A great Huzzzah to you and the mighty corsairs! The free peoples made some headway this turn although a heavy price has been paid.

The RofW has been reclaimed from the dark ones...we now have all of the "for grabs" agent artifacts in our possession. The ds have what they started with so I guess really we are even in that regard...they also have the cloudlord SNA and the duns agents and so forth...so perhaps our artifacts and natural stealth will combat that.

We have lost our noble NM almost completely. They have been relegated to mediocrity at the moment after losing their capital and most of their rhun pop centers...a sore day for the men of the lake but we will not let them fall forever.

The gondor passes are still hotly contested though the addition of the easterlings/duns have meant that the ds have more orders working for them now then we do and they have greater ability now to concentrate on the passes...

Surely the tide has not completely swayed one way or the other. But again, as I'm sure you're tired of hearing, the balance is crucially tied to what the harad and corsairs do.

Speaking plainly now, what's it going to take for you to believe in our alliance? Where are the hearts of the corsairs? We need both you and the harad, we do. The game will not immediately fold if you two go dark but certainly given the past series of turns, the free are at a disadvantage...

Let us get down to it then...noldo

Aww, the Noldor don't know you've plumped for the side of Sauron. I suppose you'll surprise them next turn then.

On another note, I've decided to give ME a try, with the Battle of Five Armies scenario. I'm the Elves apparently, which should be fun.

Gina-Baby, you gotta mention my name so I get a free turn for the recommendation!

Mike D'Angelo (Greygrey)

Tell Clint!!!!

Don't worry I will do.

The Havens of Umbar are visited by the messengers of Sauron, especially those from Adunaphel, the Quiet Avenger, and Hoarmurath, the Cloud Lord.

Here the Corsairs take counsel from their new allies and friends, the Nazgul. It appears that these dark and formidable nations have only one thought and goal: to destroy the Free Nations and complete their dominance of Middle Earth.

At their suggestions, Umbar is busy. A call goes out across the land, and the sea princes begin to rally to the call of the Lords. Ships are being made as well, and it appears that new armies are becoming recruited. There is grumbling for those who wish for Umbar to stay neutral, but their voices are hardly heard above the din.

Then the order is given out that Southern Gondor and the Haradwaith will be downgraded diplomatically, to give the Corsairs the edge in a fight. Soon it will be that our neutrality will be at an end.

Reports come in from all around the Havens of Umbar. There have been some tremendous gains in the recruiting of forces and the solidarity of the Corsairs base.

Adumir splits a command from Angamaite and expands his forces at Eradas.

Bin Dulando was able to appoint a new commander, Ythelwen, to assist in the buildup for war in the Havens of Umbar. He also journeyed to Caldur where he joined the army commanded by Angamaite.

Though its a risky step, Eadur was successful in downgrading our relations with our neighbor, the Haradwaith. She also became the new commander in a force split by Lord Faltur at Maros.

In the vast desert regions, Maethlin, our emissary, has been busy improving the loyalites of our camps for heightened production of leather and gold.

Summoned out of the north, Meriot continues his journey back to Umbar, but he also becomes aware through his spell casting of an interesting artifact called the Green Dagger.

Our lord Mireadur has joined the army at the Havens of Umbar and has supervised the creation of a transport ship to add to our fleet.

Sangahyando has returned to Umbar and has taken a split command from Teldumeir and is now located at Maros to prepare for war.

Sarazor, our devious agent, was able to appoint a new apprentice to his guild and also to sell a surplus of food for more gold.

The hub of military activity in the Havens, Prince Teldumeir has split his army twice as suggested by the Quiet Avenger in case of war with the Haradwaith. There has been silence from our southern neighbor for some time, and the Corsairs have become worried that diplomacy is deteriorating.

Tyreath failed in esatblishing a camp in western Gondor; she has moved to Dunland to meet with the Witch King himself (or one of his constituents) to acquire an artifact of power - but the coordinates are confused and she will miss a turn moving further north to Angmar. It is our hope that she is not captured by enemies guessing our intentions.

The Corsairs welcome two new characters: Ventnor and Ythelwen.

The Corsairs of Umbar are #2 in victory points. The Haradwaith is #1 and that is dubious news, for with their economic base, the lords of Harad can out-recruit the Corsairs and eliminate us from play in the long run.

Thank you for the update. We are glad that the management of your nation proceeds well. The Nazgul Adunaphel apologies for the confusion around the meeting with the Witch King and our Lord has commanded that she travel to deliver artifacts of power to your capital.

In your region we have observed numerous events. In the Southern Sea a murderous naval battle took place where both forces were destroyed. 11 ships of the Quiet Avenger were lost but 15 ships of South Gondor were destroyed. Brave captain Gargal of the QA navy lost his life, but he dragged the notorious Prince of Gondor, Regent Celdrahil, down into the depths with him. It is believed that one or more magical artifacts were in Celdrahil's possession at this time.

We have observed a change of gear in the military recruitment of the Harad nation, with six separate army formations being observed by QA spies. Despite this, Harad is vulnerable to attack thanks to his many Ports & Harbors. Military analysts in the employ of our Lord have determined long ago that these vulnerable points should have been reduced in number. In addition the Quiet Avenger has been recruiting heavily to bulwark the potential threat of the Haradrim turning their faces away from our Lord.

Our agents are spread amongst the so-called 'free' nations having free reign to liberate gold and carry off hostages. North Gondor will feel their attention in the coming days.

In the wider Middle Earth we await the messengers of war. But our merchants are already counting the gold to come from an economic adventure, where we successfully cornered the market in Bronze, amassed huge stores and are now ready to sell to a metal-hungry populace.

We also note that the housing market has crashed. It appears that it is now pointless attempting to build additional settlements as the population of middle earth are no longer interested in making new homes in the country - they want to live in villages and towns instead.

Adunaphel
Servant to Lord Sauron

Me: "So I referred someone I know who signed up for your Battle of Five Armies game. Did you get my referral?"

Them: "Yeah, but as soon as she signs up for a 'normal' game, your account will be credited."

Me: "BoFA is not normal? What constitutes normalcy? That's, like, GREED all over."

Yep I got that reply from Clint too. Bit of a shame, although I probably will give the a proper game a try after BOFA (or when I get to the end of it).

Clint said that BoFA isn't 'normal' because it's a flat fee game rather than a pay-by-turn game.

I told him BAH! Capitalist swine! Opiate of the masses! Where's Lenin when you need him?

You *could* post here your turn by turn events in BoFA. I would be very interested to see how it goes....

I could do, but I still haven't received the results for my first turn yet. I should get it tomorrow, so I'll think about posting something then.

I may be joining you in that game, Ginafae, as a mentor. I'm not sure what all that entails, but it looks promising.

I have just packed it up and sent in my turn orders for this new week. Here is the lowdown:

Not so much recruiting forces, but I have a couple of characters taking care of adding some more ARCHERS into the mix; ARCHERS are excellent addition to an army's overall STR (which deals out massive damage).

I have some army commanders upgrading armor and making weapons as well as doing some important training. Training helps increase skill and morale.

My emissary, Tyreath, has made contact with the Witch King and is seeking to meet him in Eriador this turn to gain a combat artifact, Elfbane. This artifact allows a +1500 Combat point to the overall STR of a force it's with and also it is one of the Corsairs' victory conditions.

The Sea Princes check over reports from all over the Havens of Umbar.

Adumir recruited more archers, but there appears to be problem with movement this turn; he did not make it to his destination.

Angamaite transferred food back to his fleet and put the army on maneuvers.

Bin Dulando upgraded steel armor for their units of heavy infantry in Caldur. He also supervised training for the troops there as well.

Eadur put her small army on maneuvers and tried to march them to Caldur, but again, there was problems with movement. She did not make it to her destination!

Faltur had the same probelm as Eadur, but his army has no food stores and they are all very angry! So they did not make it to their destination!

Maethlin, our emissary in Mordor, uncovered secrets that the Eothraim are trying to find the Helm of the Dark. He was sent to An Harnen.

Meriot cast a spell to locate where the Staff of Earthmastery was located. It is far in the north - beyond our reach. He has returned to the Havens.

Mireadur finished by training the light infantry under his command.

Sangahyando trained his army and marched them without incident to the Havens of Umbar.

Our agent, Sarazor, completed selling mounts to the world market for a hefty profit and successfuly guarded the Havens.

Prince Teldumeir trained his growing army at the capital and also supervised the making of bronze weaponry.

Tyreath, searching for Witch King agents in Southern Gondor, has come across "a crevice in the hillside". My emissaries appear to find encounters more than anyone else in the Corsairs' staff! There are no indication of any Witch King guests with her; this bodes ill for the Dark Servants because this is the second attempt to meet up with them to exchange an artifact of power! A condition of our terms to declare for Sauron!
Our new agent, Ventnor, transported all timber to Caldur to increase our fleet. He also assisted Sarazor in guarding the Havens of Umbar.

Ythelwen managed to recruit more archers to the Corsairs' banner and transported all leather stores to the capital.

More to come on the diplomatic front