Gondor Knights Rule!

I just came home from a game with my officemates. We played "Battle for Middle-Earth" a real-time strategy-based game based on J. R. R. Tolkien's book, The Lord of the Rings. In it, you can command the armies of Rohan, Gondor, Isengaard and Mordor. Each army has it's own strengths and weaknesses. We played 2 against 3, with myself in the larger group. I chose Gondor for all three rounds.

In the first round, we lost. Mainly because the side of good (Rohan and Gondor) was limited to 100 units per person while the side of evil (Isengaard and Mordor) were twice as many. And though there were 3 of us on one side, we were beat because Gerbert and Jeff were experienced players. Also, my computer wasn't working as fast as theirs.

In the second round, we were beaten yet again. Though we were gouped in a team, we weren't playing as a team. Each of us was too preoccupied with developing our citadels. And due to the superior numbers of our enemies, were were brought down one after the other.

But on the third and final round, we managed to bring the two other players to theri knees. We cooperated and worked as a team should. I realized then how important team work is to meeting your goals. Gerbert and Jeff were aghast at how my knights routed them at every turn.

So what did I learn from all this game play?

• stay close to your allies
• learn to work together, using each other's strengths and weaknesses
• take your time, don't expand into areas your soldiers can't defend
• though you may not be in the frontlines, there is a reason why you're back-up
• harass your enemies, make them pay for every inch of ground they get

Hehehe! All that reading, especially Sun Tzu's Art of War finally paid off. I love this game.