Middle Earth - Battle for Arda (v3) - Official Thread
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(This is the forum thread for version 3 of Battle for Arda (v3). For discussion of the older version 2, see this forum thread.)
A Good vs. Evil conflict in Middle Earth. 8 players on both sides, each with a unique set of units with various abilities, and complex interactions between them.
This map (v3) is a continuation of Battle for Arda (v2). Currently in development. This is an early beta version.
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Map Status (as of 2026-10-13)
You can now download the map from the game.
The in-game game notes are outdated at the moment. I think I explained mostly everything in my video updates (#7, #8 and #9 should cover most of it), though this obviously isn't the greatest arrangement.
The map is mostly playable, but the balance isn't very good. The unit abilities and related mechanics still need some more thought. Quite a few new units will still need to be added.
My current plan is to periodically release smaller updates as I implement new stuff.
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Version History
Version 3.0 (2026-10-11)
- Initial beta release
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A alkexr referenced this topic
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@alkexr hi gent, I’d like to report 2 issues
1: Saruman’s mountain troops are unable to pass through friendly mountainous territory to launch an attack. Is this intended behavior? same thing happens in mordor's turn when a non-mountainer tried to move and attack gondor.
2: i think the acient tower and acient walls and fortress are goood in old versions, why are u removing them?btw, i'd like to join the map test if u agree.
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Hey @alkexr
A friend and I have been testing out v3 and compiling feedback as we play it. We have played v2 dozens of times and are excited to play v3. I'll have more detailed feedback on the balancing as we play a couple more games of v3, but here is what we have so far.
We really like the new map layout. Rivendell seems stronger and not guaranteed to fall. Rohan is more open and harder to hold, but giving Arnor Tharbad counters Saruman well with this. I also like the new Gondor terrain and love that Cair Andros is a settlement now. We also really like the new units like the White Wolf and Ice Drakes.
The new Orc Holds faction is fun, but doesn't seem to add anything new from when it was controlled by Angmar. It also doesn't have any counter to Dwarves. As a result, it doesn't really go anywhere and ends up fortifying on Goblin Town and Mount Gundabad until a doom stack of Dwarven Halberdiers come.
Combining the Woodland Realm and Lorien into the Silvan Elves was overall a good choice since the Woodland Realm in v2 didn't really do anything unique for Good.
-Winged Nazgul (and maybe all flying units) prompt the attacker if they want to submerge submarines each combat round. This never happened in v2 so likely a bug from reworking the units.
-Settlements need a visual indicator for how many units can be placed on them. v2 had this.
-Rivendell visually had hills, but is not a hill terrain tile.
-Angmar and Moria might need a starting minor settlement because its pretty easy to max out their spawns on their capitols the first few turns until they expand.
-Druadan Forest in v2 used to be a neutral tile that shortened the route for Rohan to send reinforcements to Minas Tirith. This made the tile strategically valuable and worth fighting the neutral archers there. In v3, the shortened path is replaced by a hills tile already controlled by Gondor. This now makes the forest just another tile. Personally, we liked the unique value that the Druadan Forest used to have.
-We like that mountains and marshes slow down movement, but maybe it shouldn't slow down Dwarves as an added benefit for their race?
-Angmar and Orc Holds orc units are too similar of color. Since they often have overlapping frontlines against Arnor, the only way I can tell them apart is from the tooltips. The same applies for Mordor and Dol Guldor orcs now that Mordor has a settlement closer to Dul Guldor.
-The Gondor settlement of Calembel has an extra 1 income marker on it bordering with North Lamedon.
-Add the archer unit to the Gondor roster since Rangers don't have Anti-Air anymore.
-Spearwall ability references a Werewolf unit that doesn't seem to be in the map.
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