isengard is adjacent to the fords. Naturally Isengard must be brought to war but that is easily done with one muster die.

As FP player it is vital to remember that a few lost Strongholds is OK. You can't save them all but you must hold some of the areas where the Shadow decides to strike. Many times have I seen my beautiful plans of defense laid to ruin simply because the Shadow did not strike where I was lead to believe he would.

The first attack usually comes between round 1 and 3, this might leave no time at all for the FP player to prepare in some areas but it might be enough in others.

[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]

[Marc Grad]

This is a very interesting question.

I think it really depends on 3 factors.

1) SP Card draws

2) SP dice

3) How fast the Companion is moving

If you get a good share of Muster and Army dice in the first few turns, then you can quickly bring the SP empires to war, and also quickly move them into position to make attacks. But this also depends on how fast the FP is moving the companions. If they are fast out of the gate, I might play event cards that hurt the companions, and if I get alot of Palantir dice, then I might try to draw more event cards.

Also, the event cards help me to plan my strategy...For instance, if I get some good muster cards for the Easterlings/Saurman forces, I might take an extra turn or two to bring them into the war. On the other hand I think you can engage with the Sauron forces more quickly, again if you have good supporting cards.

at least imho...

[cheup]

I agree, that this heavily depends on the cards of the SP player.
In my last game I, as the SP player, played the card "Threats and Promises" in the very first turn which made it unpossible for the FP player to advance his nations on the political track.
Since the FP player did not manage to get a companion to a desired FP settlement it took several turns before the actual attack began.
In the meanwhile the SP player deployed his armies all over Middle-Earth.
It was a very short game.