History VideoGame / DivideAndConquer

** Although Dunland is allied with Isengard, their culture is ''Middlemen'' (the same as Enedwaith and Bree) instead of ''Melkor's Shadow'' or ''Men of the East'', reflecting that they just want to retake their old lands and have zero interest in helping Sauron take over the world.

It can be found [[https://www.moddb.com/mods/divide-and-conquer here]]. For more information, there's also [[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1955-Divide-and-Conquer its official forums]] and the Website/YouTube [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8HWk4BpT_AP4tTGjF4O4GA/ channel]] of the sub-mod's current head.

** The Blue Wizards, who were only briefly mentioned in the books and given a small amount of development in Tolkien’s supplemental writings, are more developed here. While we know that they were sent east to help organize rebellions against Sauron, the mod builds on this by having them directly approach the ruler of Khand in an effort to recruit his people. Should a Khandish player accept their offer and turn against Sauron, they gain access to powerful units from the (also barely-developed-in-canon) eastern Dwarven clans who have joined forces with the Blue Wizards.

* AmazonBrigade: A handful of units comprise of all females, namely Dunland and Enedwaith's Warchanters, Khand's Uushixià Stormriders, Harad's Hasharii Shadows, Lothlórien's Yavanna's Chosen, and (of course) the Shieldmaidens of Rohan.

** If Gandalf the Grey falls, he'll eventually come back as Gandalf the White, with an even more powerful bodyguard.(Gandalf the Grey gets a force of Dunedain Cavalry as his bodyguard, but should he fall and rise again, this force would be replaced with a troop of Arthedain Royal Knights)

** If you're playing as Rohan, Isengard will get a starting horde of late game units so you can't just overwhelm their relatively weak starting units with your cavalry. (though some Elite DAC players usually attack but not defeat this army just to weaken it).

** Bree's roster is mostly made up of a motley array of what are essentially militia, ranging from hobbits armed with farming tools to merchants with better equipment than training; when even your starting faction leader is just a forgetful innkeeper (Barliman Butterbur himself), you very much quality for this trope. As such, most of their best units are either mercenaries or come from other factions.

** The Ar-Adûnâim are the descendants of Númenórean colonists who settled in Middle-earth's far south and thus survived the sinking of Númenór. Unlike the descendants of the Faithful or even Sauron's own Númenórean followers, the Ar-Adûnâim maintain the ideology of the King's Men who ruled Númenór in its final millennia.

** If Gandalf the Grey falls, he'll eventually come back as Gandalf the White, with an even more powerful bodyguard.

** If you're playing as Rohan, Isengard will get a starting horde of late game units so you can't just overwhelm their relatively weak starting units with your cavalry.

** Angmar: A very Balanced faction, the Hill-men have a well-rounded roster that contains a lot of armor-piercing and Warg-riding units, but otherwise tends to be more middle-of-the-road in terms of quality.

*** Khazad-Dûm: Takes the Turtle approach to the max, with the highest armor and shield values out of their brethren, but slightly lower attack compared to Erebor.

** Mordor: If it wasn't for the existence of Moria, Mordor's main roster would be the Spammer par excellence of the entire game, with a relatively Brute-like focus on hordes of cheap orc infantry due to their mostly mediocre archery and complete lack of mainline cavalry outside of a few units they can recruit from the Men of the East. However, Mordor's ''non-Orc'' elites are on the complete opposite end of the quality-vs-quality scale, being some of Middle-earth's very best.

** Like in the original ''Third Age'', if Mordor recovers the ring, Sauron himself will return as a ''very'' powerful general with a unique bodyguard.

* LastStand: If a faction goes below a certain number of provinces, they will spawn a full stack of high-tier troops in order to repel the invaders and retake their lands; the script is even called "Last Stand"!

** For a mounted version that's still capable of hiding in woods, there's the elite Imladris Rangers (while the Dúnedain Scouts are conceptually basically mounted Dúnedain Rangers, their relatively low stats precludes them from fully qualifying for the trope).

** The snow-orcs of Gundabad are the descendants of Morgoth's original orcs who fled to the northern fringes of Middle-earth, where they remained for all of the Second Age and most of the Third Age before finally returning south in order to eradicate the Dwarves for good. That is, unless the Dwarves get them first.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Besides the woodcraft-focused Silvan Elves and the straight-up elite High Elves most predominately featured in most Middle-earth media, there are also the Avari of Dorwinion. They make excellent archers, but are relatively lacking in melee prowess compared to the Eldar (or even some of the more elite Mannish units).

* AdaptationExpansion: Whilst the mod goes to great lengths to remain faithful to both the original Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium and Creator/PeterJackson's [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings film trilogy]], some areas, factions, and plot points of Middle Earth have been given this:

* AnAxeToGrind: The most common armor-piercing weapon, with Erebor in particular favoring their use to the point where even their primary ''ranged'' weapons are throwing axes.[[labelnote:list]]Not sure if it deserves a trope, but Axethrowers for several factions were infamous for crashing games until it was dealt with by the mod team.[[labelnote]]

* BlackKnight: Oh so many. The mod in particular has a ''much'' increased emphasis on corrupted men in comparison to the original mod, particularly Black Númenóreans per RuleOfCool.

*** Northern Dúnedain: They tend to have a very Ranger/Guerilla playstyle in the early/mid-game, with some of the finest non-Elven archers in all of Middle-earth and a core pre-Barracks Event roster well-suited to pulling off devastating hit-and-run tactics in the forests of Eriador. Additionally, they ''also'' boast some excellent melee infantry and cavalry which makes them arguably the most tactically diverse of their kin. That said, while the core Dúnedain roster remains Elitist throughout, most of it is only easily recruitable within the former heartlands of Arnor, meaning that if the Northern Dúnedain want to expand beyond Eriador, they'll have to adopt a more Balanced roster made up of whatever local troops they can recruit through the "Beacon of Hope" system. In 4.5 you can recruit Dunedain units anywhere, as long as you have a high enough culture, and even get some Rhudaur forces to boot if you beat Angmar.

** Silvan Elves (Lothlórien, The Woodland Realm): These Elves are masters of the Ranger/Guerilla approach, with their plethora of excellent missile troops and mastery of forest-based stealth. But don't assume they're helpless in a straight fight; their rosters compensate for their high cost and low unit sizes by being almost just as Elitist as the High Elves', with their only hole being their relative lack of cavalry. In general, the Woodland Realm's units tend to be more focused on dealing damage, while Lórien's are generally more defensively-oriented.

* AnAxeToGrind: The most common armor-piercing weapon, with Erebor in particular favoring their use to the point where even their primary ''ranged'' weapons are throwing axes.

** Mordor's mightiest warriors are the Temple units, darkly-clad Black Númenórean knights of great valor who emit a terrifying aura; fittingly, every Nazgûl directly controlled by Mordor gets them as their bodyguard. Once revived, ''Sauron'' himself will take to battle clad in the black plate he wore during the War of the Last Alliance, accompanied by a unique bodyguard composed of fanatical cultists wearing dark, spiked platemail and maces comparable to his own.

** High Elves: This well-rounded faction goes all the way with the Elitist philosophy, as their units are the absolute best in the entire game at each tier (with the exception of their still-elite cavalry), but incredibly expensive and low in number.

*** Dol Amroth: Their low/mid-tier roster is probably the most Generalist out of all the Númenóreans, being solid but not particularly spectacular outside of their excellent lancer cavalry. However, Dol Amroth's elite units are a whole 'nother story, with their elite cavalry in particular being the best Mannish horsemen in the entire game.

*** Northern Dúnedain: They tend to have a very Ranger/Guerilla playstyle in the early/mid-game, with some of the finest non-Elven archers in all of Middle-earth and a core pre-Barracks Event roster well-suited to pulling off devastating hit-and-run tactics in the forests of Eriador. Additionally, they ''also'' boast some excellent melee infantry and cavalry which makes them arguably the most tactically diverse of their kin. That said, while the core Dúnedain roster remains Elitist throughout, most of it is only easily recruitable within the former heartlands of Arnor, meaning that if the Northern Dúnedain want to expand beyond Eriador, they'll have to adopt a more Balanced roster made up of whatever local troops they can recruit through the "Beacon of Hope" system. In 4.5 you can recruit Dunedain units anywhere, as long as you have a high enough culture.

* MercenaryUnits: Like in any other ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' game, local mercenaries can be hired, with the two best probably being the Sellswords (well-armored two-handed swordsmen) and the Sons of the Fallen (elite Dwarven spearmen). Bree in particular can eventually recruit mercenaries as part of their mainline roster if they take the "Isolationist" path.

** The snow-orcs of Gundabad are the descendants of Morgoth's original orcs who fled to the northern fringes of Middle-earth, where they remained for all of the Second Age and most of the Third Age before finally returning south in order to eradicate the Dwarves for good.

** Additionally, a handful of generals come with unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguards that are 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond gets Gil-galad's Company (shielded bow/sword infantry), Balin has (of course) Balin's Guard (hammer-and-shield infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shield-and-mace pseudo-wraiths.

* ZergRush: Orc and Wild Men factions are very much built around the principle of drowning your foes in a sea of disposable bodies.

** Dwarves: Like in the original ''Third Age'', these three factions are an Elitist take on the Turtle/Brute options; from top-to-bottom, their melee infantry can outfight, outtough, and simply outlast almost every non-Elven counterpart. They are also very much Economist factions, as their economies (even that of the initially nomadic Khazad-Dûm) will be blessed with an embarrassment of riches once they get their mines going, helping to compensate for how expensive and small their units tend to be. However, Dwarven armies are the slowest in all of [=DaC=] and are relatively lacking in archery.

*** Gondor: Their roster is something of a jack-of-all-trades, as they can recruit a wide variety of very good region-exclusive units from their various fiefdoms to supplement a reasonably solid mainline. Gondor's only real weakness is that their cavalry will be outclassed by almost everyone else's (though this is slightly compensated for by being able to train some Amrothian cavalry); as such, Gondorian tactics will often tend towards defensive turtling, especially since the majority of their most elite units are spear/polearm infantry.
*** Northern Dúnedain: They tend to have a very Ranger/Guerilla playstyle in the early/mid-game, with some of the finest non-Elven archers in all of Middle-earth and a core pre-Barracks Event roster well-suited to pulling off devastating hit-and-run tactics in the forests of Eriador. Additionally, they ''also'' boast some excellent melee infantry and cavalry which makes them arguably the most tactically diverse of their kin. That said, while the core Dúnedain roster remains Elitist throughout, most of it is only easily recruitable within the former heartlands of Arnor, meaning that if the Northern Dúnedain want to expand beyond Eriador, they'll have to adopt a more Balanced roster made up of whatever local troops they can recruit through the "Beacon of Hope" system.

** Khand: Very much a Ranger faction, Khand's lineup is designed to favor hit-and-run tactics, with their main strength being an extensive roster of swift and hard-hitting cavalry that includes the finest horse archers in all of [=DaC=]. However, while Khand's non-mounted roster does include some reasonably hard-hitting units, it has very little tactical variety (to the point where it contains almost no polearms) and simply lacks the sturdiness to be able to hold a line for long; they'll need to ally with the Blue Wizards if they want any infantry that can truly duke it out in an extended slugfest.

* JavelinThrower: Many factions have at least one unit of javelinmen, who will likely be your best counter against mûmakil and other elephant-derived units like chariots. Enedwaith in particular is built around javelins; despite being as cheap as dirt, their javelinmen as a whole have the highest ammo count, damage output, range, and accuracy out of all the factions, and even their most elite unit are javelinmen.

** There are also units that the head modder has described in some way or another as being quasi-rangers, like Dúnedain Steelbowmen and Mordor's Temple Marksmen (armor-piercing archers who are also deadly swordsmen), Enedwaith's Elder Guildsmen (stealthy archer bodyguards who are slightly tankier than most rangers, but slightly less adept with the bow), the Lôke-Nar Rim of Rhûn (who have lower archery stats than rangers and no stealth capabilities, but fire high-damage flaming arrows), and the Dúnedain Bodyguards (basically roided-up Dúnedain Rangers with armor-piercing arrows who also make formidable axemen in a pinch). There's also the Nimrodel Mariners, who used to be straight-up rangers, but have had their archery stats and steath capabilities somewhat reduced from V3 onward in exchange for an increase in unit size and durability.

''Divide and Conquer'' (or [=DaC=] for short) is an extensive sub-mod of ''VideoGame/ThirdAgeTotalWar'' (a ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''-based mod of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''). This entirely campaign-focused sub-mod not only adds a massive amount of new content (such as units, factions, scripts, maps, etc.), but substantially overhauls pretty much everything inherited from the original ''Third Age''. Currently, ''Divide and Conquer'' is on Version 4.

Unless noted otherwise, all tropes pertain to Version 4.

** The Blue Wizards, who were only briefly mentioned in the books and given a small amount of development in Tolkien’s supplemental writings, are more developed here. Like in the latter, the Wizards travel to the East to encourage the peoples there to rise up against Sauron. The mod builds on this by having the wizards approach the ruler of Khand, who (if controlled by the player) can join the Blue Wizards and rebel against Sauron. This in turn gives a Khand player access to powerful dwarven units, based off the (also barely developed in canon) eastern Dwarf clans, who have joined forces with the Blue Wizards.

* BeingGoodSucks: Accepting the Blue Wizards' offer as Khand will cause Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, the Ar-Adûnâim, ''and'' a significant portion of Khand's own population to all instantly turn on the player with a vengeance, to the point where it's common for a good-aligned Khand player to initially lose ''all'' of their starting settlements.
*** However, the player will also gain two powerful generals (the Wizards themselves) and two armies comprised of powerful units (rebellious Easterling tribes and the eastern Dwarven clans) which the player can then recruit more of. The instant breaking of the player’s pre-set alliances with Harad, Rhûn, and Mordor also gives the player a lot more room to expand (an evil-aligned Khand can be quickly boxed in by their allies). In short, if a good-aligned Khand can survive the initial onslaught, it can be in a very good position indeed.

* BerserkButton: The team behind the project has several.
** ''Do not mention Dwarf cavalry''. This has caused no end of grief within the community; a request to bring in the infamous Dwarven Mountain Goat riders from ''Film/TheHobbit'' will result in a FlameWar of epic BrokenBase proportions. However, in contrast to the usual disdain of lore purists, the lead developer's issues with it stem from gameplay reasons: giving such powerful cavalry defeats the purpose of the MightyGlacier nature of the Dwarves, and would result in a massive GameBreaker. It does not help the game's multiplayer sister project, ''Third Age: Reforged'', has them included.
** Requesting to incorporate elements of ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor''. In contrast to the former, this is indeed due to the contentious nature of that series' depiction of Middle-earth.

** High Elves: This well-rounded faction goes all the way with the Elitist philosophy, as their units are the absolute best in the entire game at each tier, but incredibly expensive and low in number.

** Additionally, a handful of generals come with unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguards that are 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond gets Noldorin Guard (shielded bow/sword infantry), Balin has (of course) Balin's Guard (hammer-and-shield infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shield-and-mace pseudo-wraiths.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there are also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard and Steelbowmen, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Mordor's Temple Marksmen[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Angmar's Barrow-wights, Harad's Troll-men Champions, Imladris's Tulkas' Faithful, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's and Dol Guldur's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].

*** However, the player will also gain two powerful generals (the Wizards themselves) and two armies comprised of powerful units- rebellious Easterling tribes and the eastern Dwarven clans- which the player can recruit more of. The instant breaking of the player’s pre-set alliances with Harad, Ruhn, and Mordor also gives the player a lot more room to expand (an evil-aligned Khand can be quickly boxed in by their allies). In short, if a good-aligned Khand can survive the initial onslaught, it can be in a very good position indeed.

* AdaptationExpansion: Whilst the mod goes to great lengths to remain faithful to both the original Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium, and Creator/PeterJackson's [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings film trilogy]], some areas, factions, and plot points of Middle Earth have been given this.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there's also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard and Steelbowmen, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Mordor's Temple Marksmen[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Angmar's Barrow-wights, Harad's Troll-men Champions, Imladris's Tulkas' Faithful, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's and Dol Guldur's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].

** ''Do not mention Dwarf cavalry''. This has caused no end of grief within the community; a request to bring in the infamous Dwarven Mountain Goat riders from ''Film/TheHobbit'' will result in a FlameWar of epic BrokenBase proportions. However, in contrast to the usual disdain of lore purists, the lead developers issues with it stems from gameplay reasons; giving such powerful cavalry defeats the purpose of the MightyGlacier nature of the Dwarves, and would result in a massive GameBreaker. It does not help the game's multiplayer sister project, ''Third Age: Reforged'', has them included.
** Requesting to incorporate elements of ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor''. In contrast to the former, this is indeed due to the contentious nature of that series depiction of Middle Earth.

* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: Averting this trope is the reason why the three Dwarven factions were overhauled in V3 to be significantly more differentiated from each other. It is also a major factor in the planned re-merging of the two High Elven factions, as even the mod team have come to feel that Imladris and Lindon don't really stand out too much from each other.

* FaceHeelTurn: There's a script that has Sauron offering Ered Luin the three surviving Dwarven Rings of Power, at the cost of forsaking the Free Peoples, and becoming aligned with the Shadow. The player has the option of accepting, or rejecting the Dark Lord.
* FightingForAHomeland: Given that Khazad-Dûm and the Ar-Adûnâim don't even start off holding any settlements to begin with, this trope is very much in force with them at least in a gameplay sense, especially if they end up losing whatever settlements they do conquer and are forced to wander the proverbial wilderness once more.

* HeelFaceTurn: Around turn 40-50, Khand will get the option to turn against Sauron by allying with the Blue Wizards. Doing so will net them two powerful armies commanded by the Blue Wizards themselves and allow them to recruit Orocarni Dwarves and the Uushixià Stormriders (powerful chariot-mounted crossbow[wo]men), but it will also cause Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, the Ar-Adûnâim, ''and'' a significant portion of Khand's own population to all instantly turn on the player with a vengeance, to the point where it's common for a good-aligned Khand player to initially lose ''all'' of their starting settlements.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Besides the woodcraft-focused Silvan Elves and the straight-up elite High Elves most predominately featured in most Middle-earth media, there's also the Avari of Dorwinion. They make excellent archers, but are relatively lacking in melee prowess compared to the Eldar (or even some of the more elite Mannish units).

* {{Ranger}}: Several factions (namely, the majority of Mannish factions[[note]]Gondor, the Northern Dúnedain, Dale, Dorwinion, Bree, the Vale of Anduin, Enedwaith, Angmar, and Harad[[/note]], both Silvan Elf factions, and Dol Guldur) have a "ranger"-type unit; basically, a lightly-armored foot archer that can hide anywhere and usually has the highest accuracy, missile damage, range, and ammo count out of all the archers in their faction. Rangers also usually have better melee stats than most pre-Barracks Event mainline troops, making them particularly useful for factions that can recruit them early on.

** As indicated by their faction name, the Remnants of Angmar are the surviving vestiges of the evil kingdom that destroyed Arnor before being destroyed in turn by the Gondorians and High Elves; the game starts with Sauron sending one of his Black Númenórean generals to reestablish Angmar, since the Witch-king is initially too busy with matters in the south to return to his former domain.

** Besides Khamûl and the Witch-King, V4 gave the rest of the Nine Ring-wraiths each an original, elaborate backstory and identity penned by various modders (rather than the ones taken from ''TabletopGameMiddleEarthRolePlaying'' like in previous versions), delivered through FlavorText from a script event and special traits. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFYGMDFHkUY&list=PLesZst-z4ywasOm1pa_fwlIEr2pglROEM They can be found here.]]

** Besides Khamûl and the Witch-King, V4 gave the rest of the Nine Ring-wraiths each an original, elaborate backstory and identity penned by various modders (rather than the ones devised by Creator/GamesWorkshop or ''TabletopGameMiddleEarthRolePlaying''), delivered through FlavorText from a script event and special traits. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFYGMDFHkUY&list=PLesZst-z4ywasOm1pa_fwlIEr2pglROEM They can be found here.]]

** Besides Khamûl and the Witch-King, everyone of the remaining Nine have been giving an original, elaborate backstory and identity penned by various modders (rather then use the ones devised by Creator/GamesWorkshop), delivered through FlavorText from a script event and special traits. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFYGMDFHkUY&list=PLesZst-z4ywasOm1pa_fwlIEr2pglROEM They can be found here.]]

** Additionally, a handful of generals come with unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguards that are 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond and his two sons get Noldorin Guard (shielded bow/sword infantry), Balin has (of course) Balin's Guard (hammer-and-shield infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shield-and-mace pseudo-wraiths.

** In keeping with the trope, crossbows tend to have a much worse range and firing rate than bows, and are particularly terrible at arcing shots, but compensate with armor-piercing (and usually higher base damage to begin with). As such, they are generally favored by factions with more wealth than fighting skill, namely Bree, Dorwinion, Moria, and (by Dwarven standards) Ered Luin; even in the case of Rhûn's more professional roster, their crossbowmen are very much low-tier units, with their more elite ranged units being bowmen instead. In fact, the only crossbowmen that can match rangers in terms of accuracy are Ered Luin's Broadbeam Marksmen and the Ar-Adunaim's Beruthiel's Rangers.

*** Dol Amroth: Their low/mid-tier roster is probably the most Generalist out of all the Numenoreans, being solid but not particularly spectacular outside of their excellent lancer cavalry. However, Dol Amroth's elite units are a whole 'nother story, with their elite cavalry in particular being the best Mannish horsemen in the entire game.

** There's also Ered Luin's Broadbeam Marksmen and the Ar-Adunaim's Beruthiel's Rangers, which are basically rangers with crossbows.

** Mordor's mightiest warriors are the Temple units, darkly-clad Black Númenórean knights of great valor who emit a terrifying aura; fittingly, every Nazgûl directly controlled by Mordor gets them as their bodyguard. ''Sauron'' himself will take to battle clad in the black plate he wore during the War of the Last Alliance, accompanied by a unique bodyguard composed of fanatical cultists wearing dark, spiked platemail and maces comparable to his own.
** Angmar's higher unit tiers fields several companies of these, including the Witch-Knights (a dark order of hooded Knights pledged to the Iron Crown), as well as the Guardians of Carn Dûm, which is this trope crossed with HornyVikings, the Witch King's most loyal barbarian retainers, mounted, clad in heavy black plate, and wielding thick shields of iron.
** Khamûl's Shadowknights, an exceedingly powerful and rare unit of Easterling riders, wearing shadowy chainmail, wielding great spears of enormous size, and ride upon the same Mordor Breed of horses the Nazgul themselves mount. They are described as being Khamûl's most fanatically loyal warriors, and serve as his bodyguard unit.

* HesBack: A ''very'' dark example. Upon retaking most of their lost territory, the leader of the Nine will take up the mantle of the Witch-King of Angmar and don the Iron-Crown once more, becoming Angmar's faction leader, to begin another invasion of Arnor. This gives Angmar, an ''extremely'' powerful general.

** Besides Khamûl and the Witch-King, everyone of the remaining Nine have been giving an original, elaborate backstory and identity penned by various modders (rather then use the ones devised by ''Creator/GamesWorkshop''), delivered through FlavorText from a script event and special traits.

* BlackKnight: Mordor's mightiest warriors are the Temple units, darkly-clad Black Númenórean knights of great valor who emit a terrifying aura; fittingly, every Nazgûl directly controlled by Mordor gets them as their bodyguard.

* FaceHeelTurn: For future versions of [=DaC=], the mod team plans to add a new script that would turn Ered Luin evil by having them accept the three surviving Dwarven Rings of Power from Sauron.

* AdaptationExpansion: Whilst the mod goes to great lengths to remain faithful to both the original ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'', and Creator/PeterJackson's [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings film trilogy]], some areas, factions, and plot points of Middle Earth have been given this.

* AdaptationExpansion: Whilst the mod goes to great lengths to remain faithful to both the ''Tolkien Legendarium'', and Peter Jackson's film trilogy, some areas, factions, and plot points of Middle Earth have been given this.

** Besides Khamûl and the Witch-King, everyone of the remaining Nine have been giving an original, elaborate backstory and identity penned by various modders (rather then use the ones devised by [[Creator/GamesWorkshop]]), delivered through FlavorText from a script event and special traits.

** ''Do not mention Dwarf cavalry''. This has caused no end of grief within the community; a request to bring in the infamous Dwarven Mountain Goat riders from ''[[Film/TheHobbit]]'' will result in a FlameWar of epic BrokenBase proportions. However, in contrast to the usual disdain of lore purists, the lead developers issues with it stems from gameplay reasons; giving such powerful cavalry defeats the purpose of the MightyGlacier nature of the Dwarves, and would result in a massive GameBreaker. It does not help the game's multiplayer sister project, ''Third Age: Reforged'', has them included.
** Requesting to incorporate elements of ''[[VideoGame/ShadowOfMordor]]''. In contrast to the former, this is indeed due to the contentious nature of that series depiction of Middle Earth.

* AdaptationExpansion: The realm of Dorwinion and the fisher-folk of Enedwaith, who were mentioned only a few times in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and the appendices of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (with supplemental texts offering only a little more in the way of details), are full-fledged factions here.

''Divide and Conquer'' (or [=DaC=] for short) is an extensive sub-mod of ''VideoGame/ThirdAgeTotalWar'' (a ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''-based mod of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''). This entirely campaign-focused sub-mod not only adds a massive amount of new content (such as units, factions, scripts, maps, etc.), but substantially overhauls pretty much everything inherited from the original ''Third Age''. Currently, ''Divide and Conquer'' is on Version 3.

Unless noted otherwise, all tropes pertain to Version 3.

* AmazonBrigade: A handful of units comprise of all females, namely Dunland and Enedwaith's Warchanters, Khand's Uushixià Stormriders, Harad's Hasharii Shadows, Lothlórien's Yavanna's Chosen, and (of course) the Shieldmaidens of Rohan.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there's also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard and Steelbowmen, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Mordor's Temple Marksmen[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Angmar's Barrow-wights, Harad's Troll-men Champions, Imladris's Tulkas' Faithful, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's and Dol Guldur's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].
* ArrowsOnFire: For a number of reasons, this ability was taken away from almost every archer from V2 onward, with only two of Rhûn's units (the Lôke-Nar Rim and the Süri'ut Chariots) retaining it. However, Rhûnnic fire arrows work quite differently from the fire arrows of vanilla ''Third Age'' (and indeed ''Medieval II'' in general); their fire arrows retain the damage buff of standard fire arrows ''without'' suffering any of the rate of fire and accuracy debuffs present in the base game. Rhûn's Darïtaï Hunters also shoot fire arrows, but unlike the missiles of their higher-tier counterparts, these flames are purely cosmetic and don't actually burn their targets.

** Whenever a Nazgûl dies, they will eventually revive. Additionally, if Dol Guldur is defeated, their three Nazgûl will respawn in Mordor.

* BadWithTheBone: According to their unit description, the Troll-men Champions of Harad are rumored to create their swords from the tusks of mûmakil.

* BlackKnight: Mordor's mightiest warriors are the Temple units, darkly-clad Black Númenórean knights of great valor who emit a terrifying aura; fittingly, every Nazgûl directly controlled by Mordor gets them as their bodyguard.

** In keeping with the trope, crossbows tend to have a much worse range and firing rate than bows, and are particularly terrible at arcing shots, but compensate with armor-piercing (and usually higher base damage to begin with). As such, they are generally favored by factions with more wealth than fighting skill, namely Bree, Dorwinion, Moria, and (by Dwarven standards) Ered Luin; even in the case of the Ar-Adûnâim's and Rhûn's more professional rosters, their crossbowmen are very much low-tier units, with their more elite ranged units being bowmen instead. In fact, the only crossbowmen that can match rangers in terms of accuracy are the Broadbeam Marksmen of Ered Luin.

* CavalryOfTheDead: The Aragorn Quest script ends with the Northern Dúnedain getting an army of undead Oathbreakers, who can be used for three battles before disappearing.

** Bree-land: A primarily Economist faction with a strong focus on trade, Bree's early game roster has somewhat of a Guerilla/Ranger orientation thanks to their stealthy (and surprisingly good) hobbit and woodland units, but is otherwise fairly mediocre outside of the occasional Greenway or Dúnedain unit. They actually become ''more'' of a Spammer faction after the Barracks Event, since their late game units are among the worst (and cheapest) in the entire game, though this is slightly compensated for by being able to recruit the occasional foreign mercenary or Dúnedain-associated unit (depending on whether the player picks the even more Economist "Isolationist" option or the slightly more Elitist "Friends of the Dúnedain" path respectively).
** Dale: A very Ranger-oriented faction, with some of Middle-earth's finest archers from top to bottom. They also become more of a Tank faction after the Barracks Event, gaining a particularly big boost to their armor and shield stats, as well as a solid core of polearm infantry. However, the rest of Dale's roster is fairly mediocre, though still relatively well-rounded in terms of tactical variety. They also become something of a Economist faction once they finish rebuilding their core regions, thanks to Dale's mercantile orientation.

** Dwarves: Like in the original ''Third Age'', these three factions are an Elitist take on the Turtle/Brute options; from top-to-bottom, their melee infantry can outfight, outtough, and simply outlast almost every non-Elven counterpart. They are also very much Economist factions, as their economies (even that of the initially nomadic Khazad-Dûm) will be blessed with an embarrassment of riches once they get their mines going, helping to compensate for how expensive and small their units tend to be. However, Dwarven armies are the slowest in all of [=DaC=] and are relatively lacking in archery.
*** Erebor: Takes the Brute approach to the max; they hit even harder than their brethren, but have slightly lower defense compared to Khazad-Dûm and almost no ranged capability outside of throwing axes.

*** Khazad-Dûm: Takes the Turtle approach to the max, with the highest armor and shield values out of their brethren, but slightly lower attack compared to Erebor.

** Harad: Probably one of the most Technical factions in the game, as their units move fast and hit hard, but have very low defensive stats and are particularly vulnerable to missile fire. Good micromanagement becomes particularly key after the Barracks Event, as their late game units have low troop counts and high costs even compared to Dúnedain counterparts, but are still less durable than even many equivalent orc and wild men units. Even the mighty mûmakil will require some finesse to achieve their full effectiveness in battle.
** High Elves (Imladris, Lindon): These two well-rounded factions go all the way with the Elitist philosophy, with their units being the absolute best in the entire game at each tier, but incredibly expensive and low in number.
** Isengard: Similar to the original ''Third Age'', Isengard has a Brutish infantry-focused roster. However, even though Uruk-hai units ''are'' better than equivalent orc units at each tier, Isengard is still pretty Spammy pre-Barracks Event, with only a few standout units like the half-orcs and the Berserkers. However, once the late game hits, Isengard becomes a lot more Elitist, gaining heavily-armored Uruk-hai who can outmatch even the descendants of Númenor in direct combat.

** Númenóreans: The four factions in this group are sort of a mix of Generalist and Elitist; their troops generally have well-rounded stats and tend to be better than equivalent units from other Mannish factions, if also more expensive. The Númenórean factions also all have impressive economic capabilities (at least potentially), including far more building/upgrade options than other Mannish factions, making them sort of Economist/Research factions as well.
*** Ar-Adûnâim: Very much the Númenórean Brute, victory will mostly hinge on their infantry's ability to crush their foes in a head-on clash, especially since the Ar-Adûnâim's core roster has ''zero'' cavalry until the late game. There's even an element of Spammer to their gameplay, since unlike their nobler kindreds, the lowest tier of the Ar-Adûnâim's core roster includes a few cheap CannonFodder units to support a lineup that is otherwise roughly on par with those of the other Númenorean factions. They can also take a more Balanced approach by recruiting other factions' units through the [[SlaveMooks auxiliary system]] (in particular, it'll be their chief means of getting cavalry).
*** Dol Amroth: Definitely the Elitist of the Mannish factions, particularly after the Barracks Event. While their infantry lineup is already an even better version of Gondor's mainline roster for the most part, their real strength is their cavalry, which man-for-man are the best Mannish horsemen in the entire game. Their one weak spot is their archers, and even those are still around average.

*** Northern Dúnedain: They tend to have a very Ranger/Guerilla playstyle in the early/mid-game, with some of the finest non-Elven archers in all of Middle-earth and a core pre-Barracks Event roster well-suited to pulling off devastating hit-and-run tactics in the forests of Eriador. Additionally, they ''also'' boast some excellent melee infantry and cavalry which makes them arguably the most tactically diverse of their kin. That said, while the core Dúnedain roster remains Elitist throughout, most of it is only easily recruitable within the former heartlands of Arnor, meaning that if the Northern Dúnedain want to expand beyond Eriador, they'll have to adopt a more Balanced roster made up of whatever local troops they can recruit through the "Beacon of Hope" system.
** Rhûn: Perhaps the most Balanced faction, the Easterlings have a very well-rounded roster that holds up reasonably well in terms of both quality and numbers. Like in vanilla ''Third Age'', Rhûn in the early game is more Ranger-focused with a plethora of ranged units, but becomes more of a Brute/Tank faction once they can start training the heavily-armored Lôke-Khan units. However, while most Rhûnnic units are at least solid for their tier, their roster doesn't particularly excel at anything either, outside of their fire-based Gimmicks.

** Silvan Elves (Lothlórien, The Woodland Realm): These Elves are masters of the Ranger/Guerilla approach, with their plethora of excellent missile troops and mastery of forest-based stealth. But don't assume they're helpless in a straight fight; their rosters compensate for their high cost and low unit sizes by being almost just as Elitist as the High Elves', with their only hole being their relative lack of cavalry. In general, the Woodland Realm's units tend to be more focused on dealing damage, while Lórien's are generally more defensively-oriented.

*** Vale of Anduin: The "jack-of-all-trades" of the wild men, the Valesmen are something of a Technical/Specialist faction; they can't spam units on the level of the other wild men, and while their roster as a whole is tactically versatile, their units individually tend to be rather specialized to the point where none of them can really fill the role of an all-around mainline unit, making victory particularly reliant on carefully coordinated tactics. That said, if they do have a strength, it would be their archers, who can hold their own even against those of Dale and the Northern Dúnedain, and their Beorning axemen, who can quickly fell even the mightiest of dwarves and elves.
** Pre-V3 Angmar was very much a Brute/Spammer faction that focused on overwhelming the enemy in close combat, which was reinforced by their wide array of armor-piercing units from top to bottom (and their rather mediocre-to-the-point-of-almost-nonexistent ranged capabilities). In fact, their post-Barracks Event units were actually relatively Elitist by orc standards, being able to hold their own against most non-Númenórean Mannish counterparts.

* DropTheHammer: Maces and hammers are another common armor-piercing weapon, with Khazad-dûm in particular favoring their use. However, the true masters of the hammer (besides Sauron's bodyguard, of course) are Imladris's Smiths of Eregion, who are even more powerful than they were in vanilla ''Third Age'', to the point of being probably the strongest non-monstrous unit by far in all of [=DaC=].

** Isengard's campaign is designed to encourage the player to eventually turn against Sauron, since Saruman taking the Ring for himself is not only required in order to start training Nazg-hai (Isengard's most powerful (non-troll) unit), but will cause the Nazgûl themselves to eventually all defect to Isengard's side.
** The Ar-Adûnâim may be evil imperialists, but do not start off any more friendly to Sauron than they are to the Dúnedain when player-controlled; in fact, the welcome message outright encourages the player to get revenge on Sauron "for his crimes of high-treason against the Golden One".

* FightingForAHomeland: Given that Khazad-Dûm and the Ar-Adûnâim don't even start off holding any settlements to begin with, this trope is very much in force with them at least in a gameplay sense, especially if they end up losing whatever settlements they do conquer and are forced to wander the proverbial wilderness once more.

** The Haradrim are this as a faction; their units have very aggressive stats even compared to their Númenórean counterparts, but tend to be very fragile thanks to their relative lack of armor.

** While Bree starts off allied with the Northern Dúnedain, the former can break said alliance by choosing the "Isolationist" path when prompted, which is described in the accompanying description cards as the Bree-landers and Shire-folk deciding to prioritize their own interests over contributing to the greater war against the Shadow.
** WordOfGod is that part of the reason why Dale and Rhûn don't immediately start off as enemies is so that a Dorwinion player could have the option of allying with the latter despite their preset alliance with the former.[[invoked]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Around turn 40-50, Khand will get the option to turn against Sauron by allying with the Blue Wizards. Doing so will net them two powerful armies commanded by the Blue Wizards themselves and allow them to recruit Orocarni Dwarves and the Uushixià Stormriders (powerful chariot-mounted crossbow[wo]men), but it will also cause Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, the Ar-Adûnâim, ''and'' a significant portion of Khand's own population to all instantly turn on the player with a vengeance, to the point where it's common for a good-aligned Khand player to initially lose ''all'' of their starting settlements.
* HorseArcher: Many factions have at least one unit of such, but Khand in particular have this trope as their main hat, with their default bodyguard unit, the Variag Nobles, firing ''armor-piercing'' arrows. Also worth noting is that Angmar has two types of ''warg'' archers, Dorwinion and Moria get low-tier mounted crossbowmen/goblins, and the Northern Dúnedain's Grey Company used to be elite cavalry archers (like in the original ''Third Age'') before V2.2 changed them into uber-elite melee infantry.
* JavelinThrower: Many factions have at least one unit of javelinmen, who will likely be your best counter against mûmakil and other elephant-derived units like chariots. Enedwaith in particular is built around javelins; despite being as cheap as dirt, their javelinmen as a whole have the highest ammo count, damage output, range, and accuracy out of all the factions, and even their most elite unit are javelinmen.

** A specialty of Rhûn's; besides their fire arrows, they also have the firebomb-throwing Udege Marines.

** Dorwinion starts off with a weak roster that will be handily outclassed by their likely foe Rhûn, but once they hit the late game, they'll be able to recruit elite units that can more than hold their own against their counterparts from the Lôke-Khan's armies.

** In V3, in order to balance out their new emphasis on pikes and crossbows (and rather comfy starting location), most of Ered Luin's melee units either had their stats somewhat reduced or lost their armor-piercing.
** Archers that used to have armor-piercing arrows, but now no longer do for balance reasons, include Khazad-Dûm's Hithaeglir Beast Hunters, Dale's Barding Marksmen, and Khand's Warlord's Kataphract Archers.
* OneHitPolykill: The Silverthorn Arrows used by the Gûrveleg of Lothlórien and the Hin-e Daur of the Woodland Realm can pierce through multiple foes. Other units who fire body-piercing missiles include the Guardians of Enedwaith (javelins), Rhûn's Süri'ut Chariots (fire arrows), and Khand's Uushixià Stormriders (crossbow bolts).

* PoisonedWeapons: Poison arrows drastically reduce the morale of any unit they hit, with Dol Guldur's archers and the Drúedain Hunters favoring their use (also, the Goblins of Moria, but they're not particularly ''skilled'' archers).

* {{Ranger}}: Several factions (namely, the majority of Mannish factions[[note]]Gondor, the Northern Dúnedain, the Ar-Adûnâim, Dale, Dorwinion, Bree, the Vale of Anduin, Enedwaith, Angmar, and Harad[[/note]], both Silvan Elf factions, and Dol Guldur) have a "ranger"-type unit; basically, a lightly-armored foot archer that can hide anywhere and usually has the highest accuracy, missile damage, range, and ammo count out of all the archers in their faction. Rangers also usually have better melee stats than most pre-Barracks Event mainline troops, making them particularly useful for factions that can recruit them early on.
** For a mounted version that can at least still hide in woods, there's the elite Imladris Rangers. While the Dúnedain Scouts are conceptually basically mounted Dúnedain Rangers, their relatively low stats precludes them from fully qualifying for the trope.
** There are also units that the head modder has described in some way or another as being quasi-rangers, like Dúnedain Steelbowmen and Mordor's Temple Marksmen (armor-piercing archers who are also deadly swordsmen), Ered Luin's Broadbeam Marksmen (essentially dwarven rangers with crossbows), Enedwaith's Elder Guildsmen (stealthy archer bodyguards who are slightly tankier than most rangers, but slightly less adept with the bow), the Lôke-Nar Rim of Rhûn (who have lower archery stats than rangers and no stealth capabilities, but fire high-damage flaming arrows), and the Dúnedain Bodyguards (basically roided-up Dúnedain Rangers with armor-piercing arrows who also make formidable axemen in a pinch).

** A number of the Dwarves of Ered Luin are descended from those who fled the ruins of Belegost and Nogrod after the sinking of Beleriand, represented in-game by the Broadbeam Marksmen, Firebeard Warriors, Azaghâl's Tomb Protectors, Gabilgathol Guard, and Tumunzahar Nobles, who all retain proud memories of their people's former glory. This heritage was played up more pre-V3, but it's since been established that most of Ered Luin's inhabitants are of Durin's Folk.

** The Ar-Adûnâim are the descendants of Númenórean colonists who settled in Middle-earth's far south and thus survived the sinking of Númenór. Unlike the descendants of the Faithful or even Sauron's own Númenórean followers, the Ar-Adûnâim maintain the ideology of the King's Men who ruled Númenór in its final millennia.
** As indicated by their faction name, the Remnants of Angmar are the surviving vestiges of the evil kingdom that destroyed Arnor before being destroyed in turn by the Gondorians and High Elves; the game starts with Sauron sending one of his Black Númenórean generals to reestablish Angmar, since the Witch-king is initially too busy with matters in the south to return to his former domain.

** Most factions start off with at least a few generals who have a late game unit as their bodyguard instead of their faction's standard bodyguard. A couple of generals even have as bodyguards units that otherwise are exclusive to other factions; of particular note is Angmar's faction leader Agandaûr, who is guarded by the otherwise Mordor-only Temple Wards.

* TechTree: In general, the Dwarves, High Elves, and Númenóreans have the most extensive upgrade options, while the Wild Men have the most restricted (though the latter do get the benefit of being able to recruit ''all'' their units from just one building line). Additionally, Bree has a particularly unique recruitment method; most of their units require various economy buildings instead of the standard Barracks/Stables/etc. Also, like in vanilla ''Third Age'', more elite units can not be recruited until the automated Barracks Event script kicks in.