THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE



WAR IN MIDDLE EARTH



PUBLISHER

Domark?



AUTHOR

Mike Singleton



YEAR

1990



DESCRIPTION

War in Middle Earth is a strategic wargame set in the milieu of

JRR Tolkien.



CONTROLS

You can use either keyboard or joystick for this game.





INSTRUCTIONS

Please see the inlay card text.





CHEATS



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

There are no direct sequels to this game, but many other games

have also been based on the adventures written by JRR Tolkien,

including The Hobbit, and two Lord of the Rings games.



INLAY CARD TEXT

A classic strategy game based on The Lord of the Rings. You may

find it helps to have read the books, but it is by no means

necessary.  Just in case you don't feel like wading through three

volumes and 2000 pages of story, heres a brief rundown of the

plot:



You are Frodo Baggins, an exceptional hobbit. You uncle Bilbo

Baggins went on adventures, something no normal hobbit would do.

On the most famous of these he acquired a ring that made him

invisible.  Bilbo has left this ring to you and left the Shire

to live among the elves.  Your friend the Wizard Gandalf the Grey

has identified this ring as being "The one ring". This was forged

by Sauron, the Dark Lord, it is very powerful and very evil.  It

contains much of Sauron's power, with it he would defeat all his

enemies and subjugate the whole of Middle Earth, were it to be

destroyed he would be defeated. Though it would be possible to

use it against Sauron, it would then corrupt the wielder turning

him into a new Dark Lord. Because of the magical nature of the

ring, it can only be destroyed by being thrown into the cracks

of doom, where it was forged. This is the mouth of the volcano

Mt. Doom in the centre of Saurons kingdom, Mordor, far to the

South East. You are not on your own, accompanying you are Sam,

Merry and Pippin, three Hobbit friends, Aragorn the ranger,

Boromir of Gondor, Legolas the elf, Gimli a Dwarf and of course,

Gandalf. As well as facing Sauron's forces, you will also be

assailed by those of the wizard Saruman. Though he was originally

leader of the council of Wizards opposing Sauron, he has been

corrupted.  He has raised and army of Orcs and Dunlendings and

he too is looking for the ring, for he believes he can use it to

control Middle Earth. You will need to mobilise the nations of

the West, the men of Dale, Gondor and Rohan, the Elves of Lorien

and Mirkwood and the Dwarves of Erebor and the Iron Hills, or the

forces of evil will win by force of arms before you can destroy

the Ring. If the forces of evil can find the Ring and take it

back to Barad-Dur or Isengard you will lose.



PLAYING THE GAME



The Middle Earth map displays the whole of Middle Earth on the

screen. Along the left hand side of the screen there is a list

of commands.  In the middle of the map there is a gauntleted

hand.  This is the cursor, to select any action simply position

the finger over the desired point, using the joystick or keys.

Friendly units are displayed on the map as dots. There are 3

commands



FILE - To save/load

MEMO - Gives you further info on the state of the game.

TIME - Sets game in motion. Campaign time is shown on the scroll

underneath the command. Once time is started, all friendly units

start to follow their orders. Saurons units will also start to

move.



To examine any area in detail, simply position and press fire. 

This stops time and takes you to the campaign map. Friendly units

on the map are shown as shields. A unit can be a single

character, eg Frodo, or an army. Each shield shows all the units

in a certain sector, and is thus called a stack.  To examine a

unit, position over shield and press fire. To see further units,

press fire repeatedly to cycle through.



For each unit you are told:

TITLE - Either their name or description e.g. A Company of 002

Men

WHO IN COMMAND - "Man in command" etc means no commander set

DESTINATION - Where they are going

ENERGY - This is used up by walking and being hit in combat

DETERMINATION - How long they will keep going

STEADFASTNESS - How fast their energy is used up.

VIRTUE - How long they can hold the ring

BRAVERY - The braver you are, the more often you will hit in

combat

STRENGTH - How much damage you will do to an opponent

ALLEGIANCE - Fellowship , the good guys Mordor, Saurons troops

or Orthanc, Sarumans.



To give units an order, press fire twice while their details are

displayed.  Now you can choose to:



RETURN - Do not give a new order

SET TO DESTINATION - Go to a specific destination, you are

offered a second man giving you the choice of applying the order

to the individual unit (Individual) or all the stack (Everyone)

SET TO JOIN - Orders unit to join another units company

SET TO FOLLOW - Order one unit to follow another.



When selecting destinations, the cursor becomes a maltese cross

which you can the position and press fire.



Frodo starts as the ring bearer, as indicated by the ring after

his name.  To had to another hero, simply press R while their

details are displayed.  They must be in the same stack as the

ring bearer though.



COMBAT - When combat occurs, time is stopped and a pair of

crossed swords is shown at the place of battle. Push up to view

your forces and left and right to view the enemy. Press fire to

move to the battle screen.



Each character in both armies is represented by a figure on the

screen.  Your forces will not move until ordered, although will

fight back when attacked. The screen can be scrolled, using the

normal controls.  To order a character, press fire on him, then

press fire on selected enemy and the message "New destination

selected" will appear. The character will then move. To directly

move a character, fire twice on him, and then move him around.



The Ring Bearer may wear the ring. To do this press R and he will

disappear and not have to fight. He will then leave the battle

and appear on the next square on the map. This greatly decreases

the level of virtue in the bearer.  But beware Nazgul! They will

seek out the ring bearer if he attempts to wear the ring.



Good Luck!





SCORES RECEIVED

8/10 - Your Sinclair 40 (April 1989)



URL



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES

