3rd battle!

So, in this case, we have two choices. Attack on Fangorn, or Flight from Moria. I decided on Moria first.

This is a defensive game, which would mean i will have to survive 20 turns. However, notice the words "Cave Troll" in there. That's always a good thing... for evil. Bad for Good. VERY BAD.

For my two companions, i took along Gimli and Eomer. One is horsed and can run, the other can whack. Whack.

And whack the cave troll he must.

Meet the monster. Same HP as Gimli, huge attack, only thing he's a bit cowardly. To face him we have ...

Pippin the Troll Slayer!

Wait, what are you saying he's worse than a woodsman?

The good news about this battle is that Goblins are weak. 5 hp 3 attack. Peasants.

The bad news is of course we're swarmed by them.

So, Gandalf tanks, Gimli throws his axe, while Eomer hits and runs.

Also, on the left we have 4 wood elf archers. Those will be essential for sniping the troll.

On the right we have 5 woodies against 5 gobbies... and Gorbag.

To those who don't his name, He was the orc captain in Minas Morgul along with Shagrat, where Frodo was taken after he was stung by Shelob (And where Sam made a great rescue and killed Gorbag).

Ouch.

All hail Gimli, troll-slayer!

I was lucky this time that he retreated twice due to cowardice (with 3 heavy hitting Heroes whacking him). Of course... all is not over. There are still masses of Goblins, Captains, a half-dead Gandalf... But of course, the powerful Gandalf runs to hide behind Pippin and Elf archers while he regenerates.

And, it's much easier without the troll around.

On the right, my woodsmen are dying, just being punching bags. Oh well.

7 More turns, and i've won. 6.5. Wait, what's lumbering i hear?

Oh my.

Another one? Oh dear. This isn't going to be good!

All hail Eomer Troll-slayer!

Of course, this troll killed 2 of my wood-elves, leaving one left. If that one dies now, I'll lose! (My woodies have died on the right).

And Gorbag, along with 3 Gobbies, are coming from the right.

Pippin tries valiently to kill a Goblin, and fails.

Thanks to the valor of Pippin, who runs in front to stop the Goblins, my wood elf manages to run behind and is saved.

Gandalf is 1 xp away from Glamdring!

With that, Moria is finished. To be fair, the trolls had 4 morale penalities between the two of them, otherwise it would have been much harder (and probably have to sacrifice Gandalf/Pippin).

Let's continue!

Sorry for the delay in this post, I've been rather busy lately. However, to compensate, let's do 2 battles today!

I've already shown the first picture of the upcoming battle... so let me go through it.

The battle is called "Darkness upon Bree".

This time I cannot choose companions, as I only have one hero, my main one. So let's go on.

Yes, Peasants and Woodsmen, along with one Wizard, against the mighty Ringwraiths, 5 of them.

Not such an even battle after all, but at least i have many.

Peasants have a measly 6 hp and 3 attack, compared to the Woodsman with 12 hp and 4 attack, thus I'll mainly be using the Woodsman.

Of course, that pales in comparison to the wraiths, who unmounted have 18 hp and 6 attack. (OHKOs a peasant on average). The Mounted wraiths have 24/7, which is worse. Don't get me started on the King himself. (He outclasses my unupgraded Gandalf).

I need to kill at least 4 of them to win, and 2 of them must be horses/King. Not easy!

I keep bringing up Peasants from the rear, while sniping them with the Woodies. Also, poke them with Peasants.

This is the result of 3 pokes from a Pitchfork. Not bad.

When all else fails, poke their horse.

Of course, a single hit from their horse back... sends the Peasant flying.

Another one bites it as well. And another one from a normal Ringy.

Notice the words "Free Move" on top of the screen. Every turn you get an event, and 80% of the time it's free move. It means you have one free move that doesn't need command points.

I'll explain the rest as they come out.

More and more valient Breemen are dying in the face of this onslaught. What will happen to Bree when this battle ends? No more breers?

Notice the red outline around the Peasant. That means he was scared and ran back (happens if they get hit at times). Of course, it means he didn't die, so that's a good thing in this case!

Gandalf himself has no choice but to enter the fray.

Of course, It simply isn't looking good for now. They're dying, but i lost most of my valient Breemen... And the witch-king is untouched.

It takes Fire to unhorse a Ringwraith, but unhorsed it is!

He's dying... He's dying...

And the great Gandalf hides behind the Peasants in fear of his life.

Yeah, oops.

Revenge, they say, is bittersweet. In this case it is just sweet.

Of course, it just isn't enough XD.

So anyway, let me just finish it, then i'll continue to the next battle. I'll only post pictures if they're interesting for this second try, and no comments.

And this looks much better.

Also...

With that...

Basically, this time around I didn't fool around with Peasants and used the Woodsman instead. Also, i ignored the one on the right, letting him kill 4 Peasants on the way to the flag.

So, next battle will come in the next post.

Also, a note: Normally losing battles is a bad thing, as it means somehow your sub-hero died, which means he can't be used anymore. In this case it was Gandalf only, so it was ok.

Part 2:P

And of course, part 2 comes out around 30 minutes after part 1, because i am not done explaining at all!

And disclaimer: I do own the cartridge of the game, but i prefer to play it on my computer due to the fact that my GBA is spoiling.

Disclaimer two: I do not own Nintendo, neither am i with EA games, and i'm not afflicted with them in any way at all. I also am not doing this for profit, only for fun and to pass the time.

This is the war room for Light. As you can see, there are no upgrades for now, because we haven't used any of the main or sub heroes yet. I'll enter that after the end of the first mission.

With that, let's go to missions. There's a new one now, which is 'Mission from Rivendell'.

You will start with some description of the battle, along with the objectives of the battle, the scouting report (the tips to victory), and of course, the start button.

Oh, and while we're at it, let's just give myself another rule. Each mission can only be done once. Some people like to continue repeating the mission to gain more experience, i say screw that. :P Can't be bothered.

These are the objectives of the mission. Normally, good and evil will have different objectives, which is true to the story. In this case, i need to reach the bridge, while evil must stop me.

And the scouting report. Good tips, really.

And here we have our companions. Most of them should be familiar, since they're straight from the movies, but left to right, top to bottom...

Theoden, Mark of Rohan: Commander. He provides the most command points after upgrades, and his skill gives more command points. On the flip side... he's an old guy. Weaker than a normal Rohan Warrior, in fact.

Boromir, Captain of Minas Tirith: Tank. Hell a lot of hit points, and a skill which improves his defensive ability, and his horn which improves everyone's defensive ability... wow. Weakness? Not even tanks last long when fighting against several huge trolls :P

Eowyn, Lady of Rohan: Supportive Assassin. Don't ask how they managed to combine these two traits, but Eowyn is a healer with her ability... and she gets an innate +3 attack against heroes. Not to mention she gets Evasion which allows her to sneak past enemies... to give that stab. However, she isn't a front liner, and must be kept behind until there is a chance.

Faramir, Steward of Gondor: Jack of all trades. He can snipe, (sharpshooter), he can command, he can front line if needed, and he can support. Problem of course, is there's always someone better than him if you need something specific done.

Eomer, Knight of Rohan: True Front-Line. Insane attack, insane hit points, horsed which allows double movement, and a skill that adds even more attack. Put him on the front lines, and watch as they get boosted. Weakness, low command points. He can't command a lot and must be paired with others.

Gimli, Son of Gloin: Destroyer. Anything in front of him dies. DIES. Not to mention he can survive those hits as well. Weakness, he just doesn't give much else apart from that insane attack. And he's slow. 2 move. Slow.

Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood: Sharpshooter. 7 Range? Ignores range penalties? Ignores terrain!? Just put him somewhere, far far away, and snipe. Dead orcs. Of course, once you reach him... and while he snipes from far away, it just doesn't do a whole lot of damage.

There's an unlockable character as well, which you get by completing the game on hard mode with the light. In this case, it's Haldir. I won't go into him :P That's for you all to find out.

Anyway, since Sauron mode is on, your main hero should always be in front. If he dies, he still can be used, so use him often and die with him often. XD.

So, placing the heroes, and this is what i get.

Boromir on the left, just behind his soldiers,where he can join in the battle but not in too much risk. Gandalf on the right, where he can enter the action and kill! Legolas in the middle, hiding away sniping away.

Ok, the objective is to reach the centre bridge, but since this is the first mission, i'll just be killing everything for the exp to upgrade my heroes. Remember i can't repeat missions.

Anyway, primary objective one normally is to kill heroes. Of course, if they're hiding away, don't bother, but each hero dead = less unit movements for the enemy.

Yup, that was easy. Not all maps are like this though, but oh well. So let's go into the upgrade scene!

You can only upgrade heroes you used in the last battle. They will carry over their exp points though, so no worries there.

Let's move to Gandalf.

Being a main hero, Gandalf has 4 skills, unlike the other heroes who has only one. However, i prefer to add to their items first, to boost them up without having to resort to skills.

Let's look at his items.

Now, here's something nice. Glamdring gives +2 damage in Melee, and negates disorder. I'll go into disorder later, but let's just say it's something you never want at all. I'll be saving XP for this, but it's far away. Oh well. Same story with Legolas and Boromir, they're too far away from the items i want.

And well, that's all for part 2! Here's a teaser for part 3, which will come soon.

Yup, that's the Witch King.

Welcome to part 1.

Welcome to my blog. This will be part 1 of my gaming blogs, meant to explore hidden gems of the gaming world. For the first game, i will go with Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance. This is a strategy game that follows the series roughly, but in an entertaining and fun way.

Anyway, for this time, i will go with the following rules:

Sauron Mode: Any Heroes killed will remain dead, with the exception of your main hero.

No restarts: If something wrong happens, well, too bad.

And disclaimer: I do own the cartridge of the game, but i prefer to play it on my computer due to the fact that my GBA is spoiling.

Disclaimer two: I do not own Nintendo, neither am i with EA games, and i'm not afflicted with them in any way at all. I also am not doing this for profit, only for fun and to pass the time.

So, let's start off with an introduction!

You can choose either the good or evil sides for this game. For the good, your main heroes are Aragorn, Gandalf, or Elrond, while for the bad, you can have Saruman, the Witch-King, or the Mouth of Sauron.

Here are the rundown of them:

Aragorn: Jack of all trades, Master of none. He can do anything, but can't do it well, and needs to rely upon his sub heroes. Perfect for beginners trying to learn about the game.

Gandalf: Combat Machine. He has regeneration, which means he can get in and out of combat easily, with skills that let him evade missiles and sneak around. Hard to use because you have to focus on him and not the armies though.

Elrond: Sharpshooter. Starts out really strong, but his upgrades aren't great at all. Starts to lose his shine during the third book, which of course is when the game starts getting really hard.

Saruman: Easy mode. He gets super range with super attack, he can lead a maximum of 5 units per turn (that's crazy!), oh, and he regens. Of course, he drops like a fly if you can get near him, but with his range, you prob won't let anyone get near.

Witch-King: Erm, what did you expect? Ranged shooter? He gets in, thrashes everyone, and doesn't die. Problem is, there are a few times where he just can't move, and since there are times when he's the only hero, it's a huge problem.

Mouth of Sauron: Unlike Witch-King, who works alone, this guy charges in with like, 5 orcs behind him, all with +3 attack to heroes. Not even Boromir survives against that onslaught. On the other hand, he's the only hero who has to walk into battle, and yet suffers from cowardice, and he doesn't survive that long.

I have finished the game too many times with Saruman, while recently i just used the Mouth of Sauron to trample the game (he's a monster). Anyway, for this game, i decided to go with Gandalf. Elrond is boring (elf...), while I've used Aragorn before and he's nothing special. So let's go with the wizard!

Tutorial, blah blah.

This is the battlefield, it's divided into left, middle, and right. Each side will get command points which you can use to move your units, and your command points is based upon your hero, in this tutorial, Isildur.

So anyway, since this is the tutorial, it's nothing much. The objective is to kill the commander...

Which is this ugly guy here.

Just send your rangers to snipe at him, and your soldiers to run through the orcs. Isildur can wait behind there :P It's just a tutorial.

But let's go into range attacks. Normally, for each square further away, your attack decreases by one when you use a range attack. For example, a soldier snipes at an orc 3 squares away. He has an attack of 4, so when you snipe 3 squares away, his total attack is 1 (4-1). However, there are people with the trait "Sharpshooter" which means that he is not affected by such range penalties.

An example of a unit with the trait is the rangers or archers.

So anyway, continue on shooting, whacking, and sooner or later...

Ok, so that's not the commander at all! But a good motto is for every dead enemy the objective is now easier to reach. Of course, there are times when you really must beeline the objective and not care about anything else, but this is not an example.

And this is the dead orc commander. End of mission!

Along with some classic lord of the rings music. But on the other hand, if dark wins... (and they'll be winning a lot, honestly). Anyway, let's move on.

But that will be for the next blog post.