The Rise of the Witch King
Preview
This add-on to The Battle tor Middle-Earth II explores the events between the fall of Sauron and the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring
by IrishJim
previewed on PC
Evil forces of Angmar (cntd.)
One of the most exciting new units in the game could be the thrall master units, which will appeal to veteran strategists. The unit starts alone on the battlefield, but at any time, and only once, it can summon any of the basic infantry types. This would allow a player to customize the army to match their opponent's weaknesses at the last minute and maximize their effectiveness.
The Angmar buildings and units will be expensive, but conversely they will be some of the most powerful. There will be very strong walls and base defenses, and therefore the use of siege tactics will be a greater part of the game than ever before. It will be almost suicidal to use infantry units to attack structures, so gamers must rely on more specialized siege units, which will, of course, take more time to create.
The kingdoms of Arnor
The new opposing faction in the single-player mode are the Kingdoms of Arnor, and it will be the race of men that is in constant conflict with Angmar, and they are the object of most of the Witch-King's wrath. The Kings of Arnor are the ancestors of Aragorn, and their ultimate destruction results in the nomadic existence of the rangers. The Arnor faction will be aided by the elves of this era, so they will not be completely outmatched by the Angmar.
Since the game takes place before the events of the films, the heroes from the trilogy will not make an appearance. However, that means that a whole new selection of heroes have been either pulled from Tolkien's works or created for this adventure. Since the primary focus of this expansion is the evil reign of the Witch-King, these heroes aren't exactly heroic. But they should be pretty impressive.
Looking forward to being evil
This is going to be an expansion pack, and therefore we can expect some changes to be made to the original War of the Ring mode, with represents the multi-player portion of the game. There will be more maps, including places that were simply ruins in the original game. These will now be full structures that can be employed in the battles. Also, economy plays a similar function in the strategic mode as it will in the real-time mode. Units that are built during real-time battles will carry over to the strategic mode, so you will really be building your empire with each battle. When the The Rise of the Witch-King releases at the end of November, be ready. Your opponents sure will be.
