- "Cair Andros was a key strategic foothold for the people of Gondor. On this island fortress they guarded the fords of the great river."
- —BFME 1
Cair Andros (meaning "Ship of Long Foam" was a boat shaped island in the River Anduin. The island was fortified during the Third Age as a defense of Gondor. During the War of the Ring, Sauron sent an army from the Black Gate to take control of the island and this attack succeeded. During the march of the Host of the West to the Black Gate, Aragorn allowed one thousand men to retake the island.
The Cair Andros Fortress is a medium-sized map part of the Flavor Map Pack, made for three players in a defend the fortress idea. Two players play the attacking force and one plays the defender in Cair Andros. The map is divided into three parts: Cair Andros in the middle, the Outpost on the left bank and the attackers on the right bank. The fortress player starts at quite an advantage as most of his buildings are pre-built including 2 markets, several resource buildings of Gondor and a Border Stronghold. However the trouble is that he must defend on 3 different fronts, one of which can be accessed without the need for siege (dock, bottom right). The whole pack can be downloaded here.
Changes to the .ini file[]
Many minor detail have been tweaked to make the map more lore friendly. It is recommended to restart the game once you've played a game with this map. The changes are a follow:
- Denethor is not recruitable (lore friendlier, since this is an iconic map he would be therefore in Minas Tirith at the time)
- Strider, Gandalf and Pippin are not recruitable from the fortress only the nearby inn (only Boromir, Beregond and Faramir: again for lore friendliness)
- Ranger Pikemen, Ranger Swordsmen are recruitable at the ranger camp.