Today, I will show you how powerful a well executed five-Uruk strategy
can be against Gondor, on the Fords of Isen map. It is quite easily
done, though it does require concentration.
1. Starting build order and pathways
There are two options here: The pit/dual-mill start and the alternative
pit/furnace/farm/mill start. The latter is better when your opponent is
playing random and you were slow to wall-check. If you start with two
mills in this instance, you could hit trouble when Gondor's starting
soldiers go top (bottom, when you play on the left spot). Otherwise the
first pit/dual-mill start would be preferred; it provides faster Uruks
and a stronger economy since one lumber mill gives twice as much income
as a furnace, and is even cheaper. Other build orders such as
pit/furnace/close mill can work out just as well but are not reliable
enough to find a place in this guide.
1.1 The Pit/dual-Mill
start Start with an Uruk Pit in the forward-right
corner of your base (or forward-left if you're on the left-hand spot)
and produce one Uruk-Hai after the other until the pit reaches rank 2.
By this time, you will get 5 extra Uruk-Hai battalions in total.
The starting Uruk takes both mills, then goes over the top of the map
(bottom, for left-map start) to check for soldiers. Use at least two
labourers as scouts: One through the middle of the map towards his base
to see when the first knight comes out, another over the top of the map
(bottom) to check for any extra soldiers that he may have made from a
barracks (rarely seen and easily countered, so long as you spy!). The
first pit-gained Uruk goes through the middle.
 |
starting
uruk-hai - first uruk-hai from pit - laborers -tiny lines
are optional |
1.2
The pit/furnace/far mill start This is very
similar to the double-mill start. Build a pit and a furnace in the
base, then send your starting unit to the far farm spot. Purchase an
Uruk-Hai from the pit and a lumber mill, as you send out three
labourers as shown in the image below.
Wait until you have 200 gold to buy the second Uruk from the pit. In
comparison to the first, dual-Mill build, the Uruk spam is delayed due
to the starting build-order. Only after this should you construct the
lumber mill, close to your base so you have two of them in total. After
this, the tactics are exactly the same as with the other start.
2. Defend the lumber mills against the initial rush by Gondor
Two soldiers are likely to walk to your side, either through the middle
fords or over top (bottom). Gondor will place an Elvenwood right next
to a lumber mill on your side, negating the effect of a Warchant for
any Isengard unit standing on it. It is activated again once they get
off it; the missing glowing effect is just a graphical bug. The Uruk
battalion that intercepts the soldiers needs to get Warchanted as soon
as possible, and must give chase. The only other battalion that is on
the field at this moment is required to help defend.
Should the Gondor soldiers attack the mill, try putting Uruks in
between his soldiers and the mill, while repairing with labourers. Only
workers that are not carrying pieces of wood can repair lumber mills,
keep that in mind! Usually you can hold it, but if you see that you
won't then delete the mill as early as possible.
Should they fight the Uruks on the Elvenwood, send the second pit-Uruk
to face the soldiers as well as required. Micro your units and be sure
to retreat battalions with many weak Uruks in them.
3. Kick both farms before first knight is out
Send the first two Uruks who are not needed straight to your opponent's
side: usually, this is the 2nd and the 3rd pit-Uruk. If you meet
Pippin, ignore him and go for the farms. He only needs to be attacked
before he passes your base; he should not be able to cloak at a lumber
mill. Most Gondor players retreat him anyway when they see Uruks
running at their farms.
Wait for Warchant to be recharged, then use it on the two Uruks on the
far side as soon as possible. Split them up and take both farms down;
when Gondor sends his hobbit back to defend then don't worry, an
Uruk-Hai battalion with Warchant will destroy the farm regardless.
4. Take two creeps with Uruk-Hai
4.1 After
your Uruks have defended the mills and the soldiers are dead, send the
remaining units on your side to a neutral Warg creep to take it. Allow
a pit-Uruk to join them, usually that's the fourth. Simply surround the
lair and destroy it, then take the money; the Wargs will be left over
but that is no problem at all. In every replay that is attached at the
end of this guide, you can see how it is done.
4.2 Use one of the
Uruk battalions that killed a farm, together with the fifth pit-Uruk to
destroy another lair in the same way.
5. Situation check at first horse
As the first Gondor knight hits the field, you have in the best-case
scenario: taken both farms down, which means Gondor's economy is
damaged. taken two creeps (or are about to do so), meaning your economy
that has been taking damage from the Uruk-spam is boosted. Not allowed
more than one Uruk battalion to be attacked with knights and gain
powerpoints from. One, or even two, pikes out which are on their way to
the opponents side to prevent him from claiming his outside farms back.
Roughly two furnaces in the base and close to two powerpoints, which
are needed for industry. Here's a picture of how it should look like:
As you can see on the mini-map, Gondor lost both his farms and Isengard
is about to take two creeps (the middle right and the bottom right
ones). The first knight is too late to do anything to stop it. With the
Pit/dual-Mill start, you can usually get your first furnace shortly
before the fourth pit-Uruk enters the battlefield.
This way, your Uruk-spam is hardly slowed down at all, meaning very
early pikes; this allows your Uruks to kill farm and take creeps out
without being intercepted.
6. After horses and pikes are out
Once the Uruk Pit has reached rank 2, produce one pike after the other.
Remember, you have a labourer scouting for the first knight. By this
time, you know whether you need your first pike to defend or whether
you can send it straight to his side. As soon as Warchant has recharged
again, use it on a pike battalion to take one creep. Make sure no
knights are near that could potentially steal the experience.
Sometimes you can go for another lair right after, Warchant still
active long enough to run to the next creep and kill the Wargs around
it (this is a close call though). This means you have 3 creeps in
total, so no early elves for Gondor. In most games you can take even
more with good scouting and pike use. When you take four-six Warg
lairs, Gondor will only have about 1.5 powerpoints at a stage when all
creeps are gone. Eventually, you will have 2 powerpoints and can get
Industry. My advice is to get it after either a very strong or a very
bad start. After a good early game, as you will most likely deal very
well with a 3rd Elvenwood and you can often decide the game before Fuel
the Fires becomes important. After a bad start because you'll need it
to survive. Only after a mediocre start do I prefer the route Tainted
Land -> Fuel the Fires because it helps a lot to have those
powers as early as possible in later-game. You don't really need
Industry because the economy is good enough without it.
This Guide made by sueffkopp
