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The Noldo Elves 1650

The Noldo are an immensely powerful nation.   Their starting characters are 'gods' compared to the other nations.  They have virtually no fighting to do and can spend their time hoarding artefacts and increasing their economic base.  The Noldo are the number one preferred nation by most players and probably the most powerful.  The Noldo game plan is usually to find all the powerful artefacts, produce excellent agents and mages and then ship gold to allies who have fallen on hard times.  Players taking this position are hardly ever in danger of attack, the remoteness of the population centres means they don't really need an army, however, if you are playing as the Noldo then you must support your team-mates.  In my experience, it seems that when a player takes this position they suffer from a strange sickness and decide that they won't do one jot to help.  Instead they amass victory points, keep all the choice artefacts themselves and won't supply gold.   If you get this position then you will probably be in the top three by games end.   The Noldo are usually the most powerful nation by a street for the first 20 turns.   If the FP side wins, then you can expect to be up there.

Strategy & Tactics by Brian Mason
Strategy & Tactics by Tom Walton
Strategy & Tactics by Henning Rindbaek
Noldo Elves Starting Information

Strategy & Tactics: Noldo Elves

By Brian Mason

How do the Noldo Elves compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton):

The Noldo is marvellously powerful, and can be among the most fun of the nations to play if you enjoy character action. Initially, the Noldo must decide what course of action to take, and how to best accomplish its goals. With many (four of eight) of its population centres un-fortified, an large initial boost of taxes is likely to work against the Noldo. They might stand a chance of losing some of these population centres later in the game. It might be possible to make a marginal increase to taxes without harming the loyalty significantly, perhaps to 55%. They do start the game with a relatively small gold reserve, and with their deficit they must do something about it quickly. They are hardly able to afford the troops which they have, much less field a significant force.

The most significant internal need is that of improving the economy. The Noldo Elves are blessed with a relatively secure area within which to develop, and they should begin doing this immediately.  However, participation of the Noldo militarily in the game can only occur much later. Also, the Noldo have a need to find artefacts.

Exceeded by only the Blind Sorcerer in total mage points, the Noldo need to establish one or two characters as artefact locators and use them in that capacity.

There are also many other immediate strategies which can be arranged with the nearby allies of the Noldo.

Specifically, these are:

1. The Noldo start with four footpads. As mentioned in my previous article on Strategy and Tactics for Cardolan, the Cardolani have no need for four locations to port their ships. Cardolan should determine which ones are unnecessary and have the Noldo sabotage those which are not. This will save Cardolan gold, increase Cardolan security, and improve the skill rank of Noldo agents quicker than is normally possible.

2. Cardolan also starts the game with a fleet. It might be advisable for Cardolan to transfer their ships to the Noldo. This will immediately make them stronger (combat value four instead of five), and will make this combined force stronger than all navies except that of the Corsairs and Southern Gondor. Of course, if the Noldo were to do this, they would necessarily need to be more aggressive on the seas.

3. Arthedain starts the game with no back-up capital. The Noldo should trade Arthedain Forlond or Harlond for an Arthedain village and town. These will have equal tax base, but the new Noldo population centres will have better resource production while the new Arthedain population centre will have better loyalty.

4. The Noldo must decide early if it anticipates building a fighting army for later in the game, or if it plans on issuing lots of challenges. If it does not, then it should loan some or most of the Noldo combat artefacts to Arthedain and Cardolan.

Specific, turn-by-turn recommendations follow:

1. Artefacts are transferred and put into use. The 0611 navy moves to 0708. Elrond and Erestor learn research artefact. Tax rate changed to 55%. The 2209 army begins moving west to join with the other armies.

2. First emissary named. Artefacts are transferred and put into use. The navy formerly at 0611 combines with the 0708 navy. Elrondand Erestor learn locate artefact. The Imladris army continues moving west.

3. Second emissary named. First emissary moves out to begin camp creation. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artefact true (maybe). The Imladris army continues moving west.

4. Third emissary and first camp named. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artefact true (probably). The Imladris army continues moving west.

5. Fourth emissary and second and third camps named. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artefact true (certainly). The Imladris army reaches Mithlond-West.

6+. Continued economic development until many camps are created, some in rough, some in forest. The timber goes to unfortified population centres to build towers. After about a dozen camps are created then the camps start becoming upgraded, first to villages and then to towns. Elrond and Erestor locate artefacts which Elladan and Elrohir go retrieve. Glorfindel stays as a sub-commander in the sole army where, through both army and troop manoeuvres his challenge rank is maximised. Cirdan assists in the camp creation/population centre development/fortification building.Of all these moves, that of the Imladris army is least appealing. It is not economically wise to invest too much gold in making it an effective fighting force when slog much will be needed for character creation and the initial creation of camps. It is tempting to have them strike at Goblin-Gate. Even knowing that they will lose, it is possible to inflict damage such that it might be taken by someone else (e.g. Dwarves) soon after. It is also possible to co-ordinate action with the Dwarves to attack, to simply stay on Imladris to impeded movement, or to retire the army. I have chosen, what is to me, the best of these many poor options.

Strategy & Tactics: Noldo Elves

From Tom Walton

My thoughts on the Noldo are more general than Brian's. I tend not to plot turn-by-turn, because my nation actions vary depending on the starting locations of characters.- I'd have the high mage/emissaries go out and create camps right away, after naming one or two new emissaries. Elrond, Erestor, and Cirdan all have nice starting ranks in both emissary skill and mage skill; they could create camps and research the 'locate artefact' spells on the same turn (since 'create camp' comes before 'research spell'). Benefit to this: you get good, high-loyalty camps right off the bat, ones that future emissaries will be able to upgrade to villages with little problem. Drawback: the characters in question won't be able to prentice or improve other skills. I believe this to be a minor point, as the Noldo are already very skilled and really don't need additional training early in the game. By spreading around the mage artefacts, it guarantees that the 50-point mages won't have problems researching the necessary spells.

- I'd keep Elladan and Elrohir in an army for the first five turns, training up their skill ranks. These two tend to be favourite targets of the Dark Servants; increasing their challenge ability and upping agent rank can't hurt. The Noldo won't have the locations of any interesting artefacts for the first few turns anyway.

- Mark the Imladris army for doom and get rid of it right away. This will lower the deficit and keep the Noldo from wasting characters by putting them in command positions.

- Trade Imladris for a town and village in Arthedain. This gives Arthedain a fairly secure major town in the heart of enemy territory, at which he can recruit to his heart's content. It'll also mean the Noldo don't have to worry about garrisoning it anymore.

General Game Play:

- The first and most important thing the Noldo can do is improve their economy. More than any other nation, they come equipped with superb emissaries capable of going out on turn 1 and creating camps. By using the three characters outlined above, the Noldo can have a dozen camps in place by the end of turn five. By the end of turn nine (or earlier, if they created more emissaries), all of these camps can be improved to villages, upping the Noldo resource base by 48 points and increasing their tax base by 30,000 gold. This also allows the elves to immediately train the most powerful emissary team in Middle-Earth, capable of offensive action at any time.

- Other than getting rid of starting armies, I don't believe the Noldo should become involved militarily in Middle-Earth until the mid- or late-game. All of their commanders except for one are better suited to other tasks: agent, emissary, or mage. Wasting them in command positions, when both Cardolani and Arthedaini allies are equally capable in this regard, somewhat defeats the purpose of having such nice characters to begin with. Instead, I would concentrate on:

- building up a viable emissary team for offensive action.

- creating a small but capable group of agents to join Elladan and Elrohir in their rampage across Middle-Earth.

- learning every lore spell in existence, then using these spells to help Noldo allies gather information about the enemy, track artefacts, and so forth.

- Rather than going on the offensive early on, the Noldo should stabilise their position and preserve their character base for when things really get heated in Middle-Earth. By using my plan here, not only will they be able to respond to emergencies, but they'll also be able to support their allies with gold and resources.

Again, why do the fighting when Arthedain and Cardolan are just as capable? Send them the goodies to recruit and maintain troops, and concentrate on other tasks which the Noldo characters are better suited.

- Do NOT engage in challenge games with the Dark Servants. This behaviour is not only dicey, it allows them to second-guess their opponent by stacking all their best artefacts on some new character, then hunting down Elrond and issuing a challenge - end of Elrond. There's no sense in taking this risk when a loss will mean the end of a particularly skilled mage/agent/emissary. This is contrary to popular wisdom, but I believe the capabilities of a decent character with mage/agent/emissary rank are far more valuable than his ability to cut others into tiny pieces. Losing a good emissary or agent, especially, could cripple Noldo plans (and when you lose a starting Noldo character, you generally take a big loss in two or three skills).

Now this may appear to be a 'no-risk' strategy often followed by Noldo players in our games. As most of us know, many Noldo refuse to get involved in the action, instead being more interested in wracking up victory points.

My plan is similar to this anti-team behaviour in the early game, but here's where it differs:

- the Noldo can, after turn ten, provide enormous amounts of gold and supplies to allies.

- after turn 15 or so, the Noldo can put together a credible emissary team which is also capable of locating/tracking artefacts and characters. Since the team will be constantly moving, the Noldo kill two birds with one stone: stealing enemy pop centres, and keeping their best mages (with all those lore spells) away from enemy agents (since they won't be able to catch up with the team).

- the Noldo agent group can, early on, steal gold and sabotage unwanted harbours. Later, they're quite capable of putting the screws on individual nations, giving their allies needed relief or crippling a target prior to a big strike.

- under this plan, the Noldo act as a primary information- gathering nation. Their ability in this regard is unmatched on the Free side, and information is always critical to the war effort.

As a final note, putting together a small, elite cav force in the mid-game would be a good idea. This gives the Noldo a decent home guard and, with their transport/road movement capacity, allows them to intervene should some disaster befall an ally.

Strategy & Tactics

By Henning Rindbaek

When I first read The Lord of the Rings, I was completely fascinated by the elves. When I years later was introduced to this game I immediately "volunteered" to play one of the elven nations and ended with the Noldo Elves. My dreams had come true; I would save Middle Earth from the evil hordes of Sauron, with a little help from my allies. Elrond would wreak havoc upon the orcs and trolls of the Witch King and Dragon Lord's armies.

The Noldo Elves are strong in many points and quite well suited to a beginner being generally placed
far from any enemies. The position has a reasonably good economy and the climate is mild most of the
year. The characters are the best in the game, with only the agent side being a bit low.

All nations have some sort of weakness and so do the Noldo Elves, even though they are easy to live with. Your armies suck, they are some of the weakest in the game but they provide an excellent core for recruiting an "elite" force in Eriador. There is an awful long way to the enemy when your armies are to be used for more than ceremonial duties (if you want a chance to win the battle). And there is absolutely no way that you can use all the abilities of your characters each turn.

Characters

You have the most character points at the start of the game. You will have to decide early on which
areas your characters will specialize in, since only one your characters is single classed and another is double classed, the rest are triple or higher classed.  You also have some of the best emissaries at the
game start. Unluckily they are also your best mages.  Train them in both and you will have the potential
for an emissary/mage team in the mid and end game, a very deadly cocktail for the enemy if the mages
have learned curses. Your agents are a little low in start skill but they are born with a high stealth which
offsets the lack in skill. The same agents are also quite good commanders and can also be used as such
if the need arises.

Since you have such good starting characters they will be prime targets for the Dark Servants agents
so keep them moving and stay at the most two turns in one hex unless you have an encounter then you
should consider moving on since rumours run fast in Middle Earth these days.

You should also get into the artefact hunting fast and if you are unable to get to the prime artefacts tell your allies where they are since the Evil ones will also be chasing the same artefacts as you are!
New characters should primarily be emissaries and agents since the nation is very well suited for a character-based game.

Military

As stated earlier your armies are very weak and will not be able to do much good in the initial battles.
The best you can do is, to combine the navies in your capital; then recruit some heavy infantry.

The army at Imladris is another matter; it is too weak to be used alone but with a bit of fresh recruits
and some coordination with your allies, it can be used to bring the Dragon Lord or the Witch King down.
You also possess a navy that can be the source of much fun. The fastest way to move troops from Eriador
to the front is by sea. Unfortunately you only have a medium sized navy; suggest to Cardolan that you take over her navy saving her some money needed to pay the upkeep of her armies. An extra bonus is that the strength of the warships will increase after being manned by elves. This would make a navy of such a size that it only needs to fear meeting an enemy Corsair navy and give a carrying capacity of 4500 Infantry.  When Eriador is secured, swap pop centers with allies near the front to give them a safe backup capital and bring you closer to the slaughter of the foul orcs and trolls.

Economy

The climate in your part of the world is mild and not especially prone to change with the seasons. This
and the fact that there are no immediate threats to your pop centers make it ideal to develop in. Another nice thing is that there is a very varied terrain which makes it possible to get whatever resources that you fancy.  You will very soon have a good economy so do not forget your allies. They may have lost pop centers or have armies so big that they need financial aid to keep up the recruiting. Support them with gold, artefacts and safe pop centers when needed. They are after all fighting the enemy for you, and when they fall the Dark Servants will turn their attention to you...

Diplomacy

There are two neutrals in Eriador and both have some pretty good armies. It is important to get at least
one of these convinced of the benefits of being a Free People. Or at least to stay neutral, if you want to see an end to the Dark Servants in the area, within a reasonable amount of time. So get in touch with
Rhudaur and the Dunlendings in turn 1 and see what they may want to join you in the battle for freedom.

Conclusion

This is a team game so talk with your allies, especially your neighbours. Get in touch with the neutrals and hear their demands, then discuss these with the team, then strike a bargain and keep it. Then decide how you will use your characters and keep the important ones moving, a small company could be a good way to move these around, and still be able to use two skill-improving orders each turn. Decide what you want from your armies, but remember; if they have to die they must die well, do not retire them; attack the Dark Servants and take some enemy troops with you to soften up the enemy for the other Free People.

Most of all "be flexible", there are twenty-four other players each with their own goals and plans, so evaluate once in a while and adjust your plans to the changing situation.

(This article first appeared in the UK newsletter "News from Bree").

Noldo Elves Special Advantages

1.All new recruits have a training rank of 25.
2.Armies can force march with no loss of morale points.
3.All characters may Uncover Secrets with a skill rank of 40 or better.
4.Characters have a better chance of having Stealth.

Population Centres

(Italics - Hidden.  Bold - Capital).

Initial Forces

Initial Characters

A complete listing of all starting characters can be found here [Char List] (Excel 97 Format).

Map Ranges

UL:0203 UR:1003 LL:0215 LR:1015 - See Sample First turn for Noldo Elves

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