It has come to my attention that many stories have been started at my expense, due to some unusual choices made by me at the last war. My decisions for action throughout the last Ring Game have been labeled "poor" due to me being a newbie. I must protest this, both to save face and to show another version of the game that no one else saw. Yes, I am new to these games, but as for my decisions on the field, I have found no real flaws to them yet.
My worst play of the day was that of attacking Gondor and losing… which has been shown on several web pages. We thought we had superior forces, but unfortunately did not. Although what is not said is that I did take Gondor no more than 15 minutes later. I received a reinforcement of Dark Elves, as well as a contingent of Corsairs led by just arriving Bondo. Not only did we take Gondor, but also Rohan, and Lothlorien. This may come as a surprise, but at the end of the day (to my knowledge), we held all of the citadel flags. We didn't expect to take any due to the new rules that have been issued. Our accomplishments (and I do say our, because those Evil who were with me did fight well together) should be recognized. After the sacking of the citadels, we pushed forward onto Mount Doom, where the Evil army gathered to begin the final battle.
While many people knew that there was a deal between me and the Menace, what they do not know is that he also had a deal with Gandalf, and he did kill quite a few Evil. He kept it equal, but we did exchange information twice, and if you looked at his point totals at the end of the day, he only had a minimal margin of Good over Evil. His true plan was to screw me and Gandalf over at the end of the day. Luckily for Gandalf and I, his plan got orced before becoming a reality.
As for my attacks on Barad-dur: I made two attempts to put a little spice into the game, instead of standing around on Mount Doom waiting to be out- pointed by the Good army. My advisors (first the Dunlender scouts that I sent ahead, and later a Nazgul) had told me that there was the possibility that we could take the Good army by force on Barad-dur. I have been under scrutiny regarding my next course of action, which was when I made my first attack with the Dunlenders. Now keep in mind that this was a mistake not only made by me, but also by two long-time players, as well as several members of the Good army. We believed that if a hobbit had the Ring on him or her that I was able to relieve them of said burden if I had already killed them. Well, after much debate, we concluded that it was not possible. I left Barad-dur positive that my blunder would send my army into defeat.
As I reached my army at Mount Doom, many of them weren't in the best of spirits, because after spending quite a bit of the day achieving what was thought impossible (sacking all of the Good citadels, and decimating the Good army), we seemed to have victory taken away by what many thought was a technicality. We all stood around waiting for me to be Miracled and then have them go through the humiliating process of being out- pointed by a smaller force. This is when a comment made by a Nazgul changed what I thought was going to be a rather disappointing day.
"It's too bad that we couldn't attack the Good army instead of sitting around and just waiting to die."
I looked around at the tired faces in my army, and found blank stares coming to me in hopes that a Leader might show them a way of getting into the Ring Game history books. I asked around (because I was not very sure of how the rules might work in an instance like this), "What if I was to attack the Good army when the battle is supposed to be taking place on Mount Doom?" To my surprise, many people didn't know what to think at first— so here is the way it did happen, and how this wasn't the mistake of a newbie or someone who cannot devise a simple plan that might cause a problem for the Good army: I took a step up onto to a higher rock by my army, I gave a bit of a speech about how "if we stay, we die, and all that we had worked for would be for naught," and that this day would end up as a Good victory no matter how we place people on the hill.
On most of the websites that I have seen, no one has shown the feelings of my followers at the final battle, so this is where I set it straight. Not only did my followers agree with the idea, many of them cheered the thought of making one gallant rush towards the enemy in a final decision of who was the better man. I will also state that no one was forced to go by my orders. Only those of my army who wished to follow me to Barad-dur went— the others stayed on the hill to defend against any other attacks or in case we were destroyed. With that being said, half of my army followed me up and over the hill on the trail to the Good army. On the way, we picked up Gollum, and a few Trolls who were eager to join in on the last charge of Sauron.
We approached the deer trail that leads to the cliff face and were verbally assaulted by a rather tall Ranger with long hair. (Editor's note: I believe this was Alex the Ranger.) I decided that the better play was to attack the Good army all at once, so we let him scamper away to live for awhile. We approached the Good army, who did not see our full army in mass. I called for the majority of the Dark Elves, who had become my Chosen (as well as key players throughout the day). We lined them up in front and had them unfurl all the citadel flags, to make it a spectacle for the Good army to see before we annihilated them. After much antagonizing by leaders of the Good army, I turned to my men and asked if they were willing and ready to do what I asked, and to my enjoyment, they were all ready for the charge as much as I was. The scream of "charge!" was heard, and all of my forces converged on the cliff.
Afterwards, many of us rejoiced in the fact that we had slaughtered the Good army yet again, even though we knew full well that we were still going to lose. There was no hobbit or Gandalf in that army, and we knew it. They were working their way around to Mount Doom—I was told by a Nazgul who was watching them all along. Yes, we could have found a way to kill them, but what fun would that be? Good is always suppose to win, and what type of Arch Nemesis would I be if I didn't let the doorway stay open for good to win the day? But what cost did I make the Good army pay? A full 98% of them never saw the win with their own eyes—they were all dead on Barad-dur, and because dead men tell no tales, they cannot truly live knowing that they helped win the war.
As much as they think that they took the day, the only thing the Good army truly received was the destruction of their forces twice, as well as the loss of all of their lands. But I must say good show for the hobbit on the hill—in the end, he didn't win by much, but he still won. That is the way it should be and that is the way it was.
©2000 Jacob Sullivan