News from BreeNews from BreeNews from BreeNews from BreeNews from BreeMEPBM Newsletter: Issue 29, September'05MEPBM Newsletter: Issue 29, September'05MEPBM Newsletter: Issue 29, September'05MEPBM Newsletter: Issue 29, September'05MEPBM Newsletter: Issue 29, September'05

Is this the best1650 character?

by Sam “Does Anyone MindIf I Retire Elrond?” Roads

"Strange as Newsfrom Bree..."

The Lord of the Rings, chapter 9

Talk at theTalk at theTalk at theTalk at theTalk at the'Prancing'Prancing'Prancing'Prancing'PrancingPony.. .Pony.. .Pony.. .Pony.. .Pony.. .

The Best 1650 Character?Sam is trying to retire Elrond again ...

An A-Z of TolkienCastamir, Elves, Frodo,

Gimli & Hobbits

Kin Strife!A nice piece of fiction setting the scene

for the upcoming MEPBM Scenario

Face to Face VIITwo views of the Cardiff face-to-face

game back in May.

Fifty Reasons why LotR sucksTop 10 ways to annoy a wizard

Gondor admitted to U.N.Some humour to brighten up the

end of summer!

Balancing your BudgetAdvice on MEPBM finances, updated

Bree OnlineBree OnlineBree OnlineBree OnlineBree OnlineNews from Bree is now alsoavailable as Bree Online!

Visit ...ht tp : / /bree . f l agsh ipmagaz ine . comfor a regularly updated site featuringall the articles you will see here, andmore!

News from Bree & Bree Online willcontinue as sister publications.

News from Bree #29 © Colin Forbes & ME Games 2005nfbree@yahoo.co.uk

Is it Fatboy Elrond with his 70/70 vision? Is it Din“Quick Kill” Ohtar or occasional army commanderJi Indur*? Maybe the King of the Nazgul - Mumu?

No, gentle reader, the finest character in 1650 isfrom Cardolan and hasn’t been created at the gamestart. This lady has the following game breakingstats: 10/0/0/0(0)

Whilst an initial comparison between this 10commander and Elrond might lead you to spot theslight difference in power levels, there are manythings in favour of ‘Tencom’.

· Tencom costs 200 gold per turn. Elrond costs3600. You could look at this as if Tencomspontaneously creates two camps when you nameher.· Tencom’s orders each turn are either 770; 408and 860; or 215 and 255. Recruiting an army andcapturing a pop-centre is about themost effect any character can haveon the game. Remember thatassassination and cursing onlymatter so much because theycan stop characters likeTencom.· Tencom doesn’t glow likea beacon on enemy pop-centres. A member of theenemy team doesn’t castlocate character on Tencomevery turn.· Tencom shows up as‘Hero Tencom’. Due to theway the naming system seemsto work, Tencom could be a 70mage as well as a 10 commander, butis still called Hero if she’s leading anarmy. This means that someopponents will 215, not knowing

what Tencom’s other stats are. However, ‘CommanderTencom’ would very likely to be a 30/0/0/0 characterand therefore safe to challenge. If you’re planning ongoing down this path to victory, you might want topass over Tencom as a potential name and try somethinga little more Cardiff-city-centre-on-Friday-night, like‘Mauler’, ‘Bloodhowler’ or maybe ‘Clint’.· Tencom can hire for free.· You will not be petrified of losing Tencom and thusissue unneccessary 215 orders whilst ‘at risk’ in theforests of Mithlond.· Your teammates will not laugh themselves silly**when Tencom eventually dies. Once command orderand five grand a-la-banque later and Tencom is reborn!

If you were wondering, you make the 10 commanderby issuing a 728 (Name Commander) order with a

character who has only 10 command, youcannot do it with the more expensive 725

(Name Chaarcter) order. If younation doesn’t have a character

with 10 command, its probablynot worth using a 725 ordersolely to pump out 10commanders – just stick with30 commanders and put upwith the financial wastage.

Good luck with Tencomin your next game!***

* No armies were actually ledby Ji Indur in the making of this

article.** They might.

*** It is possible to win a game withoutTencom.

Hero TencomHero TencomHero TencomHero TencomHero TencomHave you seen this man?Have you seen this man?Have you seen this man?Have you seen this man?Have you seen this man?

Tolkien A-Z:Castamir

Standing atop the burnished tower of Osgiliath,Orodreth held high his sword, catching the failingsunlight that flung wide his shadow behind him. Inthe plaza below, the people of Gondor stoodwatching, a huge throng whose uncertain gaze restedupon him.

The moment should have been a glorious one.The culmination of five years of campaigning. Ofbitter cold mornings after nights spent on watch, andof bitter tears shed to mingle with the blood of lovedones staining the battle-ground. Of hard marches andharder waits, of blisters, sores, stale food and scantsleep. But also of the thrill of battle, the exultation ofleading men into the fray, knowing that they lived,and would die, at your word.

And he had led. Born to nobility but not ofthe royal line, nevertheless it seemed that he onlyhad to speak, and men would listen, only had toissue an order, and the act would be done. At Linhirhe had been but a captain, yet it was his men whohad led the uprising, and when it was over, it was hewho had been toasted as victor. And from then on,through victory and setback alike, the men hadfollowed him. Not the sons of Castamir, not even, itseemed at times, Castamir himself. But him. Andsurely, there could be nothing better, to be followed,to be obeyed, and to be loved by the men for whomyour word is law. So that when, finally, the walls ofOsgiliath had opened before them, who else but hecould have led the men through the breach, from outerkeep to inner wall; to wrest, finally, the jewel of

Gondor’s realm from Eldacar’s hands, and claim itscrown for Castamir, rightful heir to the throne?

The moment should have been a glorious one.And yet the knot that twisted his stomach was not ofexcitement, of the thrill of victory, but the sour taste ofregret. For the blood which stained the hills of Gondorand slickened the streets even of its fairest cities wasnot that of orc, or Variag, or Wainrider, but of the men,and women too, of Gondor herself. The blood of brotherspilt by brother, kin by kin, as the realm had torn itselfapart. The war had not been one waged for survival, oreven for the cause of right over wrong, good over evil,but for...for what? Ostensibly for the purity ofbloodline, to prevent the blood of the Lords of Gondorfrom being further diluted. Yet throughout the age theblood of Dunedain and commoner had been so inter-mingled that few could claim with certainty that theirswas a pure line. So that, in truth, he knew that this wasbut a justification for the war, not its root.

And that root? For some, no doubt, it was thequest for power, to advance one’s own family line, agoal which for centuries had sought through whispersand deals, alliances and politics, but which now overspilled the boundaries of tradition and law to rage as astorm of blood and steel. But for every person whofought with such dreams to warm their nights, anotherhundred took up arms without hope of power. And forsuch as them, it was for glory, and for honour, thatthey fought, so that the side they chose was merelythat, a side, chosen because friends, or family, had swornthat way.

Kin Strife!by John Davis

Osgiliath c1437 TA, late NarbelethThe aptly named "Usurper",usurped the throne of Gondor fromEldacar, ruling from 1437 to 1447of the Third Age, until he was vio-lently deposed.

The great-grandson of theunremarkable king Calmacil,Castamir was not in line for thethrone, but his royal backgroundhad made him the Lord of Shipsunder the previous king, Valacar.His lineage and influence left himin a position to challenge the cur-rent king, Eldacar, who was onlyhalf Gondorian. As King Valacar'sonly son, Eldacar was the legiti-mate heir to the throne, but his halfRhovanion lineage angered citizenswho believed that pureNúmenórean blood must be main-tained. Capitalizing on what be-came outright protest against thecurrent king, Castamir was able toincite rebellion and besiege Eldacarwithin the city Osgiliath in 1437of the Third Age. The city was seton fire by Castamir's troops, de-stroying the famed Dome of Stars.Shortly thereafter, Eldacar fled thecity and into exile in Rhovanion,to the north. With the defeat ofthe king, Castamir seized thethrone.

For ten years Castamirruled Gondor with an iron fist,

Stand-byPoSitionS

This truth had a bitter taste, but was, evenso, understandable. Generations of Gondorians hadbeen raised on stories of the old wars, of great deedsperformed and great victories won. Yet for a lifetimeor more, there had been no wars to fight, no battlesto be won; with Sauron quiescent, the South tamed,and even the Easterlings withdrawn, all that remainedwas to keep watch on the borders and old places.And what glory was there to be won in that? Scantsurprise, then, that, when opportunity arose, somany took to arms. And the common soldier, theminor noble, they cared little for the power strugglesof the royal lines, of the Southern Kingdom’s greed,or even the dark rumours which ever surroundedCastamir. They cared only for the chance to coverthemselves in glory and in honour. And Orodrethcounted himself among them.

Yet now, standing on Osgiliath’s tower, heknew that there was no honour to be gained here, noglory to be won. All the war had done was to waterthe fields of Gondor with the blood of her own, tosatisfy the greed for wealth and power of a selectfew who cared nothing for the people or the realm.But even as he cursed them for this, he knew thatthe blame was his more than it was theirs, that evilwas not merely done, but allowed to be done.

while Eldacar quietly regainedpower. Castamir ruled cruelly, andcommitted many foul deeds, includ-ing executing Eldacar's own son,Ornendil. At first the people ofGondor tolerated Castamir becauseof his pure Númenórean blood.Then, in 1447, after a decade underthe wicked rule of the Usurper (asCastamir was now called), the peo-ple of Gondor rallied around the trueking, Eldacar. Castamir was slain byEldacar's forces at the Battle of Erui,the decisive battle of the Kin-strife,as this period came to be known. Atthe Crossings of Erui, Eldacar per-sonally slew Castamir.

Castamir's influence did notend there. Remnants of his forces,and his surviving sons, retreatedfrom the Battle of Erui to the portof Pelargir and escaped by ship toUmbar, far to the south. These de-scendants of Castamir became theso called "Corsairs of Umbar", fiercepirates who terrorized the ports ofGondor with thehelp of the men ofHarad. Theywere perhaps thegreatest threat toGondor for nearly400 years, com-manding massivefleets of ships.There most infa-mous exploit wasthe Raid ofPelargir in 1634,in which a Corsairarmada sailed upthe river Anduinto the port ofPelagar, deep inGondorian terri-tory. This raid co-incided with theyoung kingMinardil's visit,and he was slainin by the Corsairsas they attacked.

They re-mained a signifi-cant threat until1810, when KingTelumehtar re-took Umbar forGondor. In thisbattle the last de-scendants ofCastamir were fi-nally killed. Sogreat a victorywas this, thatforever afterTelumehtar wasknown asU m b a r d a c i l ,which literallymeans "victorover Umbar".

Whether Sauron’s hand was behind the uprising, assome rumours had it, or whether this new evil wasborn in the hearts of men alone, Orodreth knew notand cared less. At his sword’s edge had the blood ofhis own kin been spilled, and his word thousands hadperished, for nothing more than the false allure ofglory, and a concept of purity that was probably nolonger anything but a myth, if ever it had been more.

So that as he glanced down, to where guardsheld Ornendil, son of Eldacar, beloved Captain ofOsgiliath and his own kin, whom he was doomed toslay else be labelled traitor, he knew that far fromsuch a deed being beyond him, it was merely symbolicof all he had already done. Live now or die, be knownby history as hero or traitor, nothing could erase thedeaths of those he had slain, or caused to be slain.Not for survival, not for what was right, but for selfishglory, at the bidding of greed.

For an eternal moment he held his sword aloft,so that it seemed that the sun itself burned in hisblade. Looking down, he forced himself to meetOrnendil’s gaze, almost envying the man even as hemurmured silent apology for what he knew he mustdo. Then, as the world held its breath, he brought theblade flashing down, and the Kin Strife took anothervictim.

For a heart-beat therewas silence. Then, as thesun slipped beneath thehills and the darkshadows of Mordorspread across the city, soa cry went up from thepeople as they pouredforwards, moving infurious rage against theguards who sought to holdthem back. But for alltheir fury, fist and daggerfound little purchase onhelm and shield, and atCastamir’s word, bloodflowed through thestreets, the people ofOsgiliath cut down, theirfinal defiance silenced bysteel. And as the nightdeepened, fires sparkedand spread, so that thosewho did not find death atthe hands of Castamir’smen found it in the ragingfire that consumed thecity.

For a night and a daythe city burned, and itsrazing would linger in thememories of men downthrough the generations.And in that night’s darkhour, Castamir sealed hisown eventual downfall,his true face revealed, asthose few who survivedboth steel and fire sworethat they would neithergrieve or rest untilEldacar was restored tothe throne. The Kin Strifewas not over. It was justbegun.

This was my first FTF. Here is how it went forme:

The FTF setupPrior to the game, I had specified a couple of nationsthat I didnt want to play, a couple of friends that Iwanted to play with, and that I would run 2 nationsif available / necessary. On the day, I arrived to findthat I had drawn Arthedain and Cardolan - a solidpairing..... Cardolan I had played in my second evergame 12 years ago, Arthedain never before. So,Cardolan and Arthedain should beat WK / Rhu ninetimes out of 10. I was determined to make this asquick a victory as possible - while remembering thatshould Dr Cockup come calling, there’s noone home.About 90 mins to plan and input the firstturn: gulp.So, each team met & started toplan. DS and FP each hada team room and aninput room. Theinput rooms had3 workstationseach runningautomagic,and in theteam roomsthere wasa big tablewith ah u g elaminatedmap, andlaptop or 2w i t hPalantir onit. FP gotlucky and hadthe upstairsteam room with alittle more space(and about 2000 booksand games lining thewalls). And one of my teammates was none other than ShaunWalker, who I’d play with in my first evergame as WK and had helped me hugely then / I’dnever come across since...

Friday 4pm - 12am (4 turns processed)So off we went.... DS revealed the first part of their2-stop strategy early, and hinted at the second part.Part 1 was a big push into Mirkwood with the Doglordcavalry, the DkLts all heading to 2715, and just aboutALL of the Rhudaur moving through 2209 on 2409and beyond. Part 2 was diverting the CL cavalryand all the LR cavalry to go to attack Corsairs - this“hit” on Saturday- more later. The Rhu strategymade things look tough for Woodmen - but acombination of furious recruitment by him, fundedlargely by SG, and the Dwarven army, and theEothraim (Doglord and DkLts intercepted on t2,

Cardiff FtFA myopic view from a FTF newbie

by Mike Barber

beaten on t3 and Dol Guldur taken on t4) reduced thosearmies quickly...... My personal battle with WK /Rhu was made alot easier by all those troops exitingstage right - and by the Duns charging North and theNoldo sending their starting forces too - but excitementlevels were high as I tried to work out what was goingon, guess what other rolls of the dice might be plannedby the WK while recruiting as much as possible......

Saturday: 9am - 8pm (6 turns processed)The day fell into two halves. Before the lunchtimevisit to the chippie, things went beautifully for the FP.Angmar was being crushed despite valiant attemptsby the WK / Rhu to do what they could with whatthey had and all the Rhu pops were ours, the DS

Mirkwood offensive was abruptly peteringout and Corsairs was fending off the

rolling hordes of Haradtogether with all the DS

cavalry. SG hadcrushed N Harad

and NG still hadeverything bar

3124 and 3020intact. The

cheers fromthe FPteam rooms e e m e dl o u d e rthan theocassionalc h e e rfrom theDS lair -t h o u g h

they hadsome good

successes ina s s a s i n a t i n g

some of the Noldoagents and were doing

well on artefacts. But thegeneral mood of the DS camp

seemed down, and our very ownChris “Goebbels” Courtier seemed to have

enemy morale in tatters. However, something in thelunchtime visit to the ChipShop seemed to help theDS team and their morale recovered after lunch - theirpressure on Corsairs was being sustained and a coupleof attempts by us to land in S Harad were beingthwarted. NG, who had been fighting Mordor nearlysingle handed was being pushed back a little, andDragonlord had managed to jump onto 3109 and burnit. Anduin was running black with Orc blood: thedragon that thwarted by first attempt on 2006 wasgone, and at the end of the day I stood unopposed onthe last 2 pop centres in Angmar: 2006 and 1804.

Sunday: 9am - 3pm (4 turns processed)So this was crunch day. We the FP felt we were winning,but we knew that the GMs weren't persuaded it was

Tolkien A-Z:Frodo

Frodo Baggins was the son ofDrogo Baggins and PrimulaBrandybuck. His cousin, Saradocwas the father of his good friendMeriadoc Brandybuck. Frodolived in Buckland as a child untilhis parents were both killed in aboating accident on theBrandywine River. Frodo thenmoved to Hobbiton to live withhis uncle Bilbo Baggins.

Early in the Lord of the Rings,Bilbo and Frodo had a combinedbirthday party. Bilbo was turning111 while Frodo was turning 33(an important age for a hobbitwhich is the equivalent of a humanturning 21). After that party, Bilboleft the Shire and left all of hispossessions to Frodo, including hishome Bag End and his ring. Thisring became the reason for Frodo'slong journey.

When Frodo was 50 years old,Gandalf told him to take the Ringto Rivendell. After several monthsof preparation he set out with threeof his younger friends - Sam,Merry and Pippin. During theCouncil of Elrond in Rivendell,Frodo volunteered to carry the ringto Mordor and destroy it in theplace it was made. He set outshortly after accompanied by 9companions who were referred toas the Fellowship of the Ring.Frodo's mission became the mostimportant task in third age. Hedidn't fight in a lot of battles assome of his friends did but becameone of the greatest heroes ofMiddle Earth through his deeds.His deeds went largely un-noticedin his home country of the Shire.

During the journey, themembers of the fellowship becameseparated and Frodo continued thejourney accompanied only by Sam.In the course of the journey, thering began to gain power over Frododespite his immense willpower.When they reached theirdestination the mission almostfailed as the ring finally gainedcontrol over Frodo. In an ironictwist, it was only the treachery ofGollum which enabled the ring tobe destroyed.

Frodo suffered some longlasting wounds in the course of hisjourney. These combined with theeffect of carrying the ring for solong meant that he was unable tosettle in to a normal life when hereturned home to the Shire. 2 yearsafter returning home to the Shire,Frodo boarded and elven ship leftMiddle Earth forever, along withBilbo and others.

m o r ethan at i e .Targetsfor thed a y :ensure

1 8 0 4 ,2006 and

2305 and 2703fell, being the last of the

WK pops, plus 2809, plus3224 or 3221. 1804 and

2006 fell on t11, and to the biggestcheer of the day, Morannon fell on

t12 (Kudos to the Eothraim whohad created a mightywarmachine and actually gotboth 2715 and 3221). Corsairs

was down 2 MTs but alanding by SG on 2535interupted the Harad and

further Corsairs lossesseemed unlikely. An attempt to beat up CLint -playing the Nmen - failed as 4013 and 4217 churnedout 800HC / turn, and 2703 fell to Dwarven emmieson t13, and we moved onto 2305 and 2809 (now aMT/ Castle) and 3000SG troops and 1700 CardolanHI tried to move onto Vamag. T14 results.... 2305destroyed. 3329 and 3428 taken by emmy. 2809destroyed.... but a dragon ate (most of our) Vamag-bound troops, and the DS niftly cursed our army at2908 and threatened it to restore some pride. Withmuch clattering, the rollercoaster ride of the last 48hours came to a halt.

Overall we had a cracking time. The GMs were ofcourse very friendly (though Ed talked alot about hisBrazilian marshall art hobby which I took as a threatshould I tear apart his WK / Rhu too quickly) and theSaturday night curry was a v social affair with a bit ofgame banter but mostly some non game relaxation time.As well as having a lot of fun, I saw new tactics triedout, and learned more than a little and got some newideas to try out in other games. Thoroughlyrecommended.

The final score in MTs lost was (by my memory):Woodmen: 2711 (recaptured)Northmen 3109Eothraim: noneArthedain: noneCardolan: noneNG: 3124SG: noneDwa: noneSinda: 2908Noldo: noneDuns: noneCorsairs: 2337 and 2236 (2337 retaken)

Total FP: 6, of which DS holding at game end 2 (2908 and 3124)

WKing: 1804, 2006, 2305Dragon: 2409, 2809, 2715Dog: 3221CL: noneBS: noneIK: noneQA: noneFK: noneLR: 3329DkLts: noneHarad: 2730, 2732Rhu: 1910 and 2008

Total DS: 12

The usual mixed bag of reprobates, sly charactersand people of ill repute turned up at Middle Earth’soffices mid-May, early and eager for a good w/endof gaming. Not long after a rag-tag group of playersstarted arriving – somewhat careworn from theirtravels (Chris flying in from the States, Ulrik fromDenmark [somewhere near Sweden] and Darren fromPenarth), but all similarly tempted by the thoughtsof mayhem and malice; some of it upon their enemies.

3pm arrived and we started giving out turns,there was the usual high level negotiations over nationswaps, the occasional smile as players realised whatnation they had received and groans when theyrealised who would be opposing them. Snacks wereplaced carefully (well okay spread liberally) overthe maps and the gaming begun. It’s surprising howmuch food you can eat in a weekend!

Mike Barber’s report gives a good insight intothe game itself (from the FP perspective) but it’sinteresting to note how players perceive the game.Set backs occur in both teams and morale was highfor the FPs but seemed low for the DS and thatseemed to impact on the play somewhat. Howeverit was all pretty even on the first day of gaming,with the FPs getting the advantage (not a winning

one though) at the end of the day (IMO – but then Iwas a FP!) Just as the FPs thought the game waspretty much swinging inevitably in the favour ofthemselves, the DS with a few well placedassassinations on Saturday.

Saturday night and Chris Littlejohn, in inevitablestyle, manages to pay for his weekend with his usualwin at Poker (I adjudicate – things get a little rowdysometimes).

Sunday, exhausted, but generally happy the playersleft feeling satisfied.

I’m pretty happy with the way things are goingfor the FTF events now and look forward toCopenhagen and Chicago. It’s a great learning experiencefor players (new and old to the game) and going back to2wk turnaround is difficult – you grow used to a turnevery hour or so. Many players now vow not to tryassassinating at a hidden pcs!

There’s an excellent atmosphere with some goodnatured joshing of your opponents and it’s nice tomeet up with old allies and make some new friends.

To finish: a few diehards decided that 4 hours sleepwas too much each night, decided to play Carcassonne,Brit Rails and finally History of the World until 5amMonday morning.

... and a GM's-Eye ViewFtF VII, Cardiff, May 2005

by Clint Oldridge

Tolkien A-Z:Gimli

Gimli's father Glóin, was oneof the dwarves whoaccompanied Bilbo onhis journey in TheHobbit. He went withhis father toRivendell, to reportabout amessengerf r o mM o r d o rwho had cometo hishomeland inan attemptto recruitthe help ofthe dwarves. Their kingand kinsman Dáin sent them toRivendell for advice on what todo. After the Council of Elrond,Gimli was chosen to represent thedwarves in the fellowship of thering.

At the start of the journeythere was some tension betweenhe and Legolas, due to the longfeuds between their people. Overtime they became inseparablefriends who spent much timetravelling together in later years.After the War of the Rings, he leda group of his people to the cavesof Aglarond behind Helms Deepin Rohan. There they laboured toshape the natural stone they wayonly dwarves could andtransformed it into a place ofbeautiful halls. After the death ofKing Ellesar (Aragorn), it is saidthat Gimli sailed with his friendLegolas over the sea. They werethe last members of theFellowship of the Ring to leaveMiddle Earth.

Fifty Reasons whyLord of the Rings Sucks

1. Fellowship of the Rings and Two Towers were shoveddown our throats: I've heard some students are evenforced to read some novelization of the movie in theirliterature classes. Ridiculous. Does Hollywood run ourclassrooms now? 2. Greed: Hollywood can't make a movie these dayswithout crapping out a sequel the next year to squeezemore money out of the sheep. Guess what; there'sANOTHER LOTR movie coming this Christmas. Gee,I wonder what will bring Rocky out of retirement thistime?3. Quality Control at New Line: Millions of copies ofthe LOTR DVDs have thick black bars at the bottomand top of the screen throughout the film. Didn'tanyone catch this? You know what happens at the end,in the extreme foreground and extreme upper sky?Neither do I. Bush league, guys.4. They switched Darrens on us! Look closely inFellowship and you'll notice the human member oftheir party is played by two different actors at differentpoints of the movie (it takes a sharp eye to notice, butone of them has red hair, one black).5. Quality Control at New Line, II. In the massive Mt.Doom battle scene at the beginning of Fellowship ofthe Ring, a DVD pause reveals at least half a dozen ofthe 50,000 Orc Warrior extras are wearing moderntennis shoes.6. Speaking of Orcs: The Orcs were obviously stolenfrom PC game maker Blizzard and its Warcraft series.Too bad Blizzard is apparently too scared to sue NewLine over it.7. Racism: Percentage of protagonists in Fellowshipwho are white: 100. Meanwhile the black antagonistsand their black crow spies and their black glass seeingball inhabit their black towers and perform black magic.Gosh, I wonder if there's some symbolism there?8. Gold: The Stretchy Element: The ring, which is seento be at least two inches in diameter at the beginning tofit the polish sausage-sized finger of Sauron, suddenlyfits Frodo's child-sized finger later. I guess this movietakes place in a world where rings magically changesizes on their own.9. Violence: Give me one reason that story couldn'thave been told without all the fighting.10. Horse sense: Why didn't they take horses on theirquest? Or even better, why didn't Gandalf's giant flyingbird friend haul them into Mordor? Watch out, Frodo!All of your methods of transportation have beenswallowed by the Dark Lord of the Plot Hole!11. Retracted.* See below.12. Return of the Living Dead:In FOTR, if you watchclosely during the Inn scene, Frodo and his crew areshown getting stabbed by the Ring Wraiths. Then, fiveseconds later, they are fine again. Note to the director:try proofreading your movie before you release it tothe public.13. Did someone say plot hole? Liv Tyler's characteris seen easily defeating nine strong supernatural beings,even though she is clearly a woman.14. The Battle Droid Syndrome: The mutated muscularsoldiers of Mordor turned out to be hilariouslyineffective fighters, a dozen of them held off by asingle dying human. Apparently they made the beastsby crossing Orcs, Goblins and the French.15. Sloppy CGI: Gandalf's smoke boat at Bilbo's partyis pretty impressive, but smoke cannot be made totravel horizontally, thus revealing it to be nothing buta cheap special effect.

The United Nations announcedyesterday that the kingdom ofGondor has officially been grantedmember status effectiveSeptember 1, 2005.

"We are very excited aboutbringing this stalwart nation intothe fold," said Secretary GeneralKofi Annan. "I think this is a greatday, not just for Gondor, but forall nations."

Gondor is a relatively smallcoastal kingdom which hasreceived considerable mediaattention recently due to the PeterJackson docu-drama. Although itclaims a history thousands ofyears old, this marks the first timeit has been officially recognizedas a sovereign nation.

Some member states objectedto the admission of Gondor on thegrounds that it is not a real country.Annan brushed aside theseconcerns.

"Come on now," he replied."Neither is Luxembourg, but welet them in. Besides, after seeingthe magnificent infrastructure inthe capital, Minas Tirith, I haveno doubt that Gondor's dues,which will be based on its totalGNP, will comprise a welcomeaddition to the U.N. budget."

Others speculate that theU.N. has other motives foradmitting the reclusive kingdom.

"They really want a moreeffective peacekeeping force," saidgovernment affairs analystMarshall Pepin of the RANDInstitute. "The only nationswilling to send troops anywhereunder the United Nations flag areplaces like Belgium, whichmaintains an "army" solely for thepurpose of sending on U.N.missions. America has made itpretty clear it doesn't like playingby anyone else's rules. Now,Gondor may be small, but onething it does have is a crackmilitary. Their equipment maynot be as advanced as theAmericans, but there's no denyingthey get the job done."

The White House has been

16. The Asbestos Wizard: We all saw Gandalf fall intothe molten core of Middle Earth after his battle with thefirebeast thing in part 1. Well, I guess the Gandalf actionfigure must have sold well, because in the slap-togethersequel Two Towers, Gandalf is back. Perhaps it wasvoodoo, a la the corpse in Weekend at Bernie's II (lookclosely and you'll notice LOTR steals several elementsfrom the WAB films).17. Invisible Implausibility: Every time Frodo or Bilbowent invisible with the ring they should have also goneBLIND. Your eyes cannot function unless light is reflectedoff the cornea. If light passes through it (as must be thecase with invisibility) sight is no longer possible. Also,rings do not turn you invisible.18. The Asbestos Wizard, II: The giant fire beast thing atthe end of part 1 was breathing a firey breath hot enoughto send heat-distortion waves through the air. The sheertemperature of the air should have burned off Gandalf'sbeard and eyebrows. None of my reading on evolutionarybiology reveals a single reason why a particular race ofhumans would develop unflammable facial hair as thiswould provide practically no advantage in either survivalor mating.19. I'll have to rent that one: The rushed-through storythe screenwriter threw in as the first ten minutes ofFellowship of the Ring looked a lot more interestingthan the movie we were forced to watch. Why didn'tsomebody make a movie off that instead?20. Magic Mechanics: Experts on the occult say in orderfor a wizard to floorspin a fully-grown man like Gandalf,he'd need three magical staffs, not two.21. Finders, keepers: So Bilbo, who we are supposed toidentify with as a protagonist, finds a piece of someoneelse's jewelry and just keeps it for himself? That's funny,because I would expect a good man to submit it to thelocal Lost and Found so it could be claimed by its owner.It makes me wonder if he bought that hillside house or ifhe was just squatting. 22. Go-Go Gadget Arrow Sprouter: Legolas shoots arrowafter arrow at his enemies, and yet the number of arrowsin his quiver never decreases. I guess elves have glands ontheir back that secrete arrows.23. Watch out! He's going to explode! The heroes areshown eating again and again, and yet no one ever goesto the bathroom throughout their entire quest.24. Meesa gonna make theesa movie suckah! Thecharacter of Gollum in The Two Towers was entirelycomputer animated (a cheap effort to cash in on Jar JarBinks Mania) but was just a dim shadow of George Lucas'effort. Thank you, Peter Jackson. Thank you right toHell.25. Propaganda: The Elves, clearly the most advancedand wise species, are also clearly gay.26. Speaking of Elves: Elves are beautiful and wise andtall? Great warriors? Makers of fine lightweight weapons?Our modern knowledge of elves has observed only anability to make cookies and toys. All the elves in the filmare portrayed as living in a warm paradise (Rivendell) butour own information tells us the aforementioned groupof toymaking elves work and thrive in the arctic. Hey,Mr. Jackson: Research is half of writing.27. Homage or theft? The "happy village of little people"idea was stolen from Willow.28. Homage or theft II? The wise old wizard characterwas stolen from Harry Potter.29. Homage or theft III? The "travelling on our questthrough a corn field" scene was stolen from Shrek.30. Homage or theft IV? The character of the rebellious-

Gondor Acceptedinto United Nations

by Dr. Albert Oxford, PhD London Film Institute **

but-helpful Ranger was stolen from Val Kilmer inWillow.31. Homage or theft V? The concept of the violentdwarf was based on Al Pacino.32. Homage or theft VI? The "old man looking throughthe door hatch at the approaching little people" scenewas stolen from A Clockwork Orange.33. Homage or theft VII?The cantina scene with anoisy bar filled with a mix of otherworldly species wasstolen from Cecile B. DeMille's One Night in an AlienBar.34. Homage or theft VIII? The incident with the flockof evil magical spying crows serving the All-Seeing Eyewas based on an actual incident.35. Homage or theft IX? The character of the GiantEvil Flaming All-Seeing Eye was based on formerPresident Jimmy Carter.36. Homage or theft X? The character of Elrond wasbased on Agent Smith from The Matrix.37. Weighty issues: AKA "Plot Hole No. 273." Evenwith all that walking and light eating, the character ofSam only got fatter.38. Realism, schmealism: Liv Tyler's immortal elfvolunteers to give up her eternal life for a single romancewith a human man. Could any man really be that wellendowed? I find it unlikely.39. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: The most advancedcivilization is that of the elves, which are long-haired,new-age types? Sorry, Mr. Jackson, but modern sciencehas proven that in any modern civilization, hippieswould be extinct.40. Too many notes: No movie should be over twohours long. Did we need that whole thing in the mine inpart 1? What about that almost-infinite battle scene inpart 2? Didn't it seem like they were just adding pointlessscenes in the middle to pad it? It's like they decidedbeforehand they wanted three hours for each film andused filler to flesh them out.

41. Too many notes, II: I just want to re-emphasize theabove point. There is no reason entertainment can't beconcise.42. Too many notes, III.: Too many characters to keeptrack of. The dwarf was clearly only there as a tokendwarf character to sell tickets to lucrative movie-goingdwarf demographic. Lose him.43. Rationalization for violence.Why, in part 1, is theblack octopus creature painted as the bad guy when itattacks, when one of the Fellowship had clearly beenthrowing rocks at it?44. The Shoeless Land: The Hobbits both 1) refuse towear shoes and 2) run a livestock-based farming economy.Wouldn't they constantly be stepping in crap? Whydoesn't the movie address this issue?45. Casting: Why couldn't Frodo have been played byChristopher Walken?46. Casting, II: Why couldn't Gandalf have been playedby Bruce Campbell?47. Casting, III: Why couldn't Bilbo have been played byVin Diesel?48. Casting, IV: Why couldn't Strider have been playedby a monkey?49. The Score: The background music wasn't nearly funkyenough for me.50. What's that smell? As bad as the Lucasfilm leaks werewith his last film, the filmmakers of Return of the Kingalready have the novelization out in paperback. I've seenit at Barnes & Noble already. As if we needed any less ofa reason to go see it.

* 11. Damn you, gravity! The giant firebeast thing is defeated byGandalf when he destroys the bridge, sending the creature plungingto its death... despite the fact that it has wings. This was retractedwhen a reader pointed out that the wings, like the rest of the beast,were made of shadow and fire and thus would be useless for flight.Thanks for the tip!** Dr. Albert Oxford, PhD, London Film Institute does not exist. Ifyou are offended by this article, please visit:www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/50reasons.html

cautiously receptive to the notion,although President Bush hasexpressed some reservationsabout the addition.

"Well, we're lovers ofdemocracy here in the UnitedStates, and that's something I'd liketo see brought to the Gondorianpeople," said Bush. "They've gota monarchy like Britain, butwithout the prime minister, whichyou really need. We'd be happyto send them some Americanhistory books if they want."

Gondor could not be reachedfor comment, because thisreporter never actually finishedthe Return of the King and heassumes the phone number is atthe end of the book.

The most enthusiastic nationabout the admission is NewZealand.

"We're all for it," said PrimeMinister Helen Clark. "Gondor'sdone wonders for us; it's time theworld got a bit of the action aswell."

Caught in the Act!The moment when Clint stole the Palantir program from Gandalf ...

The complex history of Elves is described in full onlyin The Silmarillion, and it is mentioned tangentially inThe Lord of the Rings. Elves were the first inhabitantsof Middle-earth who were able to speak. They aresometimes called the Firstborn or the Elder Kindred(as opposed to Men, the Second Ones). The Elvesnamed themselves Quendi ("the Speakers"), in honourof the fact that, when they were created, they were theonly living things able to speak. (This name is no acci-dent — Tolkien was a linguist.) Oromë was the firstwho called them the Eldar ("Star People") becausethey were born under the stars, but the name is gener-ally considered to exclude the Avari.

Elves are described as the fairest and wisest ofall creatures in Middle-earth, lovers of art (particu-larly songs, which they singin beautiful voices). ManyElves are also strongerthan Men and have farsharper senses. TheÑoldorin Elves in par-ticular possess skillsand knowledge whichto Men appear to be"magic." Theirmemories anddreams are as vividas real life. Theirmost notable featureis that they are im-mortal and do not ageand catch disease.However, they can be slain. If this happens their spir-its go to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor. After a certainperiod of time (probably inspired by the Catholic doc-trine of Purgatory), they are re-embodied, and stay inValinor forevermore. An exception to this wasGlorfindel.

Tolkien's Elves were a representation of whathuman beings might have become, had they not com-mitted the original sin. They were mostly morally just,as no Elves willingly joined Morgoth or Sauron, theEnemies, although they could be deceived. But excep-tions exist like that of Maeglin, who betrayed Gondolinto save his life and for the love of Idril, his cousin.Further, the invulnerability to diseases were grantedto them and that they could recover from woundswhich would normally kill a mortal Man. Howeverthis also made the Elves less flexible in terms of ad-justing to an otherwise fallen, ever-changing world.

It should be noted that Tolkien's Elves differgreatly from elves of older folklore, as well as mostmodern fantasy elves. His Elves were very much hu-man, if Unfallen. (A reference to the Fall of Man.)

Aside from being equal or greater in stature toMen, the now clichéd special affinity with forests andbows is largely an accident, resulting from the fact thatthe most prominent Elven character in The Lord of theRings, Legolas, is a Wood-elven archer. The trip toLórien furthers the perception that most Elves live intrees and carry bows, while we learn from Tolkien'sother writings that his Elves were just as likely to livein caves (Nargothrond) or mountain fortresses(Gondolin), and the Ñoldor are more often known fortheir mighty swords.

In addition, there are no explicit references to

"pointy ears" in The Lord of the Rings or TheSilmarillion. We know that Tolkien's Elves did, in fact,have pointed ears only because of Tolkien's letters anda passage in the Etymologies (published in The LostRoad and Other Writings, corrected in Vinyar Tengwarissue 45), where Tolkien states that, "the Quendian[Elvish] ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped thanHuman." However, practical considerations, includinga number of occasions where Men are mistaken forElves, suggest that the points must have been subtle,quite different from the large ears of Elfquest or theextremely long, narrow elf-ears in some anime such asRecord of the Lodoss War.

Another oversimplification is the notion thatall Elves were blonde: in fact most of the Elves in Mid-

dle-earth during the pe-riod of The Lord of theRings were probablydark-haired. LúthienTinúviel and her re-mote descendantArwen Undómiel,described as themost fair of allElves, were bothdark haired. Ingeneral the VanyarElves were blonde,and the otherElves (includingÑoldor, Sindar,

and Avari) had darkor even black hair. This is however a great oversimpli-fication: the younger Ñoldorin princes and their de-scendants (such as Galadriel) had blonde hair on ac-count of Finwë's second wife Indis of the Vanyar. Eventhe sons of Fëanor, the eldest Ñoldorin prince, werenot all dark-haired: at least Maedhros and the twinsAmrod and Amras had red hair, from their motherNerdanel. Additionally a silver hair colour existed inthe royal house of the Sindar, with Thingol, Círdan,and Celeborn all described as having silver hair.Galadriel displayed an extremely rare hair colour no-where else observed: "silver-golden" hair, said to bedazzlingly beautiful ("blending the light of the TwoTrees, Telperion and Laurelin"), which may have beena result of her unusual mixed Noldor-Vanyar-Teleri her-itage.

The stories of the First Age deal mostly withthe Elves, especially those who did not heed the call ofthe Valar and stayed behind in the various kingdoms ofBeleriand, and those who later returned, as Men onlyappear in the later stories. Elves are here in their youth,and are powerful enough to actually challenge Melkor,a being of angelic might. After the end of the First Age,the Elves of Middle-earth are still powerful enough tohold off Sauron, and create Rings of Power which canactually slow the effects of time. However, by the ThirdAge (the time of The Lord of the Rings), their impor-tance in affairs of the world is diminishing, and only afew of them are left in the refuges of Rivendell,Lothlórien, and Mirkwood. Many of them can be seenwalking west, towards the Grey Havens, to leave Mid-dle-earth forever. Therefore few of them are to remainin Middle-earth after the end of the Third Age, whenthe One Ring was destroyed.

Tolkien A-Z: Elves

10. Insist that someone with “in-telligence” must be included in thecompany (and unfortunately youmean yourself . . .)

9. Complain about the rations offood at Minas Tirith, the “smallloaf” of bread, and the “inadequatepat of butter.” Never mind the dev-astating siege going on – a hobbitdeserves a decent breakfast!

8. Take part in encouraging a usu-ally “un-hasty” group of Ents torise up against their unpleasantneighbor.

7. Map? Who needs to memorize amap? Sure, there are tons of themhere in Rivendell, but why wastemy time on something boring likethat? Who cares that I will prob-ably travel all over Middle Earthbefore all is done, I’m sure to al-ways be with someone responsi-ble, like Gandalf or Strider . . . right?

6. Greet your long lost friend, whohas transformed into the awe-in-spiring White Rider, amid the ru-ins of Isengard, hardly able to uttera sound due to your great joy. (Ok,perhaps this doesn’t deserve an ir-ritated response, but bear in mindWizards can be quite temperamen-tal. Especially during tense mo-ments on the battlefield.)

5. Steal a secret stash of pipeweed(Longbottom leaf – the 1417 crop,mind you) and proceed to mock-ingly enjoy a smoke amid the ruinsof the Isengard fortress.

4. Request the names of all thestars, and all of the living things,and the whole history of MiddleEarth, and Over-heaven, and of theSundering Seas to quench your in-quisitiveness.

3. “But I still want to know . . .”

2. On a whim, drop a stone into areally deep well and wait to seehow long it will take to hit the bot-tom. Make sure that you are in adark, deathly still place, preferablylong deserted by any goodly folk.An ancient dwarf kingdom longoverrun by orcs and Balrogs wouldbe ideal.

1. Maybe I’ll just take one peepinto that cool looking stone. I can’tsleep anyway. I’ll just put a stoneunder his arm in its place. Yeah,that’s it! Just one look. No one willever notice . . . "

Top 10 Waysto Annoy a

Wizard

[Editors note ... This article was first published in'Whispers of the Wood', the GSI newsletter. A lot ofwater has flowed over the Falls of Rauros since then,and consequently I would consider the original articleto be rather out of date - certainly in terms of the waythe game is played these days. In general, this article,as originally written, does not allow for the team-playthat is such a feature of MEPBM these days.

So why re-publish? Well, to be honest, back inthose days people seemed more willing to write! Ratherthan emailing me, or posting on the mepbm forumabout out-of-date articles, why not write somethingnew? Or alternatively, go to the extensive Whispers ofthe Wood or Mouth of Sauron archives and use anexisting article as a source of inspiration. (Don't forgetto credit the original author if you use his or hermaterial).

Comments in italics below are mine. The rest isErving Bolinski. My own comments are cursory andmay well not cover all the necessary points. By allmeans write in or post on the forum!].

Death and taxes; the only certainties in an uncertainworld. Even in the realm of Middle-earth, there's noescape from this troublesome duo. The trick lies inlearning how to keep the one from leading all tooquickly to the other. A bankrupt nation is just as deadas one that's been conquered and razed.

Each of the twenty-five positions in ME-PBMmust face the challenge of bringing income and outlayinto balance, some more pressingly than others.Generally speaking, each nation possesses enoughgold reserves to support their campaign for roughlytwo to three months, assuming no significant expensesoccur (creating a lot of characters, improving popcenters on a wid scale, etc). Strong early decisionsmust often be made to determine the best use ofavailable income and to minimize unneeded expenses.But what strategies are best for your position? In thisarticle, we'll take a look at a number of the optionsthat are open to you to help keep your nation runningin the black. Please note that not all these strategieswill work equally well for all nations, but you shouldfind enough financial advice to point you in the rightdirection.

[Realistically speaking, there's no way that a nationsuch as Rhudaur has enough resources to supporttheir campaign for two to three months - that's four tosix turns. Technically they could disband troops, butthat's suicide. Did Erving mean two to three turns?The same goes for nations such as the Eothraim, WitchKing, Dragon Lord and others.]

Increasing taxesThis option has the advantage of immediatelyincreasing revenue and is often the simplest tactic toput into effect. However, it also has the negative sideeffect of lowering your pop center loyalty. If there'sa danger of other nations benefiting from your lowerloyalty, yet still allow for increased revenue. Further,to compensate for the period of higher taxes, the nationcould instruct its emissaries to focus their attentionon increasing their own pop center loyalty - providing

the benefits of improved/restored loyalty as well asthat of skill rank improvement for the emissaries involvessince the order is automatic.

[Let's be honest here. The majority of nations should puttheir taxes up to 60%, it won't make any difference exceptfor the immediate, one-off, loyalty loss. At that level therewill be no turn-on-turn loss of loyalty. If you decide notto put your taxes up, then you may as well put them downto 39% and go for the turn-on-turn loyalty gain in returnfor a piffling loss of income. There are of course somenations who demand (or allow) more radical taxationpolicies!]

Building population centresThis option can take on many forms and results in analmost immediate revenue increase. One method is tohave emissaries influence the loyalty of foreign popcenters, bringing them under your nation's control.Another is to simply capture the pop centers of othernations. This method is particularly effective foraggressive militarily-oriented positions, such as theEothraim. A third possibility is to post or create campsin unoccupied hexes.

Placing campsThis extension of the above option can offer numerousbenefits. For example, strategic placement of camps canwork to hinder your opponents' economic and militarygrowth, cutting them off from needed resources.

This option can be used to increase gold reservesdirectly by securing hexes containing gold. Goldproduction is independent of taxation and is only affectedby the changing seasons. Location other forms ofproduction can be useful as well, allowing a nation tosell their valuable surplus of high-cost products.Successful use of certain mage spells or effective agentscouting can provide hints for the best camp locations.It can take some planning and patience to ensure thesuccess of this option, but the immediate and long termrewards can be significant.

Improve population centresThis option provides more of a long term solution torevenue problems because it requires up- front gold inorder to raise the pop center levels. This will compounda revenue shortage at first, but in the long run will providea solid increase, particular if the tax rate is raised. Thus,this amount of revenue over an extended period.Additionally, the improved levels can result in a boostto victory point rankings in the area of populationcentres.

[The what? Oh yes, the individual victory conditions onthe front page. I remember them now. Well, I supposethat piece of advice remains true in a Gunboat game,but don't let your team catch you using emissaries toboost your own population centres when the emissarycould better be used elsewhere!]

Sell your storesThis is the easiest option to pursue, but frequent use ofit can result in a product-poor nation that musteventually buy back needed products at a higher cost,

Balancing Your Budgetby Erving Bolinski,

additional material by Colin Forbes."Hobbits on the other hand werein nearly all respects normal men,but of very short stature. They werecalled 'halflings'; but this refers tothe normal height of men ofNúmenorean descent and of theEldar (especially those of Ñoldorindescent), which appears to havebeen about seven of our feet. Theirheight at the periods concerned wasusually more than three feet formen, though very few ever exceededthree foot six; women seldom ex-ceeded three feet. They were not asnumerous or variable as ordinaryMen, but evidently more numerousand adaptable to different modesof life and habitat than the Drûgs,and when they are first encounteredin the histories already showed di-vergences in colouring, stature,and build, and in their ways of lifeand preferences for different typesof country to dwell in (see the Pro-logue to The Lord of the Rings, p.12). In their unrecorded past theymust have been a primitive, indeed'savage' people, but when we meetthem they had (in varying degrees)acquired many arts and customsby contact with Men, and to a lessextent with Dwarves and Elves."(JRRT, Peoples of Middle Earth,HOME 12)

"The Hobbits are, of course, reallymeant to be a branch of the specifi-cally human race (not Elves orDwarves) -- hence the two kindscan dwell together (as at Bree), andare called just the Big Folk and Lit-tle Folk. They are entirely withoutnon-human powers, but are repre-sented as being more in touch with'nature' (the soil and other livingthings, plants and animals), andabnormally, for humans, free fromambition or greed of wealth".(JRRT, Letters # 158 footnote)

"It is plain indeed that in spite oflater estrangement Hobbits arerelatives of ours: far nearer to usthan Elves, or even than Dwarves.Of old they spoke the languages ofMen, after their own fashion, andliked and disliked much the samethings as Men did. But what exactlyour relationship is can no longerbe discovered. The beginning ofHobbits lies far back in the ElderDays that are now lost and forgot-ten."(FOTR, Prologue)

Tolkien A-Z:Hobbits

Editor: Colin Forbes,2A Guinea Street, Exeter, Devonnfbree@yahoo.co.uk

ME GaMESdEtailS

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or else be forced to do without them. Consequently, itis often the last refuge of the desperate. While thepromise of quick cash can be tempting, moderationand careful planning are really the keys to successfulutilization of this option. Remember that everythingyou sell can fall right into the hanks of your opponents.You must balance the short term reward with thepossible long term damage.

This option works best in conjunction with someof the other options (#3), or when you need animmediate temporary shot in the arm.

[Frequent use can result in a product-poor ... er, wellmy own advice would be to sell as much as you canevery turn. It's no good having nice stores of timber,leather or mounts if you have gone bankrupt.]

Trade with other nations.Frequent communication between allies, neutrals, oreven enemies can reveal material needs and allow anation to find new markets for their surplus products,ones that avoid the market price overhead and limits.Of course, one must be trusting that the other nationwill pay up once the goods have been delivered.

[I've sat here for the last few minutes, trying toremember the last time I actually did something likethis. As a neutral, yes you do trade for favours, goldor whatever - but selling goods to an ally? Er ... wellmaybe it worked like that in the dim and distant past,but no new player should expect anything like that tohappen these days. As for trading with an enemy, Ithink I've done this by accident a few times ...]

Offer services to other nationsThis option is frequently overlooked and is morespecialized in nature than most of the ones previouslydiscussed. However, it is easy to implement inconjunction with any of the other options. What kindsof services one could offer are limited only by theimagination of the nation's ruler: kidnappings,assassinations, spell castings, information dealing,thefts, military operations, artifact sales, etc. Ofcourse, one must be trusting that the other nation willpay up once the service has been provided.

[As above really. The game has moved on since thissort of thing happened, if it was ever common-place -which I don't recall it being in UK games.]

Threaten nationsThis option is most suited to strong militarily-orientedpositions and can be of mixed benefit. Often the merethreat of an attack, particularly against crucial popcenters, can motivate your opponents to cough upthe cash to keep you away. Call it extortion, call itpayola, but if you can make it work, call it financialsecurity. However, keep in mind that exercising thisoption will make you a lot of enemies who may justban together to rid themselves of the financial drain.

A variation of this tactic is for a neutral nation to"threaten" to join one side or the other if not paid tostay in the middle.

[ No! Don't do this, ever! Neutrals only lose out bythreatening potential allies, they are quite likely to getattacked in response. And if you ever find yourself inthe position of threatening an ally, then you shouldprobably think about finding a new team. Though ...there have been times ... ]

Borrow from other nationsThe team nature of the game often encourages one sideto help support the continued existence of their weakernations, or even of neutral nations that may join theircause. This option takes advantage of this characteristicby suggesting that a nation may be able to secureadditional gold as a loan or a foreign aid directly fromother nations. A very specialized and risky tactic, butone could greatly benefit a weaker and/or neutral nation.

[Borrow? It's been years since I saw anyone expect to berepayed on a gold transfer to an ally (ie Teamwork), oreven to a neutral (ie Bribery). I would certainly notcharacterise this as a 'risky tactic'. It's a run-of-the-mill, everyday occurence.]

Reduce maintenance costsThis frequently overlooked option actually can be anextremely effective means of accomplishing several goalsand can provide a very quick and sure way of balancingthe budget by reducing costs rather than trying to increaserevenues.

Army maintenance costs can be reduced by retiringtroops, or even better, by launching a military offensive.The latter results in the capturing of pop center ( option#2) AND in the loss of troops, which reducesmaintenance cost. Retiring unneeded warships andtransports also reduces costs.

Population center maintenance costs can be reducedby removing unneeded harbors, ports, orfortifications.Character maintenance costs are usuallyalways on the rise as characters improve their skill ranks.However, costs can be reduced by retiring characterthat offer minimal benefits terms of their skill ranks andtypes of skills offered. The cost to create new characterscan be avoided by more effectively using those alreadyin existence.

Deciding which options are best or most effective is upto each player and his or her style of play. Some nationswill find some more suited to their plans and needs thanothers, and furthermore, these plans and needs couldchange over the course of the game. The common goal isto determine which options provide the most advantagesand the fewest disadvantages and which hold the greatestpromise of short and long term gain.

One final item to consider: Combining more thanone of the above options often allows the nation greaterflexibility in dealing with unforeseen future events -frequently a critical and deciding strategic factor.

[The two major omission from the original article arestealing gold, and market manipulation. The first optionis self explanaroty really. Any agent ranked 40 or abovecan easily steal from lower level population centres.Market manipulation takes teamwork (and thus wasn'tdiscussed by Erving) and is something of a black art.You see, to do it right, this is what you should do ...

CENSORED BY THE AUTHORS BETTER JUDGEMENT !]

brEE 29 artworkAnke-Katrin Eissmann (p1, 2, 7)Joel Lopez (p5 top)Neldorwen (p5 bottom)Perkan (p3)John Stewart (p8)

brEE contactPlease send submissions for Breeto ME Games and/or the editor.