Ruining Sauron's Supply Lines

[Angelalex242]

Indeed he did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman's_March_to_the_Sea

However, it isn't practical to take a force of 62,000 men to Sauron's rear, particularly when there simply aren't 62,000 men in middle earth in the first place. There probably are, however, close to 100,000 orcs in Mordor, so sending in a big force just isn't going to work.

[Tolwen]

Actually, I got the scorched earth idea from General Sherman's March to the Sea in the Civil War.

As already said, such tactics were indeed used by Gondor as well. It did not earn them the friendship of the men who were on the other end, while in Gondor he is remembered as a war hero and great king. This is one of example of the practice of such very real politics (of more questionable morals) on the side of the Free People. But overall, they used it probably much less than those of the other side, and this makes them the good guys

Cheers
Tolwen

[Otaku-sempai]

Indeed he did.

However, it isn't practical to take a force of 62,000 men to Sauron's rear, particularly when there simply aren't 62,000 men in middle earth in the first place. There probably are, however, close to 100,000 orcs in Mordor, so sending in a big force just isn't going to work.

What all this suggests to me is that your plan is impractical and simply won't work. Your six guys aren't enough to succeed in their mission and a large force cannot achieve the required stealth. I also have to agree that the ethics of this tactic are questionable at best.

[Mim]

I've been reading & enjoying this thread, but I have to admit that the casual comments about slaughtering Orcs & awarding Shadow Points concern me as well. IMHO, this isn't quite what Tolkien was all about & seems to depart somewhat from the themes of ToR.

That aside, however, Mordor is an intriguing setting for an adventure or two, & one alternative for an LM is to set the time frame before or after the War of the Ring. That way, your heroes have at least a chance to survive.

For example, my own game played through the War, so the next company I run will begin when Sauron falls. While this deletes him (& the Nazgûl) from the story, it's surprising how many foes may have escaped to challenge your heroes.

The Mouth of Sauron rides back to the Black Gate, but there is no further mention, so he may live.

The text actually mentions that Shelob may survive - the Hobbits who later write the Red Book of Westmarch simply don't know .

Gothmog only receives a couple of quick lines. Who is he (I make him a Variag sorcerer instead of a Half-troll, as MERP did, or not one of the Nazgûl, as SPI did)? At any rate, he vanishes from the tale.

Even Shagrat may survive. Tolkien's chronology at Marquette mentions that he is put to death when he reaches the Dark Tower, but in the published LotR he just reaches the tower.

So, what to do with all of these great villains? Well, Elessar frees the slaves, but then what? How easily do they throw off the yoke of thralldom against the hordes of servants of the Enemy, demoralized by their master's fall or otherwise? If only the King had some heroes to investigate Mordor, & perhaps organize/lead the slaves to gain their freedom. It's a stretch from the books, but it works for a game .

[Angelalex242]

I think the 6 Saboteurs of Mordor is still a campaign worth trying, if only to see just how much damage the 6 super PCs can inflict on Mordor's supplies before they get caught. Can they take out 10% of his farms? 25%? 50%? The more they take out, the more troops Sauron's going to divert from the front lines to find the 6 Saboteurs, which may inadvertently bring relief to nations on the outside.

If they hit 50% or better, Sauron actually has a serious problem now. Even if he proceeds to torture the 6 PCs under his lidless eye until the ring gets dropped into Mt. Doom, he's STILL going to have a starving army and insufficient resources to feed them. So what does he do then? Sauron seems to be a reasonably competent general...not as good as Aragorn, maybe, but he isn't General Custer either.