For Ship and Swan! news - Edain Mod for Battle for Middle-earth II: Rise of the Witch King

Christmas is just around the corner and the year 2023 is coming to an end. At the end of this year, we have another big surprise for you, which was partially teased in the pictures from the last few days. Today would like to introduce it to you in more detail: Belfalas, a new map feature that will replace Gondor on selected maps.

Similar to Arnor, Belfalas is a faction that you can play instead of Gondor on a selection of maps that are located in the south of its territory - for example Dor-En-Ernil, Dol Amroth, Tolfalas or obviously Belfalas itself. Of course, you can also select Gondor as your opponent in order to experience the new faction! Belfalas and Gondor are similar in their versatility and their solid, defensively strong, soldiers, but Belfalas offers more than that. All buildings have an altered texture to distinguish them from their normal counterparts, and other buildings such as the new Lighthouse have been newly created from scratch.

The Anorien soldiers in the barracks, stables, and archery ranges have been replaced by their Belfalas brethren, who are similarly trained and can fight in various formations to increase their combat effectiveness. Of course, you can still build beacons on settlement building sites to recruit soldiers from the surrounding fiefdoms as well; but instead of being able to recruit the elite Guards of the Citadel and Fountain Court Guards in the barracks, Belfalas has access to the Frontier Guards of Tarnost and the Swan Knights: the former are a battle-hardened elite unit that leads other infantry into battle, while the Swan Knights are now also available on foot as heroic infantry and act as Prince Imrahil's bodyguard.

You can discover another significant change at the outpost. It would make no sense to only be able to recruit Imrahil and his soldiers at the outpost, so you can now recruit Boromir there instead. He is accompanied by a new unit: The Veterans of Osgiliath! These soldiers fought alongside Boromir when, in the first battle of the War of the Ring, he was forced to give up the eastern side of the Anduin and the last bridge over the great river was destroyed behind him. Since the Veterans of Osgiliath have already faced the horror of Mordor in battle, they are immediately recruited at level five and can defend themselves against a wide variety of enemies.

And that brings us to the new heroes that you can recruit as Belfalas: The soldiers of Belfalas are led into battle by the princely family of Dol Amroth. In addition to Prince Imrahil, you can also recruit his sons Elphir, Erchirion and Amrothos, as well as his daughter Lothiriel, who would later marry king Eomer of Rohan.

The four new heroes have their own abilities to emphasize their roles in the War of the Ring. As the eldest son and heir of Prince Imrahil, Elphir is the protector of Dol Amroth and master of ships. As a capable and battle-tested commander, Elphir is responsible for defending the borders and the helpless settlements in Belfalas against attacking orcs or marauding corsairs. Erchirion is a deadly archer whose arrows always find their mark and whose fearless nature can inspire both riders and infantry. Lothiriel does not fight herself, except in defense of her own life, and instead sends her bodyguard into the fray. Even away from battle, she can use supporting skills to create strong, lasting advantages for Dol Amroth. Amrothos, the youngest son, begins as a hothead in search of fame, later becoming an instructor and patron of the squires of Belfalas.

We don't want to give too much away at this point - there is a lot to discover! And who knows, maybe you'll meet the new heroes and units not only in battle, but also elsewhere?
Finally, we would like to thank you for your support in 2023 and wish you happy holidays. As always, we hope you enjoyed this update and welcome your feedback!

Your Edain team