SAURON: THE BATTLE FOR THE RING, S. A. 3434

Original game by Simulations Publications, Inc. 1977
Expansion/variant ideas & rules by Robert Heli (heli@best.com)
ADC2 versions by Joseph D. Oliver (Jaydeeo@aol.com)
     NOTE:  May require ADC2 version 2.07b or later to work properly


INTRODUCTION

SAURON and GONDOR were SPI's two folio-sized game companions to the much larger and better known WAR OF THE RING.  While 
neither ever was as popular as their bigger brother, both have their own virtues, mainly simplicity of rules and play and 
requirements of significantly less time and space.

Shortly after its initial publication, the main criticism of SAURON by many traditional historical gamers was that it was 
little more than your basic pre-gunpowder "hack 'n' slash" tactical game, embellished with a dash of Tolkien nomenclature 
and with a modest plating of fantasy/magic chrome.  Further, many fantasy-oriented gamers in general, and LOTR folk in 
particular, who might have been interested in the game a few years earlier, were becoming involved with DUNGEONS AND 
DRAGONS and other time-consuming role-playing adventures, to the detriment of traditional board wargaming.

However, SAURON does actually have an exceptionally clean and reasonably fast-playing tactical rules system for melee and 
missile combat.  Although the map, a standard SPI 17" x 22" folio-sized one, is small, so is the total number of counters, 
and unit density is not too high.  As a general proposition, tactical games do not easily lend themselves to PBEM, but both 
SAURON and GONDOR are graphically pretty little games, so doing ADC2 sets for them was fun!  Finally, intriguing 
possibilities presented themselves when I discovered the following two interesting websites: 

Tolkien Wargames
http://home.earthlink.net/~tzeentch666/Gaming/tolkienwar.htm

Games Site by Rick Heli
http://www.best.com/~heli/wargame/#Ssim 

Both have an extensive expansion/variant for SAURON, written by Rick Heli, and included in the ZIP of this set are two 
versions of his article (sauron.TXT and sauron_expansion.PDF).  Among the wealth of variant suggestions for the standard 
game are such things as a new piece representing The Ring and rules concerning it, individual leader ratings for combat, 
morale, endurance, and ring-removal ability, changes in leader-to-leader challenge combat, modified Rally and Combat 
Result Tables, and added combat factors for The Beast of Mordor.  Also, he gives a recipe for constructing a new map of 
the area inside the Gates of Morannon, and he provides a very basic outline for using it, either as an immediate 
follow-up/rematch to a standard game or as a new game entirely.  See below for more details concerning this.


THIS VERSION - Standard Game (Sauron.OPS)

MAP

The map has been rendered as a duplicate of the original, with only a few significant changes.  The original rather 
hideous blue, green, and brown mountain terrain has been changed to a more aesthetically pleasing texture of browns, and 
the "Gates of Mordor" (actually, "Gates of Morannon"), originally an unattractive blue and black, have been done as a 
four-hex, gray and black stone "castle gate" picture, somewhat similar to the walls, gates, and towers in my version of the 
companion GONDOR.  A map-sheet numbers hexes as in the original.

COUNTERS

The counters have been done entirely by hand bitmapping (no scans), and are my approximations of the originals.  I admit 
that my version of the Beast of Mordor more closely resembles something from Lovecraft than from Tolkien, but since it is 
an invention of the original game's designer, I don't feel too badly about it.  Disruption markers have been eliminated, 
and a single "D" marker is used for each side to tally demoralization points.  Names on the units have been changed to 
Times New Roman, to match the font of the factors letters and numbers.  I have yet to find a common better-looking font 
for most pre-20th century games, and particularly for those of the ancients to medieval era and of fantasy subjects.  It 
has the additional virtue of being one of those available in the ADC2 map editor for use as place-names.  However, I'll 
note for any Tolkien purists that supposedly there are some LOTR-style fonts, Runes and others, that are available on the 
Web.  At some future time, I may investigate these and do "improved" versions of both SAURON and GONDOR.  In the meantime, 
any hardcore LOTRers should feel free to do so.

PLAYING THE GAME

Upon opening Sauron.OPS, initial forces are deployed, and the game is ready to begin play.  A Gamemaster has been created 
for solitaire play.  Turn numbers are annotated for reinforcements and day/night status.  Clearly named force pools contain 
all reinforcements, and empty "Eliminated Units" pools have been created for each side.  The one "unscheduled" unit, The 
Beast of Mordor, is in the "Special" force pool.  The only important departure from the board version is that disruption 
status is indicated by edit of piece detail, rather than by use of separate markers.  Two special demoralization markers, 
one for each side, have been placed at the bottom of map border area, but they may be moved anywhere else that is 
convenient, and may be edited for the current number of demoralization points accrued.  Flip definitions have been created 
for all units' front sides.

The class data fields are set as follows:

#	Description		Type			 	Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1	Melee			text (capital letter)
2	Missile			text (lower case letter)
3	Armor			number		
4	Morale			text (capital letter)			
5	Disrupted?		yes/no
6	Rally 			number				leaders only
7	Magic			number				Sauron only
8	Demoralization 		number				"D" markers only

Class names are self-descriptive, with a two-letter prefix.  The first letter indicates the side (s = Sauron, and w = 
Westernesse), and the second letter indicates step status (f = front, and b = back).


THE EXPANSION SET KIT (Sauron_expansion.OPS)

DISCLAIMER:  This OPS file is NOT a game as such, ready to begin play.  Rather, I have incorporated many of the 
suggestions in Robert Heli's article and created a greatly expanded map and modified or created new counters.  
Essentially, this remains a work-in-progress, which may or may not be finished at some future date.

EXPANDED MAP

The "Expanded Game" section of the aforementioned article suggests the construction of a separate map, displaying the part 
of Mordor just inside the Gates of Morannon.  For some inexplicable reason, Robert Heli's recipe calls for rotating the 
original map 90 degrees clockwise (horizontal hex-grain), and then he indicates by (original) hex numbers the locations of 
mountains, the gate, the three-hex inner gates path, Mt. Orodruin, Barad-dur, and other new features.

Rather than do this, which would entail redoing all terrain, I decided simply to extend the original southwards.  Similarly, 
the map-sheet for hex numbers has been expanded.  I add that my specific placements of the important landmarks and the 
scale may not be precise, but my main concern was to construct an expanded map section where action would not be confined 
to a small portion of it.  In short, my version absolutely is NOT definitive, and one and all should feel free to modify it 
as they see fit.

The following special features deserve commentary.  The three-hex inner gates road path is bordered by six (three per side) 
"wall/fort" hexes, partially in gray and black stone texture, that extend southwards from the gate itself.  They may not 
be entered except via the two hexes adjacent to the inner gate/fort "stairs" hex-side at the bottom of the "stairs" (1134 
to 1233 & 1534 to 1433).  Both Mt. Orodruin and the Black Tower of Barad-dur are described in the article as being 
comprised of seven-hex clusters.  Rather than attempting to stretch my limited artistic ability past the breaking point by 
trying to draw a seven-hex volcano and castle, I made use of slopes and rough terrain, plus a few small icons.  The only 
road indicated in the article was one connecting the two major landmarks, and then going somewhere else (?), so the network 
portrayed is my own invention.  Ditto for the directional signs and the other slope and rough terrain.  

EXPANDED COUNTERS

Most of the counters remain the same, but there are some new ones, and extensive changes have been made to others.  The 
class names for all new or different units have the prefix letters, "exp," to indicate such.  The new counters are ones 
for The Ring, catapults (Sauron side), and Narsil Shards.  Rules for their use are contained in the article.  Also, some 
counters included in the original board game mix, but not used in it, are added to the expanded game force pools for 
possible use.  Counters for all leaders and for the Beast of Mordor have been modified significantly.  A gold horizontal 
stripe in the middle on the "front" counter, and a white one on the "back" or "flip-to" side, highlights four new factors 
for the leaders; Combat, Morale, Endurance, and Ring Rating.  These are explained in the article.  Force pools hold all 
counters, sorted by unit type and "nationality," and the modified or new units are held in their own pools.

PLAYING (?) THE GAME

Class data for all non-leaders is set up as in the standard game (see above).  Also, Leaders only have separate and 
different PIECE data, as this is the only effective way to display more than eight types of data.  This is not a real 
problem, as even in the original game, three of the basic unit factors are letters; hence, ADC2's "Combat: Set Summary 
Values" feature cannot be used. 

The special leader piece data fields are set up as follows:   
 
 #	Description		Type		Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1	Combat/Melee		number		for possible use in leader vs. combat unit
2	Combat/Leader		number		new factor #1, gold/white band
3	Morale			number		 "    "    #2,   "    "     "
4	Endurance		number		 "    "    #3,   "    "     "	
5	Ring Rating		number		 "    "    #4,   "    "     "
6	Rally 			number		as in original game
7	Magic			number		 "  "    "       "
8	Possession	 	text		indicates current ownership of special/magic 
						weapons, The Ring

Robert Heli suggests two types of possible scenarios.

One is the standard game using the new leader counters, variant rules, CRT, etc.  

The second is a sort of campaign scenario, where, if the first game does not result in a decisive victory, then the forces 
from both sides still standing fight a rematch on the new map.  As he writes, "This game postulates that neither Sauron nor 
the Western Alliance would ever be satisfied with less than total victory."  He suggests restoring to full strength all 
leaders not killed, re-deploying (presumably) all units, adding new units (catapults), etc.  His suggestions end there.  
However, there are other possibilities to be explored.

First and most obvious would be use of the new single expanded map to play a non-stop campaign game, with all, some, or 
none of the variant rules.  Next, a variety of new victory conditions made possible by the larger map could make for new 
scenarios.  Some of these might be:

	Capturing (and holding for a specified time) The Black Tower of Barad-dur
	Stealing The Ring and exiting Mordor (the original north map edge) with it
	Stealing The Ring and destroying it at Mt. Orodruin
	Preventing a Westernesse Ring-bearer from reaching Mt. Orodruin
	Exiting units off the southern or western roads of the expanded map
	Expelling from Mordor a Westernesse force
	Compelling a Sauron force to retreat into Mordor
	Forcing the Gates of Morannon (either direction) 
	
Also, any number of scenarios with reduced force levels could be constructed, some of which could serve as excellent 
introductions to board wargaming, particularly for fantasy fans.


In conclusion, I'll say that the SAURON ADC2 set, along with that for GONDOR, has been quite enjoyable to make.  Maybe 
I'll even get a chance one day actually to play a complete game with them!

Have fun.  
