The Eothraim 1650The Eothraim are an action packed nation. Close to the action with lots of starting troops which can have a major influence on events in the war. Four of the five Eothraim cavalry armies can be at NW Mordor's door on turn one. Combined with the starting army of North Gondor on 3116 you can capture or destroy the Dog Lord or Ice King capital on turn 3. Only a combined force of Ice King, Dog Lord and Drk Lts can stop you. If the Gondors simultaneously attack through the Ithil pass you can put real pressure on the DS team. If successful you can seriously restrict the DS progress over the next 10 turns. However, the Eothraim position does have serious problems. Financially you will have to rely on nation sells to keep afloat. If the NW Mordor nations combine forces, they can defeat you and you leave your homeland open for invasion. Nevertheless this is (in my opinion) a great position to play. You're in the thick of the action right from the start and can do real damage to the DS nations giving your team the upper hand for most of the war. Strategy Guide by Brian Mason Strategy & Tactics: The Eothraim By Brian Mason Taylor Scott, a good friend of mine, said that when you drive a volkswagen van you have to understand that anything that wants to pass you, will and there is not a thing you can do about it.Likewise, if you are playing the Eothraim you have to understand, that in the face of competent opposition, without tremendous help from your allies, you will lose and there is not a thing you can do about it. The Eothraim start the game with an army which is second-to-none. How, then, can such a blanket statement be made? You have three major problems. One, the armies you face on the north-end of Mordor (Dog Lord, Long Rider, Dark Lieutenants) are combined better than yours, two, you cannot afford the armies you have, much less the armies you need, and, three, you don't have the agents necessary to protect yourself from agent actions. So, what should you do? First, encourage military support from the Northmen and Dwarves. I have seen in recent games, Dwarf players consolidate their three eastern armies first in the Iron Hills before moving them into action. That is not very helpful. Both the Northmen and the Dwarves should move South to engage some of these three adversaries. Second, encourage economic support from your wealthier allies. Lets face it, to get to the Northmen you've got to go through the Eothraim, and if the Eothraim are knocked out then Northern Gondor gets more attention from the Dog Lord and Dark Lieutenants. These two nations, at the least, should be willing to "fork over the dough" so that the Eothraim can keep going. Third, hack and slay, slash and burn, and scorch the earth. You might not be in the game long, so don't capture a population centre that can be taken back. Burn, baby, burn. As long as you're asking for the moon and the stars, ask the Noldo to use the Mantle of Doriath to hide your capital. If they do, your position improves significantly. If they say no, well, you're no worse off. The Eothraim should have sufficient production to add cavalry as they are needed. Uirdiks should learn conjure mounts if only to get more mounts to sell. Well timed sells of leather, food, or mounts should be able to help the Eothraim economy as well as keep supplies at the location for recruiting as it is needed. Total economic position = 26250 taxes (@ 70 %) + 168 gold (projected production) - 3250 pop centres - 27000 armies - 6200 characters = 10032 per turn deficit! Group the five at start Eothraim armies into three combat groups: two strong, one weak. The two strong will go into combat immediately while the one weak one begins adding more heavy cavalry. Consider the following: mounts and leather are transported to a major town in sufficient numbers to allow recruiting of at least 800 heavy cavalry. The recruiting army goes there, recruits for a couple of turns and then moves off. When one of the "at the front" armies is exhausted, it moves back to begin recruiting while being replaced by the new army. Thus, at least two armies are kept in combat at all times. Along this line, it is worth pointing out that Buhr Marling (3612) does not appear on any Dark Servant regional map. There are two problems with this strategy. One, the Eothraim cannot afford the troops they start with and two, a character at their capital to do the necessary nation transport orders is vulnerable. The only viable alternative is to lose a good portion of the army (not wise, as it makes you vulnerable) or capture population centres (difficult, and possibly not a good idea). If the armies are decreased in size in combat it can do two possible things: one, if attacking an enemy army, it improves the Eothraim chances for survival, and two, if capturing an enemy population centre, it improves the Eothraim economic situation. However, given the ebb and flow nature of actions in Rhovanion, a scorched earth policy is a good idea. What follows are suggested points for the Eothraim to concentrate attacks, as well as staging areas for first turn moves. The primary objective of all Eothraim forces should be to engage armies of the Dog Lord, Long Rider, and Dark Lieutenants. If they can, the following might be possible objectives. Attack group one: The armies starting at 3715 and 3612 move to 4219. On the following turn they will combine. Their objective is to engage forces of the Long Rider, or if not, to force march to 3922 on turn two and then to 3822 on turn three, then destroy the Dragon Lord major town of Lag-auris at that location. The Dragon Lord is the most vulnerable of the Dark Servants at game start (his armies are weaker than those of the Witch-King, and he does not have the potential for neutral allies). Taking out his only secure population centre will make it much easier to get him out of the game. Attack group two: The armies starting at 2819 and 3112 move to 3120. Their objective is to engage forces of the Dog Lord and Dark Lieutenants. One the following turn they will engage enemy forces present in the hex and/or destroy the Dark Lieutenant town of Thuringwathost. Reserve group: The army at 3217 will move to 3612, there to begin recruiting to make up for anticipated losses, and to prepare this army to replace attack group one or two on the field. Comments on Eothraim strategy: by Sam FreemanThis depends a lot on whether it's a individual game or a grudge game. In an individual game, I would send two of the cav forces (3819 and 3715) east to try to cut off the LR cav as it heads north, or, if you miss this army, continue on around into the backside of Mordor. If you cut off the LR cav, you have enough to destroy it; that makes life much easier for the Northmen (and they will hopefully help you in return). If you miss the LR cav, go for the Dragon Lord MT/tower at 3822. Then keep moving and burning pop centres in Mordor. This is pretty much what Brian said in his original strategy article, but if you plan the movement carefully with the 3819 and 3715 armies, you can have a very good chance of meeting the LR OR ending the turn on the edge of the map OFF the LR map (surprise, surprise!). Your other three armies should try to meet at 3120. Hopefully, you will meet up with either the Dog Lord or the Dark Lts., but not both (remember, I am talking individual games here, so they probably won't be co-ordinated on turn 1). Combine these forces and take 3120 if possible, but one or two armies of 100 LC need to go back and start recruiting. Brian recommended sending only two groups here, but I think he was using the erroneous info from the set-up file (see corrections above). The 3217 group has significant strength and can be useful in defeating the DL or DkLt forces. In a grudge game, I would do it slightly differently. Send only one army east and combine with the Northmen cav to catch the LR cav. You will need four armies at 3120 if the DL and DkLt are co-ordinating their plans. You might also enlist the NG cav to help here. If you meet their forces, you can probably crush them. If you make it to 3120 without encountering them, move on to the IK capital. In any case, the big problem with the Eothraim starting position is getting decent commanders to the capital to raise taxes, name characters, and change relations.
Eothraim Special Advantages
A complete listing of all starting characters can be found here [Char List] (Excel 97 Format). Map Ranges |