Total War II: The Third Age…

Total War is coming, the Dark Lord’s arm has grown long and the whole of Middle Earth is once again at stake in the newest mod of SEGA’s successful Total War franchise. SEGA recently released the newest version of the title Total War: Empire which focuses upon the Napoleonic era. While the SEGA dev team were hard at work with Empire a group of savvy internet geeks have been developing, designing and rendering a Tolkien instalment for the game.

To run the mod you’ll need a copy of Medieval II and the Kingdoms expansion pack. First of all you will need to download and install part 1 & part 2 of the Third Age mod and then you will need to download the 1.1 patch. Once all of these components have been installed into your main MTW2 folder you can begin your conquest of Middle Earth.

The mod includes a complete recreation of the Middle Earth map complete with individual graphics of locations like Helm’s Deep, the Tower of Orthanc, Mt Doom, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul and Barad-dur. The mod also comes with its own unique cinematic intro, unique unit and building types as well as uniquely rendered and animated units. There are 12 factions to play with including High Elves, Silvan Elves, Dale, Eriador, Dwarves, Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Rhun, Isengard and Harad. There is also an unplayable Dark Lord faction that occasionally orchestrates the Middle earth equivalent of a Jihad.

I must say I find the mod a lot engrossing than the original MTW2, but that’s most likely due to my love of Tolkien’s world. I’m currently focusing upon a Dwarven campaign which poses several difficulties including a lack of cavalry and archers, as well as having a starting base split into western and eastern regions. I recently managed to conclude a treaty with the Silvan Elves and am currently ambushing Orcs on the eastern side of the Misty Mountains whilst helping my Dale allies to push back Rhun’s advances. So far it’s looking good, plans are in place too take back Moria as well as a combined pre-emptive strike against Sauron’s holiday villa in Dol Guldur. If you’re a Total War fan then I suggest you get cracking right now and prepare yourselves for a battle of epic proportions.