[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

Southern Gondor 1650

South Gondor is one of those positions that can be immensely powerful or completely wrecked.  So much of your position relies on the action of the 2 southern Neutrals.  If they both go DS then they have more than enough to overwhelm you.  If one goes Free then you can commit everything to obliterating Mordor.  You start off with some good armies, a powerful navy, good characters and a selection of powerful artefacts.  Exchange (don't give) the Ring of Impersonation with the Noldo for a mage artefact.  Support North Gondor right from the start.  Recruit as much as you can every turn and send excess gold to one of your poorer team-mates (Woodmen get my vote) - otherwise it will be stolen.  This is a fun position which regularly finishes in the top three or wins the game.  If everything goes well you have scope for achieving great things.  The Southern Neutrals are KEY to your success.  You must be diplomatic with them and speak to them regularly.

Strategy & Tactics by Brian Mason
Strategy & Tactics by Tom Walton
South Gondor Starting Information

Strategy & Tactics: South Gondor

From Brian Mason

This is perhaps one of the most fun positions to play. You have many options, and at least initially, you do not have barbarians at the gates. Despite this, for your eventual success there are many things you must do, and do well. Here's the basic data.

Basic Data

How does South Gondor compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #3):

South Gondor has very good production in almost all areas due to their great number of population centres and their being spread over a variety of terrain types (players take note). Expected production (Population Centre Development, Brian Mason, "The Mouth," #2) which has not been adjusted for climate for South Gondor (usually excellent, I might add) would be as follows:

Army Strategy

The first step is to get your armies co-ordinated. It will cost a turn, but consider recruiting and sending everything to Dol Amroth on turn one. Then transfer troops and ships so that the armies can be grouped in the following ways:

1. A minimal navy (with the Men-at-Arms) to be used as a naval strike force. This can end every turn in a different port and is primarily there to encounter navies of the opposition. If negotiations go well with the Harad, you can get more offensive and go after Quiet Avenger holdings.

2. A huge army which you send to Osgiliath or Pelargir after consultation with Northern Gondor.

3. Recruiting armies at Dol Amroth and Morthondost. The Dol Amroth army adds 500 heavy infantry every turn while the Morthondost army can build an army of heavy cavalry behind the lines. You can also use this to strike against unfriendly camps in Western Gondor.

Character strategy

1. Name a 30 agent who can use the Ring of Impersonation to its best ability and put him to work. Keep him moving (the Dark Servants want your ring, too) and have him do safe actions until he is ready (steal gold from friendly pop centres, sabotage ports/harbours which are not needed, etc.). He should name a 10/20 commander/agent who should do the same after getting his agent rank up. You need the commander/agent for two purposes: one, so that he can use his command skill to form a company so that your 30 agent need not execute a move order and his agent skill to scout when moving into an unfriendly hex.

2. Name a couple of 30 emissaries and lay claim to Western South Gondor with camps, and later villages and towns.

3. With the turn six new creations, get some backup commanders in your armies, and possibly another mage to supplement Saerol's lorely activities.

Specific actions to take

South Gondor must do many things, and it must do them all well.

1. Three of your population centres start the game not fortified. Spend the timber, and one commander moving around to do this. Fortifying these will allow you to raise your taxes to the 60-70% level. While you do not initially need this much taxable income, you should prepare to assist many of your allies financially. As allowed by prices and timber production, upgrade the fortifications at Dol Amroth.

2. Get into Ithilien quickly with a great deal of troops. The long term security of most of your population centres depends upon Northern Gondor. To get to you, the nations of Mordor must crush Northern Gondor first. It is a lot better for you to fight at Osgiliath than at Dol Amroth.

3. Patrol the coast. The only immediate, and possibly long term danger you face is by Sea. The only nation which can match you on the sea are the Corsairs. If the Sinda or Northern Gondor are not committed to offensive action on the sea, see if they will give you their warships. It is also possible for the Sinda to make you ships at Edhellond and then transfer them to you.

4. Watch your back door. Almost everyone knows of the nice hexes west of Morthondost. Make sure no one starts building up behind you.

Strategy & Tactics: South Gondor

From Tom Walton

Brian pretty much said it all. Only a few points I'd like to make:

- you MUST support Northern Gondor RIGHT AWAY. Move as much as your army as you can to Osgiliath at the opening of the game. At this point, the Dark Servants won't be able to assassinate your leaders, and in combination with Northern Gondor you just might be able to destroy Mordor's starting forces. If you fail to act in support of your neighbour, you will ultimately perish for your foolishness.

The support doesn't stop there. You must also continue to recruit and feed troops to the meat grinder in the Ithilien. Every orc you hack up is one less that your allies have to contend with, and that means one less that YOU will eventually have to contend with. Steady, strong support will keep Mordor penned up until their treasuries run dry and their economies force them to slow down their recruiting efforts.

- Southern Gondor is a rich nation. Instead of hoarding gold for Mordor's agents to steal, send the excess to nations which are continually short. The Eothraim are good recipients of your bounty, as are the Woodmen and even the Sinda. Again, this isn't entirely selfless; the longer they last, the more damage they do, the less chance there is that you'll have to fight on your own territory.

- Try your damnedest to recruit one southern neutral to the cause. It doesn't really matter which; if you get the Corsairs, their navy is no longer a threat and you can easily put the Harad fleet out of commission. Blow the Pelargir bridge and they won't be able to invade. If you get Harad, the Corsairs will no doubt sink the Harad navy, meaning that you in turn can sink THEIR navy. Meanwhile, Harad will turn it's fearsome economic might against the would-be pirates, putting them out of the conflict for many, many turns.

In any event, getting the two southern neutrals to pounce on each other means that you won't have to be quite as vigilant in your defence and can more fully concentrate on Mordor.

Southern Gondor Special Advantages

1.New recruits start with a training rank of 20.
2.Armies without food lose 1-2 morale points when moving (2-5 points when force marching)
3.Fortifications are built at 50% of the listed timber cost.
4.New mages can start with a skill rank of 40.


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:2023 UR:2823 LL:2035 LR:2835 - See Sample First turn for South Gondor

[Top of Page]