Third playtest report

[steveowen]

Discovered a small mistake in our play. Under the latest rules the "There & Back Again" card only activates the North and the Dwarves if Gimli or Legolas is present in Dale, Erebor or the Woodland Realm so Gandalf in our game was not sufficient for this to happen

[Bullroarer]

I've been following the game's progress and have been somewhat worried that the Fellowship wins too often. I'm glad that the last two playtest reports have the Shadow winning - slamdunk in the last case it appears.

[steveowen]

One of the main objects in playtesting was to fine tune game balance. I think the fellowship side still have the edge but not by much. There is very significant interplay between the event cards, combat effects and action dice as well as the hunt sub-system which can produce a wide variey of results. This provides excellent replay value (I have played 55 times and still enjoy it even with my unadorned playtest kit!). There is inevitably a learning curve which is why sensibly Nexus are including a simpler version to get people started

[jochen]

Thank you!

I am really enjoying the playtest reports. Not only do they provide an insight in the game mechanics, but they provides great reading as well! I have also had concerns that the game balance might not be perfect. What I currently wonder is whether the battle can rage back and forth across Middleearth. It seems like when a battle for a region is lost then there is little hope of getting it back. Is this the case? Also what I would like to know is how long the playtest games have been?

/ Joakim Andersson, Sweden

[steveowen]

The Shadow player may overstretch himself when taking Free Peoples strongholds and so become vunerable to counter-attack particularly as reinforcements can only come from home areas. This may occur especially at Helm's Deep as the Rohirrim can muster quite a force in Edoras and West Emnet and Saruman may have his hands full with the Ents. If any FP nation is allowed to muster unchecked they can provide a formidable force - of course, once they're dead they remain so whereas the shadow forces return to fight another day. Games last beween 2 and 3 hours when familiar with the rules. Add an extra 30-60 minutes for your first full game

[Veldrin]

Since the Free Peoples also have the possibility to win a militray victory the FP player sometimes have the oppertunity to strike at a Shadow Stronghold.

The Shadow player is often faced with the difficulty of deciding if all the units in a Stronghold should march forth and attack the Free Peoples or if some of them must be left behind to defend their own Stronghold.

In several of my games the Elves have moved out of Lorien to attack and sometimes take Dol Guldur. Even Angmar have somtimes come under attack and if the Ents are roused Isengard sometimes can be captured by the Rohirrim.

So even if Minas Tirith is lost and there seems no way of taking it back the FP player still has many military options for a counter attack.

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

[Enarion]

I played it a few times, I always lost. And I played the fellowship. *grins* It might be because it was the earliest rules, I do not remember.. but alot of changes has occured.

Catch you later guys,
Enarion

[deadeyethingy]

Great! Keep the playtest accounts coming! They really give a sense of flavor of how the game is played - building up the anticipation!

I am glad to hear that the average games are around 2-3 hours - but that they seem deeply involving.

Are those tests primarily two player games? I noticed some had three players. How about 4 players? Did that increase the time much having a fourth player, and/or did it alter game play?

[Veldrin]

How about 4 players?

The four player games do not take much longer than a normal two player game since the two sides are divided between two Players
(I. Sauron & II. Allies) vs. (III. Gondor & Elves and IV. Rohan, the North & Dwarves).

Some game mechanisms are handled a bit differently in a mulit player game and this leads to the game being slightly longer but not much.

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