This is the saddest nation in all of Middle-Earth. The Dragon Lord is so hopelessly
outnumbered that your fate is not in your own hands. Your enemies decide how long you
have holdings in Mirkwood. The odds are so stacked against you that it's impossible
to hold against all but the poorest of opponents. Most of your starting population
centers are in immediate danger of falling to the enemy and there's nothing you can
do about it. After you are driven from Mirkwood your allies determine whether you can
even stay in the game. You can become a powerful character nation afterwards if you
are given enough money to stave off bankruptcy and rebuild on.

 
Strengths

-Excellent starting characters and very good agent related advantages
-Many useful artifacts
-Good personal challenge characters

 
Weaknesses

-Starting armies vastly outnumbered by your foes
-Low resource production
-Mediocre tax base which shrinks practically every turn
-Your foes have a vastly superior recruiting base and yours falls under almost
	immediate attack
-Your population centers are too spread out to support each other
-You can expect little if any military aid from your allies

 
Characters

   I personally recommend using the majority of your starting characters to
strengthen your armies. All those mages and artifacts can make a large impact in the
upcoming battles. Either have Khamûl trying to improve his agent rank as quickly as
possible or placing camps. I suggest two pure emissaries and two characters with
command skill as the best choices at the game's start. Later down the line naming
characters with agent skill is the way to go.

 
Economy

   You will need to raise your tax rate immediately. I recommend a 59% rate for this
nation. You can go higher but the loss of loyalty makes your capitol even more
vulnerable. Also your tax base shrinks so fast you don't have much time to reap the
benefits. I personally feel a moderate tax base combined with placing as many camps
as you can is the way to go. Place all your camps in the mountain hexes. They are
safest there and the dragon visitors will help keep your loyalties in a safe range.
If things get tough ask your allies for money, if they are smart they will give it
to you.

 
Military

   This is the worst situation of all. There is no good plan of attack. No area where
you can make gains that you can hold for long. The Dwarves, Woodmen, and the Sinda
all will be attacking you. You may even face forces from the Éothraim and Northern
Gondor. So what do you do? Well recruit as much as you can of course and go on the
offensive. Pick a target nation and try and hurt that nation as much as possible. If
you do well maybe you can even the odds up a little. Try and avoid enemy armies, once
they catch and destroy your armies there's not much you can do but wait to be
destroyed. You simply are going to be out recruited. Make sure you keep a recruiting
banner on Goblin-Gate (2409) and try and hire an army at Sarn Goriwing (2809). If you
last long enough your emissaries may recruit some dragons for you while in the
mountains placing camps.

Sinda opening

   If you are lucky enough to start with reveal pop center the Sinda cities make
inviting targets. If the Sinda are asleep at the wheel and the Dwarves move north you
can actually take both cities. The risk in tackling the Sinda is that you may have
to refuse personal challenge allowing a Dwarven or Woodmen army to catch you. Your
Goblin-Gate army can make a run for the Sinda towns in Mirkwood. You might actually
make it.

Woodmen opening

   Your most likely target. You can actually walk directly into Buhr Widufiras (2711)
and capture it from Dol Guldur (2715). If the Woodmen don't move to block this attack
you can cripple him immediately. If he does block it you may still be able to succeed
if no Free forces moved towards Buhr Widufiras.

Northern Gondor opening

   You can march to Tir Limlight (2617) and south through the barely defended Gondor
towns. You will do a lot of damage but unfortunately you are weakening yourself at
the same time. Pulling your armies out of Mirkwood just hastens the fall of
Dol Guldur.

 
Final thoughts

   Play fast, take chances. You need to gamble and come up lucky just to survive.