Lord Pyre of Ice woke to his favorite morning chorus; the wail 
the slaves as the were lead off to another day to work in the mines for 
the wealth and glory of the NorDroth Empire.  His High Emperor had granted 
Lord Pyre rulership of Ringgold and its forts in return for certain dark 
favors.  Being a warlock did have its benefits.
          Pyre was picking at his breakfast when the excited page came to 
him frantically wild at the news of the raiding party approaching the 
village from the northern fens.  By the banners it appeared that Lord 
Antrim, an upstart Lord from the southern kingdom of Thracia had come 
to free his people from their useful work in the mines.
          As Pyre reached for his robes and brushed the remains of 
breakfast from his beard he remembered the words of his old master ... A 
man may work from sun to sun, but a wizard's work is never done.

          This simulation is my first experiment in the fantasy genre 
using Rainbird's Universal Military Simulator and you will need that 
program to utilize these files.  The files are:

          RINGGOLD.TXT        What you're reading now.
          RINGOLD.SIM    
          RINGGOLD.MAP        
          LIGHT.ARM           The army of Lord Antrim
          DARK.ARM            The army of Lord Pyre of Ice.
          
          These files are needed to simulate the attempts of Lord Antrim 
to take over the village of Ringgold and its strategic iron and nickel 
mine located at the bottom of an old meteor crater, plus free his people
from their imposed slavery.
           Ringgold also has two forts:  Outpost and Kobold's Folly which 
are staffed by some of Pyre's forces.  Though Antrim is from the southern 
kingdom of Thracia he has made a wide circle and is attacking Ringgold 
from the North.
           If you play the role of Antrim a marginal victory or better 
should be considered quite good.  Though Antrim has more men, I've tried 
to design the simulation to mimic the fatigue of the long march and his 
men are weary.  Pyre's men are quite well-rested and eager for a fight.  
Force the computer to attack for the first hour or two and then let it 
choose its own strategy. I think think you'll have your hands full.
          If you'd like to try the fireball throwing powers of Lord Pyre 
aim for a decisive victory as a marginal victory is quite easy to achieve.
          The forces are:

          Lord Antrim - 35 hit points     Lord Pyre of Ice - 20 hit points
          Royal Guard - 60 men            Guard (Fists of Pyre) - 100 men
          Pikemen - 600                   Mercenaries - 200
          Archers - 125                   Archers (Hornets) - 200
          Barbarians - 400                Peasants (Cannon Fodder) - 300

TOTAL:    10 Units (801 men)*             13 Units (1261 men)*

          *The hit points for Antrim and Pyre do not count as men.  In 
traditional fantasy role-playing style these individuals can be quite 
tough and possibly survive an attack even though greatly outnumbered.

          The reason for this endeavor is my own "fantasy" of putting the 
battles of Tolkein's Middle Earth either in the style of the Universal 
Military Simulator or SSI's Wargame Construction Set (a program which I do 
not yet own).  If anybody could let me know what they think of both 
programs or give me good criticism on how to adapt Tolkein to the computer
the info would be greatly appreciated.  I can be contacted via GEnie (C. 
Loewen) or write to:                                            
                                            Craig A. Loewen
                                            124 West Hilltop Road
                                            Baltimore, MD  21225
                                            (301) 789-0090
13 April 1988
Please.  Do not pirate software.