Top ten Factions of Middle Earth

Hey guys, princeofdolalmroth here. Today I'll be discussing my top factions to play as for Third Age Total War and Midieval 2 Total War. I'll be listing my top 10 for both games and giving my reasons for each. This post is copied off another blog of mine, and serves the same function as the original; to provide a list of choices for people when they start their Third Age Total War Expirience.
TATW 3.2 Top 10
10: Misty Mountains. The Misty Mountain Orcs have their perks, such as a strong early economy and versatile units, but the main weaknesses I've spotted lie in unit speed, unit diversity, and starting territory. You have to fight both elf factions along with the dwarves in the beginning of the game, which is difficult enough, but is made even more difficult by the overall weakness of Orc units. late game the situation is changed, but early game the only thing keeping the Orc faction going is their massive economic potential, based around mining facilities.

9: Gundabad: Gundabad is easier to explain in my eyes. Units are more diverse than most evil factions, and are more versatile in their roles than other factions, but lack strength in the economy and units until the late game, when access to more powerful units and economic buildings are made available.

8: Isengard: Isengard  has a decent start economy, along with the most powerful starting units of any evil faction in the game, being able to recruit beserkers in the starting building roster. It's main weakness lies in it's position; it is literally surrounded by factions that are dying to destroy it (High Elves, Eriador, Rohan). It starts with an excellent diplomat, which heals this slightly, but to play as Isengard your skill with infantry MUST be beyond expectations.

7: Dale: Dale has the most versatile units of any faction in the game, along with the ability to recruit faster than most factions in the game. The problem with dale is it has to capture all of Rhovanion in a very limited timespan, along with having to fight the most overall powerful Evil faction in the game, Rhun. The economy is excellent, and the units are too, but the main problem lies only in the opening moves made by the player in the game.

6: Eriador: Eriador is very similar to dale, in skill level and start position. Eriador however, has the benefits of having (short of trolls, fountain guard and Elf Units) the strongest late game units available to a faction. It also has the greatest potential of a faction in the game; if you don't engage gundabad until later in the game, or even form an alliance with them, Eriador can basically go anywhere it wants to go.

5:Silvan Elves. The silvan elves rely on very powerful units along with an eonomy to match. TThe diplomatic field is superb for them, being able to form an alliance with the dwarves and dale in the beginning of the game. Their situation is similar to eriador's as well, As soon as dol-gildur is taken, you can do almost whatever you want with the faction without suffering major reprocussions.

4: Mordor: Mordor has a difficult task ahead of it. The economy and army are woefully unprepared for the fight to come until late game, however for the beginning the moves a player has to make are overwhealmingly simple; head west. The simplicity of the early mordor game is stunning. Also just as stunning is the easiness Mordor has in defending it's pre-game borders; you only have to defend two locations. Late game Mordor becomes a powerhouse of production. Uninhibited by the ravages of war, Mordor can produce numerous and powerful units with amazing speed and efficiency. Normally evil factions are unable to do this, with only the Eastern Anduin Factions (Harad, Mordor, and Rhun) being remotely capable of achieving this power with ease.

3: Rhun: As a fan of the lore, Rhun has to have a place on this list, and for good reasons. Not only being the largest canonical nation on the map, it is the only faction in the Hotseat campaign that can support itself economically with it's starting units and buildings. Rhun also is the only faction that can dund its massive hordes and still have a huge gold reserve. Rhun's army is a glamorous as it is powerful; an example of this is that it is fully capable of taking on Dale, Gondor and the Dwarves in a late game duel to the death. It's spear throwing Balchoth are immensely powerful for their starting tech requirements, and later on the Rhun faction gets access to more and more powerful units. on any difficulty it has the advantage, and is fun to play with as well as being immensely challenging to fight against.

2: Arnor: Provided you have passed Eriador's challenge, Arnor is without a doubt, the most amazing faction to play as, both in the 3.2 version of the game, and even more so in the MOS 1.6 version of the game. Arnor's economy is powerful and far reaching, a requirement for it's immensel owerful armies. Arnor's unit roster fills every nook and cranny an army needs. These armies are capable of taking down factions with ease, along with being able to defeat stack after stack of invasion groups. Late game Arnor is only stoppable by a late game Mordor, but coupled with the powerful High Elves, Arnor's power matches that of the Last Alliance, and looks like the army of that day as well. The main reasons why it makes #2 on the list is because there is an option to play as the faction, and is not mandatory, along with an overall weaker economy setup than Gondor.

1: Gondor: Obviously Gondor reaches the top of the list, but the reasons behind it may not seem that way. For starters, Gondor is the easiest faction to play as in the game if you play for fun, but has the most difficult job of any faction if you play for serious. Not only does it have to beat Mordor and Harad at the same time, you also have to have the troops and economy to support the undertaking of it. in these aspects does Gondor show it's metal. It's troops are the finest of any faction of men in the game, both in looks and strength. It's cavalry can destroy units at a time, and the diversity of the units in themselves is breathtaking for new players. In the MOS mod, it has over 40 units to build and choose from, representing the lore to amazing accuracy. The size and location of Gondor matter as well; It, like the East Anduin Evil Factions, only has one way to go at first, and has a hard time going that way. Gondor is the Largest Faction in the game from the start and has the largest population to work with, along with an expanded trade building setup, thus the largest economic potential. These stated reasons are the crux of what makes Gondor the top faction on this list.