It's that time of year again - when our thoughts turn to war, death, destruction, and the end of world. Yes, my friends, it's time for another Ragnarok.
In an effort to better prepare everyone for Rag, especially the first-timers, I'm going to detail some of our major battles this year, from setup to strategy, what's worked in the past, and what hasn't. I'm not covering all the battles for the week - that would be way too long for this article. There are 3 themed battles every day, and these are just the highlights.
First is Monday - icebreakers on Monday are going to be geared for new fighters, and people at Rag for the first time. I'll be going over some tips on fighting with LARGE numbers, as well as general safety rules. After a holy grail battle (team who controls the grail longest wins) is the battle I'm covering for Monday - Minas Tirith.
Minas Tirith, as you may remember from the movies, is a large city set on a hill with a number of gates and walls leading up to a pinnacle. For this battle, teams take turns starting inside the city, but both teams' res points are outside of the city. This is not an instant-res battle - teams will resurrect when a certain number of fighters in Valhalla are reached, sending you out in great waves. Whichever team controls the flag at the top of the city at the end of 25 minutes wins.
As far as strategy goes, if you begin inside the city, make sure that you take advantage of your ability to use missile weapons much easier than your opponents. Thrown and missile weapons can be fired down from the city easily, but must be arced up when attacking. As defenders, when you die and resurrect, you need to form a strong wall allowing your next wave of fighters easier access to the city when they res.
As attackers, this fight is a bit more brutal. The struggle to gain control is rough, and so easy to lose as well. The thing to focus on here is not letting go when you get a foothold. It's a long road to the top of the city, and if you lose a wall you've fought so hard to gain, it can take a long time before you get a chance to be there again. The attackers have won this battle before, and they did so by preventing the defenders from reinforcing, as well as taking full advantage of the walls as soon as they got a hold.
A great team in this battle will balance their field skirmishers with their shield walls in order to take control of the battle from the ground up. Whoever is at the top (and can stay there) wins!
Tuesday's battles are easy enough (and who doesn't like a few surprises here and there), so we'll move on to Wednesday. On hump day, we plan on having a little bit of fun with an urban assault scenario. Many low walls and obstacles will litter the field, as we have a great 3-team scenario planned. We'll have pirates, ninjas, and town guard (we would have made them dinosaurs, but that would have been silly). Each team begins with a unique object. The town guards are protecting a tower, the pirates have a treasure chest, and the ninjas have the princess they just captured. The soldiers want to rescue the princess while holding their tower. The pirates want to keep their treasure chest and siege the town, taking the tower. The ninjas want to get the princess and the pirate's treasure back to their dojo. All 3 res points are outside of the city, with a buffer zone to prevent camping. Whichever team holds their two objectives the longest wins.
The most important thing to remember strategy-wise about this battle is to keep your eye on the goals and objectives. Last year, we had a battle where there were good, evil, and mercenary teams. There were 4 holy points. Good got a point if they controlled more than evil, Evil got a point if they controlled more than good, and Mercs got a point if good and evil were tied (although mercs can't hold holy points on their own). Most of the evil team got drawn into fighting in the complete opposite direction of the holy points, out of a fear of being flanked. Needless to say, they didn't score a single point. The moral of this story (besides this battle possibly showing up again sometime) is that your objective is always the most important thing about a battle (besides having fun, of course). Don't get drawn away from your objective by other perceived dangers. If a danger isn't directly threatening your objective, it's not really a danger. Also, maintain battlefield awareness. If you see teammates being drawn into a worthless battle or ignoring the objectives, get them back on track.
Thursday is the traditional tournament day, and I plan on running woods battles all afternoon for those who are interested.
The one battle I'd like to discuss on Friday is Osgiliath. For many people, this is a highlight of the week's fighting. Osgiliath is a ruined city, with two bridges leading into the city, as well as a bridge on each side. The side walls of the city are open as well, allowing people in the water to crawl in, or boats to dock at the city. This battle is exceptionally complex, allowing almost everyone to fight in his or her most comfortable style. If you enjoy holding a line, rush the city and have at it. If your specialty is quickness, assault one of the side bridges, or grab a boat and go to town. If you'd rather not move much at all (and who hasn't felt that way at least once on Friday?), stay on your team's shore to defend it from enemy ships. There is no single strategy to win this battle, but beware of archers!
I hope that this helps enhance your enjoyment of Ragnarok, as well as giving you a head start to winning those battles!