The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (GBA)

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a turn-based strategy game for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in 2004 by EA Games. It should not be confused with the RPG of the same name, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, released at the same time for GameCube, PS2, and Xbox.

Good commanders
At the start of the game you can choose between these heroes and the Evil ones.

Aragorn-High HP, perfect Morale, Great CP, good Attack, average Range, average SP. Overall, a great leader.

Appears in: Darkness Upon Bree, Flight From Moria, Balin's Tomb, Amon Hen, The Ride To Helm's Deep, Helm Deep Breach, Forth Eorlingas, The Black Gate Opens

Skills
 * Sweep Attack


 * Arms Mastery


 * Inspire


 * Curse of the Dead

Gandalf-Low HP, perfect Morale, Average CP,good Attack, bad ranged attack, great SP. Most used because of his skill Blinding Light, since he has low HP and a weak ranged attack. Still, he makes up for it with his skills.

Appears in: Attack on Fangorn, Balin's Tomb, Forth Eorlingas, The Black Gate Opens

Skills


 * Evasion


 * Stealth


 * Inspire


 * Blinding Light

Elrond-Low HP, perfect Morale, Average CP, good attack, and good range(that can be improved with Keen Eyes),very good SP. Along with other elves, he is a wonderful leader, and Keen Eyes makes him even better. But, with mêlée soldiers, he don't shine.

Appears in: Mission From Rivendell

Skills


 * Hold Fast!


 * Defensive Stance


 * Keen Eyes


 * Elven Duress

Evil commanders
At the start of the game you can choose between these heroes and Good ones.

Witch-king-Very High HP, perfect Morale, Average CP, good attack, no range, average SP. With his upgrades, skills and items, he can easily kill almost anything(Except Ents, of course).

Appears in: Darkness Upon Bree

Skills


 * Terror


 * Flurry


 * Rage


 * Invulnerability

Saruman-Pathetic HP, average Morale, CP and Attack, good Ranged attack, and good SP. He is frail, but he doesn't need to fight. With his upgrades and skills, his soldiers will do all the killing. Swarm of Crebain is also very useful.

Appears in: Attack on Fangorn, Fall of Isengard

Skills


 * On Your Feet!


 * Rage(works with ranged attacks)


 * Curse of Orthanc


 * Swarm of Crebain

Mouth of Sauron-Low HP, average Morale and CP, good attack and no Range, great SP. Also like Saruman, his soldiers do most of the killing, but he is more resistant. Intimidate helps his soldiers to keep moving.

Appears in: Conquest of Osgiliath, Fall of Osgiliath, The Black Gate Opens

Skills


 * Strength of Mordor


 * Rage


 * Intimidate


 * Eye of Sauron

Good heroes
On almost every mission, you can choose Secondary Heroes to help you. They are Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, Faramir and Haldir.

Theoden-Low HP, good Morale, average CP, average attack and no Range, average SP. Without his upgrades, he is weak, but with them, and his Double Move Talent, he can be an excellent front line fighter.

Appears in: The Ride To Helm's Deep, Helm's Deep Breach, Forth Eorlingas

Skill: Inspire

Eomer-Good HP and morale, ordinary CP, good attack and no Range, low SP. Stronger than his uncle, his upgrades make him a great Hit-and-Run fighter.

Appears in: Crossing of the Ford, Edge of Fangorn, Forth Eorlingas

Skill: Arms Mastery

Eowyn-Low HP, good morale and average CP, good attack, no range, great SP.While she is not very strong, she is good to get SP, and to kill enemy Heroes.

Appears in: The Ride To Helm's Deep, Scourging of the Villages

Skills: Hold Fast!, Stealth (with Armor of Rohan)

Gimli-Good HP and morale, ordinary CP,good attack and good ranged attack, low SP. He can deal a lot of damage with his upgrades, items and skills(He can get 14 attack), but is also very slow.

Appears in: Flight From Moria, Amon Hen, Balin's Tomb, Helm's Deep Breach, The Black Gate Opens

Skill: Arms Mastery

Legolas-Pathetic HP, good morale and average CP, low attack, but wonderful Range, average SP. Frail, but with Sweep Attack and Galadrim Bow, he can easily be one of the best attackers in the game.

Appears in: Balin's Tomb, Amon Hen, Helm's Deep Breach, The Ride To Helm's Deep, The Black Gate Opens

Skill: Sweep Attack

Boromir-Low HP, good morale and great CP, good attack, average range, and low SP. He should be used when you need CP, and if you need someone to take damage and deal.

Appears in: Conquest of Osgiliath, Balin's Tomb, Flight From Moria, Amon Hen

Skills: Defensive Stance, Horn of Gondor

Faramir-Low HP, good morale and average CP, good attack, great range and good SP. One of the best archers because of his Sharpshooter Talent.

Appears in: Conquest of Osgiliath, Fall of Osgiliath, Ambush at Ithilien

Skill: Evasion

Haldir (must be unlocked)-Average HP, good morale and average CP, good attack and great range, average SP. A great reward for beating the game. Along with other elves, he is even better, because of Keen Eyes.

Skill: Keen Eyes

Evil Heroes
On most missions, you can choose Secondary Heroes to help you. They are Gothmog, Gorbag, Lurtz, Grima, Ugluk, Sharku, Grishnakh and Shagrat.

Gothmog-Low HP, average morale and CP, good attack but no range, good SP. A great leader, since he can increase the CP with Intimidate.

Appears in: Fall of Osgiliath

Skill: Intimidate

Gorbag-Low HP, good morale and average CP, good attack and medium range, low SP. Not a very good choice, but he can be quite useful with Udûn Sword + Armor Spikes + Rage + Shelob Poison, giving him 14 attack.

Appears in: Conquest of Osgiliath, Flight From Moria

Skill: Rage

Lurtz-Average HP, good morale and average CP, good attack and great range, average SP. A good hero, with Flurry, he can be a major headache.

Appears in: Amon Hen

Skill: Flurry

Grima Wormtongue-Abysmal HP and morale, great CP, low attack and no range, average SP. The only purpose to use him is to get the 2-3 CP he gives. And, with Vial of Poison, he can deal great damage on his first strike. But, if there are archers, he will die fast. Very fast.

Appears in: Attack on Fangorn, Fall of Isengard

Skill: Curse of Orthanc

Ugluk-Good HP and morale, ordinary CP, very high attack but no range, good SP. One of the strongest attackers in the game, he is a wonderful front line attacker.

Appears in: Edge of Fangorn

Skill: On Your Feet!

Sharku-Good HP, average morale, ordinary CP, average attack, good range, and abysmal SP. A great choice if you need something to die.With Double Move and ranged attacks, he can annoy anyone without Stealth.

Appears in: The Ride To Helm's Deep

Skill: Strength of Mordor

Grishnakh-Low HP, abysmal morale, ordinary CP, average attack and range, low SP. A coward, but he can deal good damage on his first strike(9 attack).

Appears in: Edge of Fangorn

Skill: Take Cover!

Shagrat (must be unlocked)-Low HP, good morale and average CP, good attack and strong ranged attack, average SP.A great reward.He can deal good damage ranged or mêlée. His sword also provides +10% Onslaught.

Appears in: The Black Gate Opens

Skill: Rage

Mission from Rivendell
The days had grown long and the nights cold, and still there was no sign of Aragorn in Rivendell.

''"He has not been seen for some months now," Elrond admitted to his friends. "We must scour the outlying lands in search of some sign that he lives yet."''

A simple mission, where Good need to cross the Bridge and Evil to kill Good's heroes.Good has the advantage in this battle, since they have High Elf Swordsman. OBS:In Multiplayer, Evil gets Warg Riders.

Darkness upon Bree
''The icy needles of the Nazgul screams pierced heads and hearts. The citizens of Bree, driven indoors by the relentless pounding of rain, trembled with anxiety within their darkened houses.''

''But a few townsfolk and warriors rose to the challenge... these undead kings of old had no business in the west.''

Hard times to Good, that needs to fight the Nazgul.There are actualy only 4 of them(5 if you use the Witch-King), but Good have a lot of peasants and 6 woodsmen, that need to be used with intelligence, because the Nazgul are very powerful.Watch out for the Dark Riders, with their Double Move.
 * [[Image:The_Citizens_fight_the_Nazgul.PNG|left|thumb|200px|The Nazgul attack Bree]]

Attack on Fangorn
''At the foot of Fangorn Saruman surveyed the progress of his growing war machine. An eager Orc approached.

"The roots are deep my Lord."

''The White Wizard grimaced. This forest could grow angry if pushed, yet he felt his own will was stronger.''

"Cut them down."

In this battle, Good has a powerful ally:An Ent. Ents can deal a lot of damage even when they are far, and are some of the hardest units in the game.This is true in levels like Fall of Isengard. Evil will gain 2 points in the first turn by burning a tree. Good defenses and use of ranged attack is essential in this battle.

Conquest of Osgiliath
"Osgiliath was once the jewel of our kingdom," Lord Denethor mused, sitting ''alone before a large banquet table. His two sons, Boromir and Faramir, stood'' silently behind the aging steward as he ate.

"The city must be reclaimed," Denethor continued, "if we hope to keep our kingdom intact. The Lords of Gondor must return to their rightful place. Recapture the city, my sons! Restore it to its former glory!"

In this mission, Evil needs to defend Osgiliath from Gondor's forces.Evil will get some reinforcements after a few turns, and some time later, Knights of Gondor will assist the offensive.

Flight from Moria
''Breathless and beaten, the Fellowship escaped the Mines of Moria. But there'' was little time for rest.

Aragorn was adamant: "By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs!"

Yet no sooner had the warning been spoken than the hills began to thicken with ''the hideous faces of Goblins and Trolls. But the Fellowship was not alone...'' This battle looks hard for Good, but it's pretty easy, actually.After you kill the Troll, there's only a sea of cannon fodder, the goblins.For Hard, the group of Woodsmen can be the difference between victory and defeat.They are worth 4 points, and each hero 2, and Good wins points if the battle lasts enough time.So every action of evil must be cautious.

Amon Hen
Beneath the pillars of stone atop Amon Hen, Frodo made his intentions clear. ''He would carry the Ring alone to Mordor. Aragorn nodded, then leapt suddenly'' ''to his feet. Something was approaching from the rear!!''

Aragorn drew his sword.

''"Run Frodo! Run!" he cried, for the Uruk-hai were close at hand'' This battle is easy for both sides, since Good need to kill 12 enemies and Evil must kill 6 heroes, 2 of them are Merry and Pippin who are extremely weak.And Good heroes can kill most enemies in 2 attacks, except the Berserker, that only has 6 HP.

Balin's Tomb
Gandalf read aloud the final entry in Balin's tome: "Drums! Drums in the deep... we cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. Will no one save us? They are coming."

''A nervous silence froze the Fellowship. All were still. And then, from some'' unknown depth far distant, the drums began again.

It's basically Flight from Moria in another place. A Cave Troll, tons of Goblins and your heroes. But, one of them will be unable to fight(unless he has good range) because of position. Evil will need to use the Goblins with intelligence, since they are very weak.