If you really, really, oh so dearly want to get to the actual report and be so totally lost you'll bawl like a first grader who lost his favorite Pokemon card (a Pikachu), then go ahead.

The Introduction

Give me two dollars. Dos dolores. Mucho dinero, got me? Call it the fee to read a battlereport by a Korean. You can't get out of it since you've already read one sentence, so the fee is fully applicable. In fact, it's the law.

Oh, I'm Fangrim by the way. People have sometimes asked me how that's best pronounced, and the truth is that I don't even know. I guess "fang-grim" is best. Just think of a fierce, dire rat with big, nasty fangs, and that's me.

Seriously, get the money over here by any means necessary, PayPal, moneyorder, whatever. Drive here if you have to, because I have LOGIC by my side, and nothing beats logic, except for a Korean, which you are NOT. I will even show you why logic can strong-arm you into giving me my two bucks, because it is, in fact, the law.

Honestly, you should be grateful I only require $2.

Whoa! This guy's smart. I better keep reading and pay attention!

So! I suppose you are all wondering who the heck I think I am, what the heck this is and why the heck you're still reading it. Well, you can stop, because I ask the questions around here.

"Who the heck am I, what the heck is this, and why the heck are you reading it, jerk?"

And, since I'm a nice guy, I'll even answer for you.

"He's a Korean, and this is a Battlereport by a Korean. 'Nuff said."

Of course, you might object...

"What!? If he's a Korean, he'd be rolling around in the overly abundant cash he wins from StarCraft tourneys, not asking for lunch money over the Internet! And besides, why should I read this? He hasn't mentioned build orders or anything remotely close to a battle! And his logic makes no sense at all! Even ignoring the fact that this supposed "law" can't possibly be enforced, there are as many holes in his logic as there are in that rodent's swiss cheese! And I have to mention that there is no such thing as a dire rat, your name can't be pronounced in the manner which you specify due to basic rules of the English language, and you'll have to take my Pikachu from my cold, dead hands. I refuse to pay any money for this, and even if I did, the author quite conveniently forgot to mention his mailing address! If anything, it appears that the entire point of this report is to screw the entire world over by throwing them into jail for breaking an absolutely absurd law that is utterly unfollowable! I WILL NOT READ THIS, AND NOTHING YOU DO OR SAY IS GOING TO MAKE ME!"

To which I will respond...

"Dude..., calm down. If you truly must know, I'm only half-Korean, which kind of eliminates me from entry for the "Ub3r aZn 0f da w33k" awards. Also, my logic is perfect and infallible, and it hurts me that you disgrace the age-old thinkers of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who first developed this particular brand of faking making a point. Besides, read one more paragraph and you'll get past this introduction which undoubtedly has lost half my audience anyway. But YOU have survived, dodging every lame joke, ducking under every sharp transition, YOU are the true hero for making it this far. Don't give up now! YOU are an honorary Korean for this noble accomplishment, and I congratulate you as Supreme Acceptor of Donations...But stop reading this, and you are immediately demoted to World Class Fart-Inhaler. Press that 'Back' button and go to wherever your personal Hell would be, whether it is Ms.MacMahan's English III or a TV set permanently set to "Days of Our Lives." IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?"

"I'll read."

What in God's name is going on?

So, let's get this thing moving! No, this is not a Starcraft game. Sorry. And no, this isn't a Warcraft game, per say. Heaven forbid, it's not fan fiction, though I bet some of ya'll might have been wondering. No, this is something else entirely. This is...(scroll down, moron...)

So, yeah, I think that just about everyone that made it past my unconventionally queer introduction stopped reading at the sight of what I was reporting on simply out of "lack of recognition." The last, small percentage of people who made it through both the introduction and the title of the game will probably flee at this: this is a Use Map Settings map for Warcraft III, a custom map, a MAP OF THE DAMNED! Flee for your gaming lives!

Allow me to explain my decision. Seeing a wave of rogue games being reported a while ago emboldened me (heck, there was one on rock paper scissors that got gold, how could I not feel emboldened), and I decided that it was time to reveal the greatest game of all time to you all. And that of course is NOT Starcraft, though it may be tempting for you to say so. No, the best game is Ring Wars, and this report will show you why.

Anyway, why are we talking about StarCraft? That game sucks!

The Lord of the Rings: The Ring Wars is a real-time strategy team-based multiplayer online custom game derived from Warcraft III that uses the Lord of the Rings saga (both the books and the movies) for the basis of the game's content. A game of Ring Wars pits two teams of six players each against one another, with one team playing as the Good forces of Middle-earth and the other team playing the Evil forces of Sauron. The two sides use their units and heroes to destroy each other's spawning areas until one side overwhelms the other and the game is over. The Good side consists of players for Gondor, Rohan, the Elves, the Fellowship, the Shire, and the Dwarves. The Evil side hosts the armies of Isengard, Moria, the Easterlings, Harad, the Nazgul, and Mordor (nations are highlighted with their game color). Each nation is unique, with different units, different strengths and weaknesses, and different roles in the game, with some being independent powerhouses while others are secondary and attempt to support their allies. I'll talk about the individual nations later.

Spawns

Ring Wars contains the same basic mechanics of the stereotypical RTS in that players use their units to kill their enemies' units and buildings. However, rather than creating units like most games, players periodically get units at spawn areas. These areas are important places on the map and are representative of places and fortresses in the Lord of the Rings, some examples being Rivendell, Helm;s Deep, Minas Tirith, and Dunland. Most nations have at least two spawn areas, with some having as many as four. Nations can improve their spawns by building castles at their spawn buildings. The more castles a nation has, the more and better units a nation spawns. Early on, units are weak and spawns are in small amounts. As the game progresses and castles are built, the number and strength of units become steadily greater. This creates an escalating complexity in the game as nations gain stronger and new types of units and as armies become more powerful.

The spawn system neccessitates economical use of units because more cannot be built beyond the set amount given. Players use their units as best as possible to win the game through battles, destroying enemy units and spawning areas. Spawn buildings cannot be rebuilt: once they are gone, they're gone. After a spawn building is destroyed, no more units are spawned for that corresponding building for its nation. Destroying spawns is the primary objective of the game.

Heroes

Another important concept of the game is heroes. Heroes are important characters in the Lord of the Rings. Some examples include Aragorn, the Witchking, Saruman, and Legolas. Heroes have powerful abilities and are much stronger than normal units. The game is regularly decided with the growing strength of one side's heroes over the other through battles. Heroes can level up from killing enemy units, and gain new abilities or strengthen their previous ones.

Heroes are diverse, and each has several abilities or spells they can cast to fit different roles in the game. Some heroes are good at killing units with damage spells, while others are good healers and can save units from death. Some heroes can take a lot of punishment while others are fragile in comparison. And of course, some heroes are better than others, and these in particular are protected by their side as well as attacked by the enemy.

Heroes being so powerful, an important aspect of the game inevitably arises: killing heroes. Ironically, some heroes are perfect hero-killers. Stun spells are great for killing heroes because they make a unit immobile for a given period of time (usually just a few seconds), giving the caster a chance to kill the hero. Pure damage spells are also used to kill heroes outright or in combination with stuns. The most common way to kill heroes is to simply surround them so that they cannot run and then attack them with the surrounding units. Damage spells are used to augment the attack of the surrounding units, speed up the whole process to reduce any risks involved in the battle, and to counter any heals the enemy uses to try to save the attacked hero.

Heroes, like spawn buildings, cannot be revived (with a few exceptions). Once a hero is dead, it is out of the game forever (unlike Warcraft III). Killing heroes is the other major objective of the game.

The One Ring

Good-Ring Drop

Undoubtedly, these goals can clash many times, and often one goal may rise higher in importance than others throughout the game. But, in a clam shell, this is what Ring Wars is about.

Overview

Now, to run through some quick terminology that RW'ers use:

Fun-The reading of a lengthy, well-written and truly awesome battlereport by a Korean on a game of Ring Wars

The Map

The locations of each nation are shown, as well as the major terrain features like rivers and mountains. [Note: In Warcraft III, the player's units are displayed on the mini-map as white, regardless of actual game color. All screenshots of the mini-map in this report will thus show one nation in the wrong color. Here, the white nation on the map is actually Gondor, the Red player. Ignore the weird white box near the center] Use this map as a reference for where each nation is located.

Gondor
Rohan
Elves
Fellowship
Shire
Dwarves
Isengard
Moria
Easterlings
Harad
Nazgul
Mordor

The Nations

The following are assessments of each nation's strengths and weaknesses, as well as brief summaries of their place in the Lord of the Rings universe and overall game strategy. Though reading the Nations section is purely optional (like reading this report at all...), it is strongly recommended you slug your way through this stuff before reading the report so you have preconcieved notions of each nation's role. Even if you don't want to have to read all of it (I understand it is a little daunting) at least skim it, please. And if you're even more stubborn than that, if you're just rarin' to get to the main report so you can finally stop reading at the realization that I am far superior to you in every possible capacity, go right ahead.

Forces of Good

Gondor

In Ring Wars
In the game, Gondor is by far the most important nation of the Good side. Located in the south-central region of the map, Gondor must constantly be on guard for an attack from the four evil nations immediately adjacent and within easy striking distance. In fact, Gondor is usually attacked as soon as the Evil players are ready, which takes about 30 seconds, and the pressure doesn't let up much from there. To compensate, Gondor has a few significant strengths. Its spawns are some of the best, and Gondor's spawns include a myriad of standard infantry, most equipped with shields for anti-archer/tower work. Archers start arriving at castle 2, and the powerful mounted Knights of Dol Amroth come in large number. Once Gondor accumulates several castles, the spawns are augmented with Royal Guard, ballistae, and even eagles.

Another boon for Gondor is its incredible healing capability. Three of its four heroes have a heal spell, which almost guarantees survival of its heroes later on as long as Gondor isn't completely swamped. Henneth Annun, or "the fountain", is an important building for Gondor. All units in its radius rapidly regenerate health and mana, allowing for a friendly nation to quickly get back into the fight. It also provides a good place to fight during attacks on Gondor. For this reason, the fountain is almost always heavily guarded with towers and soldiers, since it can't be rebuilt after it is destroyed.

Gondor is a highly defensive nation since it is the biggest target for the Evil side and must constantly be on guard for a massive attack. The main points of defense are the two river crossings: one to the east and another to the south. Once they are taken, Gondor has only the fortifications by the fountain. After that is gone, Gondor is as good as dead. Four of the six Evil nations have their eye on the destruction of Gondor, one of them, Harad, with no other purpose than to bring it about. Because of this, Gondor relies on its allies to defend itself; for once it is overrun, Good soon falls.

Rohan

In Ring Wars
In the game, Rohan is Good's reaction force. Its bread-and-butter unit, Rider of Rohan, is mounted. Three of its four heroes are mounted. Rohan has several speed increases, making it even faster. The one hero that isn't mounted, Eowyn, has a speed increase. This makes Rohan the fastest nation in the game. Rohan constantly travels around the map to hot spots and aids in combat throughout the entire game. They're like an instant stim pack, and always at the front line of battle when you need them.

Rohan's heroes are essential to its success. Rohan has three waves for wiping out enemy troops along with a slam or two. One of the heroes, Erkenbrand, has a nice stun for killing heroes, Throw Sword, allowing Rohan's fast mounted units to surround enemies. Theoden the King of Rohan has a heal and Eomer is a good waver, but the secret diamond in Rohan's arsenal is Eowyn. Early on, Eowyn is completely useless. However, once she gets to level 5, nothing can stop her. With a huge damage output buffed by critical attacks and increases to movement speed and attack rate, along with Blink to instantly teleport out of danger, she is the ultimate hero-killer, and will take out heroes in five hits late game. Even if you manage to kill her, she comes back to life with her ultimate spell Second Chance and gets away. Only the second death within a few minutes' period will put this death-machine to rest.

The Rohan spawns of Edoras and Helm's Deep lie in the center of the map, increasing Rohan's role in that they can get to anywhere fast. Above the fortress of Helm's Deep lies Rohan's chief opponent: Isengard. The Rohan-Isengard conflict is perhaps the greatest rivalry in all of Ring Wars. The two nations are the closest enemy pair on the entire map, with spawns right next to each other. Their spawns are absolutely parallel, with weak footmen matched with weak Dunlendings and fast Riders of Rohan against tough, shielded Uruk-hai orcs. Both have a "stun," and while Isengard has better unit-killing capability, Rohan has a heal. In short, they are the two most perfectly balanced nations in the entire game pitted against one another. And Rohan loves every minute of it.

The Elves

In Ring Wars
Though the Elves are "one with nature," that doesn't mean they can't pwn. The Elves are actually one of the most destructive nations in Ring Wars: almost every one of its six heroes has a damage spell, enabling the group to quickly bring down enemies, even without regular army support. Elven healing is also superb, an almost exact match for Gondor. The Elves have two targeted heal spells, two slow heal-over-time spells that are effective for armies over the span of a few minutes, and a healing area similar to the Gondorian fountain in the Elven capital of Lorien. The Elves can also become a mana-machine with Galadriel and Eldron. These excellent Elven heroes have the Council ability, which when used restores mana to surrounding allied units. Proper counciling allows continual use of damage and healing spells well past normal boundaries.

The Elves have four spawns (Mithlond and Rivendell in the west, Lorien in the northern center, and Mirkwood in the northeast) spread throughout the entire map, making them quite a "global" nation. They, like Rohan, also go throughout the map, having no true place to call home and solely defend. The greater portion of Elven units is ranged as well, making the Elves a great support force for a more melee-oriented ally. The only big setback for the Elven military is a lack of good melee units. The Elven player counts on allies like Gondor and Rohan to supply a meatshield to let Elven archery and spells do their work. Despite a lack of good infantry and cavalry, the Elves are the most self-sufficient nation in the game and are truly a terror to play against.

The Fellowship

In Ring Wars
The biggest trait of the Fellowship is that it does not spawn units past the initial twelve. These twelve include the members of the Fellowship described above as well as three demi-hero eagles. These are the only units the Fellowship gets (with a few exceptions) since this nation doesn't even have spawns to defend. Thus, the Fellowship goes around the map and fights in ongoing battles. Starting far to the west in the Elven spawn in Rivendell, the Fellowship usually begins the game in going south to Gondor, and from there to conflicts around the map.

The Fellowship makes up for its lack of spawns very adequately, with outstanding healing and exemplary killing power. Overall, the Fellowship is the best, most well-rounded group of heroes in the game. With potentially four heals, one stun, one slow, one mass stun, a damage buff, a council, and more than enough damage to go around, the Fellowship is the most feared and revered force in the game. Woe unto the poor Evil nation caught on its own by the Fellowship.

The Shire

In Ring Wars
The Shire plays the support role for the Good team. They aren't a very necessary component, but they shore up many areas and strengthen already strong ones. Firstly, the Shire controls Tom Bombadil, who many RW'ers consider the best hero in the entire game (other than Sauron, who we'll get to later). Tom has several very beneficial abilities: 1) a heal spell that "bounces", meaning it heals multiple allies one after the other;2) Entangling Roots, a spell that pins an enemy unit to the ground for several seconds, useful for immobilizing heroes for the kill; 3) a mass debuffing shout that drastically slows down enemy units for a long period of time, making them effectively useless for the entire duration; and 4) Tom's ultimate, which instantly heals surrounding allies for usually their entire hit point and mana pools. The superiority of Tom Bombadil's spells is the Shire's advantage over the other races.

Another important hero for the Shire is Fangorn Treebeard, an ent hero. This absolutely gigantic tree possesses Entangling Roots as well. In addition, Treebeard has a stomp ability to stun surrounding enemy units. Because Treebeard is so freakin' huge, the radius is actually quite large and usually stops an entire Evil army in their tracks for the duration.

An important contrast in the Shire's gameplay are its units. On one end are the hobbit farmers, arguably the worst unit ever. On the other end are the tree giants, the ents. They and the Evil trolls are the closest thing to Ultralisks in the game, only even better. The ents have area-of-effect damage, meaning they'll tear apart armies in no time flat because they deal damage to several units at a time.

The Dwarves

In Ring Wars
While the Dwarves of Tolkein's works are definately awesome, the Dwarves of Ring Wars suck major pineapples early on. Seriously, the Dwarves' player is the redheaded stepchild of the game. First off, his units are slow as hell, so anything can catch them, even a gamer fatso like you. The huge number of stuns that the Dwarves' rivals possess doesn't help, either. Additionally, they have no ranged capability to speak of, so they have to fight it all melee, and since they're so darn slow, once they're in trouble they're really in trouble because they can't get away. To add insult to injury, the Dwarves are the only Good nation to not have a heal spell, so if they're in trouble (which is really in trouble, if you remember), they're going to stay in trouble. To add injury to insult to injury, they don't even have decent units to fight down and dirty with what seems to be their whole purpose, and don't get better ones until much later. Starting the game off with four spawns, they have a good chance of losing half of them in ten minutes, and the other half in twenty more, so there's about as much chance of seeing them as you getting slim again, chubby.

Before the Dwarf lovers go and commit suicide, this is all when the Dwarves are alone and low-level, which the Good team strives to reverse 24/7, because when the Dwarves are coupled with another nation, they are cruelly good. Dwarven units are sturdy and can take punishment, as long as there are no Nazgul around (*shudder*...we'll get to them later), and Dwarven heroes are very, umm, healthy 'round the middle. They will live long with proper healing. Also, each Dwarf hero has the spell "Throw Hammer", which totals to 3 (!) stuns, an unbelievable number. If the Dwarf player can get a hero into Hammer range, the target isn't going anywhere soon. The Dwarves are the best enablers for hero-kills, but the only thing getting in the way is their mobility. In later levels, the Dwarves get faster, stronger, tougher, and cooler. In early levels and on their own, the Dwarves are pitiful, but when they're with their allies or late in the game, you better watch out 'cuz Santa's coming to town. (huh?)

Forces of Evil

Isengard

In Ring Wars
Isengard in Ring Wars is strong. It has to be. It (and to a large extent Moria) is seperated from its allies by swaths of land and enemy spawns. Isengard's influence is restricted (though the word is a bit preposterous in this respect) to the lands in all directions west.

Isengard's Uruk-hai are surprisingly tough for standard units. Isengard's best heroes, Saruman and Wormtongue, are some of the best. Saruman deals out incredible damage with Forked Lightning, and his Mirror Image spell creates false duplicates, adding some survivability to the hero. Wormtongue has the powerful Sleep spell, which immobilizes the target unit for a long period of time unless it is attacked, allowing Isengard greater capability in surrounding heroes than other nations. Ugluk adds a wave and speed aura to the group. Together, along with sturdy Uruk-hai warriors, Isengard launches attacks on its surrounding areas to gain experience and enough power that it can either tip the scales in the global conflict or turn the tables entirely, turning defeat into victory.

Moria

In Ring Wars
In Ring Wars, the Mines of Moria can only be entered through three entrances at different points along the mountains. One entrance is to the west of the mountains above Dunland (where the Fellowship entered in the books); another entrance is to the west of Lorien (where the Fellowship exited Moria), and another is to the north of Lorien (where the Fellowship didn't do anything at all). This northern entrance is guarded by some small fortifications and another Moria spawn, Mt. Gundabad (or Goblin Town; it seems to change names with each version). Because entering the Mines requires going in caves that teleport units to other areas of the map, invading units can be easily trapped, so Good does not usually make attacks on the actual Mines of Moria until late in the game. This allows Moria to move about outside the mines, and use it primarily as an escape hatch when needed.

The strength of Moria in the game lies with its heroes. Most notable is the Balrog, or Durin's Bane. The Balrog is big, and powerful, a mirror to Treebeard. It, too, has a large Stomp, but can also wreak havoc among enemy units with area-of-effect attacks. At later levels, attacking the Balrog usually ends in suicide without a very determined force, and even a determined force can be denied by a heal, which Moria's goblin hero Barg possesses. The coolest hero, though, is Gollum. Gollum is the ultimate hero-killer because he has two anti-hero spells. The first, Strangle, immobilizes a hero for almost half a minute. The spell has to be used at fairly close range, however, and Gollum is also immobile during the duration, but if Good can't stun or kill Gollum, the hero is as good as dead without a lot of healing. Gollum also has Bite, which also stuns a unit for a duration as well as dealing decent damage. Something else that is overlooked is that Gollum is overlooked. He blends in almost perfectly with a mass of goblins and other units. Nations fighting Moria are in constant panic that Gollum will seemingly appear out of nowhereand get a Strangle on one of their heroes.

Moria pairs up extraordinarily well with Isengard. Together, the two have an incredible amount of damage they can deal out very quickly. While Moria gives Isengard a heal, Isengard gives back high quality troops. While Isengard gives Moria great reconnaissance via wards, Moria gives a stomp to save their butts in trouble. Their hero-kill spells added together means the team will never lose an opportunity. A Moria and Isengard that play well together are the most powerful duo in the game. Goblin hand in uruk fist, Moria and Isengard work to make the West a darker place.

The Easterlings

In Ring Wars
While Isengard and Moria are Evil's nations in the west, the Easterlings are the first of Evil's nations in the...uh...what was it? Easterlings in the...east? No...

The Easterlings are a very interesting nation. At once, they are the nation of both noobs and pros. For the noobs, the goals of the Easterlings are pretty simple. It's a support nation, and basically follows its allies around and helps them in their endeavours. The Easterlings never form the core of attacks, so they are somewhat an added bonus atop Evil's forces. However, a new player cannot even scratch the surface of the Easterlings, which requires an in-depth knowledge of all abilities, extreme micro-management cabilities, and most of all, skill. The Easterlings, like their Dwarven rivals to the north, do not have a heal to save them when they're in trouble, and though they have a few waves, their heroes have low mana pools and run out fairly quickly. The Easterlings do possess several combat tricks that visibly alter the outcomes of battles.

The force of the Easterlings early on comes from its mounted Variags, which have the Net ability. Comparable to Lockdown in Starcraft, Net immobilizes a unit for half a minute. A control group of Variags can clog up battle lines, shut down an entire task force of Good's mounted knights, and catch running units for extra experience after a victory. Though it cannot be used on heroes, it is already incredibly powerful, though undervalued by many players. The Easterlings's other main trick come from its Wainriders, which are also mounted and have the Stomp ability. With four or five Wainriders providing area-of-effect stuns, an entire army can be stopped for several seconds, allowing heroes to be surrounded, keeping easily killable units immobile for waving, and securing retreats.

The Easterling heroes are also very useful. Ovatha's Silence prohibits units in the spells' radius from using spells, an incredibly powerful disruptive tool that negates all healing or waving power for a period of time. Gwaer of Rhun can summon wainriders every few minutes, which usually do not spawn until later. This means that the Easterlings are never without a few Wainriders for disrupting Good's plans, which after all is what the Easterlings is about.

Harad

In Ring Wars
Following the lore set by Tolkein, Harad is the closest mirror to Gondor you could get, and the two are set in battle on a near-permanent front. Harad's three spawning areas (Umbar to the west, Far Harad in the middle, and Near Harad in the east) are south of Gondor, and give the best spawns of Evil, with high quality and number both in mind. Near Harad spawns troll-men, sort of like weaker versions of Mordor and Moria trolls, though they spawn sooner and are still moderately sturdy. The biggest hallmark of the Harad are the Mumakil, which I am sure many of you know as the huge elephants that stomped the Riders of Rohan into the ground in the third movie. In the game, Mumakil have a nice Stomp that can stun surrounding enemy troops, as well as Fan of Knives, an ability that severely damages surrounding troops. Harad has a good archer component later on, and even later spawns catapults, Dark Numenoreans, and even dragons.

Harad's heroes are also effective. Carcyn contributes the stunning Storm Bolt, while Owynvan grants an even better ability: Raise Dead. Able to be repeatedly used, Owynvan can create an army of skeleton warriors from the dead corpses of a battlefield. Harad has a fantastic healing component, with a possible three heal spells. It also has a few waves for killing units, as well as one of the most powerful Ultimates in the game: Death and Decay. This deals PERECENTAGE damage in a specified area, so any unit in the spell's radius dies, no matter what, within a given range of time unless they can get away. This is psi storm on crack. As you can imagine, Death and Decay combos well with intense lag.

The Nazgul

In Ring Wars
No nation has as much raw, destructive power as the Nazgul. Their nine (!) heroes are the Nazgul, black cloaked riders that are quite evil, and are led by the biggest, baddest one of them all, the Witchking. Every single one of the Nazgul has a direct damage spell, four of them being waves, and the four others being a direct damage spell with large AoE that slows units down. The other destructive spell is Death Coil, which the Witchking can use to heal a friendly unit or harm an unfriendly one. With a whopping EIGHT AoE spells, the Nazgul can destroy anything that gets in their path. Whole armies fall in seconds to this band of heroes (villains?). They are also good hero-killers: They don't have to surround heroes; they just nuke them into oblivion and beyond.

The Nazgul, unlike the Fellowship, controls a spawn area: Minas Morgul, located right next to Mordor spawns, at the opening of the mountains into Ithilien. The Nazgul gets units similar to Mordor's.

The Nazgul player has a few problems to deal with, one of which is mana and survival. The Nazgul are the primary waver for Evil nations, but they do not have large mana pools or a Council spell, unlike Good. A mediocre or even fairly skilled Nazgul loses heroes often, largely because it isn't very difficult to pick one off from the group. To aid in survival, all of the Nazgul heroes have the ability to "hide". This ability automatically "cloaks" them at night when they stand still. As for heals, while the Nazgul have only one, the Elves have three, and the Fellowship has four. Against expert Good players, it can be difficult for the Nazgul to kill a hero that is being healed, since the entire power of the Nazgul's arsenal is usually just enough to kill a hero early on. Pro Nazgul players practice waving with extreme speed to counter this, to the point to where they can unleash nine spells on a target in the span of two or three seconds.

Another cool thing about the Nazgul are their ultimates. At level 6, each hero can fly for a period of time and deal extreme damage from the air at range. In a game where most units are melee and other air units are minimal, this is quite powerful, and once they attain the skies, it is often game over.

Mordor

In Ring Wars
Finally, the last (and evilest) nation of Ring Wars. Mordor's spawns very widely in strength. The standard Orc Warrior is weak, but its counterpart the Black Uruk is moderately powerful, like Isengard Uruk-hai. Though less sturdy, Black Uruks have a higher damage output, and a shock group of 12 can bring a hero down fast. Mordor also spawns trolls, which are both tough and powerful, alike to ents in the capability to decimate enemies.

Mordor's heroes form a highly versatile team. Shelob has the anti-hero spell Web, which immobilizes a unit; Shagrat has Fan of Knives, which deals damage to surrounding enemy units with knives, decimating enemies later on. The Mouth of Sauron is a great hero, having a superb nuke spell, a minor Raise Dead (en masse), and Death and Decay (!) for an ultimate as well. Mordor basically forms the core of Evil's offensive line-up. Though Harad is basically constrained to battles in the south, Mordor can go north, and afterwards, west as well.

Thanks!

So, that's Ring Wars. It was really fun writing this. Thanks for reading my first Battle Report and I hoped you enjo-

Hmm? Oh, you want to actually read about a game I've played? Oh...alright then... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The BattleReport (!@#$ing finally!)

This game was truly a delight to watch. There are tremendously huge battles, fantastic players, and fantastic strategies. This is a game of pros, every single player being highly skilled at the game...except for one (I happen to be playing). The players are:

Gondor: Fangrim <----- only non-proficient
Rohan: dalycity650
Elves: Funkey_Donkey
Fellowship: Mephodrius
Shire: 00Steven
Dwarves: Partyed
---------------------
Isengard: xXPiMpiNPLayAXx
Moria: HotWK_WITCHKING
Easterlings: UPSGuy
Harad: hok_grimm_fatty
Nazgul: iceseekers
Mordor: FingolfinDaPmp

All of these guys are members of the Ring Wars community. We all at least know of each other, but more often exist friendships and the bonds of brotherhood.

We play together, talk, and generally have fun.

It's a good experience, and though rivalries are common, games are largely based on appreciating others' skills.

It's great :).

But enough about soppy descriptions, on with the report!

This game was played on the map LOTR: Ring Wars, no duh. It was played on Saturday, April 16, 2005. Geez, that was a long time ago. I'm quite the procrastinator, aren't I? For RWer's, it's version 23c. Yeah, a pretty old version, too.

The Opening

[Alright guys, you've made it to the report. Congrats. (That is, unless you skipped to this part, in which case, go die in a fire, because I spent forever writing that !@#$.) However, there's still one more thing you have to wade through if you're going to enjoy this: my sucky writing. Throughout almost the entirety of two to three pages here, I'm winging bad puns left and right, desperately trying to pull in people who appreciate comedy, so the bad writing combined with the helplessness you get from not understanding anything that is going on will hurt your head like a crying baby playing pinball with a jackhammer during a hangover. For those of you who start hating this report, and for those who already do and don't know why you're still reading it, please stay and work through it. I don't promise it gets better, but what do you have to lose but your time and dignity anyway? And let's be honest here: if you're coming to this site at all, it means gaming is already the black hole of your universe that's sucking away the last vestiges of your humanity, so forget about your time; and as for your dignity, if you haven't already lost it during that awkward event involving a Xerox machine and your grandmother's backscratcher, it's so pitifully small that I doubt I could find it, let alone take it from you. MEGApwned, n00b! LawL
...

Ahem. Uh, yeah, hope you enjoy the show...]

In the beginning, there was...lag. It was a completely unavoidable thing to have opening lag in Ring Wars back before the 25's or so. As a side note, PLEASE don't play this game over a phone line or without a male-sheep/weapon used to take down gates and fortifications (...RAM...heh...). You will lag horribly, and your game experience will be quite unsatisfactory. Now, on with the game!

[Good lord, there went the first pun. I bet it nearly did you all in, but keep going!]

As I said, in the first few seconds, there was the ever-present opening lag. During that period, both sides conferred on what to do and then began their practiced and dependable opening moves, to the horrific exception of me. I had no experience as Gondor, so I was hopeless from the start. I've watched people play it though, so at least I wouldn't disgrace my family...too badly. I knew that a standard strategy of Evil was to rush Gondor at the beginning of the game with starting units, aptly named the Gondor Rush (us rw'ers are so creative. I'd call it the "Fangrim is Uber!!! Maneuver", but that's just me). I set about creating my defenses. I massed my units together at the fountain, which I planned to hold at all costs. While I chose spells for my heroes, my peasants began constructing more archer towers at the fountain.

Strategic Side Note: Wood and Buildings Wood is periodically given to each nations' resource pool throughout the game. With this wood, all nations can build towers (a defensive building that attacks enemy units) and farms (support building that heals friendly units). Most evil nations can build keeps (support building which gives nearby units increased attack and movement speed) instead of farms. Some nations have special towers. Gondor and Rohan archer towers cost 2000 lumber compared to the 1500 cost of regular guard towers. However, archer towers can deal more damage more quickly than regular towers if garrisoned with four archers, similar to Orc Burrows in melee or bunkers in Starcraft. Other tower types include dwarven towers and elven towers, able to be built by the Elves and Dwarves irrespectively. Dwarven towers are just like Cannon Towers in melee, able to damage masses of troops at a time. Elven towers are the best in the game because they deal magic damage. Most units in the game have heavy armor. Because magic attacks do extra damage to heavy armor, elven towers are guberly riggified. Pooling wood is an often-used strategy. To do this, several players donate all or part of their wood to the one player who can use it most effectively. Isengard is often given wood to tower the Gap (which you'll read about later). Harad is often given wood for its river fortress. The Good nations often pool to Gondor to help with defenses there, to the Dwarves to tower up the North, or to the Elves, whose towers are the best in the game.

Reconnaissance is incredibly important in Ring Wars, and more than one game has been decided by the choice use of a palantir or ward. Several heroes have palantir items. When used, they reveal an area of the map, similar to a comsat scan in StarCraft.

Wards, on the other hand, are invisible units that reveal a part of the map for several minutes at a time. These are similar to observers in SC, only they can't move and can be easily destroyed if spotted by invisibility-detection, even another ward.

Reconnaissance can be used to examine the defenses of the target, check often-traveled areas hoping to spot enemy movements, and (uncommonly) invisibility-detection can reveal hiding units at night, like the Nazgul or goblins (essentially, detecting cloaked units).

Other scouting devices include buildings (for durability), the spell Far Sight that some heroes have, and pretty much any spare unit.