My game was quite difficult. Once I received my crown I find myself at the situation where noboby was at my side and everybody threatened me. I managed to talk easterling to stay neutral and get a deal with Saurona to crush Elves. That took much pressure from me I could take northern fortresses while keeping Elves pinned down to guard their centers.
Then things get ugly. Saurona decided that she wanted Grey Mountains back, after all it had been hers earlier, like Saurona could hope to claim all sleeping centers. So she stabbed me with dragon. I asked her to leave, so I could save her dragon to her (before activation I had asked if we could get dragon safely away from my lands), but she refused and threatened with war if I touch Gre. I don't like being stabbed (or stab) so I made good boots out of dragon.
So the war started and I had to fight both Saurona and Elves. Elves managed allways do something stupid to cut my supports even when I had more forces, but war was slowly turning good for me. Then, I don't know how because I was still very far from winning and my progress couldn't be fast, Saurona (or someone else) managed to talk Saruman and Rohan against me. I was forced fully to defence, but likely Saurona had eaten most of the Elves and other players were involved with limited forces.
Once Saurona also stabbed others I could resume offensive, and this time it was fast because there wasn't solid front against me. It took much planning to keep Saurona from winning, but in the end the eye was destroyed, thanks to our little friend whos relative had earlier visited Grey Mountains to get rid of a dragon.
Once Sauronas dispandings and retreats came, then play was over. She had opened clear way for me to many centers and blocked Saruman and Harad. If those dispandings had been at south or west, then this game would be still going, unless Saruman had allready won.
I get the feeling that played one turn late, but sw things one or two turn early, and nobody listened to mee. Every time I took calculated risk it almost blow my game. There was only one turn when dragon could be activated and both Ere and Gre were defended that time so I didn't think Saurona would activate dragon. For safety I made moves so that I had three army near Gre once it was undefended and no place for dragon to withdraw. Could I say "dragontrap" :) Later I stipped my northern garrison to fight south, and my replacements came one turn too late to stop Saruman attacking from Eriador and that broke my defence line (as did Rohans involvement at east).
One thing I wonder is why nobody listened to me soon enough. I warned almoste everybody about Saurona and they did nothing, and oops... Saurona rised from 11 to 15 centers at once with maximum fighting power of 17 counting spider and nazgul. When "all" turned against me I had 12 centers and 15 wictory point, guess which one had more strenght to get remaining 4 points? And still someone ;) let his guard down and let Saurona to 17 centers. I warned Rohan about Sarumans coming attack, no effect. I warned Saruman about Sauronas stab, no effect. I advised Harad to attack through EDu when only one Sauronas army could manage to defend area, and no. Harads attack came only after Saurona had had time to build more forces there (with two army you can block EDu from everything except Gondor and Nazgul).
Then few words about other palyers game, as I saw it, not knowing about your deals.
Harad was too passive. I have myself played Harad and you can get to 10+ centers, then there aren't free centers. You have to go inside Mordor, through Anduins valley on strike Saruman (either through southern Gondor or to Lon and Dru with fleets). Once those ways are defended, there is no way Harad can win. Early attack would have let you to Mordor, or well planned sea invasion would have given you Lon, Ado, Dru, Pin and Lam. Now you waited far too long before moving. Especially when Elves and Easterlings were ruined, giving others plenty of centers at the area where you can't influence outcome.
Elves managed very well early on. Your defence was very good and you could have been important player, but somehow you and Saurona kept swapping centers and neither get full benefit out of Mirkood. Once you were split you could do much more than defend.
Rohan played quite normally, rising to about 10 centers and then stalling. Rohans best help is fast cavalry, and as a surrounded power Rohan doesn't have luxury of waiting. Few infantry at west should make Sarumans progress slow giving time to bring cavalry if necessary. Cavalry should be used somewhere as well as you did against me. Brake line with secondary move and then keep other out of balance by moving.
Sauronas play was very good, except three things. Gre wasn't worth war with me. You could have gotten dragon alive and well if you had talked to me. Dwarves can't leave other players HSC behind their line, it ties too many armies to guard. War with me didn't give you much, but tied up lot of forces. It would have been more effective to wipe out the Elves and get centers from there. After all, I was your ally, and I wasn't going to attack you. Other thing was ends landgrab. Even if you were agressive, you could have been even more so, at least during your last two turns. Taking Mor while retreating, not just holding agaisnt Saruman, but atleast mutual support or attacks to cut Saruman support. If opponent can be outguessed you can block him even when outnumbered. Giving up Dag and PSo movin NoL to guard Rhu and using those two armies to take Dor leaving nazgul and two armies free to retake SRo (one army to support and later block moves to NRu). It was close call, and I used lot of time thinking how you could optimize your moves. After all you were going to win or lose, so risk would have been worth it. Third thing was use of Nazgul. After Nazguls disbanding it should have been used to make sudden attack at right place. Putting Nazgul and one more army at Mou during 2960 build phase (or only nazgul if wanted to conceal its location) would have given me big problems. Theres also four centers linked to each others (Fra, Gun, Ang and CDu), so valuable unit wouldn't have used its time crossing empty space. Nazgul is also very difficult to stop because of stacking, so it could have penetrated my line quite easily. And by the way. You were good companion and good opponent, it was pleasent to play with you. Also thanks for your unit disbandings at your destruction. It guarentined my victory. Was it intentional?
And last, but not least Saruman. You were good partner. I hope we get to play together later. Your game was well thought and planned. Yoo didn't do any too stupid stabbing, Rohan had to be done at your place, and it put Rohan out of game (taking all HSC is good thing). Your little incursion at north was unpleasent, but you had good reasons, and as we showed, there's no reason why you couldn't be friend even if you are fighting each others :) Best playing for Saruman what I have seen.
(1) Original intention was to go through the middle, between Sauron and Dwarves. To such a degree, since everyone else seemed quite happy to focus on Gondor to start, I made non-aggression pacts with Harad, Rohan, and Elves, and alliances with Dwarves and Sauron.
(2) Sauron's rather random and useless stabs -- useless in that they did nothing to hinder her real foes, and little to help her position outright, but they slowed down probably her only real southern ally -- hurt me, a lot. However... nobody bothered to do anything to offer me assistance. And attacking on my own would have been like hitting my head against a brick wall, and been suicide. I'll admit that I was busier with RL at the time -- thus the start of my NMRing, sorry -- so I could have sent out feelers if I really wanted. But, to counter Rohan's position, my attacking him may not have helped him any, but it was a much better path for me. Yes, I only got one SC out of it, eventually, but that was a whole lot better than I thought I'd do going the other way. And I was hoping that Sauron wouldn't make a totally useless stab, again. Foolish me. ;)
(3) When Sauron stabbed me again (thanks, EG ;) I was pretty mcuh gone, but decided to just be random, unless someone bothered to ask me otherwise. Dwarves were the only ones who ever took the time to write me -- and then in a letter which included everyone -- so I helped to slow down Sauron for a bit, until everyone stopped again. BTW, EG, the public broadcast to stop you came from /me/. ;) Actually, I was hoping for two things: either people would get me involved in attacking you (which didn't really happen, except they wanted to use me as shock troops) or Sauron would decide to extend another leaf out to me, in order to have some sort of ally (which didn't happen). So c'est la vie.
My diplomacy in this game left much to be desired. Biggest problems being work, running an election campaign, and winning.
What communications I did send out didn't result in much. Never heard from the Easterlings. Other than requesting that I not attack him (why would I even consider that with the list of enemies I already had) Rohan was silent. Both Saruman and Sauron did chat while they picked away at me.
My only consistent relationship in this game was with the Dwarves and that wasn't a good one. In the end I figured why keep trying to hold the Dwarves back while Saruman and Sauron were picking up centers at my expense; so I opened the flood gates.
I would have to say that my efforts only delayed the Dwarves' ultimate victory. The main reason for their win was there was never any concerted effort to stop them.
This is being written without access to all my archive, so forgive me if I misremember something. This was a fun game to play, but for me it was marred by what I felt were some sub-optimal strategy choices on the part of other players. Ah well, that's part of the game I guess. :)
Looking at Rohan, I saw right away that the relationship with Saruman was the make-or-break choice for playing this power successfully. As with Austria/Italy, if we got into an early fight, we would both be doomed. Thus, my #1 priority was to forge an alliance with Saruman. Gladly, Saruman felt the same way, and we were able to work together. Of course, I had suspicions from time to time, but I was able to turn my attention elsewhere successfully.
Overall, the largest meta-game issue was the Gondor situation. In the previous game that many of the players had participated in (DWAR), Gondor had been allowed to expand literally unchecked: he marched to a solo victory without ever fighting a significant battle, despite the urgent pleas from the northern powers. All of the southern powers were not going to let that happen. A Saruman/Rohan/Harad/Sauron alliance was quickly formed. Gondor, you never had a chance: I'm sorry for that!
Here's where I made my first mistake. Saurona sent me a message asking for support into (I believe) NIt, and I replied in the affirmative without really thinking about it. Once I did, I realized that the support would give Saurona a dominant position in the Anduin valley, an area I considered crucial to my prospects for survival. (My initial plan was to capture MTi and MMo, enabling me to hold the valley against Harad while expanding in the north.) Being the honest sort, I sent Saurona a message indicating that I would not be offering my support. For those who joined the game later, Saurona then made a public declaration of my betrayal and announced war on me. Oops.
To be fair, it's clear that Saurona and the Easterlings had planned my demise from the beginning, and this was just a convenient excuse. Saurona played the game well; she harried me but certainly didn't engage in the all-out revenge attack that I initially feared. In the end, I don't think this mistake made much of a difference in how the game played out, though of course it probably altered the diplomacy a great deal.
So, I spent a good deal of time talking strategy with Saruman and Harad, and little with Saurona. I also did not talk much with the Elves, as I was planning to steamroll them as soon as possible -- not that that ever became an option.
I didn't talk much to the Easterlings, but I did get a clear agreement of mutual non-aggression which I now realize the Easterling had no intention of honoring. Given his non-aggression pact with the Dwarves and alliance with Saurona, the Easterling had me clearly in his sights from the get-go. I guess there's nothing wrong with that -- except that his mindless, insistent attack basically did nothing but remove us both from the game. I had to devote all my resources to defending against him, while he poured all his into attacking me. He only gained one center ever (and that only briefly), and while he attacked, armies from the Dwarves and Saurona marched up his backside. Singling out a weak power while letting two strong powers get your centers seems like poor play to me -- and given the complete failure of his attack, I have to mark this one up as bad play.
By the time this attack was ending, it was clear that I was effectively out of the game. The stab was coming from Saruman (though it ended up being later than I expected), and I no longer had the units or the momentum to do anything but make futile attempts to hold my own territories. My diplomacy pretty much stopped at this point (until I chimed him to help stop Saurona) and I went into autopilot, saving myself with little thought for the outside world. I did have fun bothering the Dwarf up north, but I knew it was just a matter of time before that unit was crushed. By the time Saurona was banished, there was simply no way I could capitalize on her provinces, and could see the end from the north as her last disbands paved the way to victory for the Dwarf.
The greatest advantage of the Dwarves is that no powers oppose them directly and fully. The only foes they face are half of the Elves, half of Sauron, and half of the Easterlings. The Easterlings handed the Dwarves their centers; Saurona chose a southern strategy with only minimal attempts to stop the Dwarves. That left the Elves, by themselves, to stop the Dwarf. The Elf king made a noble effort, but half his forces simply weren't enough to stem the tide. It irritated me to no end to see the player who had cruised to victory with Gondor pull off the same thing with the Dwarves. Can't anyone /see/ that this guy is going to win? At least he dropped out before it was over. :) Yoav was his name -- stomp him if he ever plays again. :)
I agree with others that Harad played too timidly; I can't point to a specific move or turn, but it seems to me that Harad could have gained far more with a little aggressiveness. I don't particularly feel that this game showed that Rohan is weak or underpowered. I call them the "If Only" power...so many times I was able to make a wonderul cavalry move..."if only" I could have backed them up, I would have been able to make great gains. With proper diplomacy, I think they have a real shot.
After many recent Diplomacy disasters, Hoarmurath was a great game and very satisfying indeed. I paid a lot of attention to the game and diplomacy and I think it paid off.
Playing Saruman was challenging and quite a lot of fun to role play. From the beginning I felt that an alliance with Rohan was key. Most Sarumans I have seen get into a stalemated war with Rohan from the beginning which stunts growth permanently. And I kept the Rohan alliance until I felt I had to break it for a chance to win the game. But I attaked Rohan a couple turns too late. By that time, the Dwarf-Saurona war had started and my attention was diverted north. I think I had a chance to win, but my mistiming cost me.
Due to the previous game and the alliance with Rohan, a four way alliance was negotiated with Saurona, Harad, Easterlings, and Saruman against Gondor. Gondor's early exit clearly helped me and Harad, but especially Saurona. This allowed her to turn her attention to the north, with almost fatal results for everyone else.
Saruman also made a game long alliance with Harad. He kindly kept the alliance, but should not have. He had the numerical superirority over my over extended forces for the last half of the game and got stalemated against Mordor. So I was expecting an attack at any time. It would have lost me 2-3 centers and really hurt my chances. I was very glad and fortunate that Harad kept the peace.
Throughout the game, the other key alliance was with the Dark Lady Saurona. It also went well with the evil Two Towers theme. My plan was to gain a joint victory with the Dark Wizardess. However, I should have seen her stabs coming since ehe had attacked almost every other player in the game. I was fooled the first time, but didn't believe her promises the second stab, so was able to blunt it effectively to stop her bid for a win.
The Elves also played a key part in the game. The Elven King didn't grow much, but caused all kinds of headaches for Saurona, Saruman, and the Dwarves as well. All our aims were badly delayed by his delaying tactics. He certainly slowed Saruman's growth.
I also forged a non aggression pact with the Dwarves, which helped later on after Saurona attacked us both. I did believe Saurona when she warned everyone about the Dwarves growth. Her diplomacy worked and I help her to grow to 17 centers. I wasn't happy that she had grown and I hadn't. I kept good relations with the Dwarves even thought I'd helped Saurona and formally allied when Saurona stabbed me.
Saurona's surprise attack on me was a fatal mistake. I had gotten to the point where I was willing to help her win if I could get second place. But the stab backfired. The Dwarves, Harad, Rohan, and Saruman all allied and stopped her offensive cold. But Saurona's northern disbands basically sealed the victory for the Dwarves as he was unopposed.
I thought I had a chance for a solo by the middle of the game when everyone else was warring against Saurona and I only had the Elves to fight. But it would have been fairly difficult to achieve as I would have had to steal a couple of centers from the Dwarves up north, take a couple from the Elves, stab Rohan, and take Dol Guldur from Harad. And I would have had to do this all in a blitzkrieg all at the same time. It would have been highly riskly and likely not successful. But I delayed a couple of turns and the opportunity passed.
But Saurona's stab was a blessing in disguise. Once she attacked me, I allied with the Dwarves, her offensive was stopped, she went to sleep and all we had to do was to clean up. I did not expect to get to 17 centers and was surprised and very pleased to get to 17. Once the chance for a solo passed, all I wanted was to post the best Saruman effort yet.
Hoarmurath wasn't a solo victory for Saruman, but it felt like it. It took a lot of work and I think I played it fairly well. It was the most satisfying Diplomacy game I've ever played in and I want to thank our GM and all the players for a most excellent and entertaining game.