https://wiki.wesnoth.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=IoN&feedformat=atomThe Battle for Wesnoth Wiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T21:48:50ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.31.16https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=33352TheRiseOfWesnoth2009-12-10T00:33:29Z<p>IoN: /* Lizard Beach */ note</p>
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<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
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[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
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[Comments by cph] Yes just 2 paladins, and you don't need the second of those until The Return of the Fleet. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen through the middle part of the campaign, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians; use The Vanguard to get to 2 paladins and 2+ grand knights.<br />
<br />
Pikemen/halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. They are less good against undead, though, and don't get that +1 royal guard speed bonus. So I leveled up any non-quick spearmen to swordsmen, and the first 4-5 quick ones as pikemen (to give me some halberdiers for Peoples in Decline).<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
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[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
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[Comments By Imperative] I would actually go with sending the King off with 3 Horsemen to capture the nearest houses, then retreat into the swamp area until you have your lawful bonus to kill off troops during the day. To hold them back I use spearman and a mage (to level him) whilest I send 1 mage and 2 spearmen up the mountains to flank the boss.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
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You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
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There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
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After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
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''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
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''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
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===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
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[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
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[comments by Pravda]<br />
Giving the holy water to Burin is useless, he already has an impact attack. By giving it to Haldric, you get another unit which can easily take down ennemies, and give Burin a break every now and then. He is much, much weaker than Burin, even at level 3, but he can take a few hits. 2 white mages are absolutely necessary. A level 2 quick thug and a couple of level 2 footpads (note that a quick footpad moves as fast as Burin in caves and has an impact ranged attack) would be good, otherwise try to level whatever you have with the tentacles. White mages are absolutely necessary, but don't bring any other mage unless it is quick (and even then, it is not absolutely necessary). Clearly, do not recruit mages. With the right units and some luck, this level can be won with one castle (at hard).<br />
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The difficult part is to survive the first wave. Try to move Burin to the choke point ASAP, and unshroud as much as possible. After a moment, you will notice the ennemy units will attack only one side. When you have a chance, send the units from the other side to surround what remains of the undead.<br />
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===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
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[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units.<br />
<br />
Having played at all easy and hard, I find that the best way to win this scenario is to recruit several advanced units who can take alot of damage and who get good defense in castles (no horsemen), if you don't have many, supplement what you do have with footpads. Send all of these with some white mages over to the line of castle near Lt. Aethyr. Aethyr will usually be done recruiting by the second or third turn, before the enemy reaches you, so fill the entire line with your units, and put Sir Rudry in the one non castled tile. Place the white mages behind this line, and leave it there until the enemy has made it through Aethyr's men. After the enemy has reached you and it is your turn to attack, go mostly for the assasins, as they have a weak melee attack and their poison can be a huge problem. Once you've thinned the enemy to where they only have a few units that are close to your line, usually this happens conveniently around dawn, move your people out and start heading for their leaders. Split your force, sending a few down the southern path, to distract the enemy and most of them toward the middle leader, to kill him. Once he's dead, send some of your army down to kill the southern leader and devote a few units to defending the bridge until the rest of your army can rejoin you. A unit or two with a lot of hp with a white mage are usually enough to do this.<br />
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Meanwhile, on the eastern coast, the northern enemy leader will send lots of units to catch you unguarded. Immediately after you recruit the units for the castle, recruit at least three footpads, to send with Lady Jessica nad Haldric to guard the coast. If you keep a unit on the village at the tip of the land, unless you are very unlucky, you will be able to hold off everything the northern leader sends. Once the northern leader is distracted by the units approaching him from the bridge, you will be able to send these units across the river relatively unharried, to attack the orc leader from the other side. <br />
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[Note: This is meant for people trying to kill enemy leaders, if you use this strategy with the intent to leave on the first ship, you will be overstaffed, so don't use so many units, and don't take Haldric with Jessica. You do however need to move Haldric closer to the docks, as he cannot reach them from his keep in one turn.]<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
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It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
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===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
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[comments by scorchgeek]<br />
Only mages is probably a bad idea, since the enemy can recruit red mages, which you won't want to use ranged attacks on. I used thugs, but other chaotic troops would work fine too.<br />
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===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
You should have lots of high-level units now, so concentrate on recruiting new ones and levelling them up to fill needs.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. If you have a Silver Mage (or two) send it across via teleportation ASAP (you should start with one of the villages on the island). This gives you a foothold to get some quicker units (Fugitives/Outlaws) across. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against orcs and nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all orcs and nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN]<br />
On easy, at least, splitting forces would allow for an easier finish - send Burin and any heavy infantry you have to guard the city and perform the counterclockwise cavalry sweep as before; some fast assassin line units might be useful in reinforcing the mounted force. Send loyalist troops like swordmen/pikemen north with your mages to take out the northern leader (first let your ally's forces get slaughtered on the bridge, though; it weakens the enemy somewhat) and defend the coast with any outlaws you have, Haldric, and Jessene until you can recruit Mermen. To take out the sea leader, use silver mages, as above, along with Jessene and any outlaws.<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Sailboat] Drakes can be dangerous, so this is a great scenario to use to time honored technique of cannon fodder. Now that you can recruit level 0 units for cheap, you can protect your higher level units by recruiting endless peasants for the first six turns or so, them bringing back your better units to kill off the rest of the drakes.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the saurians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well).<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph: Not sure about the above strategy - pushing forward with mermen on the north flank is futile when saurians can run around them & cut them up on the first night. I recall two shock troopers on the first round and a footpad (to scout the villages in the NE). Recall a couple more decent land melee units & then 4-5 L2 mermen on rounds 2-3. Everything has to be fairly tough in melee so it can stand saurians focusing their attacks & injure them enough when they do that you can kill them next turn; one healer (more than one is hard to protect) and no other mages. Gambit - throw the footpad out their way at first watch, wasting the turn for a couple of saurians. The rest of your force forms a line of battle near your keep, mermen on the N flank in the river, land units extending south, flanks bent back with strongest units at the corners - and let the saurians break on it. Once their first wave has broken, the rest of their troops come in drips and are no problem, so now you can split up and wipe out the stragglers and claim villages; any L2 units you start with should level up.]<br />
<br />
After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Gia_Boy: I actually used a sacrifice strategy for this one. In addition to a couple mages, 2 healers, and some other fighters, I recruited a castle-full of peasants to draw the saurians out onto open ground. I surrounded a single peasant on 5 sides, with 2 healers behind him, and built my formation around that. I had an assassin near the front to get around the saurians after they took the bait. The mages were useful for in case a saurian got into some strong ground. Also, I sent a fugitive north, where he moved from village to village, until he got to the village closest to the north enemy's castle. If you have a silver mage by then (which I didn't), then you can go to the last village, and assassinate their leader. The only merman who I got was the Hoplite who had the trident. He didn't go way out, he mostly helped take out the nagas. Also, I didn't get any impact people, because they were quite useless against the mud gobs, which was actually what they seemed to recruit most. Maybe it's just 'cause they explode.]<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN: No-merman strategy: On your first two turns recall two keeps of strong, fast veterans like mounted units (not paladins though; they're pretty ineffective against saurians), outlaws/assassins, and silver magi along with some other veterans, preferably with a lot of HP: if all goes well (at least on easy and medium) that may be all you need. Dash them across the swamp directly west of your keep, south of the sands, and form a line with strong units at the ends. They'll flank you, but you're stronger than them and you can use your slower units to crush the flanking saurians in a hammer and anvil. The first wave of southern saurians should get itself killed before the northern saurians arrive in force. Once the northern saurians arrive, take them out with your slower units while your quicker ones go for the southern leader. Then sweep everyone north to kill the northern leader. This should give a relatively fast finish if you're lucky; you'll need the gold.<br />
<br />
Note that killing one leader gives more gold to the other, so when you've defeated pretty much all the southern leader's forces, just plant a level 3 or two in his keep and leave him alive; kill them both in the same turn.]<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold, right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] This could be a good choice if you have low gold: recall 2 quick red mages, and 3 quick tough melee units (say 2 royal guards & a L3 chaotic unit like a Fugitive). Play expedition style: abandon the start island, stay fairly close together, with your troops roughly divided in two between those moving forward and those fighting rearguard. Provided you knock out one troll leader early, the rest is manageable, just work your way carefully over to the other.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
At medium, at least, you don't want to overrecruit. It's worth recruiting a 5-10 L1 units to take the brunt of the first wave of attacks. The first wave is largely at night & will have goblin knights, and later chocobones. You want to meet them on the edge of the woodland in the centre-south; footpads and poachers are handy here, as they have high defense in woodland. You'll want some decent L2 and L3 recalls for healing, to flank your forces in the woods, and to mop up the enemy at daybreak. A mage or red mage to blast trolls & chocobones will level up by end of scenario.<br />
<br />
When combat starts, the map will become shrouded, like in a cave scenario. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Don't recruit too much for fighting the undead - 2 paladins at most, 1 or 2 thugs, the stormy merman, and the nearest mage working with your land force are sufficient - the undead commander only gets 5-6 L2 recruits and they come ashore scattered (at Medium, anyway). Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, teleport over a silver mage to help kill the leader - you want a paladin, a silver mage, the storm trident, plus one more unit to be fairly sure to knock him out in one round (another paladin or silver mage makes very sure, but a quick thug will do).<br />
<br />
When you reach the swampy woods in the north-centre of the map, tighten your formation and keep wounded units well away, as a small force of high-level Saurians will appear when you get halfway through the woods. Trigger them in daylight if possible, and knock them out fast.<br />
<br />
Two cuttlefish appear when you approach the north-central island. Assuming you're sending a strike force through the water to knock out the undead commander, you really don't want to trigger these until that force is on the island - the storm trident merman is the only thing that can stand up to them in water, and they will avoid him to attack more vulnerable units.<br />
<br />
Once you kill one enemy leader, the other gets more gold & recruits a new wave of L2s. This can be useful if you need to kill off surplus L1 units to improve the finish bonus, or if you need the XP more than the gold; otherwise, try to strike both leaders out before they can recruit more; or if you kill the first one at dawn, the second will be reluctant to attack with his L2s in daylight, and you might jump in and kill him before he uses them.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't.<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pincered and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=33350TheRiseOfWesnoth2009-12-10T00:11:49Z<p>IoN: /* Lizard Beach */ add</p>
<hr />
<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] Yes just 2 paladins, and you don't need the second of those until The Return of the Fleet. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen through the middle part of the campaign, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians; use The Vanguard to get to 2 paladins and 2+ grand knights.<br />
<br />
Pikemen/halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. They are less good against undead, though, and don't get that +1 royal guard speed bonus. So I leveled up any non-quick spearmen to swordsmen, and the first 4-5 quick ones as pikemen (to give me some halberdiers for Peoples in Decline).<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
<br />
[Comments By Imperative] I would actually go with sending the King off with 3 Horsemen to capture the nearest houses, then retreat into the swamp area until you have your lawful bonus to kill off troops during the day. To hold them back I use spearman and a mage (to level him) whilest I send 1 mage and 2 spearmen up the mountains to flank the boss.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
<br />
You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
<br />
There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
<br />
After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
<br />
''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
<br />
''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
<br />
===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
<br />
[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
<br />
[comments by Pravda]<br />
Giving the holy water to Burin is useless, he already has an impact attack. By giving it to Haldric, you get another unit which can easily take down ennemies, and give Burin a break every now and then. He is much, much weaker than Burin, even at level 3, but he can take a few hits. 2 white mages are absolutely necessary. A level 2 quick thug and a couple of level 2 footpads (note that a quick footpad moves as fast as Burin in caves and has an impact ranged attack) would be good, otherwise try to level whatever you have with the tentacles. White mages are absolutely necessary, but don't bring any other mage unless it is quick (and even then, it is not absolutely necessary). Clearly, do not recruit mages. With the right units and some luck, this level can be won with one castle (at hard).<br />
<br />
The difficult part is to survive the first wave. Try to move Burin to the choke point ASAP, and unshroud as much as possible. After a moment, you will notice the ennemy units will attack only one side. When you have a chance, send the units from the other side to surround what remains of the undead.<br />
<br />
===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units.<br />
<br />
Having played at all easy and hard, I find that the best way to win this scenario is to recruit several advanced units who can take alot of damage and who get good defense in castles (no horsemen), if you don't have many, supplement what you do have with footpads. Send all of these with some white mages over to the line of castle near Lt. Aethyr. Aethyr will usually be done recruiting by the second or third turn, before the enemy reaches you, so fill the entire line with your units, and put Sir Rudry in the one non castled tile. Place the white mages behind this line, and leave it there until the enemy has made it through Aethyr's men. After the enemy has reached you and it is your turn to attack, go mostly for the assasins, as they have a weak melee attack and their poison can be a huge problem. Once you've thinned the enemy to where they only have a few units that are close to your line, usually this happens conveniently around dawn, move your people out and start heading for their leaders. Split your force, sending a few down the southern path, to distract the enemy and most of them toward the middle leader, to kill him. Once he's dead, send some of your army down to kill the southern leader and devote a few units to defending the bridge until the rest of your army can rejoin you. A unit or two with a lot of hp with a white mage are usually enough to do this.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, on the eastern coast, the northern enemy leader will send lots of units to catch you unguarded. Immediately after you recruit the units for the castle, recruit at least three footpads, to send with Lady Jessica nad Haldric to guard the coast. If you keep a unit on the village at the tip of the land, unless you are very unlucky, you will be able to hold off everything the northern leader sends. Once the northern leader is distracted by the units approaching him from the bridge, you will be able to send these units across the river relatively unharried, to attack the orc leader from the other side. <br />
<br />
[Note: This is meant for people trying to kill enemy leaders, if you use this strategy with the intent to leave on the first ship, you will be overstaffed, so don't use so many units, and don't take Haldric with Jessica. You do however need to move Haldric closer to the docks, as he cannot reach them from his keep in one turn.]<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
<br />
===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
<br />
[comments by scorchgeek]<br />
Only mages is probably a bad idea, since the enemy can recruit red mages, which you won't want to use ranged attacks on. I used thugs, but other chaotic troops would work fine too.<br />
<br />
===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
You should have lots of high-level units now, so concentrate on recruiting new ones and levelling them up to fill needs.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. If you have a Silver Mage (or two) send it across via teleportation ASAP (you should start with one of the villages on the island). This gives you a foothold to get some quicker units (Fugitives/Outlaws) across. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against orcs and nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all orcs and nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN]<br />
On easy, at least, splitting forces would allow for an easier finish - send Burin and any heavy infantry you have to guard the city and perform the counterclockwise cavalry sweep as before; some fast assassin line units might be useful in reinforcing the mounted force. Send loyalist troops like swordmen/pikemen north with your mages to take out the northern leader (first let your ally's forces get slaughtered on the bridge, though; it weakens the enemy somewhat) and defend the coast with any outlaws you have, Haldric, and Jessene until you can recruit Mermen. To take out the sea leader, use silver mages, as above, along with Jessene and any outlaws.<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Sailboat] Drakes can be dangerous, so this is a great scenario to use to time honored technique of cannon fodder. Now that you can recruit level 0 units for cheap, you can protect your higher level units by recruiting endless peasants for the first six turns or so, them bringing back your better units to kill off the rest of the drakes.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the saurians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well).<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph: Not sure about the above strategy - pushing forward with mermen on the north flank is futile when saurians can run around them & cut them up on the first night. I recall two shock troopers on the first round and a footpad (to scout the villages in the NE). Recall a couple more decent land melee units & then 4-5 L2 mermen on rounds 2-3. Everything has to be fairly tough in melee so it can stand saurians focusing their attacks & injure them enough when they do that you can kill them next turn; one healer (more than one is hard to protect) and no other mages. Gambit - throw the footpad out their way at first watch, wasting the turn for a couple of saurians. The rest of your force forms a line of battle near your keep, mermen on the N flank in the river, land units extending south, flanks bent back with strongest units at the corners - and let the saurians break on it. Once their first wave has broken, the rest of their troops come in drips and are no problem, so now you can split up and wipe out the stragglers and claim villages; any L2 units you start with should level up.]<br />
<br />
After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Gia_Boy: I actually used a sacrifice strategy for this one. In addition to a couple mages, 2 healers, and some other fighters, I recruited a castle-full of peasants to draw the saurians out onto open ground. I surrounded a single peasant on 5 sides, with 2 healers behind him, and built my formation around that. I had an assassin near the front to get around the saurians after they took the bait. The mages were useful for in case a saurian got into some strong ground. Also, I sent a fugitive north, where he moved from village to village, until he got to the village closest to the north enemy's castle. If you have a silver mage by then (which I didn't), then you can go to the last village, and assassinate their leader. The only merman who I got was the Hoplite who had the trident. He didn't go way out, he mostly helped take out the nagas. Also, I didn't get any impact people, because they were quite useless against the mud gobs, which was actually what they seemed to recruit most. Maybe it's just 'cause they explode.]<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN] No-merman strategy: On your first two turns recall two keeps of strong, fast veterans like mounted units (not paladins though; they're pretty ineffective against saurians), outlaws/assassins, and silver magi along with some other veterans, preferably with a lot of HP: if all goes well (at least on easy and medium) that may be all you need. Dash them across the swamp directly west of your keep, south of the sands, and form a line with strong units at the ends. They'll flank you, but you're stronger than them and you can use your slower units to crush the flanking saurians in a hammer and anvil. The first wave of southern saurians should get itself killed before the northern saurians arrive in force. Once the northern saurians arrive, take them out with your slower units while your quicker ones go for the southern leader. Then sweep everyone north to kill the northern leader. This should give a relatively fast finish if you're lucky; you'll need the gold.<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold, right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] This could be a good choice if you have low gold: recall 2 quick red mages, and 3 quick tough melee units (say 2 royal guards & a L3 chaotic unit like a Fugitive). Play expedition style: abandon the start island, stay fairly close together, with your troops roughly divided in two between those moving forward and those fighting rearguard. Provided you knock out one troll leader early, the rest is manageable, just work your way carefully over to the other.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
At medium, at least, you don't want to overrecruit. It's worth recruiting a 5-10 L1 units to take the brunt of the first wave of attacks. The first wave is largely at night & will have goblin knights, and later chocobones. You want to meet them on the edge of the woodland in the centre-south; footpads and poachers are handy here, as they have high defense in woodland. You'll want some decent L2 and L3 recalls for healing, to flank your forces in the woods, and to mop up the enemy at daybreak. A mage or red mage to blast trolls & chocobones will level up by end of scenario.<br />
<br />
When combat starts, the map will become shrouded, like in a cave scenario. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Don't recruit too much for fighting the undead - 2 paladins at most, 1 or 2 thugs, the stormy merman, and the nearest mage working with your land force are sufficient - the undead commander only gets 5-6 L2 recruits and they come ashore scattered (at Medium, anyway). Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, teleport over a silver mage to help kill the leader - you want a paladin, a silver mage, the storm trident, plus one more unit to be fairly sure to knock him out in one round (another paladin or silver mage makes very sure, but a quick thug will do).<br />
<br />
When you reach the swampy woods in the north-centre of the map, tighten your formation and keep wounded units well away, as a small force of high-level Saurians will appear when you get halfway through the woods. Trigger them in daylight if possible, and knock them out fast.<br />
<br />
Two cuttlefish appear when you approach the north-central island. Assuming you're sending a strike force through the water to knock out the undead commander, you really don't want to trigger these until that force is on the island - the storm trident merman is the only thing that can stand up to them in water, and they will avoid him to attack more vulnerable units.<br />
<br />
Once you kill one enemy leader, the other gets more gold & recruits a new wave of L2s. This can be useful if you need to kill off surplus L1 units to improve the finish bonus, or if you need the XP more than the gold; otherwise, try to strike both leaders out before they can recruit more; or if you kill the first one at dawn, the second will be reluctant to attack with his L2s in daylight, and you might jump in and kill him before he uses them.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't.<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pincered and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=33349TheRiseOfWesnoth2009-12-10T00:06:42Z<p>IoN: /* Lizard Beach */ add</p>
<hr />
<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] Yes just 2 paladins, and you don't need the second of those until The Return of the Fleet. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen through the middle part of the campaign, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians; use The Vanguard to get to 2 paladins and 2+ grand knights.<br />
<br />
Pikemen/halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. They are less good against undead, though, and don't get that +1 royal guard speed bonus. So I leveled up any non-quick spearmen to swordsmen, and the first 4-5 quick ones as pikemen (to give me some halberdiers for Peoples in Decline).<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
<br />
[Comments By Imperative] I would actually go with sending the King off with 3 Horsemen to capture the nearest houses, then retreat into the swamp area until you have your lawful bonus to kill off troops during the day. To hold them back I use spearman and a mage (to level him) whilest I send 1 mage and 2 spearmen up the mountains to flank the boss.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
<br />
You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
<br />
There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
<br />
After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
<br />
''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
<br />
''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
<br />
===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
<br />
[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
<br />
[comments by Pravda]<br />
Giving the holy water to Burin is useless, he already has an impact attack. By giving it to Haldric, you get another unit which can easily take down ennemies, and give Burin a break every now and then. He is much, much weaker than Burin, even at level 3, but he can take a few hits. 2 white mages are absolutely necessary. A level 2 quick thug and a couple of level 2 footpads (note that a quick footpad moves as fast as Burin in caves and has an impact ranged attack) would be good, otherwise try to level whatever you have with the tentacles. White mages are absolutely necessary, but don't bring any other mage unless it is quick (and even then, it is not absolutely necessary). Clearly, do not recruit mages. With the right units and some luck, this level can be won with one castle (at hard).<br />
<br />
The difficult part is to survive the first wave. Try to move Burin to the choke point ASAP, and unshroud as much as possible. After a moment, you will notice the ennemy units will attack only one side. When you have a chance, send the units from the other side to surround what remains of the undead.<br />
<br />
===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units.<br />
<br />
Having played at all easy and hard, I find that the best way to win this scenario is to recruit several advanced units who can take alot of damage and who get good defense in castles (no horsemen), if you don't have many, supplement what you do have with footpads. Send all of these with some white mages over to the line of castle near Lt. Aethyr. Aethyr will usually be done recruiting by the second or third turn, before the enemy reaches you, so fill the entire line with your units, and put Sir Rudry in the one non castled tile. Place the white mages behind this line, and leave it there until the enemy has made it through Aethyr's men. After the enemy has reached you and it is your turn to attack, go mostly for the assasins, as they have a weak melee attack and their poison can be a huge problem. Once you've thinned the enemy to where they only have a few units that are close to your line, usually this happens conveniently around dawn, move your people out and start heading for their leaders. Split your force, sending a few down the southern path, to distract the enemy and most of them toward the middle leader, to kill him. Once he's dead, send some of your army down to kill the southern leader and devote a few units to defending the bridge until the rest of your army can rejoin you. A unit or two with a lot of hp with a white mage are usually enough to do this.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, on the eastern coast, the northern enemy leader will send lots of units to catch you unguarded. Immediately after you recruit the units for the castle, recruit at least three footpads, to send with Lady Jessica nad Haldric to guard the coast. If you keep a unit on the village at the tip of the land, unless you are very unlucky, you will be able to hold off everything the northern leader sends. Once the northern leader is distracted by the units approaching him from the bridge, you will be able to send these units across the river relatively unharried, to attack the orc leader from the other side. <br />
<br />
[Note: This is meant for people trying to kill enemy leaders, if you use this strategy with the intent to leave on the first ship, you will be overstaffed, so don't use so many units, and don't take Haldric with Jessica. You do however need to move Haldric closer to the docks, as he cannot reach them from his keep in one turn.]<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
<br />
===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
<br />
[comments by scorchgeek]<br />
Only mages is probably a bad idea, since the enemy can recruit red mages, which you won't want to use ranged attacks on. I used thugs, but other chaotic troops would work fine too.<br />
<br />
===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
You should have lots of high-level units now, so concentrate on recruiting new ones and levelling them up to fill needs.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. If you have a Silver Mage (or two) send it across via teleportation ASAP (you should start with one of the villages on the island). This gives you a foothold to get some quicker units (Fugitives/Outlaws) across. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against orcs and nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all orcs and nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN]<br />
On easy, at least, splitting forces would allow for an easier finish - send Burin and any heavy infantry you have to guard the city and perform the counterclockwise cavalry sweep as before; some fast assassin line units might be useful in reinforcing the mounted force. Send loyalist troops like swordmen/pikemen north with your mages to take out the northern leader (first let your ally's forces get slaughtered on the bridge, though; it weakens the enemy somewhat) and defend the coast with any outlaws you have, Haldric, and Jessene until you can recruit Mermen. To take out the sea leader, use silver mages, as above, along with Jessene and any outlaws.<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Sailboat] Drakes can be dangerous, so this is a great scenario to use to time honored technique of cannon fodder. Now that you can recruit level 0 units for cheap, you can protect your higher level units by recruiting endless peasants for the first six turns or so, them bringing back your better units to kill off the rest of the drakes.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the saurians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well).<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph: Not sure about the above strategy - pushing forward with mermen on the north flank is futile when saurians can run around them & cut them up on the first night. I recall two shock troopers on the first round and a footpad (to scout the villages in the NE). Recall a couple more decent land melee units & then 4-5 L2 mermen on rounds 2-3. Everything has to be fairly tough in melee so it can stand saurians focusing their attacks & injure them enough when they do that you can kill them next turn; one healer (more than one is hard to protect) and no other mages. Gambit - throw the footpad out their way at first watch, wasting the turn for a couple of saurians. The rest of your force forms a line of battle near your keep, mermen on the N flank in the river, land units extending south, flanks bent back with strongest units at the corners - and let the saurians break on it. Once their first wave has broken, the rest of their troops come in drips and are no problem, so now you can split up and wipe out the stragglers and claim villages; any L2 units you start with should level up.]<br />
<br />
After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Gia_Boy: I actually used a sacrifice strategy for this one. In addition to a couple mages, 2 healers, and some other fighters, I recruited a castle-full of peasants to draw the saurians out onto open ground. I surrounded a single peasant on 5 sides, with 2 healers behind him, and built my formation around that. I had an assassin near the front to get around the saurians after they took the bait. The mages were useful for in case a saurian got into some strong ground. Also, I sent a fugitive north, where he moved from village to village, until he got to the village closest to the north enemy's castle. If you have a silver mage by then (which I didn't), then you can go to the last village, and assassinate their leader. The only merman who I got was the Hoplite who had the trident. He didn't go way out, he mostly helped take out the nagas. Also, I didn't get any impact people, because they were quite useless against the mud gobs, which was actually what they seemed to recruit most. Maybe it's just 'cause they explode.]<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN] No-merman strategy: On your first two turns recall two keeps of strong, fast veterans like mounted units (not paladins though; they're pretty ineffective against saurians), outlaws/assassins, and silver magi along with some other veterans, preferably with a lot of HP: if all goes well (at least on easy and medium) that may be all you need. Dash them across the swamp directly west of your keep and form a line with strong units at the ends. The first wave of southern saurians should get itself killed before the northern saurians arrive in force. Once the northern saurians arrive, take them out with your slower units while your quicker ones go for the southern leader. Then sweep everyone north to kill the northern leader. This should give a relatively fast finish if you're lucky; you'll need the gold.<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold, right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] This could be a good choice if you have low gold: recall 2 quick red mages, and 3 quick tough melee units (say 2 royal guards & a L3 chaotic unit like a Fugitive). Play expedition style: abandon the start island, stay fairly close together, with your troops roughly divided in two between those moving forward and those fighting rearguard. Provided you knock out one troll leader early, the rest is manageable, just work your way carefully over to the other.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
At medium, at least, you don't want to overrecruit. It's worth recruiting a 5-10 L1 units to take the brunt of the first wave of attacks. The first wave is largely at night & will have goblin knights, and later chocobones. You want to meet them on the edge of the woodland in the centre-south; footpads and poachers are handy here, as they have high defense in woodland. You'll want some decent L2 and L3 recalls for healing, to flank your forces in the woods, and to mop up the enemy at daybreak. A mage or red mage to blast trolls & chocobones will level up by end of scenario.<br />
<br />
When combat starts, the map will become shrouded, like in a cave scenario. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Don't recruit too much for fighting the undead - 2 paladins at most, 1 or 2 thugs, the stormy merman, and the nearest mage working with your land force are sufficient - the undead commander only gets 5-6 L2 recruits and they come ashore scattered (at Medium, anyway). Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, teleport over a silver mage to help kill the leader - you want a paladin, a silver mage, the storm trident, plus one more unit to be fairly sure to knock him out in one round (another paladin or silver mage makes very sure, but a quick thug will do).<br />
<br />
When you reach the swampy woods in the north-centre of the map, tighten your formation and keep wounded units well away, as a small force of high-level Saurians will appear when you get halfway through the woods. Trigger them in daylight if possible, and knock them out fast.<br />
<br />
Two cuttlefish appear when you approach the north-central island. Assuming you're sending a strike force through the water to knock out the undead commander, you really don't want to trigger these until that force is on the island - the storm trident merman is the only thing that can stand up to them in water, and they will avoid him to attack more vulnerable units.<br />
<br />
Once you kill one enemy leader, the other gets more gold & recruits a new wave of L2s. This can be useful if you need to kill off surplus L1 units to improve the finish bonus, or if you need the XP more than the gold; otherwise, try to strike both leaders out before they can recruit more; or if you kill the first one at dawn, the second will be reluctant to attack with his L2s in daylight, and you might jump in and kill him before he uses them.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't.<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pincered and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=33327TheRiseOfWesnoth2009-12-09T03:49:46Z<p>IoN: /* A Final Spring */ add</p>
<hr />
<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] Yes just 2 paladins, and you don't need the second of those until The Return of the Fleet. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen through the middle part of the campaign, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians; use The Vanguard to get to 2 paladins and 2+ grand knights.<br />
<br />
Pikemen/halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. They are less good against undead, though, and don't get that +1 royal guard speed bonus. So I leveled up any non-quick spearmen to swordsmen, and the first 4-5 quick ones as pikemen (to give me some halberdiers for Peoples in Decline).<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
<br />
[Comments By Imperative] I would actually go with sending the King off with 3 Horsemen to capture the nearest houses, then retreat into the swamp area until you have your lawful bonus to kill off troops during the day. To hold them back I use spearman and a mage (to level him) whilest I send 1 mage and 2 spearmen up the mountains to flank the boss.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
<br />
You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
<br />
There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
<br />
After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
<br />
''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
<br />
''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
<br />
===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
<br />
[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
<br />
[comments by Pravda]<br />
Giving the holy water to Burin is useless, he already has an impact attack. By giving it to Haldric, you get another unit which can easily take down ennemies, and give Burin a break every now and then. He is much, much weaker than Burin, even at level 3, but he can take a few hits. 2 white mages are absolutely necessary. A level 2 quick thug and a couple of level 2 footpads (note that a quick footpad moves as fast as Burin in caves and has an impact ranged attack) would be good, otherwise try to level whatever you have with the tentacles. White mages are absolutely necessary, but don't bring any other mage unless it is quick (and even then, it is not absolutely necessary). Clearly, do not recruit mages. With the right units and some luck, this level can be won with one castle (at hard).<br />
<br />
The difficult part is to survive the first wave. Try to move Burin to the choke point ASAP, and unshroud as much as possible. After a moment, you will notice the ennemy units will attack only one side. When you have a chance, send the units from the other side to surround what remains of the undead.<br />
<br />
===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units.<br />
<br />
Having played at all easy and hard, I find that the best way to win this scenario is to recruit several advanced units who can take alot of damage and who get good defense in castles (no horsemen), if you don't have many, supplement what you do have with footpads. Send all of these with some white mages over to the line of castle near Lt. Aethyr. Aethyr will usually be done recruiting by the second or third turn, before the enemy reaches you, so fill the entire line with your units, and put Sir Rudry in the one non castled tile. Place the white mages behind this line, and leave it there until the enemy has made it through Aethyr's men. After the enemy has reached you and it is your turn to attack, go mostly for the assasins, as they have a weak melee attack and their poison can be a huge problem. Once you've thinned the enemy to where they only have a few units that are close to your line, usually this happens conveniently around dawn, move your people out and start heading for their leaders. Split your force, sending a few down the southern path, to distract the enemy and most of them toward the middle leader, to kill him. Once he's dead, send some of your army down to kill the southern leader and devote a few units to defending the bridge until the rest of your army can rejoin you. A unit or two with a lot of hp with a white mage are usually enough to do this.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, on the eastern coast, the northern enemy leader will send lots of units to catch you unguarded. Immediately after you recruit the units for the castle, recruit at least three footpads, to send with Lady Jessica nad Haldric to guard the coast. If you keep a unit on the village at the tip of the land, unless you are very unlucky, you will be able to hold off everything the northern leader sends. Once the northern leader is distracted by the units approaching him from the bridge, you will be able to send these units across the river relatively unharried, to attack the orc leader from the other side. <br />
<br />
[Note: This is meant for people trying to kill enemy leaders, if you use this strategy with the intent to leave on the first ship, you will be overstaffed, so don't use so many units, and don't take Haldric with Jessica. You do however need to move Haldric closer to the docks, as he cannot reach them from his keep in one turn.]<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
<br />
===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
<br />
[comments by scorchgeek]<br />
Only mages is probably a bad idea, since the enemy can recruit red mages, which you won't want to use ranged attacks on. I used thugs, but other chaotic troops would work fine too.<br />
<br />
===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
You should have lots of high-level units now, so concentrate on recruiting new ones and levelling them up to fill needs.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. If you have a Silver Mage (or two) send it across via teleportation ASAP (you should start with one of the villages on the island). This gives you a foothold to get some quicker units (Fugitives/Outlaws) across. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against orcs and nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all orcs and nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[Comments by IoN]<br />
On easy, at least, splitting forces would allow for an easier finish - send Burin and any heavy infantry you have to guard the city and perform the counterclockwise cavalry sweep as before; some fast assassin line units might be useful in reinforcing the mounted force. Send loyalist troops like swordmen/pikemen north with your mages to take out the northern leader (first let your ally's forces get slaughtered on the bridge, though; it weakens the enemy somewhat) and defend the coast with any outlaws you have, Haldric, and Jessene until you can recruit Mermen. To take out the sea leader, use silver mages, as above, along with Jessene and any outlaws.<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Sailboat] Drakes can be dangerous, so this is a great scenario to use to time honored technique of cannon fodder. Now that you can recruit level 0 units for cheap, you can protect your higher level units by recruiting endless peasants for the first six turns or so, them bringing back your better units to kill off the rest of the drakes.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the saurians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well).<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph: Not sure about the above strategy - pushing forward with mermen on the north flank is futile when saurians can run around them & cut them up on the first night. I recall two shock troopers on the first round and a footpad (to scout the villages in the NE). Recall a couple more decent land melee units & then 4-5 L2 mermen on rounds 2-3. Everything has to be fairly tough in melee so it can stand saurians focusing their attacks & injure them enough when they do that you can kill them next turn; one healer (more than one is hard to protect) and no other mages. Gambit - throw the footpad out their way at first watch, wasting the turn for a couple of saurians. The rest of your force forms a line of battle near your keep, mermen on the N flank in the river, land units extending south, flanks bent back with strongest units at the corners - and let the saurians break on it. Once their first wave has broken, the rest of their troops come in drips and are no problem, so now you can split up and wipe out the stragglers and claim villages; any L2 units you start with should level up.]<br />
<br />
After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Gia_Boy: I actually used a sacrifice strategy for this one. In addition to a couple mages, 2 healers, and some other fighters, I recruited a castle-full of peasants to draw the saurians out onto open ground. I surrounded a single peasant on 5 sides, with 2 healers behind him, and built my formation around that. I had an assassin near the front to get around the saurians after they took the bait. The mages were useful for in case a saurian got into some strong ground. Also, I sent a fugitive north, where he moved from village to village, until he got to the village closest to the north enemy's castle. If you have a silver mage by then (which I didn't), then you can go to the last village, and assassinate their leader. The only merman who I got was the Hoplite who had the trident. He didn't go way out, he mostly helped take out the nagas. Also, I didn't get any impact people, because they were quite useless against the mud gobs, which was actually what they seemed to recruit most. Maybe it's just 'cause they explode.]<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold, right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] This could be a good choice if you have low gold: recall 2 quick red mages, and 3 quick tough melee units (say 2 royal guards & a L3 chaotic unit like a Fugitive). Play expedition style: abandon the start island, stay fairly close together, with your troops roughly divided in two between those moving forward and those fighting rearguard. Provided you knock out one troll leader early, the rest is manageable, just work your way carefully over to the other.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
At medium, at least, you don't want to overrecruit. It's worth recruiting a 5-10 L1 units to take the brunt of the first wave of attacks. The first wave is largely at night & will have goblin knights, and later chocobones. You want to meet them on the edge of the woodland in the centre-south; footpads and poachers are handy here, as they have high defense in woodland. You'll want some decent L2 and L3 recalls for healing, to flank your forces in the woods, and to mop up the enemy at daybreak. A mage or red mage to blast trolls & chocobones will level up by end of scenario.<br />
<br />
When combat starts, the map will become shrouded, like in a cave scenario. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Don't recruit too much for fighting the undead - 2 paladins at most, 1 or 2 thugs, the stormy merman, and the nearest mage working with your land force are sufficient - the undead commander only gets 5-6 L2 recruits and they come ashore scattered (at Medium, anyway). Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, teleport over a silver mage to help kill the leader - you want a paladin, a silver mage, the storm trident, plus one more unit to be fairly sure to knock him out in one round (another paladin or silver mage makes very sure, but a quick thug will do).<br />
<br />
When you reach the swampy woods in the north-centre of the map, tighten your formation and keep wounded units well away, as a small force of high-level Saurians will appear when you get halfway through the woods. Trigger them in daylight if possible, and knock them out fast.<br />
<br />
Two cuttlefish appear when you approach the north-central island. Assuming you're sending a strike force through the water to knock out the undead commander, you really don't want to trigger these until that force is on the island - the storm trident merman is the only thing that can stand up to them in water, and they will avoid him to attack more vulnerable units.<br />
<br />
Once you kill one enemy leader, the other gets more gold & recruits a new wave of L2s. This can be useful if you need to kill off surplus L1 units to improve the finish bonus, or if you need the XP more than the gold; otherwise, try to strike both leaders out before they can recruit more; or if you kill the first one at dawn, the second will be reluctant to attack with his L2s in daylight, and you might jump in and kill him before he uses them.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't.<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pincered and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Available_Music&diff=33259Available Music2009-12-04T01:28:21Z<p>IoN: missing piece</p>
<hr />
<div>A list of music tracks written for the Battle for Wesnoth.<br />
<br />
If you find an incorrect link, or see that something is missing from this page or filed incorrectly, please fix it! We need your help to maintain this wiki :).<br />
<br />
== Core Music ==<br />
<br />
These tracks are included in the official Battle for Wesnoth distribution, and are automatically available to any user-made scenario or campaign. To listen to them, find the data/core/music subfolder of your Wesnoth folder, and open the files with a player capable of decoding [http://www.vorbis.com/ Ogg Vorbis] files. For information on where to find your Wesnoth directory, see [[EditingWesnoth]]. For information on how to play .ogg files, visit http://www.vorbis.com/.<br />
<br />
{|<br />
|-<br />
!style="text-align:left;"| File<br />
!style="text-align:left;"| Time<br />
!style="text-align:left;"| Title<br />
!style="text-align:left;"| Author<br />
|-<br />
| battle.ogg || 5′18″ || Battle Music || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| breaking_the_chains.ogg || 3′35″ || Breaking the Chains || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| casualties_of_war || 5′25″ || Casualties of War || Tyler Johnson<br />
|-<br />
| defeat.ogg || 0′08″ || Defeat || Timothy Pinkham<br />
|-<br />
| defeat2.ogg || 0′14″ || Defeat || Ryan Reilly<br />
|-<br />
| elf-land.ogg || 0′26″ || Elf Land || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| elvish-theme.ogg || 3′25″ || Elvish Theme || Doug Kaufman<br />
|-<br />
| frantic.ogg || 1′24″ || Frantic || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| heroes_rite || 3′39″ || Heroes' Rite || Doug Kaufman<br />
|-<br />
| into-the-shaodws || 3'25'' || Into the Shadows || Tyler Johnson<br />
|-<br />
| journeys_end || 3′44″ || Journey's End || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| knalgan_theme.ogg || 9′17″ || Knalgan Theme || Ryan Reilly<br />
|-<br />
| knolls.ogg || 6′49″ || The Knolls of Doldesh || Timothy Pinkham<br />
|-<br />
| legends_of_the_north.ogg || 2′43″ || Legends of the North || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| love_theme.ogg || 1′35″ || Love Theme || Ryan Reilly<br />
|-<br />
| loyalists.ogg || 2′59″ || Loyalists || Joseph G. Toscano (Zhaytee)<br />
|-<br />
| main_menu.ogg || 0′51″ || Main Theme || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| northern_mountains.ogg || 3′33″ || Over the Northern Mountains || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| northerners.ogg || 0′39″ || Northerners || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| nunc_dimittis.ogg || 3′50″ || Nunc Dimittis || Jeremy Nicoll<br />
|-<br />
| revelation.ogg || 1′17″ || Revelation || Joseph G. Toscano (Zhaytee)<br />
|-<br />
| sad.ogg || 0′28″ || Sad || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| siege_of_laurelmor.ogg || 4′22″ || Siege of Laurelmor || Doug Kaufman<br />
|-<br />
| suspense.ogg || 5′20″ || Suspense || Ryan Reilly<br />
|-<br />
| the_city_falls.ogg || 4′06″ || The City Falls || Doug Kaufman<br />
|-<br />
| the_dangerous_symphony.ogg || 5′26″ || The Dangerous Symphony || Gianmarco Leone<br />
|-<br />
| the_deep_path.ogg || 3′37″ || The Deep Path || Gianmarco Leone<br />
|-<br />
| the_king_is_dead.ogg || 3′41″ || The King is Dead || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| transience.ogg || 0′48″ || Transience || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| traveling_minstrels.ogg || 3′35″ || Traveling Minstrels || Mattias Westlund<br />
|-<br />
| underground.ogg || 1′52″ || Underground || Aleksi Aubry-Carlson<br />
|-<br />
| vengeful.ogg || 6′00″ || Vengeful Pursuit || Jeremy Nicoll<br />
|-<br />
| victory.ogg || 0′05″ || Victory || Timothy Pinkham<br />
|-<br />
| victory2.ogg || 0′21″ || Victory || Ryan Reilly<br />
|-<br />
| wanderer.ogg || 4′22″ || Still Another Wanderer || Timothy Pinkham<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== Available Music for Campaign Authors ==<br />
<br />
These tracks have not been accepted for mainline inclusion, but campaign authors are free to include them in their campaigns. As they are not part of the official Battle for Wesnoth distribution, campaign authors will need to include the .ogg files in their campaign package.<br />
<br />
; "Burin the Lost Theme" by [PA]NotUncleDave ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19605 forum thread]) 0'32"<br />
: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/lzce/Burin-the-Lost ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/lzce-Burin%20the%20Lost.mp3 mirror] | [http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/lzce-Burin%20the%20Lost.ogg ogg])<br />
<br />
; "Reminisce" by Jeremy Nicoll ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17246 forum thread]) 3'45"<br />
: http://gnexp.com/songs/reminisce.ogg ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/reminisce.ogg mirror])<br />
<br />
; (Untitled) by Doug Kaufman ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17580 forum thread]) 1'14"<br />
: http://www.box.net/shared/yopoe1hvh2 ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/doug_kaufman-music%20score.mp3 mirror] | [http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/doug_kaufman-music%20score.ogg ogg])<br />
<br />
; "War Song" by hiro hito ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17379 forum thread]) 6'27"<br />
: http://download.tuxfamily.org/hirosound/tribal_war_song.mp3 ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/tribal_war_song.mp3 mirror] | [http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/tribal_war_song.ogg ogg])<br />
<br />
; jeanbrut ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18835 forum thread])<br />
: http://o.militon.free.fr/Morceaux/DragonVert1.mp3 4'01" ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/DragonVert1.mp3 mirror] | [http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/DragonVert1.ogg ogg])<br />
: http://o.militon.free.fr/Morceaux/DragonVert2.mp3 2'57" ([http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/DragonVert2.mp3 mirror] | [http://download.tuxfamily.org/wesnothmusic/extras/DragonVert2.ogg ogg])<br />
<br />
; "Battle Cry" by ancestral ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=24778#p347244 forum thread]) 4'28"<br />
: http://www.mproud.com/music/battlecry.m4a ([http://www.mproud.com/music/battlecry.band source] | [http://www.mproud.com/music/battlecry.ogg ogg])<br />
<br />
== Other Potential Contributions ==<br />
<br />
These were indicated by the author to be potential contributions to the Battle for Wesnoth, but their use has not been explicitly allowed and they have not yet been released under the GPL. The authors of these pieces may agree to release them under the GPL if someone has a use for them. In this case, try to contact the author directly.<br />
<br />
; barisium ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19536 forum thread])<br />
: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/urih/Maabad16<br />
<br />
; bluerc ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19136 forum thread])<br />
: http://neuron.fei.tuke.sk/~rockai/mp3/DruhaPiesenPreKatarinu.mp3<br />
<br />
; Tlogner ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18364 forum thread])<br />
: http://benyates.info/high%20seas%20for%20wesnoth.mp3<br />
: http://benyates.info/forgottenwoods.mp3<br />
<br />
== Works in Progress ==<br />
<br />
These pieces are still being worked on, or have not been declared as finished. The author may welcome constructive criticism and would most likely welcome encouragement or praise. If you intend to use these in a campaign, it would be polite to let the author know of your intention, as they might not wish for their work to be used until it is complete.<br />
<br />
This list is unlikely to be regularly updated. The best place to check out the music that is currently being developed for Wesnoth is the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=14 Music development forum]<br />
<br />
; Joseph G. Toscano (Zhaytee) ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16105 forum thread]) <br />
: http://zhaymusic.com/music/mp3/gpl/zhaytee-wesnoth_fanfare.mp3<br />
: http://zhaymusic.com/music/mp3/gpl/zhaytee-wesnoth_lovetheme.mp3<br />
: http://zhaymusic.com/music/mp3/gpl/zhaytee-wesnoth_newtruths.mp3<br />
: http://zhaymusic.com/music/mp3/gpl/zhaytee-wesnoth_tragedy.mp3<br />
<br />
; "Tragedy" by Ryan Reilly (Rain) ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19600 forum thread])<br />
: http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rain/WesnothTragedy5.mp3<br />
<br />
; "Flight of the Drakes" by [PA]NotUncleDave ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19362 forum thread])<br />
: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/azxe/Flight-of-the-Drakes<br />
<br />
; "Sing" by Marcus Rasseli ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20002 forum thread])<br />
: http://www.4shared.com/file/41165228/3f6c6fd2/sinf1_up2.html<br />
<br />
; "Snowfall" by Jeremy Nicoll ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18311 forum thread])<br />
: http://www.gnexp.com/songs/snowfall.mp3<br />
<br />
; "Orc Theme" by Aleksi Aubry-Carlson ([http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6162 forum thread])<br />
: http://aleksi.free.fr/Wesnoth/Gameplay%2006.ogg<br />
<br />
[[Category:Music]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Northern_Rebirth&diff=25636Northern Rebirth2008-05-16T00:53:02Z<p>IoN: /* Showdown */ add</p>
<hr />
<div>==Strategy Guide for Northern Rebirth==<br />
<br />
(Doesn't yet cover the optional Evil-Tallin branch you can start from Clearing The Mines. That is still under development.)<br />
<br />
===Breaking the Chains===<br />
<br />
All you can recruit in this scenario are level 0 Peasants and Woodsmen, so it calls for unusual tactics. Initially you can't overpower the orcs by brute force. Fortunately though, the orcs are fighting amongst themselves, so guerilla tactics will work. Keep your head down, and let the orcs weaken each other while you slip around the edges and grab as many villages as you can - even if you have to sacrifice a few units. If any stray orcs come your way, surround and kill them and try to level a few units. Your units require no upkeep until they level, so if you play it right you should soon have a sizable force. When you are ready, march them out as a whole - isolated units will get slaughtered, so keep everyone together - and take out the orcish leaders one at a time.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of the tunnel entrance to the northeast. When you move there you will unleash a squad of trolls. Sometimes they attack the orcs (good for you) but other times they attack you. Since they are resistant to your pierce attacks, they can give you a bit of trouble should the latter happen.<br />
<br />
===Infested Caves===<br />
<br />
There has been a major strategy change on this one so stay sharp. The strategy up till now has been to immediately send forces up the northern and southern tunnels to take out the trolls. However, they since have gotten their act together so now that will be far too costly and time consuming. What you need to do is recruit as many units as fast as you can, form up into a tight compact formation and head directly east. At this point all hell will break loose in a three way fight between trolls, skeletons and your forces to the east, while to the west you will have more level 1 trolls hounding you all the way. Cut your way east as quickly as you can, but it is essential to keep a tight formation, leaving as little exposure as possible. You will lose a lot of men - I myself lose about two thirds of my force every time - but try to pull as many men out of the mess as possible.<br />
<br />
Move east until you come reach the keep of the orange troll leader. The situation this point is somewhat unpredictable due to the chaotic eviolution of the scenario, but the general idea is to take out the troll leader and regroup, and heal in the little patch of villages to the north. You may want to send a few units up the tunnel further north, and then slip into the little room to the east and steal some more villages. The skeletons are usually too busy with the blue and green trolls at this point to offer much resistance. <br />
<br />
To the south there is a tunnel which may be spewing more skeletons, or - if you are lucky - dwarves. You want to get Tallin down that tunnel and into the dwarven keep that lies at the end. It's a bit of a walk so make sure you have at least 10 turns remaining. If the tunnel is still spewing skeletons, you will have to push through them and take out the leader before reaching the dwarves.<br />
<br />
There is also a Arch-Mage that you can get at the beginning of this scenario who would provide you with much assistance - both now and later on. To get him, you will have to initially recruit 3 or 4 footpads and have them immediately dash up to the northern troll hole. They should be able to reach the village on the outside of the caves before the trolls clog the tunnel. Have the footpads cover the mage all the way back to your main force and continue on as described above.<br />
<br />
===To The Mines===<br />
<br />
This is designed to be more of a breather scenario, letting you get a bit of fresh air and level a few units before you plunge back into the caves. However, stay on your guard because if you get sloppy, you could experience a lot of grief.<br />
<br />
The basic strategy is to recruit lots of dwarves and sweep north in a line. You'll lose a few but level up more, which will be your most reliable heavy infantry in later scenarios. Beware wolfriders nipping around your flanks and don't leave any units isolated.<br />
<br />
===Clearing The Mines===<br />
<br />
Another tough one which has recently been re-balanced. This is going to be a long tough fight against enemies with far greater numbers then your own. Superior tactics and the strength of your men will be the only thing that will keep you from being wiped of the board.<br />
<br />
In the new version, you probably won't have enough gold to finance two proper strike groups as you did in the past. If you can - swell. If not don't give up hope for there is still a way. Recruit one large group with practically all of your most powerful units. Dwarves are favored, for their better defense on cave floors, the resistances and ability to advance to level 3. Send this group to the east, take out the Draug stationed there and take control of the storeroom.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, leave yourself a little gold, and maybe one or two higher level units, as well as Tallin, to recruit a smaller force to hold the keep. This force will come under heavy attack, and for most of the game the northern passage will be plugged closed with hordes of walking corpses, bats and skeletons. Hold out as best as you can, even if you have to retreat all the way to the keep. You have a slight advantage there as you have some sunlight shining through which the skeletons generally don't like. If all goes well with the eastern team, and the are able to take control of the storeroom, you should soon be having some gold coming in so you can recruit yourself some reinforcements.<br />
<br />
Just as you think you have everything under control, things will take an ugly turn. At turn 21, you a horde of Ghouls and Necrophages will rise out of the canal. You are just going to have to endure as best you can. In the meantime, get your eastern force - regrouped and healed at the storeroom - to move north and take out the next Draug stationed there, and then move on further to take out Malifor. It will by no means be easy, but you have another group of villages behind the purple Draug which will help you heal and get some more income rolling in. You will also have to leave a force at the storeroom to hold the villages there - especially against the ghouls which may be no easy feat. If you are able to manage, send some backup from home base to help them hold out.<br />
<br />
Once you take out Malifor, things should be a little easier. As more of his units die out, the tide will start to gradually turn and what follows is a general mop up of the remaining leaders.<br />
<br />
===The Pursuit===<br />
<br />
This level opens with an 8-way junction of passages (one of which is where you enter). Don't get involved in fights in all 7 passages at once; you can only use Camerin in one place at a time, and initially you have a serious problem with healing (namely, you don't have any means to heal units, so they just have to go and stand in the entrance passage and regain 2hp per turn).<br />
<br />
Initially then, by turn 2 you should have Tallin on the camp and recruit 4 thugs and recall 2 steelclads. Use these to plug the passages east and west - these passages are short, each leading into a chamber with a recruiting death knight (RDK) who pumps out skeletons steadily. So you need to bottle them up immediately, and seize as much ground as you can (fighting up these corridors is one of the challenges of the first part of the level, so any ground seized now is useful). The nearest 2 revenants from the N passage will come down to attack you, but Camerin and the units you just recruited can deal with them easily.<br />
<br />
Next turn, recruit a strike force to go down the SW passage - this is the target for phase 1 of this level. At least 2 dwarf lords are needed, since it's a one-wide passage, and in places you have only 1 tile to advance into & 3 revenants can attack you at once. It's vital to beat this area quickly, since there are 2 white mages and one elvish druid down here, and you need their healing ability asap. I would keep Camerin out of this area, though (too many fights with you having 1 unit vs 2 revenants); he should clear the first part of the N passage, which should be easy with a dwarvish fighter and a couple of thugs to help (put a thug in a fortified tile, and the 2 revenants above will come down and attack, but probably not kill him; once out of their fortified tiles, they are easy prey).<br />
<br />
There are RDKs down the SW, NW, NE passages, but they have very low income so they just cause the odd stray unit to arrive from these passages every now and then; just keep a few units spare in the junction, and use Tallin, to deal with these as they arrive. Don't try to plug the NW, NE entrances, you might draw out the Draugs that are stationed a bit further up these passages - leave these until later. As soon as you have released 2 healers from the SW, run one back to the junction and start healing your injured units properly.<br />
<br />
Once the healers in the SW are free, and the first stretch of the N passage is done, begin work in earnest on the E and W passages. Don't bother trying to advance tile-by-tile - if you have a unit at a 1-wide point, the enemy will simply fill both tiles in front, and even if you kill one of them, you can't advance to take the space. Fall back to where it's 2-wide, wait until the enemy has only 1 unit in the next 2-wide bit of the passage, and then you have a chance to blitz them - the enemy at the 1-wide bit you can easily kill with 2 thugs, and then a steelclad takes the space and has a good chance of killing the single enemy in the next 2-wide bit. Then rush in a unit to occupy it, and you've made a lot of ground in 1 turn. Take care to level up any thugs with good traits, as marauders are excellent shock troops vs undead.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, begin phase 2 of the level - there are long passages around from the far end of the SW passage, and from the SE passage, which are worth exploring. The SE passage is mostly flooded, so choose some quick units - the elvish druid, a fast thug or two, maybe Krash, and at least one other tough melee unit - there's an L3 sea monster to fight on the way round. If you want to use the back door to Malifor's study, send at least 2 quick dwarf lords (or possibly QR steelclads); personally, I'm not sure the back door is worth having a dwarf lord out of action for 20-30 turns getting there, and any weaker unit will simply be killed by Malifor in the first combat round. The main thing for this group to do is to get the friendly spectre (send a quick unit round to the left on first entering the water) and the 2 villages here.<br />
<br />
For the SW passage, send at least 1 healer, 1 dwarf lord and maybe 2 steelclads (I send Krash this way, but perhaps the SW would be better for him). It's a long way round, but you get some allies and emerge in the back of the Treasury (NW passsage) where you get to fight a lot of revenants. Once this group enters the back door of the treasury, attack up the NW passage from the junction at the same time with some thugs, dwarf steelclads & Camerin. Together the two attacks should secure the main part of the treasury without too much trouble, and Camerin should finish off the various death knights easily enough. Marvel at the insane amount of wealth contained therein.<br />
<br />
Before the SW party gets around there, you should have finished off at least one of the E or W RDKs - Camerin is useful to help break through, and to deal with any units on fortified tiles. Most of the villages are in these 2 areas, so grab them. There's also a stash of holy water bottles in the E area, but I found these to be no use, since every unit I recruited was using impact attacks anyway, so the improvement is minimal; not worth diverting units for, IMO.<br />
<br />
Once you can spare the units (and are sure you won't need to do any more recruiting), send a group of maybe 7 units (1 healer/curer, 2 cheap thugs (or maybe poachers), Tallin, and a few good L2 units) up the N passage into the Great Chamber. Any units that aren't good against undead should be first choice, since the enemy up here is L3 giant spiders (e.g. I had a thunderguard from the initial recall, who was dead weight vs undead, but handy vs the spiders). Once you enter the chamber, the passage gets sealed behind you - back out of the chamber immediately, put your thugs in the fortified tiles by the 1-wide entrance; use them to lure the spiders one at a time, then pound them with Tallin and your good units. It will take a while. Once you are down to 2-3 spiders left, storm the main chamber, then bottle up the spider's castle to the E, while Tallin goes west to get the all-powerful Rod of Justice.<br />
<br />
Once the Treasury (NW passage) and E & W RDKs are beaten, these forces can regroup and attack the NE passage (Malifor's study) - phase 3. Get past the draugs, quickly (Camerin should blast through them fast enough) and occupy the junction at the end of the passage - this divides up the different RDKs, so you can deal with them separately. By this point, you have Camerin and some L3 thugs, who can easily smash their way down even a 1-wide passage against the L1 skeletons, so it shouldn't take long to clean up here. Push though to the entrance to Malifor's study, and then wait until you are in good position - dwarf lords only in the front rank - before throwing open the doors.<br />
<br />
Depending on the progress of your various teams, you might have Tallin's team available to come in as well via the N entrance to the study (from behind the spider's keep), and might have your team from the SE passage, if you gave it a high-level dwarf or two so it can survive the attacks of Malifor and his liches. Once you live through the first combat round, it should be easy - rotate L3 thugs into the front to kill the liches in 1 round, reform front line with dwarves inside the room. You need to kill Malifor with a white mage. (You could keep Tallin's group back in the Great Chamber - this seems to be where Malifor goes to if he dies by the sword, - and have another go at killing him with a mage there).<br />
<br />
Alternative approaches - forget about the long passages SW and SE? Just send Krash and the druid down to fetch the spectre and run back the way they came, since you only get 1 extra village by going through the water, and it takes so long to get heavy infantry round there to Malifor, it might just be a waste. The back door to the Treasury is useful, but it can equally be beaten by frontal assault with Camerin & heavy infantry, and again saves having troops out of action while they march round (although you do miss out on the free extra units in the back passage). Probably the level is faster if you skip these, and you don't lose out on a lot of XP.<br />
<br />
===Old Friend===<br />
<br />
This is meant to be an easy campaign, if your objective is to simply survive and hoard gold. You don't have to defeat the Orcs to win this one, so you can just lurk just inside the two-hex-wide aperture of the cave only two orcs at a time will be able to get at you; it's not hard to fend them off until time runs out. Spend as little gold as possible and level up some troops.<br />
<br />
If you are using this approach, it's worth recalling one dwarvish steelclad and run him round to the east-most village in the northern mountains - this one has impassable mountains on 2 adjacent tiles, so it can be attacked from only one tile, so a steelclad can easily hold out here & gain some XP doing so.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, you can go ahead and sally. It is supposed to be impossible to actually defeat them entirely, but if you stick to defensive terrain and keep recycling fresh units to the front, you should soon pile up stacks of orcish corpses as well as experience, which always comes in handy.<br />
<br />
===Settling Disputes===<br />
<br />
Tactics in this one are pretty straightforward but time is scant; your<br />
biggest issue may be getting to the enemy keep in the southeast with<br />
enough time left to take out defenders before the clock runs out.<br />
There's a ford in the middle of the map, and the enemy will slide<br />
trolls and ogres over it to try to cause trouble in your rear; if you<br />
mean to prevent this, it's best to place some blocking troops right on<br />
the shoreline where they can hit enemies still in the water.<br />
<br />
===Elvish Princess===<br />
<br />
In this one it's best to go straight at Bitterhold with a small group<br />
of hardened veterans -- you need to be in there fast (Camerin and<br />
the Rod of Justice will be particularly helpful here). Your objective,<br />
getting a unit onto the cage at the center of the castle, may be best<br />
accomplished with a flyer or skirmisher once you've chewed a few holes<br />
in the inner ring of defenders.<br />
<br />
===Introductions===<br />
<br />
Standard dungeon-crawling tactics should work fine in this one -- minimize<br />
your exposed front, and cycle wounded units back to the healers before <br />
they get killed. The destination signpost is in the northwest corner. <br />
There is nothing interesting in any of the side passages.<br />
<br />
===Stolen Gold===<br />
<br />
You'll have two problems in this scenario. One is lots and lots and<br />
lots of trolls. The other is that Krash is going to fly off and<br />
recruit level-one drakes to help you, but if they get swarmed by all<br />
the level-two trolls they're not going to live long. Krash's camp<br />
will materialize in the mountains near the map-edge west of your camp; the<br />
house at edge of board will be one hex NW of his tent square. Recall<br />
nine or ten veterans, go there and laager up around where his camp<br />
will appear. Hold off the troll swarm until the drakes show<br />
up, then bust out of the encirclement and clean up.<br />
<br />
The spectre can be extremely effective against the trolls; place him in the<br />
village on the northern tip of the eastern island, and he should be able to<br />
safely defend against one to three trolls each turn.<br />
<br />
The elvish shyde and sorceress, as well as the two liches, can be put to<br />
better use if you move them into the forest on the eastern island in the<br />
beginning of the scenario. Stay within the forest and lure in trolls one or<br />
two at a time to level up the sorceress and create a distraction. Once the troll leaders in the NE and SE have finished recruiting & their forces have moved over to attack in the W, the liches and the shyde can jump in and kill the leaders, and seize as many villages as possible.<br />
<br />
After Krash's camp is set up, you will be controlling both Tallin's and<br />
Krash's troops. Krash's team will take its turn after all the trolls, and<br />
before Tallin. The trolls will probably be still swarming in front of<br />
Tallin's defense, but you can create opportunities for the drakes to level<br />
up by withdrawing one of Tallin's units, and defeating the two trolls<br />
next to that opening, so that the trolls will be zone-locked and unable to get into the<br />
opening. The drakes will have the advantage that after they<br />
attack they can be healed by Tallin's healers, before the trolls retaliate.<br />
<br />
Although you will be in deep negative gold during this one, don't succumb to the temptation to give all the villages to Krash. He can make use of them immediately, but that isn't important, as he starts with enough gold to recruit enough drakes for what you need. You will get a big early finish bonus, so seize villages with your forces in the E, and with your main force once you break out. It's essential to get more than 140 gold going into the next level. (Krash won't go negative, so he'll end up with 400-500 gold with the early finish bonus anyway.)<br />
<br />
===Eastern Fortress===<br />
<br />
The mistake to avoid in this scenario is exposing level 1 drakes to<br />
being swarmed by the wolfriders and assassins that head north. Keep<br />
your drakes in line, close the gap between the east end of the drake<br />
line and the west flank of the human troops, and anchor the west flank<br />
of the drake line on a board edge. Recruit lots of drakes so you can<br />
cycle injured ones out of the line before they get killed. Use mages<br />
and the Rod of Justice to blast the defenders off the walls; you'll<br />
need at least six units of heavy infantry to follow through.<br />
<br />
[cph] I prefer a totally different approach. The only good thing about drakes in mountains is that you can rush them away to heal once they get trashed. They have a much lower defense on mountains relative to non-drake units. So it's better for Tallin to recall L2 and L3 dwarves (maybe one L1 dwarf), and spread these along the line in the mountains - you probably can't get enough to avoid having quite a number of drakes here, but it limits the number of drakes that the enemy can trash per turn; and the limited mobility in the mountains means they can't always attack the drakes with the units that they want.<br />
<br />
Use drakes first to finish off weakened enemies, and drake burners to soften up the higher level enemy melee units (try to avoid having many L1 drake units in the line at night, when they are extremely vulnerable). Tallin's higher level units are better used for attacks on fresh enemy units. Don't extend your drake line to the map edge any faster than needed - the AI won't deliberately try to outflank, he'll just try to wrap around the last unit in line. You want to minimise the number of drakes he can maul each turn. Get the two human healers up into the mountains, and wounded drakes should congregate behind the lines around these. The two liches are good front-line units here, as the high defense means the enemy melee troops can't batter them too much (their drain attacks tend to compensate for any health loss), and their magic attacks are perhaps the most potent on this terrain.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the east side of your line starts in the village just E of the mountains, where Tallin should be - the enemy are generally afraid to attack him due to the Rod. The line east of here consists of the spectre, the shyde & sorceress, and a mix of drakes and any high-level human units in your auto-recall. (The drakes have only a 10% difference in defense on these terrains, and have better mobility over the river.) Use the shyde and sorceress to entangle the best enemy melee units each turn, and drakes to soften up and kill them.<br />
<br />
You hold this line for 2 days, wearing through the enemy. Once they run low on units, the drakes become valuable for encircling isolated units, rolling up the flanks, and darting behind their lines to seize villages. Push south through the mountains, and use the wizards to blast the orc leaders.<br />
<br />
[IoN] I use the same technique as cph in the mountains, but a radically different strategy otherwise. I recalled all my veterans, sent the dwarves north, and almost everyone else directly west. I recruited as many Gryphons as I could with my money, and sent them, as well as Abhai, south to take the island. I also made sure to move Tallin and Krash near to the front lines. The sheer number of high-level units attacking the main front was too much for the orcs, and by turn 11 the dwarf/drake force had defeated the northern flank. I moved Krash into one of the leader castle squares in the fortress, and recruited a Drake Burner in every free square in the fortress. (If you still somehow have positive gold with Tallin, you can use a similar technique with him) By turn 12, the orcs' main front had also collapsed due to the Drake Burners, and I defeated the last orc leader on turn 16.<br />
<br />
The gryphons in the south basically were slaughtered by turn 10. I only had two remaining with low health; I retreated these in case they would be useful for recall (20 gold vs. recruiting 40 gold). By then, however, the island was free from orcs and there was only a small band (~5-6) of one Orcish Warrior and several Wolf Riders left. Abhai easily slaughtered most of them in the water, and the healed surviving Gryphons killed the rest by turn 14. <br />
<br />
The only problem with this strategy is that it puts you in deep negative gold, but the early finish bonus more than makes up for that.<br />
<br />
===Get the Gold===<br />
<br />
Don't recruit a lot for this one; if you have enough level 2 and 3 units<br />
to fill your starting camp, you can probably take out the orc leader with <br />
those. Krash and friends aren't likely to be able to fly over in time to<br />
do much.<br />
<br />
===Showdown===<br />
<br />
Pull out all the stops, because this is it. You'll want to draw the<br />
Orc Warlords off the walls before engaging them, they're dangerous<br />
enough as it is without the fortification bonus; hanging a unit or<br />
two just within their engagement range will do it. Because there are<br />
so many orcs, you need to be especially careful about neither leaving <br />
units isolated nor presenting unanchored flanks for them to swarm<br />
around (the drakes, in particular, should fort up in the northern camp <br />
until they've thinned out their attackers considerably).<br />
<br />
[IoN] I had a ridiculous amount of gold at this point (Tallin had well over 5000, Anita over 3000, Krash over 4000), so I decided to try the amusing tactic of swarming with thugs from Tallin's side, Burners from Krash's side, and Heroes from Anita's side; recruiting one castle full every turn until I ran out of gold. While it took a while, it worked like a charm. I also recalled my veterans to defend the keep just in case, but that turned out to be superfluous.<br />
<br />
===Epilogue===<br />
<br />
This is just a plot wrap-up.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Northern_Rebirth&diff=25635Northern Rebirth2008-05-16T00:46:15Z<p>IoN: /* Eastern Fortress */ add strategy</p>
<hr />
<div>==Strategy Guide for Northern Rebirth==<br />
<br />
(Doesn't yet cover the optional Evil-Tallin branch you can start from Clearing The Mines. That is still under development.)<br />
<br />
===Breaking the Chains===<br />
<br />
All you can recruit in this scenario are level 0 Peasants and Woodsmen, so it calls for unusual tactics. Initially you can't overpower the orcs by brute force. Fortunately though, the orcs are fighting amongst themselves, so guerilla tactics will work. Keep your head down, and let the orcs weaken each other while you slip around the edges and grab as many villages as you can - even if you have to sacrifice a few units. If any stray orcs come your way, surround and kill them and try to level a few units. Your units require no upkeep until they level, so if you play it right you should soon have a sizable force. When you are ready, march them out as a whole - isolated units will get slaughtered, so keep everyone together - and take out the orcish leaders one at a time.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of the tunnel entrance to the northeast. When you move there you will unleash a squad of trolls. Sometimes they attack the orcs (good for you) but other times they attack you. Since they are resistant to your pierce attacks, they can give you a bit of trouble should the latter happen.<br />
<br />
===Infested Caves===<br />
<br />
There has been a major strategy change on this one so stay sharp. The strategy up till now has been to immediately send forces up the northern and southern tunnels to take out the trolls. However, they since have gotten their act together so now that will be far too costly and time consuming. What you need to do is recruit as many units as fast as you can, form up into a tight compact formation and head directly east. At this point all hell will break loose in a three way fight between trolls, skeletons and your forces to the east, while to the west you will have more level 1 trolls hounding you all the way. Cut your way east as quickly as you can, but it is essential to keep a tight formation, leaving as little exposure as possible. You will lose a lot of men - I myself lose about two thirds of my force every time - but try to pull as many men out of the mess as possible.<br />
<br />
Move east until you come reach the keep of the orange troll leader. The situation this point is somewhat unpredictable due to the chaotic eviolution of the scenario, but the general idea is to take out the troll leader and regroup, and heal in the little patch of villages to the north. You may want to send a few units up the tunnel further north, and then slip into the little room to the east and steal some more villages. The skeletons are usually too busy with the blue and green trolls at this point to offer much resistance. <br />
<br />
To the south there is a tunnel which may be spewing more skeletons, or - if you are lucky - dwarves. You want to get Tallin down that tunnel and into the dwarven keep that lies at the end. It's a bit of a walk so make sure you have at least 10 turns remaining. If the tunnel is still spewing skeletons, you will have to push through them and take out the leader before reaching the dwarves.<br />
<br />
There is also a Arch-Mage that you can get at the beginning of this scenario who would provide you with much assistance - both now and later on. To get him, you will have to initially recruit 3 or 4 footpads and have them immediately dash up to the northern troll hole. They should be able to reach the village on the outside of the caves before the trolls clog the tunnel. Have the footpads cover the mage all the way back to your main force and continue on as described above.<br />
<br />
===To The Mines===<br />
<br />
This is designed to be more of a breather scenario, letting you get a bit of fresh air and level a few units before you plunge back into the caves. However, stay on your guard because if you get sloppy, you could experience a lot of grief.<br />
<br />
The basic strategy is to recruit lots of dwarves and sweep north in a line. You'll lose a few but level up more, which will be your most reliable heavy infantry in later scenarios. Beware wolfriders nipping around your flanks and don't leave any units isolated.<br />
<br />
===Clearing The Mines===<br />
<br />
Another tough one which has recently been re-balanced. This is going to be a long tough fight against enemies with far greater numbers then your own. Superior tactics and the strength of your men will be the only thing that will keep you from being wiped of the board.<br />
<br />
In the new version, you probably won't have enough gold to finance two proper strike groups as you did in the past. If you can - swell. If not don't give up hope for there is still a way. Recruit one large group with practically all of your most powerful units. Dwarves are favored, for their better defense on cave floors, the resistances and ability to advance to level 3. Send this group to the east, take out the Draug stationed there and take control of the storeroom.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, leave yourself a little gold, and maybe one or two higher level units, as well as Tallin, to recruit a smaller force to hold the keep. This force will come under heavy attack, and for most of the game the northern passage will be plugged closed with hordes of walking corpses, bats and skeletons. Hold out as best as you can, even if you have to retreat all the way to the keep. You have a slight advantage there as you have some sunlight shining through which the skeletons generally don't like. If all goes well with the eastern team, and the are able to take control of the storeroom, you should soon be having some gold coming in so you can recruit yourself some reinforcements.<br />
<br />
Just as you think you have everything under control, things will take an ugly turn. At turn 21, you a horde of Ghouls and Necrophages will rise out of the canal. You are just going to have to endure as best you can. In the meantime, get your eastern force - regrouped and healed at the storeroom - to move north and take out the next Draug stationed there, and then move on further to take out Malifor. It will by no means be easy, but you have another group of villages behind the purple Draug which will help you heal and get some more income rolling in. You will also have to leave a force at the storeroom to hold the villages there - especially against the ghouls which may be no easy feat. If you are able to manage, send some backup from home base to help them hold out.<br />
<br />
Once you take out Malifor, things should be a little easier. As more of his units die out, the tide will start to gradually turn and what follows is a general mop up of the remaining leaders.<br />
<br />
===The Pursuit===<br />
<br />
This level opens with an 8-way junction of passages (one of which is where you enter). Don't get involved in fights in all 7 passages at once; you can only use Camerin in one place at a time, and initially you have a serious problem with healing (namely, you don't have any means to heal units, so they just have to go and stand in the entrance passage and regain 2hp per turn).<br />
<br />
Initially then, by turn 2 you should have Tallin on the camp and recruit 4 thugs and recall 2 steelclads. Use these to plug the passages east and west - these passages are short, each leading into a chamber with a recruiting death knight (RDK) who pumps out skeletons steadily. So you need to bottle them up immediately, and seize as much ground as you can (fighting up these corridors is one of the challenges of the first part of the level, so any ground seized now is useful). The nearest 2 revenants from the N passage will come down to attack you, but Camerin and the units you just recruited can deal with them easily.<br />
<br />
Next turn, recruit a strike force to go down the SW passage - this is the target for phase 1 of this level. At least 2 dwarf lords are needed, since it's a one-wide passage, and in places you have only 1 tile to advance into & 3 revenants can attack you at once. It's vital to beat this area quickly, since there are 2 white mages and one elvish druid down here, and you need their healing ability asap. I would keep Camerin out of this area, though (too many fights with you having 1 unit vs 2 revenants); he should clear the first part of the N passage, which should be easy with a dwarvish fighter and a couple of thugs to help (put a thug in a fortified tile, and the 2 revenants above will come down and attack, but probably not kill him; once out of their fortified tiles, they are easy prey).<br />
<br />
There are RDKs down the SW, NW, NE passages, but they have very low income so they just cause the odd stray unit to arrive from these passages every now and then; just keep a few units spare in the junction, and use Tallin, to deal with these as they arrive. Don't try to plug the NW, NE entrances, you might draw out the Draugs that are stationed a bit further up these passages - leave these until later. As soon as you have released 2 healers from the SW, run one back to the junction and start healing your injured units properly.<br />
<br />
Once the healers in the SW are free, and the first stretch of the N passage is done, begin work in earnest on the E and W passages. Don't bother trying to advance tile-by-tile - if you have a unit at a 1-wide point, the enemy will simply fill both tiles in front, and even if you kill one of them, you can't advance to take the space. Fall back to where it's 2-wide, wait until the enemy has only 1 unit in the next 2-wide bit of the passage, and then you have a chance to blitz them - the enemy at the 1-wide bit you can easily kill with 2 thugs, and then a steelclad takes the space and has a good chance of killing the single enemy in the next 2-wide bit. Then rush in a unit to occupy it, and you've made a lot of ground in 1 turn. Take care to level up any thugs with good traits, as marauders are excellent shock troops vs undead.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, begin phase 2 of the level - there are long passages around from the far end of the SW passage, and from the SE passage, which are worth exploring. The SE passage is mostly flooded, so choose some quick units - the elvish druid, a fast thug or two, maybe Krash, and at least one other tough melee unit - there's an L3 sea monster to fight on the way round. If you want to use the back door to Malifor's study, send at least 2 quick dwarf lords (or possibly QR steelclads); personally, I'm not sure the back door is worth having a dwarf lord out of action for 20-30 turns getting there, and any weaker unit will simply be killed by Malifor in the first combat round. The main thing for this group to do is to get the friendly spectre (send a quick unit round to the left on first entering the water) and the 2 villages here.<br />
<br />
For the SW passage, send at least 1 healer, 1 dwarf lord and maybe 2 steelclads (I send Krash this way, but perhaps the SW would be better for him). It's a long way round, but you get some allies and emerge in the back of the Treasury (NW passsage) where you get to fight a lot of revenants. Once this group enters the back door of the treasury, attack up the NW passage from the junction at the same time with some thugs, dwarf steelclads & Camerin. Together the two attacks should secure the main part of the treasury without too much trouble, and Camerin should finish off the various death knights easily enough. Marvel at the insane amount of wealth contained therein.<br />
<br />
Before the SW party gets around there, you should have finished off at least one of the E or W RDKs - Camerin is useful to help break through, and to deal with any units on fortified tiles. Most of the villages are in these 2 areas, so grab them. There's also a stash of holy water bottles in the E area, but I found these to be no use, since every unit I recruited was using impact attacks anyway, so the improvement is minimal; not worth diverting units for, IMO.<br />
<br />
Once you can spare the units (and are sure you won't need to do any more recruiting), send a group of maybe 7 units (1 healer/curer, 2 cheap thugs (or maybe poachers), Tallin, and a few good L2 units) up the N passage into the Great Chamber. Any units that aren't good against undead should be first choice, since the enemy up here is L3 giant spiders (e.g. I had a thunderguard from the initial recall, who was dead weight vs undead, but handy vs the spiders). Once you enter the chamber, the passage gets sealed behind you - back out of the chamber immediately, put your thugs in the fortified tiles by the 1-wide entrance; use them to lure the spiders one at a time, then pound them with Tallin and your good units. It will take a while. Once you are down to 2-3 spiders left, storm the main chamber, then bottle up the spider's castle to the E, while Tallin goes west to get the all-powerful Rod of Justice.<br />
<br />
Once the Treasury (NW passage) and E & W RDKs are beaten, these forces can regroup and attack the NE passage (Malifor's study) - phase 3. Get past the draugs, quickly (Camerin should blast through them fast enough) and occupy the junction at the end of the passage - this divides up the different RDKs, so you can deal with them separately. By this point, you have Camerin and some L3 thugs, who can easily smash their way down even a 1-wide passage against the L1 skeletons, so it shouldn't take long to clean up here. Push though to the entrance to Malifor's study, and then wait until you are in good position - dwarf lords only in the front rank - before throwing open the doors.<br />
<br />
Depending on the progress of your various teams, you might have Tallin's team available to come in as well via the N entrance to the study (from behind the spider's keep), and might have your team from the SE passage, if you gave it a high-level dwarf or two so it can survive the attacks of Malifor and his liches. Once you live through the first combat round, it should be easy - rotate L3 thugs into the front to kill the liches in 1 round, reform front line with dwarves inside the room. You need to kill Malifor with a white mage. (You could keep Tallin's group back in the Great Chamber - this seems to be where Malifor goes to if he dies by the sword, - and have another go at killing him with a mage there).<br />
<br />
Alternative approaches - forget about the long passages SW and SE? Just send Krash and the druid down to fetch the spectre and run back the way they came, since you only get 1 extra village by going through the water, and it takes so long to get heavy infantry round there to Malifor, it might just be a waste. The back door to the Treasury is useful, but it can equally be beaten by frontal assault with Camerin & heavy infantry, and again saves having troops out of action while they march round (although you do miss out on the free extra units in the back passage). Probably the level is faster if you skip these, and you don't lose out on a lot of XP.<br />
<br />
===Old Friend===<br />
<br />
This is meant to be an easy campaign, if your objective is to simply survive and hoard gold. You don't have to defeat the Orcs to win this one, so you can just lurk just inside the two-hex-wide aperture of the cave only two orcs at a time will be able to get at you; it's not hard to fend them off until time runs out. Spend as little gold as possible and level up some troops.<br />
<br />
If you are using this approach, it's worth recalling one dwarvish steelclad and run him round to the east-most village in the northern mountains - this one has impassable mountains on 2 adjacent tiles, so it can be attacked from only one tile, so a steelclad can easily hold out here & gain some XP doing so.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, you can go ahead and sally. It is supposed to be impossible to actually defeat them entirely, but if you stick to defensive terrain and keep recycling fresh units to the front, you should soon pile up stacks of orcish corpses as well as experience, which always comes in handy.<br />
<br />
===Settling Disputes===<br />
<br />
Tactics in this one are pretty straightforward but time is scant; your<br />
biggest issue may be getting to the enemy keep in the southeast with<br />
enough time left to take out defenders before the clock runs out.<br />
There's a ford in the middle of the map, and the enemy will slide<br />
trolls and ogres over it to try to cause trouble in your rear; if you<br />
mean to prevent this, it's best to place some blocking troops right on<br />
the shoreline where they can hit enemies still in the water.<br />
<br />
===Elvish Princess===<br />
<br />
In this one it's best to go straight at Bitterhold with a small group<br />
of hardened veterans -- you need to be in there fast (Camerin and<br />
the Rod of Justice will be particularly helpful here). Your objective,<br />
getting a unit onto the cage at the center of the castle, may be best<br />
accomplished with a flyer or skirmisher once you've chewed a few holes<br />
in the inner ring of defenders.<br />
<br />
===Introductions===<br />
<br />
Standard dungeon-crawling tactics should work fine in this one -- minimize<br />
your exposed front, and cycle wounded units back to the healers before <br />
they get killed. The destination signpost is in the northwest corner. <br />
There is nothing interesting in any of the side passages.<br />
<br />
===Stolen Gold===<br />
<br />
You'll have two problems in this scenario. One is lots and lots and<br />
lots of trolls. The other is that Krash is going to fly off and<br />
recruit level-one drakes to help you, but if they get swarmed by all<br />
the level-two trolls they're not going to live long. Krash's camp<br />
will materialize in the mountains near the map-edge west of your camp; the<br />
house at edge of board will be one hex NW of his tent square. Recall<br />
nine or ten veterans, go there and laager up around where his camp<br />
will appear. Hold off the troll swarm until the drakes show<br />
up, then bust out of the encirclement and clean up.<br />
<br />
The spectre can be extremely effective against the trolls; place him in the<br />
village on the northern tip of the eastern island, and he should be able to<br />
safely defend against one to three trolls each turn.<br />
<br />
The elvish shyde and sorceress, as well as the two liches, can be put to<br />
better use if you move them into the forest on the eastern island in the<br />
beginning of the scenario. Stay within the forest and lure in trolls one or<br />
two at a time to level up the sorceress and create a distraction. Once the troll leaders in the NE and SE have finished recruiting & their forces have moved over to attack in the W, the liches and the shyde can jump in and kill the leaders, and seize as many villages as possible.<br />
<br />
After Krash's camp is set up, you will be controlling both Tallin's and<br />
Krash's troops. Krash's team will take its turn after all the trolls, and<br />
before Tallin. The trolls will probably be still swarming in front of<br />
Tallin's defense, but you can create opportunities for the drakes to level<br />
up by withdrawing one of Tallin's units, and defeating the two trolls<br />
next to that opening, so that the trolls will be zone-locked and unable to get into the<br />
opening. The drakes will have the advantage that after they<br />
attack they can be healed by Tallin's healers, before the trolls retaliate.<br />
<br />
Although you will be in deep negative gold during this one, don't succumb to the temptation to give all the villages to Krash. He can make use of them immediately, but that isn't important, as he starts with enough gold to recruit enough drakes for what you need. You will get a big early finish bonus, so seize villages with your forces in the E, and with your main force once you break out. It's essential to get more than 140 gold going into the next level. (Krash won't go negative, so he'll end up with 400-500 gold with the early finish bonus anyway.)<br />
<br />
===Eastern Fortress===<br />
<br />
The mistake to avoid in this scenario is exposing level 1 drakes to<br />
being swarmed by the wolfriders and assassins that head north. Keep<br />
your drakes in line, close the gap between the east end of the drake<br />
line and the west flank of the human troops, and anchor the west flank<br />
of the drake line on a board edge. Recruit lots of drakes so you can<br />
cycle injured ones out of the line before they get killed. Use mages<br />
and the Rod of Justice to blast the defenders off the walls; you'll<br />
need at least six units of heavy infantry to follow through.<br />
<br />
[cph] I prefer a totally different approach. The only good thing about drakes in mountains is that you can rush them away to heal once they get trashed. They have a much lower defense on mountains relative to non-drake units. So it's better for Tallin to recall L2 and L3 dwarves (maybe one L1 dwarf), and spread these along the line in the mountains - you probably can't get enough to avoid having quite a number of drakes here, but it limits the number of drakes that the enemy can trash per turn; and the limited mobility in the mountains means they can't always attack the drakes with the units that they want.<br />
<br />
Use drakes first to finish off weakened enemies, and drake burners to soften up the higher level enemy melee units (try to avoid having many L1 drake units in the line at night, when they are extremely vulnerable). Tallin's higher level units are better used for attacks on fresh enemy units. Don't extend your drake line to the map edge any faster than needed - the AI won't deliberately try to outflank, he'll just try to wrap around the last unit in line. You want to minimise the number of drakes he can maul each turn. Get the two human healers up into the mountains, and wounded drakes should congregate behind the lines around these. The two liches are good front-line units here, as the high defense means the enemy melee troops can't batter them too much (their drain attacks tend to compensate for any health loss), and their magic attacks are perhaps the most potent on this terrain.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the east side of your line starts in the village just E of the mountains, where Tallin should be - the enemy are generally afraid to attack him due to the Rod. The line east of here consists of the spectre, the shyde & sorceress, and a mix of drakes and any high-level human units in your auto-recall. (The drakes have only a 10% difference in defense on these terrains, and have better mobility over the river.) Use the shyde and sorceress to entangle the best enemy melee units each turn, and drakes to soften up and kill them.<br />
<br />
You hold this line for 2 days, wearing through the enemy. Once they run low on units, the drakes become valuable for encircling isolated units, rolling up the flanks, and darting behind their lines to seize villages. Push south through the mountains, and use the wizards to blast the orc leaders.<br />
<br />
[IoN] I use the same technique as cph in the mountains, but a radically different strategy otherwise. I recalled all my veterans, sent the dwarves north, and almost everyone else directly west. I recruited as many Gryphons as I could with my money, and sent them, as well as Abhai, south to take the island. I also made sure to move Tallin and Krash near to the front lines. The sheer number of high-level units attacking the main front was too much for the orcs, and by turn 11 the dwarf/drake force had defeated the northern flank. I moved Krash into one of the leader castle squares in the fortress, and recruited a Drake Burner in every free square in the fortress. (If you still somehow have positive gold with Tallin, you can use a similar technique with him) By turn 12, the orcs' main front had also collapsed due to the Drake Burners, and I defeated the last orc leader on turn 16.<br />
<br />
The gryphons in the south basically were slaughtered by turn 10. I only had two remaining with low health; I retreated these in case they would be useful for recall (20 gold vs. recruiting 40 gold). By then, however, the island was free from orcs and there was only a small band (~5-6) of one Orcish Warrior and several Wolf Riders left. Abhai easily slaughtered most of them in the water, and the healed surviving Gryphons killed the rest by turn 14. <br />
<br />
The only problem with this strategy is that it puts you in deep negative gold, but the early finish bonus more than makes up for that.<br />
<br />
===Get the Gold===<br />
<br />
Don't recruit a lot for this one; if you have enough level 2 and 3 units<br />
to fill your starting camp, you can probably take out the orc leader with <br />
those. Krash and friends aren't likely to be able to fly over in time to<br />
do much.<br />
<br />
===Showdown===<br />
<br />
Pull out all the stops, because this is it. You'll want to draw the<br />
Orc Warlords off the walls before engaging them, they're dangerous<br />
enough as it is without the fortification bonus; hanging a unit or<br />
two just within their engagement range will do it. Because there are<br />
so many orcs, you need to be especially careful about neither leaving <br />
units isolated nor presenting unanchored flanks for them to swarm<br />
around (the drakes, in particular, should fort up in the northern camp <br />
until they've thinned out their attackers considerably).<br />
<br />
===Epilogue===<br />
<br />
This is just a plot wrap-up.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=25288TheRiseOfWesnoth2008-04-12T00:10:56Z<p>IoN: /* Rise of Wesnoth */ comments</p>
<hr />
<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] Agreed, certainly no more than 2 paladins; I got by so far with just one. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen generally, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians.<br />
<br />
Due to the number of levels against the undead, important to level up lots of spearmen to swordsmen. But equally, halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. I went 50:50 on halberdiers and swordsmen.<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
<br />
You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
<br />
There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
<br />
After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
<br />
''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
<br />
''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
<br />
===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
<br />
[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
<br />
===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Just story. I wonder what would have happened if the outlaw lady had died in one of the previous scenarios. [She just poofs back in and rejoins the plot at that point. --Anon. speaking from experience]<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units. One strategy to counter the river ambush is to wait until they're almost there, and then recruit a castle of spear men. I had over a thousand gold at the start of this scenario, though.<br />
<br />
[comment by Pent] I wonder how much gold you had in the beginning. Personally I had only 100, so I could only hold until the 1st ship.<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
<br />
===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
<br />
===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Just an enjoyable plot.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against Sea Orcs and Nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all Sea Orcs and Nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
Funny Fact: I managed to keep both Burin The Lost, and Sir Ladoc alive until this level, at the beginning, when Haldric is testing the ruby of fire, Burin says"Fool of a boy is gonna burn us all up. Humans, always playing at being wizards", and then Ladoc replies "For the glory of Southbay!". This was probably not intended, because we weren't supposed to have them alive, but it is funny nonetheless<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by Jonadab] Thieves have only 20% defense in water. Outlaws have 40%. Obviously you're going to try to keep your land-based units mostly on land, but I used outlaws rather than thieves here for this reason.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the sauians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well). After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold,<br />
right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
This map starts out in shroud, like a cave. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. But keep some around for the Chocobones. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, use Silver Mages in support to finish the leader.<br />
<br />
When you reach the swamp in the north, tighten to a hedgehog formation. Not only are Saurian skirmishers a problem, but Chocobones move fairly quickly through a variety of terrain, and they have Charge. Defend until the most dangerous enemies are in poor position, then wipe them out. This map sports the least effective Cuttlefish I've ever seen; he was in the water near me but fled. Remember where the keeps are, and advance to the finish.<br />
<br />
The cuttlefish appear as soon as you hit the shore. Several additional saurians also appear when you approach the swamp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't (i finished with about 1000 gold).<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pensored and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
[notes by IoN] I somehow came into this level with well over fifteen hundred gold, so I decided to try a rather amusing strategy. I moved my ~20 level 2-4 recalls directly south, then sent wave after wave of horsemen west. By the end, I had nearly a hundred units on the field.<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheRiseOfWesnoth&diff=25208TheRiseOfWesnoth2008-04-10T18:14:04Z<p>IoN: /* Clearwater Port */ comments by former account</p>
<hr />
<div>== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==<br />
<br />
===Campaign strategy===<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:<br />
<br />
* Paladins (lots)<br />
* Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more)<br />
* White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)<br />
* Royal Guards (lots)<br />
* Assorted other units, maybe some Bowmen and Grand Knights, Great Mages are nice<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Actually, I played through the campaign with just one Royal Guard (who was strong and quick, and I let him tough-up several times). On the whole, most of the enemies you encounter will have better melee than ranged attacks, so it is better tactics to attack them with bowmen (and mages, if you can avoid being hit back with too many units). When you do need to attack with a strong melee attack, you will generally have your advanced horsemen (Paladins, and whatever Lancers or Grand Knights you may level up). Also by the third scenario you will be able to recruit thugs, which being chaotic are a rather better complement for your mages and horsemen than swordsmen would be. In my estimation it is not necessary to have very many Royal Guards. The other level-up paths for spearmen are, IMO, even less useful in this campaign.<br />
<br />
However, you do need a limited number of "damage sink" units (units that can absorb damage without getting killed), and the Royal Guard is excellent in that regard. Burin also serves that purpose very well, and Haldric at level 3 can also take a hit or two. You can pick up one of the white mages you need by choosing the swamp (see below), and he'll be loyal, which is nice, but yes, you will still want to level up 2-3 additional white mages, as they will be your only poison-curing healers, and you will encounter orcish assassins on numerous occasions. And, several Great Mages will be very nice to have. This makes levelling up mages an important strategic goal of the campaign overall. I like to go every-other with the mage levelups: white, then red, then white, then red, and so forth, although after four or so white you may want to make the rest red.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Just finished on medium difficulty. I largely second all of the above, but instead of lots of Paladins I would just level up two, for undead disposal purposes. Make the rest of them Grand Knights, since they easily kill most low level orc or saurian units in a one blow. A mage of light, one paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team !<br />
<br />
[Comments by cph] Agreed, certainly no more than 2 paladins; I got by so far with just one. Important not to be too reliant on horsemen generally, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against saurians.<br />
<br />
Due to the number of levels against the undead, important to level up lots of spearmen to swordsmen. But equally, halberdiers are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles esp. repelling wolf riders. I went 50:50 on halberdiers and swordsmen.<br />
<br />
Due to many undead opponents, you will want to recruit many thugs at times, and get a few (the quick ones, since you need them underground) levelled up. These, plus Lady Thief, give tactical options at other levels too: some decent chaotic troops form an ideal reserve, since you can attack with your lawful troops at dawn, and by nightfall when you need to heal them, use some chaotic troops to either continue the attack or to shield your healing lawful units.<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
===A Summer Of Storms ===<br />
<br />
At first it's best to hire 2 horsemen and 3 other units, possibly spearmen. Note, however, that you will not have any healers until you level up at least one mage to White Mage status, and the sooner you can do that the better. Red mages will also prove very useful in subsequent scenarios, so consider recruiting at least two mages. In any case, send the horsemen with the king over the brige, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Then you should probably hire bowmen and more spearmen. Whatever bowmen you can get advanced will be useful later on for fighting the many trolls and grunts you will encounter. Send them on the "over-the-bridge" road and hire some more troops. Start going with the troops and prince Haldric on the "over-the-bridge" road and by this time the king and the horsemen should have arrived, use the king wisely, he has leadership. When the rest of your troops arrive, you should get to the enemy camp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] So for recruiting in the first scenario, I would start with two horsemen, and one each mage, bowman, spearman. After that I would go for additional mages and bowmen mostly.<br />
<br />
===The Fall===<br />
<br />
Saving the Shock Troopers pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws and recruit two spearmen to stand in their places. This will hold off the orcs for a time. There are two basic strategies to kill the outlaw leader. You can either march west with a large army and use part of it to hold nortwestern orc. Use the rest to fight outlaws and kill the leader. This strategy requires a lot of troops but it can bring you plenty of experience, and can bring a quick victory. Another way is to assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait till orcs have killed all outlaws and assassinate outlaw leader with knights. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you. Another way to assassinate the leader is to send mages protected by a spearmen through the mountains to the outlaw keep. Two mages and three spearmen are enough. If you use assassination strategy it is a good idea to fight against eastern orc nearby your keep. This way you can secure your back and earn experience.<br />
<br />
===A Harrowing Escape===<br />
<br />
There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. Its not far from your camp, so send Lady Outlaw there. Dwarf joins you because "It has been a long time since he felt the satisfying crunch of Orcs under his Axe."<br />
<br />
You should recruit at least one, possibly two mages here, and use them for killing goblin spearmen and finishing off injured wolf riders in the hills & mountains bordering the valley. It is essential to have at least 1 (preferably 2) mages either levelled up or about to level up before going to the Swamp.<br />
<br />
[this is just my comments after playing it once in medium - Allefant]<br />
In medium, simply recruit what you want, and go along the road. You get enough villages to pay upkeep for quite some army, and can give some of them a bit of experience.<br />
[Windscion: leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly.] [Samsara: Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed. You will, however, only capture about four enemy units that way (in easy). Still, better than having the enemy catch villages behind you!]<br />
<br />
(Drake Raider added this note:There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards incase th enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down SE to the lake so you can prevent the Green team [SE] from comeing up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts on the southern castle tiles and then move L.O. and B.t.L. to them.)<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
====The Midlands====<br />
<br />
<br />
Orcs again. But you chose that way. You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall. I took 1 castle of recruits and almost all my recalls, even HI. Then go south. If you go west, only your knights and horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. My choice was to go south. Take the bridge and defend against the enemy closing in from the west. Take out Yellow with a fast assault team (they should take a healer along), but be careful about the leader. Your main force moves west, takes and holds the second bridge, and takes out Blue. Your assault team stays in the south and goes for the last enemy leader - they won't face any serious resistance. The enemy moves north to support Blue. The HI guarding the bridge might gain a level or die. Mine took the first option, but that depends on the experience it starts with. That way you can finish early (25 turns) and keep your losses low (3 horsemen at the leaders, because they were charging, and he hit 4 times wiht double damage).<br />
<br />
The 'Dark' Option: Using Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works good. Footpads are cheap. And they are fast. And they have good defensive abilities. Plus they fight well in the dark, and in the forest. So recruit lots of footpads-pawns and quickly dispatch to the upper west and south, followed by higher level units: mages, horseman etc. For the time being, we will be leaving the middle enemy alone. To the upper west, send several footpads into the forest and capture the village and set up a defensive line. This cuts down the enemys gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. I sent a level 2 horseman and a red mage along with level 2 lost dwarf. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the horseman to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your footpads to capture any villages you can and, more imporantly put a footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, there by stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. Probably sending a thief or two would be good, as one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. I sent the white mage along with this group and also had some level 2 trappers. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage. I also sent some level one bowman for the orc-wolves.<br />
<br />
====The Swamp Of Esten====<br />
<br />
You should kill the eastern enemy quickly. Send Burin with knights, a white mage, and some other mages east at start. Mages are effective against scorpions. Try to attack dark adepts with Burin or horsemen before they have chance to attack you. You can send some horsemen from the second castle you recruit to strengthen the eastern front.<br />
<br />
There is also a free loyal White Mage hiding in (a random) one of the temples - visit the temple close to the keep asap, and if not there, try rushing Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5.<br />
<br />
After you have killed the eastern leader and eliminated troops there you can send the eastern army south against next leader. Send a second army south with Haldric. Bowmen and shocktroopers are useful on southern front. Bowmen can shoot outlaws and scorpions. They also retaliate against dark adepts so they are good for defence. Shocktroopers survive even if they are attacked with several outlaws. A couple of horsemen and mages are also useful. You can also add spearmen or swordsmen in southern army. If you have a rogue send him also south. An assassin will be very useful later. There are temples in the swamp. Searching them is good. However, some of them contain nasty surprises. So keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.<br />
<br />
===The Oldwood===<br />
<br />
The main bulk of your force should head East to the orc in the Northeastern castle. Haldric, a white mage and a few good units (the heavy infantry from The Fall work very well, along with a few other units)should head South to the other orc leader. The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so dont bother sending troops there. If you are working effectively, you shouldn't have a problem defending them. If you're having a hard time, however, you might want to divert a few units to watch their backs. The Northeastern leader recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out. Once you defeat the main in the North, the orc's supplies will be low, and reinforcements few. In the South you'll have a little more of a cakewalk. A few effective melee units can easily counter the riders they send early on, and then with a little forethought and patience you can take out their archers and crossbowmen without giving them time to shoot. <br />
<br />
''[comments by Allefant]<br />
This is how I played in medium: I sent 3 knights, 3 mages, Haldric and some spearmen south, and all the rest east (4 knights, 4 mages, some other units). Every group had 2 white mages to heal wounded ones. Both were very slowly (avoid placing knights in the forest, don't attack at night-time) making for the two enemy leaders. It's important to keep an eye also on the middle, sending some units around in the forest, since the orcs will try to kill the tree.''<br />
<br />
''[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
This is kind of risky, but here goes;I started the game by sending Sir Ladoc and another knight to the south. The green leader arrives at the first town on his side of the river on the third turn. Since Sir Ladoc was present at the beginning, his arrival to that vary town syncs with the green leader, I had him attack for 70 damage, then retreat, and had my other knight attack him in the 4th turn. This way, there are only four green enemies to fight!''<br />
<br />
===Temple in the Deep===<br />
<br />
First recall your veterans who are either mages or have over 6 movement (don't bother with cavalry regardless of movement) and then recruit lots of thugs as undead fodder (1 or 2 turns worth should do it). Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water, being able to move quickly in the caves and also being able to drop almost every undead on a nonspectacular hit. There are two ways north, but they will meet up together before you meet any enemies besides the Tentacles. Ignore the tentacles for the most part and only kill them when it's convenient, as you will need to have a strong line set up by the time you engage the undead. Watch out for the enemy's boneshooters, revenants and deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Your knight (the one who was a messenger earlier on) is completely useless, and should be left somewhere out of the way. Once you see the two chokepoints, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (prefferably with a white mage behind them). Try level up at least one white mage to a mage of light while fighting in the choke point. Gradually progress northwards once the flow and quality of baddies has tapered off, and once you get into the final chamber, the boss should be a piece of cake, although his ranged attack is devastating so try to attack him with melee units. The Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.<br />
<br />
[comments by Allefant]<br />
One advice here: Don't over-recruit. Knights are useless in caves. I dragged them all around at the back, doing nothing at all and eating up my complete gold reserves. In fact, I think you can win this with just mages. The dwarf also is very useful, he'll fully upgrade if he hasn't yet.<br />
<br />
[comments by Gdou]<br />
(on easy mode at least) You can beat this level by recruiting only mages.<br />
Give Holy Water to Haldric. use the dwarf to weak at maximum strongest skeletons (lvl2 and 3), finish them with the mages. <br />
At the begining wait for the first wave of skelettons on your side of the lake. Skeletons are less resistants in water, so killing them is easier.<br />
Then, use the less experienced mages as cannon fodder, protecting your more important units. The lich can kill almost every unit in one turn with a 15*4 magical attack.<br />
I killed the lich in one turn by attacking it with the dwarf, the knight (Sir Ruddry), the Prince (Haldric) and finished him with one or two fireballs launched by a freshly upgraded red mage.<br />
Some white mages are useful as there are few places where wounded units can recover healing.<br />
<br />
[comments by flynn]<br />
Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. <br />
The tentacles are perfect for levelling up two thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Sir Ruddry can help buffer. Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving the thugs of XP. <br />
The Shock Troopers saved in The Fall are good buffers in this scenario - a level 2 should get to level 3, and they're loyal, so they don't bleed your cash while you're stretching the game out.<br />
<br />
[comments by smenze]<br />
Playing on medium I noticed a few things about this level. First, you can actually not recruit very many units assuming you have some leveled up. I recalled 1 mage (about to level), 1 fire mage (lvl 2), white mages (lvl 2), and 4 lvl 2 outlaws (leveled up footpads). Then i ran up and grabbed the choke points basically splitting my force in half (sent Burin one direction and Haldric the other). You could probably do it with one of the leveled up foot pads to rotate in on each side, but I would have to replay it to try that strategy.<br />
<br />
===Return to Oldwood===<br />
<br />
Just story. I wonder what would have happened if the outlaw lady had died in one of the previous scenarios. [She just poofs back in and rejoins the plot at that point. --Anon. speaking from experience]<br />
<br />
===Clearwater Port===<br />
<br />
Your allies are useless, unless they do suicide runs, which is at least entertaining. The north leader will waste a lot of time trying to move his units E and then S over the shallows toward your rearguard, no matter how strongly defended you are there. So defend strongly on the coastline and fill the bay with their corpses. You will need to recruit lots of units to fight off the hordes to the W, so don't be a piker. Pikemen are fine, though. Try to get lots of your allies killed early so they don't clog the bridges later when you split your forces N and S.<br />
<br />
I like to hit the middle leader first, then send a detachment south to deal with the southern leader while the main force crosses the bridge. (Your troops can't all cross the bridge at once anyway.) Some troops may also be able to ford north across the water at the eastern end of the bay (after first killing most of the orcs that try to cross there), but be careful not to get attacked in the water with only 20% defense. (Certain of your chaotic units do have 40% defense in water; now is a good time to pay attention to that.) The units that cross the water probably won't reach the enemy leader before your main force kills him, but you can pick up some of the eastern villages. When crossing, if there are enemy chaotic units to receive you, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[comments by IoN] I find that the allies are actually quite useful in killing the middle enemy, as well as serving as fodder so that the orcs don't attack your units. One strategy to counter the river ambush is to wait until they're almost there, and then recruit a castle of spear men. I had over a thousand gold at the start of this scenario, though.<br />
<br />
[comment by Pent] I wonder how much gold you had in the beginning. Personally I had only 100, so I could only hold until the 1st ship.<br />
<br />
===Fallen Lich Point===<br />
<br />
The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group (best to use mostly mages for that) south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric over the stone to de-petrify him. It may help to post some mages around the undead before doing so. After that, head north and walk into the sewer enrance, and possibly kill the Orc leaders before.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, if you recruit heavily, to split your force and head north to attack the eastern orcs before they finish with the Yeti. However, be careful not to be attacked by the Yeti yourself; it is dangerous even if heavily wounded. The Yeti will attack you if he can get to a unit within one turn.<br />
<br />
When dealing with the Lich, be aware that he has money; if you let him vacate any of his encampment tiles, or if you kill any of his units but do not occupy their tiles, he will be able to recruit. (This is not necessarily all bad, as it can mean more experience, but depending on the strength of your force you may want to be careful.) Also note that units which cannot cross mountains (e.g., Paladins) are practically worthless here.<br />
<br />
Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.<br />
<br />
===Sewer of Southbay===<br />
<br />
As always, don't recruit a lot of units in underground, and don't recruit units which can barely move there. Only mages is probably best, maybe some thieves or other chaotic units. If you have enough levelled up mages, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously - else do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.<br />
<br />
Pay particular attention to the Giant Spider at the exit. I found best to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save to most advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so mages are good here.<br />
<br />
===Southbay in Winter===<br />
<br />
Just an enjoyable plot.<br />
<br />
===A Final Spring===<br />
<br />
For the south land area, do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units. Move slower units to defend the walled city, which you would think your allies could do a better job of. Take their villages; they don't do anything useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the walls in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north.<br />
<br />
Treat the island boss as a separate effort. Do not use assassins. Assassins have relatively weak defense in water against Sea Orcs and Nagas, they're very weak against blade, which is all Sea Orcs and Nagas use, and their relatively slow movement in water makes backstab hard to use reliably. Instead, wait until your first combat, after which you can recruit Mermen. Maybe send a white mage into the water with the mermen for healing purposes, and when you get to the island's cities, you can bring in Silver Mages (hopefully you have at least one by now) to help finish off the boss.<br />
<br />
[Comments by flynn]<br />
Depending on your strength, you may be able to move some units immediately north over the water to hold the houses on both sides of the bridge. This should also allow an earlier finish. Note that many of the first enemy units to arrive will have no ranged attack.<br />
<br />
[comments by Elilmaldur-Rithrandil]<br />
Funny Fact: I managed to keep both Burin The Lost, and Sir Ladoc alive until this level, at the beginning, when Haldric is testing the ruby of fire, Burin says"Fool of a boy is gonna burn us all up. Humans, always playing at being wizards", and then Ladoc replies "For the glory of Southbay!". This was probably not intended, because we weren't supposed to have them alive, but it is funny nonetheless<br />
<br />
===Peoples in Decline===<br />
<br />
Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night. I found it best to play a bit defensive, taking advantage of the mountains. Most of the drake leaders were careless enough to fly near enough to me that I could kill them outside their bases. Make sure you get the Storm Trident in the middle of the sea, but be certain that you've cleared most of the drakes first, since a sea serpent will appear. It's best to have some strong units ready to kill it in 1 or 2 turns. You can give the trident to Lord Typhon, but since he leaves a bit later, you may want to give it to another Merman.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman you give the storm trident to has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton.<br />
<br />
[Comments by gdou] Drakes have less resistance towards pierce attacks. I used mainly Bowmen and horsemen during days, and Poachers at nights.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] Note also that while drakes are resistant to fire, so are your mages. This can make them useful against the less fiery drakes (e.g., Drake Fighters). Against the Burners and whatnot you will want to use melee attacks. The Drakes that fly are more or less impervious to rough terrain, so you must pay closer attention to their range of movement when you plan your zones of control. Be careful about protecting your mages at night.<br />
<br />
===Rough Landing===<br />
<br />
Recruit just mermen and thieves (you should already have some assassins to recall at this point as well). Maybe a white mage or two for extra healing. Try to level up the mermen, they can be useful in another scenario later. I went first for the right enemy, keeping all my troops together and moving straight east. The other two leaders sent all their troops towards me as well, so after the southeast leader was finished, there weren't much enemies left. I sent all remaining mermen to the northwest one, and a group of assassins to the northeast one over the long isle.<br />
<br />
Also, beware of sea serpents, make sure to surround them and kill at once. The trident from the previous scenario will come in handy as well.<br />
<br />
[Notes by Jonadab] Thieves have only 20% defense in water. Outlaws have 40%. Obviously you're going to try to keep your land-based units mostly on land, but I used outlaws rather than thieves here for this reason.<br />
<br />
[Notes by flynn] Use Lady Jessica's leadership ability to help the mermen fight and level. Put her in the water if necessary - just surround her with mermen.<br />
<br />
===A New Land===<br />
<br />
In case you find the map looks familiar, it seems to be from "Bay of Pearls" from HttT. This scenario is mainly story though. Recruit nothing, and attack nothing.<br />
<br />
The scenario objectives tell you to avoid all confrontation for as long as possible, but actually the faster your units encounter the others the faster the scenario will end, that saves time.<br />
<br />
---edited smenze---<br />
One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more merman as their king leaves. They are quite helpful in a later scenario so grabbing a few extra here cannot hurt if you can spare the gold.<br />
<br />
===The Ka'lian===<br />
<br />
Story, with your choice of four battles next. You have to beat them all in whatever order. The amount of gold you have should be the factor in deciding when you choose to play Cursed Isle (the undead problem).<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
<br />
All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.<br />
====The Dragon====<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Saurian enemies in this, and they all have the ''skirmish'' ability. My strategy to win was to recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (I used four), rotate stronger units outwards, and make sure you leave no gaps. The Saurians will slip through the tiniest gap and kill your weak units. My route was to start off straight east, towards the green enemy, but I was surrounded about half-way, then camped there and fought a huge onslaught of Saurians until around turn 10.<br />
By that time, there were many fewer Saurians left than in the beginning.<br />
And the green leader foolishly placed himself next to Haldric's Sceptre and was killed as well. So I now split up my group, sent one half back to the blue leader, and another south. The southern group first killed off the yellow leader, and then met the dragon. After that I also let the west group who had killed the blue leader finish of the SW leader. The key really is the beginning turns, if you can survive the initial onslaught without half your troops dying already, the map is won.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Fighting Saurians requires a disciplined formation. If you're used to stringing out troops to move them into position as they get there, that won't work after Turn 2 or 3. I use a "healing hedgehog" of ten troops--two white mages next to each other and eight troops completely encircling them. If someone gets badly injured, move them to the inside and put a white mage on one of the long edges, fighting as you go. If you're trying for the big bonus, you'll need two hedgehogs. Try to keep reserves back a bit in cities. If the terrain favorably protects you, or the wounded is a fast unit, you can try moving wounded back to cities too. Once the main wave of Saurians is broken,<br />
you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders. If you have a Lancer in position, rush in to the cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the gold (edit: except the cave is in the mountains, so a Lancer cannot reach it), though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Globulin]<br />
Switching wounded units to the inside of the hedgehog can be a problem if you are surrounded. ZOC prevents you from creating an open hex to move the inner unit into. A better strategy is to create a triangle with three hexes inside, instead of the standard two of the hedgehog. If you do this on your castle, only three units are in grasslands. If you set it right, you can make most of the hexes adjacent to your triangle be grassland as well, forcing the Saurians into a bad defensive position.<br />
<br />
In terms of unit positioning, the simplest way is to fill two inner spaces with Mages of Light, a but a better tactic is to put one of the mages on an edge, thereby ensuring that all but one of your units are healing. The remaining unit can either be a Merman Hoplite, (prefereably resilient and carrying a Storm Trident) or Lady Jessica, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light. <br />
<br />
The Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is alright, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it, and finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Megatuga] I've found the triangle strategy a bit dificult to use, because the movement isn't the same for everyone. So I really didn't use a specific strategy. I sent everyone towards. At turn 3 I had the first encounter, at South. I defeated the blue leader quite easily, but I needed to restore my units' HP. You have to manage your villages well, not only because of the HP but also because of the negative money. <br />
<br />
Returning back to HP, you'll need some mages to restore it. But make sure you have powerful units blocking the enemy's way to mages, thought their HP is a bit low (I got 2 quick ones, which means -10HP each) and can get killed easily. Another big point of this scenario is the destructive enemy attacks. They don't attack many units, they focus their attack in one single unit and kill him. Another fact is the day/night one. I found it easily to deafeat enemy leaders at day: my units attacks were stronger and really helped me with that task. Their leaders may also rush: get your chance and give them a powerful attack.<br />
<br />
But if you're going to take the South way, make sure you have some units in your castle because purple and green enemys are also quite strong and will send units straight to Haldric. My Outlaw showed good skills entertaining enemys for some turns in the northern woods: he has 70% defence in there, so I recommend his use, if supported by one or two more Outlaws.<br />
<br />
Here you can also find Big Mudcrawlers. Try to do not attack them with one single unit specially if you have many enemys around you and/or your unit HP is too low, because if you kill him he will get divided and then you found yourself surrounded by 2 mudcrawlers. After killing the blue leader, I killed the grey one, then the green rushed and I killed him too. After all this it's all easy: now the enemy has no resources and just a few units. Now kill the purple leader. Then you can reorganize, but you don't have plenty of time: he appears after killing all the enemy leaders. And watch out, don't spawn him too earlier, you may get weaken if you can't kill him. Avoid the brown road around the mountain.<br />
<br />
[Comment by Mihoshi]<br />
Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units, resistant to pierce. Namely spearmen and heavy infantry have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as saurians use ranged attacks a lot.<br />
<br />
====Lizard Beach====<br />
<br />
Recall most of your mermen from before and send them along the river towards the sea. This will harry the saurian troops coming down from the north, allowing your main force to advance on the southern enemy undisturbed. Beware, though as your mermen will encounter the saurians at night time (giving you -25% and them +25%), so try to minimize conflict until dawn, just get in their way. As saurians all have skirmish and alot of movement, be sure to protect your wounded units well. Because of the sauians unnerving ability to concentrate their fire on one unit, be sure to keep several healers around and try to keep your line strait so only two can mob one guy (hedgehog tactic also seems to work well). After you defeat the main force from the south send just one or two guys north to capture towns so your silver mages can teleport into the fray. The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push should be quick and clean. It's harder to take the northern leader without alot of foreplanning because all of your units will be stuck south of the marshes and the river. If you want to go for a quick win, just march forth with silver mages, mermen, and anyone who's close enough to be a help. If you dont want to lose any of you better units, patience may be the key. As soon as you approach the beach a naga warrior and four nagas arrive in the sea right around the mouth of the river to help the lizardmen, so be careful endangering your mermen there.<br />
<br />
====The Troll Hole====<br />
<br />
There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill. It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Try to use the narrow corridors to your advantage, so the enemy can only place one attack against a strong unit of yours, but you can kill a troll at a time with two mages or Haldric. Also keep an eye at your back since they will try to surround you. And resist the temptation to send single units wandering around in what seems empty caves - they will all die. I had to restart just to save the dwarf, who had happily wandered off alone searching for gold,<br />
right into the lair of a giant spider.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] Try to arrange it so one troll can enter to be attacked by many troops. Have regular troops in front initially. Move mages forward to finish the troll, plug the gap where the troll was with Burin or a Royal Guard or an Iron Mauler, and reset the trap on the next turn. When you've whittled down the enemy, go the direction they came from and kill the leaders, ignoring spider keeps.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Jonadab] In addition to mages, your chaotic units can be helpful here again, especially against the occasional rocklobber, which you will not want to attack with mages.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Samsara] Putting mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.<br />
<br />
====Cursed Isle====<br />
<br />
This can be the first or last map you choose, depending on how desperate you are for cash. If you can wait, do it last. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples, one of which contains a Vampire Lady. Defeat her, and the scene is over just like that. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that too.<br />
<br />
If you'd rather not deal with the vampire lady, recall some experienced mermen and have them pick up the holy water.<br />
<br />
===A Spy In The Woods===<br />
<br />
Plot only.<br />
<br />
===The Vanguard===<br />
<br />
My strategy was to seal of all the gaps in the canyon. So, recruit a lot of units, you will need them. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or being cared for by healers. Or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Easuth] This map is smaller than fog of war and canyons make it appear. Rush the NW gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor. Don't forget the cash, which you can see even in fog.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] Note that once you attack the leaders, a few undead units will appear near them at the edge of the map. Thus you may want to be sure to have some spare firepower before you attack the leader. I made do with three rounds of recalls. One mounted batch to take out the west, the other two to hold off the remaining forces coming from the north and east. As soon as the first wave dies down, take down the west leader and move up north for the kill of the other two.<br />
<br />
===Return of the Fleet===<br />
<br />
Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the game will start to throw things at you, whatever it has left. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.<br />
<br />
This map starts out in shroud, like a cave. You just haven't been informed of it yet. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features and castle and city locations. Also, physically explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.<br />
<br />
It would be very useful to bring a storm trident into the water. It'll take a few turns, but the undead trying to reach shore will take even longer. Paladins are so effective against undead that you can wade into the water after them. But keep some around for the Chocobones. Just remember, Paladins can't go into deep water and undead can. Once you take an island city, use Silver Mages in support to finish the leader.<br />
<br />
When you reach the swamp in the north, tighten to a hedgehog formation. Not only are Saurian skirmishers a problem, but Chocobones move fairly quickly through a variety of terrain, and they have Charge. Defend until the most dangerous enemies are in poor position, then wipe them out. This map sports the least effective Cuttlefish I've ever seen; he was in the water near me but fled. Remember where the keeps are, and advance to the finish.<br />
<br />
The cuttlefish appear as soon as you hit the shore. Several additional saurians also appear when you approach the swamp.<br />
<br />
[Comments by Owke] <br />
I had a problem here, since either I went bankrupt or I got bogged down pretty fast. Both of these are undesirable since you need money for the last scenario. After four restarts I finally found a way that works : peasants ! <br />
<br />
I first sent a merman force west to deal with the undead. Northwest I sent a mounted force with one healer to hold the line. Then I recruited 3 or 4 castles worth of peasants as cannon fodder north/northeast, to draw away fire from your cleanup crew. Especially against Chocobones this is nice. Entice it into killing a peasant, then finish it with a high level unit.<br />
<br />
That may sound like a waste of money, but keep in mind that peasants cost only 8 gold, and do not require any upkeep ! Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage, though at night you should just let them take the beating since otherwise they die too quickly.<br />
<br />
After the mermen (and one paladin) dealt with the undead you can bring them in and push through to the leaders. This tactic worked at medium level with 17 turns to spare.<br />
<br />
---edit by smenze---<br />
<br />
My strategy is really divided into a few different sections. It looks like you will end up losing alot of gold, but honestly in the end you don't (i finished with about 1000 gold).<br />
<br />
Section 1 (the mermen and the West)<br />
My orginal recruits were 3-4 "quick" mermen (including the storm trident) and 2 poachers (more about them later). Move the merman as quickly as possible pretty much straight to the West (there is a village and swamp hex that can aid your travel if you pick the best route). Move these guys up the West side once they get there to get to the Undead Leader as quickly as possible. I was able to get to him at dusk (some penalty but not full penalty) and dispatch him one attack using the storm trident, a silver mage, and needed only one attack from a merman to finish him. Quick striking like this you end up fighting alot less undead. You probably end up foddering one of the mermen to the Undead Archers, but the trade off is well worth it. You can keep cycling your merman (and silver mages since they aren't needed too much in the other part of the fight) up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. The cuttle fish die fast enough that they are really no bother at all.<br />
<br />
Section 2 (rest of the beginning)<br />
Following the first castle recruiting, I recruited another castles worth of poachers/footpads. They are really there just to hold off the orc/troll barage for the first night. Move them up to the edge of the forest just NW of your castle allowing them to use the forest for cover and the orcs are forced to fight from the grasslands. Use your original troops grab up the villages near where you start to help offset some of the costs. My third castle was day time units including one white mage (it was only lvl 2 at the time but about to hit three) and a paladin (who later died). I tried to pick units that were about to level so they got a free healing during the combat. My final bit of recruiting was 3 sliver mages and cannon fodder (I typically use spearmen for this as opposed to peasants). The silver mage commando brigade (teleport is so cheater) is used to damage where needed so station them on villages near where you start so you can pull them anywhere you need quickly. Group up your original units as quickly as you can on the plains just north of you castle. They are going to come in the day light to kill the orcs that venture down at first.<br />
<br />
Section 3 (the battle ensues)<br />
The orcs/trolls seem to come in three waves. You should be able to kill off the intial wave during the first day with your groups. The chocobones deal a pretty fair damage, but a paladin and silver mage can take them down in a hurry. If you are really careful, you will most likely not lose any units outside of those that are designed to fodder (and even those could live see further below). After dealing with them, move your group (which should be a fairly tight hedgehog around your two healers now) West to NW up near the water. This avoids triggering the Saurians as long as possible and allows you to dictate the fights much better. Force the orcs to fight on bad terrian (water or grass land) even if that forces you onto the grasslands. The second wave should be dealt with right around the waters edge (and they will fight from in the water if you let them). Then carefully move your group onto the island in the middle of the river. I say carefully because it is possible to trigger the Saurians which make the level a lot harder if you are not ready for them. The final large push of orcs/trolls can be dealt with from here. Once that is finished, move NE onto the main land again thus triggering the Saurians.<br />
<br />
I ended up with a smaller second contingent (one horse L2, one footpad L2 and one spearman L2) that didn't fit my hedgehog so i sent them to the East to grab up the hand full of villages there, but i kept them in the south forest so I didn't trigger the Saurian attack until I was ready.<br />
<br />
Section 4 (clean up)<br />
This phase was really self explanatory. Now you have the Saurians to deal with too, but if you ended up with extra troops like I did then you have them pensored and they tend to split up and attack both groups. From there it is just finishing the objectives (i.e. kill the leaders).<br />
<br />
===Rise of Wesnoth===<br />
<br />
It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody, the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Some Mermen would be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary. I started by sending mounted units around both sides of the forest to your SW. Whichever troops the orange guys go after, slam into their rear guard with the other forces, making an orc sandwich. Ewww. I thought I would have to sneak the Paladins back to the E for the undead troops, but once the first east bridge collapses (all bridges collapse as soon as you cross them once), the undead want to follow the path that doesn't leave them floundering in the water. So leave the W bridge intact, playing Catch the Sea Orc on the north shore with Haldric & Co., and you can send a large force down the E side practically unopposed by the second wave of Jevyan's troops. You'll need at least two Paladins in the E to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (perhaps mages of light - but beware his ranged attack !). Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. If he doesn't want to come out and play, march up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack. When Jevyan is dead, the yellow and green leaders will probably still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
<br />
* [[MainlineCampaigns]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheEasternInvasion&diff=25182TheEasternInvasion2008-04-08T22:26:37Z<p>IoN: /* The Duel */ update</p>
<hr />
<div>This is a discussion of The Eastern Invasion, the campaign featuring Gweddry General of Wesnoth.<br />
<br />
'''''NOTE: Eastern Invasion is still undergoing both balancing and plot changes, so these descriptions might not be applicable to later versions of the campaign'''''<br />
<br />
Perhaps this will provide grounds for trenchant criticism from more experienced and abler players. These descriptions are aimed at the "medium" difficulty level (as "easy" lets you get away with sloppiness and "hard" is for people who are comfortable with Advanced Tactics). Please improve these and add your own for later levels.<br />
<br />
'''Warning: spoilers ahead!'''<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
=== The Outpost ===<br />
<br />
It is probably best to recruit 5 heavy infantry and 1 mage on this scenario. The heavy infantry can flag the villages surrounding you by turn 3, turn 2 if they're quick, and the mage can flag the northern forest village on turn 2 if quick.<br />
<br />
Sending 2 HI(heavy infantry) south, to the revenants, is a good idea because you can usually get both of them a 2nd level kill without having either die. The other ones should stand and fight against the enemies coming at you from the north and east. Use the HI most of time, and use the mage when they are in forest and it can get a killing blow. By the end of the scenario, you should have 2-3 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced mage.<br />
<br />
It is sometimes a good idea to recruit another mage on turn 10 or so, since you will probably end the scenario with less than 100 gold anyway, so you save money by buying in advance. (mathematically this does make sense). Also, you can get them about 10 experience along the way.<br />
<br />
=== Escape Tunnel ===<br />
<br />
Don't bother recalling HI, they go too slow in caves. Go for a group of mostly mages, and a couple of spearmen. If a spearmen or mage is quick, have it get the holy water (unlike in other campaigns this holy water is permanent). Use it and Dacyn against the undead, and use the mages against the trolls.<br />
Since you have allies they shouldn't die. Send Gweddry with a (hopefully) quick mage southeast to avoid the trolls and go to the finish. Send the mage to get the gold, and get Gweddry to the end of the tunnel for a victory.<br />
<br />
Giving Gweddry the holy amulet here allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the River Crossing, where you can get an easy 1st turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle. Note that the leader is very hard to kill anyway.<br />
<br />
=== An Unexpected Appearance ===<br />
<br />
What you do in this scenario depends on which way you want to go. Going east is harder, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a free Paladin and several Knights.<br />
<br />
Obviously, first kill Mal-Tar. To do this, shoot him with Dacyn and attack him with Gweddry's melee. It probably won't kill him the first turn, so second turn kill the vampire bat he recruits with Dacyn and finish Mal-Tar off with Gweddry.<br />
<br />
Then, recall 2 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced heavy infantry on the side of the castle you are going (so if you are attacking eastward, recall them on the 3 eastern castle hexes). This gives them a headstart in that direction.<br />
Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village. Don't worry, he can fend for himself, since the bats usually arrive one at a time and he can kill one per turn.<br />
<br />
Recall any mages with a lot of XP and the spearman you gave the holy water in the previous scenario, then go whichever way you are going. You might want to recruit one throw-away cavalryman to go north, since he gives you income and draws away enemies that otherwise would attack your main force from behind.<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Elven Alliance ====<br />
<br />
The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure.<br />
<br />
Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.<br />
<br />
Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.<br />
<br />
There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.<br />
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.<br />
<br />
Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears on turn 7, ignore it unless you have a cavalryman still down there. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. By turn 9, the orcish leader should be dead.<br />
<br />
==== The Undead Border Patrol ====<br />
<br />
This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The enemy is relatively weak. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance - recruit 2 suicide cavalrymen to distract the bats. One will probably get enough XP to be worth recalling.<br />
<br />
I would use mostly heavy infantry and spearmen with holy water on this level, because mages will only get a +10% to hit from magical. However, as in most scenarios against undead, white mages are very useful.<br />
<br />
Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand. This gives you something like a 70% CTH. >)<br />
<br />
(CTH = Chance To Hit).<br />
<br />
===== Mal-Ravanal's Capital =====<br />
<br />
Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you might also skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.<br />
<br />
This is a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner.<br />
<br />
By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in postion to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him, he teleported my troops back to the starting castle, so I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to <i>The Northern Outpost</i>.<br />
<br />
As of 1.0.2 it's the Bone Shooters that must be killed to release knights. On the first kill you will get a Paladin as well as the Knight. These seem to all appear around the same village. Maybe they group around the Paladin. Each unit pops in with full moves. If you can use some of them to kill other Bone Shooters, you end up with a substantial cavalry force very quickly.<br />
<br />
On easy at least, in 1.0.2, my opponents summoned no Bone Shooters, only Revenants. It took a while for them to arrive, and I could have killed the NW Necromancer, but I waited it out. I still got paladins and knights for killing Revenants. (vfb)<br />
<br />
The reason to go here is to acquire a loyal cavalry force of one Paladin and four Knights. To do this kill four Revenants or Bone Shooters. The first kill gets you a Paladin and a Knight. Each succeeding kill gets you one more Knight. They all appear in or around the village southeast of your castle. To end the scenario, have your cavalry force kill the southwest Necromancer while holding your castle from the assault. This can be done by turn 14 giving you a sizeable bonus. You might send expendable cavalrymen north and southeast to distract the enemies, but it won't do much.<br />
<br />
=== The Northern Outpost ===<br />
<br />
Reachable both from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' and the ''Elven Alliance'' scenarios.<br />
<br />
There are two enemies in this scenario that you must defeat - the undead and the outlaws.The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does most of the work. Just aid him with a few well-placed shock troopers (1-2 should do). That was the easy part.<br />
<br />
The main challenge is the criminals. They appear randomly in the villages you flag (one of the villages has assasin that is outlaw leader), but not in those Owaec flags. So don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Since when you capture a village the outlaws surround it, you should surround each village before you capture it, so the enemy surrounds you. This makes it so they can't gang up on one of your units with more than 3 people. Also, when you capture a village, try to kill as many enemies as you can before they get a turn.<br />
<br />
A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the Bandits, especially at night. Slower moving units also have a disadvantage in searching the villages. <br />
<br />
In addition, an amulet is located three turns southwest of the starting castle (for Gweddry) A good strategy is to have him get it and go help with the undead. <br />
<br />
Note that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assasination).<br />
<br />
/* governor */ Just a note: I had the misfortune of taking a group of men to a village where 5or6 enemies appeared. After taking heavy damage, I retreated my char (low on hitpoints) out of the village. When I recaptured the village the same group of enemies reappeared. Since AI enemies seem to prefer recapturing villages this can allow you to obtain easy experience for weak units a few times.<br />
<br />
=== Two Paths ===<br />
<br />
There is a choice to be made here, whether you want to fight the undead or the orcs. The orcs will be harder to defeat, because their leader is level 3, but it might pay off later to kill him. It depends on how large an army you have by now. If you can't take the orcs, you should recall what holy and impact units you do have and attack the undead. You should set up a barrier so that the orcs can't attack your white mages and such. The orcs like to use assassins, so you might need a white mage to help support the barrier, or just put a HI on a village. The orcs might go for him, not around him.<br />
<br />
If you want to go for the orcs, remember, there are only 12 turns, so you have to go straight north. I used lots of level 2 and 3 mages I had from the previous maps, then sent the 2 strongest west to fight off the (very weak) undead creatures, while everything else went north, killing the orc warlord just in time at turn 12.<br />
<br />
=== Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Undead Crossing ====<br />
<br />
Nicknameless person thinks that this is easier choice, because you're facing lich. Lich is turned to undead so it's weak to fire, impact and holy attacks, unlike Necromancer. Just get all those units with holy water, recruit lots of heavy infantry and mages, get everyone over river, to the east coast of island the lich is at. Wait there until it's daytime, and then simply CHARGE!!!<br />
<br />
==== The Crossing ====<br />
<br />
I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight north from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the north. The un-dead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the north side. (Allefant)<br />
<br />
If you have Holy Gweddry, you can (sometimes) get a 1st turn kill on the 1st undead leader, scarf up all the villages, and return to kill the 2nd undead forces before their leader can recruit anything. If you don't, the second undead leader will recruit lots of level two units. The orcs will start out across the river, but usually most of them turn back to fight the ogre reinforcements. Waiting till their first wave hits your shore and wiping them out in the water will probably leave you just enough time to cross the river and find there are only 2 or 3 enemy units left besides the leaders.<br />
<br />
Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the undead can move more quickly through the water than your units.<br />
<br />
Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the orcs enough to get across while the undead behind you are not an issue. <br />
<br />
Note: Owaec can move only one hex a turn in the water.<br />
<br />
=== Training the Ogres ===<br />
<br />
This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, you are fighting the ogres while also trying not to let them reach the rocky borders where they will "escape" (or disappear). Understand how the AI works and that units will attack the weakest units who are closest to levelling. <br />
<br />
I made it 5 turns with 2 ogres remaining by killing two of them right at the start with Gweddry, then letting the other two chase Dacyn and Owaec.<br />
<br />
<i>(what did you do about the remaining minus one ogres in version 1.1.11? Also, I find that when there are only two, they try their utmost to escape)</i><br />
<br />
Note: Whether or not to use ogres is a matter of playing style. Once they level up, Ogres are quite a tough unit that deals middling damage, but unfortunately can't advance beyond level 2. Their upside is that they move at normal speed on hills and cave floor, which makes them your most mobile unit in at least one scenario (''Captured''). And as they are of neutral alignment, they can sometimes be handy to have around at nighttime.<br />
<br />
=== Xenophobia ===<br />
<br />
This one was pretty easy. I recruited as much as I could, then went straight west to the elves, since they looked weakest. Then from there I went north, letting Owaec grab the holy water. When I arrived at the orc castle, orcs and dwarfs had almost killed each other - so I went with a huge army to the dwarven castle and finished around turn 25.<br />
(Allefant)<br />
<br />
Another strategy is to go for the dwarves first. They start out by sending my of their troops to fight the orcs, leaving their leader unguarded. When you kill him, start going west. When you get to the orcs, they and the elves should have reduced their numbers drastically, allowing you a relatively easy victory. Then, head south for the elvish leader, who will probably not have much to recruit. Although it is forest, a few mages will make sure a little bad luck doesn't hurt you.<br />
<br />
The main strategy in this scenario is staying out of the fighting as much as possible, picking off the weaker sides, and in general letting your enemies kill themselves.<br />
<br />
There was a bug in this scenario [really just a typo in the event] that was causing the holy amulet on square 20, 12 to actually be trigered when you move onto sqare 12, 2. This is fixed as of 1.0.2.<br />
<br />
=== Lake Vrug ===<br />
<br />
A dragon and a gryphon caught me by surprise, but I had way over-recruited so both were slain on sight. Later some trolls attacked along the way, which I chased to get some XP. On this scenario, don't recruit too much, since there aren't many enemies.<br />
<br />
This scenario is fairly straightforward. You start in the south and need to move your leaders north across a bridge and to the west to the end of the path. As mentioned above, there isn't much need to recruit heavily: some heavy infantry to block attackers and some mages to kill trolls. To save on gold, recruit a horseman or two and send them west right before the river--there's a path there leading through some Gryphon villages.<br />
<br />
You will run into some gryphon, a dragon, and a handful of trolls across the river. Keep a cadre of heavy infantry and mages to tackle them while you send your leaders to the west. Be careful of the gryphons' mobility and ability to swing around troops' zones of control and deliver the final blow to some injured troops.<br />
<br />
If you'd like you can follow the path through the mountains to the northeast where there may be a few more trolls to hack up.<br />
<br />
=== Captured ===<br />
<br />
You start out by running up a tunnel to find some of your companions. If you go back down that way or you will have to face some extremely mean trolls in the narrow tunnel. Instead, follow the tunnel to the north and west and face a few bats as you proceed. At the end of that tunnel, you will enter a throne room where there is a leader and some enemy troops. <br />
<br />
Upon entering the throne room, a group of your wounded troops will appear in a cavern called the "Torture Room" to the east. They will face a number of assassins and trolls as they leave the Torture Room moving west. <br />
<br />
Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the southwest corner, but there is no early finish bonus. You can flag numerous villages in a cavern called "The City," a cavern southwest of the Torture Room while killing orcs for the full 40 turns. Note: Most of the orcs are level two and three units. <br />
<br />
The current version (gotten with the Debian package for Wesnoth 1.0) has a holy necklace on this level, at coordinates x=12, y=2. Grab it to kill undead better.<br />
<br />
=== Evacuation ===<br />
<br />
In version 0.9.1, this one seems to be a bit unbalanced (i.e., too easy). I recalled all my strong units because of the messages that you have to move everyone you want to keep south and then destroy the bridge. But instead, I could kill all three enemy leaders in just a few turns and no losses (I had only level 2 and 3 units). First I moved my whole army to the eastern Orc, then to the southern, then to the Troll, and was done in 6 turns. That way I didn't have to blow up the bridge (which isn't worth seeing - I expected a big explosion, but the bridge just disappeared) and could keep all recruits, not just the ones I recalled.<br />
<br />
It seems that in 1.0, the scenario is a bit more balanced. In fact many players find this frustratingly difficult--you '''will''' lose troops you've spent the whole game trying to deveop.<br />
<br />
Some strategies suggest taking out one or two of the leaders, but many end up losing too many troops and having an unprotected rear while crossing the bridge. In the end, spend the first round recruiting fodder, the second for recalling the troops you want to keep, and the rest sending fodder out and trying to get across the damn bridge.<br />
<br />
You will need quite a bit of gold to complete this scenario, as you won't be able to hold enough villages to sustain your upkeep. You might consider replaying the previous scenario--look for the City to the south--to acquire over 400 gold to enter this scenario.<br />
<br />
Note that troops left on the bridge when the engineer reaches the signposts will also be retained.<br />
<br />
[Garion] In 1.0, I recruited a lot of Cavalry for fodder, spacing them 1 hex apart to establish a ZOC corridor from my castle to the bridge. They got chewed up very quickly, but they bought me enough time to get out. Use a few Shock Troopers to guard your rear against the Blue enemy; they're too slow to escape anyway. Remember to recall your slowest units closest to the bridge, to minimize the time they spend in transit. I was able to evacuate 2 Holy Cavaliers, 2 Paladins, a Great Mage, the three heroes, a quick Iron Mauler, 2 White Mages, and a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[Vladevil] In 1.2.6 what worked best for me was recruiting only fodder for 2 turns, then running away with all the main characters. I let Owaec and the mage first and Gweddry last since he can take some hits. All in all I was finished on the 6th turn without losing any valuable troops.<br />
<br />
[IoN] I find that Gryphons are most promising as fodder. They eat into your funds, true, but they can take some hits and fight back satisfactorily. In this way, I managed to get all my troops that I wished to save across with quite a bit of time to spare. On the other hand, I tend to minimize in campaigns, leveling up only as many high-level units as I think I'll need.<br />
<br />
=== The Drowned Plains ===<br />
The Skeletal Dragon will be found in or near the castle. In getting there, there is a chance the undead (three units mostly level two and an occasional level three) will spring out of the ground near the unit you just moved. Therefore less units are better. Advanced mages and paladins work well here. The villages will get you either 20 gold or two peasants to help you. <br />
<br />
Also note that the Skeletal Dragon has lowered resistance against impact (but not holy, and strong resistance against everything else). The dragon is just wandering around, and won't attack or go for you until you get near it, so make sure you have a powerful enough force ready to kill it before you move within range of it.<br />
<br />
[Bartimaeus] Or you could just sacrifice the peasants that you might find in some of the villages. Get them to charge into unknown territory, reveal the enemy and get your stronger units to obliterate them next turn.<br />
<br />
=== Approaching Weldyn ===<br />
This scenario is fairly easy, and should only take 6-8 units. The first turn, recall any mounted holy units you may have (paladins, or any other who have picked up an amulet), and some advanced mages. Don't get heavy infantry, they are too slow, and a rush strategy is most appropriate. Rush the Dark Sorcerer closest to you; since he only recruits level 1 units, he should be easy to defeat. If you are good, he will be dead around turn 5. Then, just run south with Gweddry, and defeat against any undead coming at you from the west with your other units. Since the other two enemies are more powerful than the one you killed, and Konrad II acts, well, stupid, they might start beating him. So, send some of your quicker units (the mounted ones) to help him out. Just make sure the undead archers don't kill them.<br />
<br />
=== The Council ===<br />
<br />
Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.<br />
<br />
=== Weldyn Under Attack ===<br />
<br />
Luckily, you have a lot of allies, but they tend to act rather stupid, and their units are level 2 while the enemies' are level 3. So, they will serve as distractions, but won't win the battle for you. The southeastern enemy is strongest; save him for last. Your allies don't even try to attack or defend against the southeastern enemy; the field is clear between them and you. Set up a defensive wall of a few level one units (mages and heavy infantry are good) to hold them off, then send your high-level mages and cavalry to destroy the other two liches. Once that's done, your forces can converge on the last one to wipe him out.<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== The Duel ====<br />
Formerly, this was easy because Mal-Ravanal was too confident and let himself be exposed. Now, it seems that the creator tried to balance it, but it just became even easier. Mal-Ravanal's forces are ridiculously passive; they hardly dare to attack you. Just charge straight at them and you should be able to easily obliterate every one of the six liches and necromancers, along with the assorted lower units that appear. After that, destroy the ancient lich. You'll need at least two magi of light, and preferrably two great mages.<br />
<br />
==== Weldyn Besieged ====<br />
<br />
I had hoped for a big final battle like in Heir of the Throne - but instead I could assassinate Mal-Ravanal in just 5 turns. Apparently, the later scenarios in "Eastern Invasion" aren't balanced yet (version 0.9.1 here, medium difficulty).<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheEasternInvasion&diff=25173TheEasternInvasion2008-04-08T19:55:46Z<p>IoN: /* Weldyn Under Attack */ update for 1.4</p>
<hr />
<div>This is a discussion of The Eastern Invasion, the campaign featuring Gweddry General of Wesnoth.<br />
<br />
'''''NOTE: Eastern Invasion is still undergoing both balancing and plot changes, so these descriptions might not be applicable to later versions of the campaign'''''<br />
<br />
Perhaps this will provide grounds for trenchant criticism from more experienced and abler players. These descriptions are aimed at the "medium" difficulty level (as "easy" lets you get away with sloppiness and "hard" is for people who are comfortable with Advanced Tactics). Please improve these and add your own for later levels.<br />
<br />
'''Warning: spoilers ahead!'''<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
=== The Outpost ===<br />
<br />
It is probably best to recruit 5 heavy infantry and 1 mage on this scenario. The heavy infantry can flag the villages surrounding you by turn 3, turn 2 if they're quick, and the mage can flag the northern forest village on turn 2 if quick.<br />
<br />
Sending 2 HI(heavy infantry) south, to the revenants, is a good idea because you can usually get both of them a 2nd level kill without having either die. The other ones should stand and fight against the enemies coming at you from the north and east. Use the HI most of time, and use the mage when they are in forest and it can get a killing blow. By the end of the scenario, you should have 2-3 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced mage.<br />
<br />
It is sometimes a good idea to recruit another mage on turn 10 or so, since you will probably end the scenario with less than 100 gold anyway, so you save money by buying in advance. (mathematically this does make sense). Also, you can get them about 10 experience along the way.<br />
<br />
=== Escape Tunnel ===<br />
<br />
Don't bother recalling HI, they go too slow in caves. Go for a group of mostly mages, and a couple of spearmen. If a spearmen or mage is quick, have it get the holy water (unlike in other campaigns this holy water is permanent). Use it and Dacyn against the undead, and use the mages against the trolls.<br />
Since you have allies they shouldn't die. Send Gweddry with a (hopefully) quick mage southeast to avoid the trolls and go to the finish. Send the mage to get the gold, and get Gweddry to the end of the tunnel for a victory.<br />
<br />
Giving Gweddry the holy amulet here allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the River Crossing, where you can get an easy 1st turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle. Note that the leader is very hard to kill anyway.<br />
<br />
=== An Unexpected Appearance ===<br />
<br />
What you do in this scenario depends on which way you want to go. Going east is harder, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a free Paladin and several Knights.<br />
<br />
Obviously, first kill Mal-Tar. To do this, shoot him with Dacyn and attack him with Gweddry's melee. It probably won't kill him the first turn, so second turn kill the vampire bat he recruits with Dacyn and finish Mal-Tar off with Gweddry.<br />
<br />
Then, recall 2 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced heavy infantry on the side of the castle you are going (so if you are attacking eastward, recall them on the 3 eastern castle hexes). This gives them a headstart in that direction.<br />
Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village. Don't worry, he can fend for himself, since the bats usually arrive one at a time and he can kill one per turn.<br />
<br />
Recall any mages with a lot of XP and the spearman you gave the holy water in the previous scenario, then go whichever way you are going. You might want to recruit one throw-away cavalryman to go north, since he gives you income and draws away enemies that otherwise would attack your main force from behind.<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Elven Alliance ====<br />
<br />
The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure.<br />
<br />
Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.<br />
<br />
Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.<br />
<br />
There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.<br />
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.<br />
<br />
Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears on turn 7, ignore it unless you have a cavalryman still down there. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. By turn 9, the orcish leader should be dead.<br />
<br />
==== The Undead Border Patrol ====<br />
<br />
This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The enemy is relatively weak. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance - recruit 2 suicide cavalrymen to distract the bats. One will probably get enough XP to be worth recalling.<br />
<br />
I would use mostly heavy infantry and spearmen with holy water on this level, because mages will only get a +10% to hit from magical. However, as in most scenarios against undead, white mages are very useful.<br />
<br />
Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand. This gives you something like a 70% CTH. >)<br />
<br />
(CTH = Chance To Hit).<br />
<br />
===== Mal-Ravanal's Capital =====<br />
<br />
Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you might also skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.<br />
<br />
This is a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner.<br />
<br />
By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in postion to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him, he teleported my troops back to the starting castle, so I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to <i>The Northern Outpost</i>.<br />
<br />
As of 1.0.2 it's the Bone Shooters that must be killed to release knights. On the first kill you will get a Paladin as well as the Knight. These seem to all appear around the same village. Maybe they group around the Paladin. Each unit pops in with full moves. If you can use some of them to kill other Bone Shooters, you end up with a substantial cavalry force very quickly.<br />
<br />
On easy at least, in 1.0.2, my opponents summoned no Bone Shooters, only Revenants. It took a while for them to arrive, and I could have killed the NW Necromancer, but I waited it out. I still got paladins and knights for killing Revenants. (vfb)<br />
<br />
The reason to go here is to acquire a loyal cavalry force of one Paladin and four Knights. To do this kill four Revenants or Bone Shooters. The first kill gets you a Paladin and a Knight. Each succeeding kill gets you one more Knight. They all appear in or around the village southeast of your castle. To end the scenario, have your cavalry force kill the southwest Necromancer while holding your castle from the assault. This can be done by turn 14 giving you a sizeable bonus. You might send expendable cavalrymen north and southeast to distract the enemies, but it won't do much.<br />
<br />
=== The Northern Outpost ===<br />
<br />
Reachable both from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' and the ''Elven Alliance'' scenarios.<br />
<br />
There are two enemies in this scenario that you must defeat - the undead and the outlaws.The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does most of the work. Just aid him with a few well-placed shock troopers (1-2 should do). That was the easy part.<br />
<br />
The main challenge is the criminals. They appear randomly in the villages you flag (one of the villages has assasin that is outlaw leader), but not in those Owaec flags. So don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Since when you capture a village the outlaws surround it, you should surround each village before you capture it, so the enemy surrounds you. This makes it so they can't gang up on one of your units with more than 3 people. Also, when you capture a village, try to kill as many enemies as you can before they get a turn.<br />
<br />
A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the Bandits, especially at night. Slower moving units also have a disadvantage in searching the villages. <br />
<br />
In addition, an amulet is located three turns southwest of the starting castle (for Gweddry) A good strategy is to have him get it and go help with the undead. <br />
<br />
Note that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assasination).<br />
<br />
/* governor */ Just a note: I had the misfortune of taking a group of men to a village where 5or6 enemies appeared. After taking heavy damage, I retreated my char (low on hitpoints) out of the village. When I recaptured the village the same group of enemies reappeared. Since AI enemies seem to prefer recapturing villages this can allow you to obtain easy experience for weak units a few times.<br />
<br />
=== Two Paths ===<br />
<br />
There is a choice to be made here, whether you want to fight the undead or the orcs. The orcs will be harder to defeat, because their leader is level 3, but it might pay off later to kill him. It depends on how large an army you have by now. If you can't take the orcs, you should recall what holy and impact units you do have and attack the undead. You should set up a barrier so that the orcs can't attack your white mages and such. The orcs like to use assassins, so you might need a white mage to help support the barrier, or just put a HI on a village. The orcs might go for him, not around him.<br />
<br />
If you want to go for the orcs, remember, there are only 12 turns, so you have to go straight north. I used lots of level 2 and 3 mages I had from the previous maps, then sent the 2 strongest west to fight off the (very weak) undead creatures, while everything else went north, killing the orc warlord just in time at turn 12.<br />
<br />
=== Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Undead Crossing ====<br />
<br />
Nicknameless person thinks that this is easier choice, because you're facing lich. Lich is turned to undead so it's weak to fire, impact and holy attacks, unlike Necromancer. Just get all those units with holy water, recruit lots of heavy infantry and mages, get everyone over river, to the east coast of island the lich is at. Wait there until it's daytime, and then simply CHARGE!!!<br />
<br />
==== The Crossing ====<br />
<br />
I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight north from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the north. The un-dead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the north side. (Allefant)<br />
<br />
If you have Holy Gweddry, you can (sometimes) get a 1st turn kill on the 1st undead leader, scarf up all the villages, and return to kill the 2nd undead forces before their leader can recruit anything. If you don't, the second undead leader will recruit lots of level two units. The orcs will start out across the river, but usually most of them turn back to fight the ogre reinforcements. Waiting till their first wave hits your shore and wiping them out in the water will probably leave you just enough time to cross the river and find there are only 2 or 3 enemy units left besides the leaders.<br />
<br />
Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the undead can move more quickly through the water than your units.<br />
<br />
Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the orcs enough to get across while the undead behind you are not an issue. <br />
<br />
Note: Owaec can move only one hex a turn in the water.<br />
<br />
=== Training the Ogres ===<br />
<br />
This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, you are fighting the ogres while also trying not to let them reach the rocky borders where they will "escape" (or disappear). Understand how the AI works and that units will attack the weakest units who are closest to levelling. <br />
<br />
I made it 5 turns with 2 ogres remaining by killing two of them right at the start with Gweddry, then letting the other two chase Dacyn and Owaec.<br />
<br />
<i>(what did you do about the remaining minus one ogres in version 1.1.11? Also, I find that when there are only two, they try their utmost to escape)</i><br />
<br />
Note: Whether or not to use ogres is a matter of playing style. Once they level up, Ogres are quite a tough unit that deals middling damage, but unfortunately can't advance beyond level 2. Their upside is that they move at normal speed on hills and cave floor, which makes them your most mobile unit in at least one scenario (''Captured''). And as they are of neutral alignment, they can sometimes be handy to have around at nighttime.<br />
<br />
=== Xenophobia ===<br />
<br />
This one was pretty easy. I recruited as much as I could, then went straight west to the elves, since they looked weakest. Then from there I went north, letting Owaec grab the holy water. When I arrived at the orc castle, orcs and dwarfs had almost killed each other - so I went with a huge army to the dwarven castle and finished around turn 25.<br />
(Allefant)<br />
<br />
Another strategy is to go for the dwarves first. They start out by sending my of their troops to fight the orcs, leaving their leader unguarded. When you kill him, start going west. When you get to the orcs, they and the elves should have reduced their numbers drastically, allowing you a relatively easy victory. Then, head south for the elvish leader, who will probably not have much to recruit. Although it is forest, a few mages will make sure a little bad luck doesn't hurt you.<br />
<br />
The main strategy in this scenario is staying out of the fighting as much as possible, picking off the weaker sides, and in general letting your enemies kill themselves.<br />
<br />
There was a bug in this scenario [really just a typo in the event] that was causing the holy amulet on square 20, 12 to actually be trigered when you move onto sqare 12, 2. This is fixed as of 1.0.2.<br />
<br />
=== Lake Vrug ===<br />
<br />
A dragon and a gryphon caught me by surprise, but I had way over-recruited so both were slain on sight. Later some trolls attacked along the way, which I chased to get some XP. On this scenario, don't recruit too much, since there aren't many enemies.<br />
<br />
This scenario is fairly straightforward. You start in the south and need to move your leaders north across a bridge and to the west to the end of the path. As mentioned above, there isn't much need to recruit heavily: some heavy infantry to block attackers and some mages to kill trolls. To save on gold, recruit a horseman or two and send them west right before the river--there's a path there leading through some Gryphon villages.<br />
<br />
You will run into some gryphon, a dragon, and a handful of trolls across the river. Keep a cadre of heavy infantry and mages to tackle them while you send your leaders to the west. Be careful of the gryphons' mobility and ability to swing around troops' zones of control and deliver the final blow to some injured troops.<br />
<br />
If you'd like you can follow the path through the mountains to the northeast where there may be a few more trolls to hack up.<br />
<br />
=== Captured ===<br />
<br />
You start out by running up a tunnel to find some of your companions. If you go back down that way or you will have to face some extremely mean trolls in the narrow tunnel. Instead, follow the tunnel to the north and west and face a few bats as you proceed. At the end of that tunnel, you will enter a throne room where there is a leader and some enemy troops. <br />
<br />
Upon entering the throne room, a group of your wounded troops will appear in a cavern called the "Torture Room" to the east. They will face a number of assassins and trolls as they leave the Torture Room moving west. <br />
<br />
Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the southwest corner, but there is no early finish bonus. You can flag numerous villages in a cavern called "The City," a cavern southwest of the Torture Room while killing orcs for the full 40 turns. Note: Most of the orcs are level two and three units. <br />
<br />
The current version (gotten with the Debian package for Wesnoth 1.0) has a holy necklace on this level, at coordinates x=12, y=2. Grab it to kill undead better.<br />
<br />
=== Evacuation ===<br />
<br />
In version 0.9.1, this one seems to be a bit unbalanced (i.e., too easy). I recalled all my strong units because of the messages that you have to move everyone you want to keep south and then destroy the bridge. But instead, I could kill all three enemy leaders in just a few turns and no losses (I had only level 2 and 3 units). First I moved my whole army to the eastern Orc, then to the southern, then to the Troll, and was done in 6 turns. That way I didn't have to blow up the bridge (which isn't worth seeing - I expected a big explosion, but the bridge just disappeared) and could keep all recruits, not just the ones I recalled.<br />
<br />
It seems that in 1.0, the scenario is a bit more balanced. In fact many players find this frustratingly difficult--you '''will''' lose troops you've spent the whole game trying to deveop.<br />
<br />
Some strategies suggest taking out one or two of the leaders, but many end up losing too many troops and having an unprotected rear while crossing the bridge. In the end, spend the first round recruiting fodder, the second for recalling the troops you want to keep, and the rest sending fodder out and trying to get across the damn bridge.<br />
<br />
You will need quite a bit of gold to complete this scenario, as you won't be able to hold enough villages to sustain your upkeep. You might consider replaying the previous scenario--look for the City to the south--to acquire over 400 gold to enter this scenario.<br />
<br />
Note that troops left on the bridge when the engineer reaches the signposts will also be retained.<br />
<br />
[Garion] In 1.0, I recruited a lot of Cavalry for fodder, spacing them 1 hex apart to establish a ZOC corridor from my castle to the bridge. They got chewed up very quickly, but they bought me enough time to get out. Use a few Shock Troopers to guard your rear against the Blue enemy; they're too slow to escape anyway. Remember to recall your slowest units closest to the bridge, to minimize the time they spend in transit. I was able to evacuate 2 Holy Cavaliers, 2 Paladins, a Great Mage, the three heroes, a quick Iron Mauler, 2 White Mages, and a Mage of Light.<br />
<br />
[Vladevil] In 1.2.6 what worked best for me was recruiting only fodder for 2 turns, then running away with all the main characters. I let Owaec and the mage first and Gweddry last since he can take some hits. All in all I was finished on the 6th turn without losing any valuable troops.<br />
<br />
[IoN] I find that Gryphons are most promising as fodder. They eat into your funds, true, but they can take some hits and fight back satisfactorily. In this way, I managed to get all my troops that I wished to save across with quite a bit of time to spare. On the other hand, I tend to minimize in campaigns, leveling up only as many high-level units as I think I'll need.<br />
<br />
=== The Drowned Plains ===<br />
The Skeletal Dragon will be found in or near the castle. In getting there, there is a chance the undead (three units mostly level two and an occasional level three) will spring out of the ground near the unit you just moved. Therefore less units are better. Advanced mages and paladins work well here. The villages will get you either 20 gold or two peasants to help you. <br />
<br />
Also note that the Skeletal Dragon has lowered resistance against impact (but not holy, and strong resistance against everything else). The dragon is just wandering around, and won't attack or go for you until you get near it, so make sure you have a powerful enough force ready to kill it before you move within range of it.<br />
<br />
[Bartimaeus] Or you could just sacrifice the peasants that you might find in some of the villages. Get them to charge into unknown territory, reveal the enemy and get your stronger units to obliterate them next turn.<br />
<br />
=== Approaching Weldyn ===<br />
This scenario is fairly easy, and should only take 6-8 units. The first turn, recall any mounted holy units you may have (paladins, or any other who have picked up an amulet), and some advanced mages. Don't get heavy infantry, they are too slow, and a rush strategy is most appropriate. Rush the Dark Sorcerer closest to you; since he only recruits level 1 units, he should be easy to defeat. If you are good, he will be dead around turn 5. Then, just run south with Gweddry, and defeat against any undead coming at you from the west with your other units. Since the other two enemies are more powerful than the one you killed, and Konrad II acts, well, stupid, they might start beating him. So, send some of your quicker units (the mounted ones) to help him out. Just make sure the undead archers don't kill them.<br />
<br />
=== The Council ===<br />
<br />
Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.<br />
<br />
=== Weldyn Under Attack ===<br />
<br />
Luckily, you have a lot of allies, but they tend to act rather stupid, and their units are level 2 while the enemies' are level 3. So, they will serve as distractions, but won't win the battle for you. The southeastern enemy is strongest; save him for last. Your allies don't even try to attack or defend against the southeastern enemy; the field is clear between them and you. Set up a defensive wall of a few level one units (mages and heavy infantry are good) to hold them off, then send your high-level mages and cavalry to destroy the other two liches. Once that's done, your forces can converge on the last one to wipe him out.<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== The Duel ====<br />
<br />
Get ready to face an assorted set of one ancient lich, 6 liches and necromancers, plus some lower units.<br />
<br />
3 great mages and 3 mages of light can do the trick, just go for Mal-Ravanal at daylight. Seemed much too easy (version 0.9.1 + 1.0, medium difficulty). He is really dumb (or cocky), blindly rushing forward. Even suiciding on a white mage isn't beneath him.<br />
<br />
If you ever gave a red mage an amulet and leveled him up, a holy great mage can kill Mal-Ravanal in two hits. A strong Iron Mauler with an amulet and leadership (Grand Marshal) can even take him out in one hit. But if you plan on Iron Mauling your way through, keep in mind that they are vulnerable to cold ! Thus the best units here are without a doubt cavaliers outfitted with an amulet. If you don't have or want amulets, I guess some paladins could be used too.<br />
<br />
==== Weldyn Besieged ====<br />
<br />
I had hoped for a big final battle like in Heir of the Throne - but instead I could assassinate Mal-Ravanal in just 5 turns. Apparently, the later scenarios in "Eastern Invasion" aren't balanced yet (version 0.9.1 here, medium difficulty).<br />
<br />
[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheEasternInvasion&diff=25111TheEasternInvasion2008-04-05T19:59:27Z<p>IoN: /* Evacuation */ add own strategy</p>
<hr />
<div>This is a discussion of The Eastern Invasion, the campaign featuring Gweddry General of Wesnoth.<br />
<br />
'''''NOTE: Eastern Invasion is still undergoing both balancing and plot changes, so these descriptions might not be applicable to later versions of the campaign'''''<br />
<br />
Perhaps this will provide grounds for trenchant criticism from more experienced and abler players. These descriptions are aimed at the "medium" difficulty level (as "easy" lets you get away with sloppiness and "hard" is for people who are comfortable with Advanced Tactics). Please improve these and add your own for later levels.<br />
<br />
'''Warning: spoilers ahead!'''<br />
<br />
==Scenarios==<br />
=== The Outpost ===<br />
<br />
It is probably best to recruit 5 heavy infantry and 1 mage on this scenario. The heavy infantry can flag the villages surrounding you by turn 3, turn 2 if they're quick, and the mage can flag the northern forest village on turn 2 if quick.<br />
<br />
Sending 2 HI(heavy infantry) south, to the revenants, is a good idea because you can usually get both of them a 2nd level kill without having either die. The other ones should stand and fight against the enemies coming at you from the north and east. Use the HI most of time, and use the mage when they are in forest and it can get a killing blow. By the end of the scenario, you should have 2-3 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced mage.<br />
<br />
It is sometimes a good idea to recruit another mage on turn 10 or so, since you will probably end the scenario with less than 100 gold anyway, so you save money by buying in advance. (mathematically this does make sense). Also, you can get them about 10 experience along the way.<br />
<br />
=== Escape Tunnel ===<br />
<br />
Don't bother recalling HI, they go too slow in caves. Go for a group of mostly mages, and a couple of spearmen. If a spearmen or mage is quick, have it get the holy water (unlike in other campaigns this holy water is permanent). Use it and Dacyn against the undead, and use the mages against the trolls.<br />
Since you have allies they shouldn't die. Send Gweddry with a (hopefully) quick mage southeast to avoid the trolls and go to the finish. Send the mage to get the gold, and get Gweddry to the end of the tunnel for a victory.<br />
<br />
Giving Gweddry the holy amulet here allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the River Crossing, where you can get an easy 1st turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle. Note that the leader is very hard to kill anyway.<br />
<br />
=== An Unexpected Appearance ===<br />
<br />
What you do in this scenario depends on which way you want to go. Going east is harder, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a free Paladin and several Knights.<br />
<br />
Obviously, first kill Mal-Tar. To do this, shoot him with Dacyn and attack him with Gweddry's melee. It probably won't kill him the first turn, so second turn kill the vampire bat he recruits with Dacyn and finish Mal-Tar off with Gweddry.<br />
<br />
Then, recall 2 shock troopers and 1 half-advanced heavy infantry on the side of the castle you are going (so if you are attacking eastward, recall them on the 3 eastern castle hexes). This gives them a headstart in that direction.<br />
Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village. Don't worry, he can fend for himself, since the bats usually arrive one at a time and he can kill one per turn.<br />
<br />
Recall any mages with a lot of XP and the spearman you gave the holy water in the previous scenario, then go whichever way you are going. You might want to recruit one throw-away cavalryman to go north, since he gives you income and draws away enemies that otherwise would attack your main force from behind.<br />
<br />
===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Elven Alliance ====<br />
<br />
The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure.<br />
<br />
Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.<br />
<br />
Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.<br />
<br />
There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.<br />
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.<br />
<br />
Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears on turn 7, ignore it unless you have a cavalryman still down there. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. By turn 9, the orcish leader should be dead.<br />
<br />
==== The Undead Border Patrol ====<br />
<br />
This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The enemy is relatively weak. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance - recruit 2 suicide cavalrymen to distract the bats. One will probably get enough XP to be worth recalling.<br />
<br />
I would use mostly heavy infantry and spearmen with holy water on this level, because mages will only get a +10% to hit from magical. However, as in most scenarios against undead, white mages are very useful.<br />
<br />
Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand. This gives you something like a 70% CTH. >)<br />
<br />
(CTH = Chance To Hit).<br />
<br />
===== Mal-Ravanal's Capital =====<br />
<br />
Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you might also skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.<br />
<br />
This is a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner.<br />
<br />
By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in postion to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him, he teleported my troops back to the starting castle, so I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to <i>The Northern Outpost</i>.<br />
<br />
As of 1.0.2 it's the Bone Shooters that must be killed to release knights. On the first kill you will get a Paladin as well as the Knight. These seem to all appear around the same village. Maybe they group around the Paladin. Each unit pops in with full moves. If you can use some of them to kill other Bone Shooters, you end up with a substantial cavalry force very quickly.<br />
<br />
On easy at least, in 1.0.2, my opponents summoned no Bone Shooters, only Revenants. It took a while for them to arrive, and I could have killed the NW Necromancer, but I waited it out. I still got paladins and knights for killing Revenants. (vfb)<br />
<br />
The reason to go here is to acquire a loyal cavalry force of one Paladin and four Knights. To do this kill four Revenants or Bone Shooters. The first kill gets you a Paladin and a Knight. Each succeeding kill gets you one more Knight. They all appear in or around the village southeast of your castle. To end the scenario, have your cavalry force kill the southwest Necromancer while holding your castle from the assault. This can be done by turn 14 giving you a sizeable bonus. You might send expendable cavalrymen north and southeast to distract the enemies, but it won't do much.<br />
<br />
=== The Northern Outpost ===<br />
<br />
Reachable both from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' and the ''Elven Alliance'' scenarios.<br />
<br />
There are two enemies in this scenario that you must defeat - the undead and the outlaws.The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does most of the work. Just aid him with a few well-placed shock troopers (1-2 should do). That was the easy part.<br />
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The main challenge is the criminals. They appear randomly in the villages you flag (one of the villages has assasin that is outlaw leader), but not in those Owaec flags. So don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Since when you capture a village the outlaws surround it, you should surround each village before you capture it, so the enemy surrounds you. This makes it so they can't gang up on one of your units with more than 3 people. Also, when you capture a village, try to kill as many enemies as you can before they get a turn.<br />
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A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the Bandits, especially at night. Slower moving units also have a disadvantage in searching the villages. <br />
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In addition, an amulet is located three turns southwest of the starting castle (for Gweddry) A good strategy is to have him get it and go help with the undead. <br />
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Note that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assasination).<br />
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/* governor */ Just a note: I had the misfortune of taking a group of men to a village where 5or6 enemies appeared. After taking heavy damage, I retreated my char (low on hitpoints) out of the village. When I recaptured the village the same group of enemies reappeared. Since AI enemies seem to prefer recapturing villages this can allow you to obtain easy experience for weak units a few times.<br />
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=== Two Paths ===<br />
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There is a choice to be made here, whether you want to fight the undead or the orcs. The orcs will be harder to defeat, because their leader is level 3, but it might pay off later to kill him. It depends on how large an army you have by now. If you can't take the orcs, you should recall what holy and impact units you do have and attack the undead. You should set up a barrier so that the orcs can't attack your white mages and such. The orcs like to use assassins, so you might need a white mage to help support the barrier, or just put a HI on a village. The orcs might go for him, not around him.<br />
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If you want to go for the orcs, remember, there are only 12 turns, so you have to go straight north. I used lots of level 2 and 3 mages I had from the previous maps, then sent the 2 strongest west to fight off the (very weak) undead creatures, while everything else went north, killing the orc warlord just in time at turn 12.<br />
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=== Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== Undead Crossing ====<br />
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Nicknameless person thinks that this is easier choice, because you're facing lich. Lich is turned to undead so it's weak to fire, impact and holy attacks, unlike Necromancer. Just get all those units with holy water, recruit lots of heavy infantry and mages, get everyone over river, to the east coast of island the lich is at. Wait there until it's daytime, and then simply CHARGE!!!<br />
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==== The Crossing ====<br />
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I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight north from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the north. The un-dead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the north side. (Allefant)<br />
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If you have Holy Gweddry, you can (sometimes) get a 1st turn kill on the 1st undead leader, scarf up all the villages, and return to kill the 2nd undead forces before their leader can recruit anything. If you don't, the second undead leader will recruit lots of level two units. The orcs will start out across the river, but usually most of them turn back to fight the ogre reinforcements. Waiting till their first wave hits your shore and wiping them out in the water will probably leave you just enough time to cross the river and find there are only 2 or 3 enemy units left besides the leaders.<br />
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Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the undead can move more quickly through the water than your units.<br />
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Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the orcs enough to get across while the undead behind you are not an issue. <br />
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Note: Owaec can move only one hex a turn in the water.<br />
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=== Training the Ogres ===<br />
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This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, you are fighting the ogres while also trying not to let them reach the rocky borders where they will "escape" (or disappear). Understand how the AI works and that units will attack the weakest units who are closest to levelling. <br />
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I made it 5 turns with 2 ogres remaining by killing two of them right at the start with Gweddry, then letting the other two chase Dacyn and Owaec.<br />
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<i>(what did you do about the remaining minus one ogres in version 1.1.11? Also, I find that when there are only two, they try their utmost to escape)</i><br />
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Note: Whether or not to use ogres is a matter of playing style. Once they level up, Ogres are quite a tough unit that deals middling damage, but unfortunately can't advance beyond level 2. Their upside is that they move at normal speed on hills and cave floor, which makes them your most mobile unit in at least one scenario (''Captured''). And as they are of neutral alignment, they can sometimes be handy to have around at nighttime.<br />
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=== Xenophobia ===<br />
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This one was pretty easy. I recruited as much as I could, then went straight west to the elves, since they looked weakest. Then from there I went north, letting Owaec grab the holy water. When I arrived at the orc castle, orcs and dwarfs had almost killed each other - so I went with a huge army to the dwarven castle and finished around turn 25.<br />
(Allefant)<br />
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Another strategy is to go for the dwarves first. They start out by sending my of their troops to fight the orcs, leaving their leader unguarded. When you kill him, start going west. When you get to the orcs, they and the elves should have reduced their numbers drastically, allowing you a relatively easy victory. Then, head south for the elvish leader, who will probably not have much to recruit. Although it is forest, a few mages will make sure a little bad luck doesn't hurt you.<br />
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The main strategy in this scenario is staying out of the fighting as much as possible, picking off the weaker sides, and in general letting your enemies kill themselves.<br />
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There was a bug in this scenario [really just a typo in the event] that was causing the holy amulet on square 20, 12 to actually be trigered when you move onto sqare 12, 2. This is fixed as of 1.0.2.<br />
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=== Lake Vrug ===<br />
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A dragon and a gryphon caught me by surprise, but I had way over-recruited so both were slain on sight. Later some trolls attacked along the way, which I chased to get some XP. On this scenario, don't recruit too much, since there aren't many enemies.<br />
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This scenario is fairly straightforward. You start in the south and need to move your leaders north across a bridge and to the west to the end of the path. As mentioned above, there isn't much need to recruit heavily: some heavy infantry to block attackers and some mages to kill trolls. To save on gold, recruit a horseman or two and send them west right before the river--there's a path there leading through some Gryphon villages.<br />
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You will run into some gryphon, a dragon, and a handful of trolls across the river. Keep a cadre of heavy infantry and mages to tackle them while you send your leaders to the west. Be careful of the gryphons' mobility and ability to swing around troops' zones of control and deliver the final blow to some injured troops.<br />
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If you'd like you can follow the path through the mountains to the northeast where there may be a few more trolls to hack up.<br />
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=== Captured ===<br />
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You start out by running up a tunnel to find some of your companions. If you go back down that way or you will have to face some extremely mean trolls in the narrow tunnel. Instead, follow the tunnel to the north and west and face a few bats as you proceed. At the end of that tunnel, you will enter a throne room where there is a leader and some enemy troops. <br />
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Upon entering the throne room, a group of your wounded troops will appear in a cavern called the "Torture Room" to the east. They will face a number of assassins and trolls as they leave the Torture Room moving west. <br />
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Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the southwest corner, but there is no early finish bonus. You can flag numerous villages in a cavern called "The City," a cavern southwest of the Torture Room while killing orcs for the full 40 turns. Note: Most of the orcs are level two and three units. <br />
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The current version (gotten with the Debian package for Wesnoth 1.0) has a holy necklace on this level, at coordinates x=12, y=2. Grab it to kill undead better.<br />
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=== Evacuation ===<br />
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In version 0.9.1, this one seems to be a bit unbalanced (i.e., too easy). I recalled all my strong units because of the messages that you have to move everyone you want to keep south and then destroy the bridge. But instead, I could kill all three enemy leaders in just a few turns and no losses (I had only level 2 and 3 units). First I moved my whole army to the eastern Orc, then to the southern, then to the Troll, and was done in 6 turns. That way I didn't have to blow up the bridge (which isn't worth seeing - I expected a big explosion, but the bridge just disappeared) and could keep all recruits, not just the ones I recalled.<br />
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It seems that in 1.0, the scenario is a bit more balanced. In fact many players find this frustratingly difficult--you '''will''' lose troops you've spent the whole game trying to deveop.<br />
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Some strategies suggest taking out one or two of the leaders, but many end up losing too many troops and having an unprotected rear while crossing the bridge. In the end, spend the first round recruiting fodder, the second for recalling the troops you want to keep, and the rest sending fodder out and trying to get across the damn bridge.<br />
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You will need quite a bit of gold to complete this scenario, as you won't be able to hold enough villages to sustain your upkeep. You might consider replaying the previous scenario--look for the City to the south--to acquire over 400 gold to enter this scenario.<br />
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Note that troops left on the bridge when the engineer reaches the signposts will also be retained.<br />
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[Garion] In 1.0, I recruited a lot of Cavalry for fodder, spacing them 1 hex apart to establish a ZOC corridor from my castle to the bridge. They got chewed up very quickly, but they bought me enough time to get out. Use a few Shock Troopers to guard your rear against the Blue enemy; they're too slow to escape anyway. Remember to recall your slowest units closest to the bridge, to minimize the time they spend in transit. I was able to evacuate 2 Holy Cavaliers, 2 Paladins, a Great Mage, the three heroes, a quick Iron Mauler, 2 White Mages, and a Mage of Light.<br />
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[Vladevil] In 1.2.6 what worked best for me was recruiting only fodder for 2 turns, then running away with all the main characters. I let Owaec and the mage first and Gweddry last since he can take some hits. All in all I was finished on the 6th turn without losing any valuable troops.<br />
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[IoN] I find that Gryphons are most promising as fodder. They eat into your funds, true, but they can take some hits and fight back satisfactorily. In this way, I managed to get all my troops that I wished to save across with quite a bit of time to spare. On the other hand, I tend to minimize in campaigns, leveling up only as many high-level units as I think I'll need.<br />
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=== The Drowned Plains ===<br />
The Skeletal Dragon will be found in or near the castle. In getting there, there is a chance the undead (three units mostly level two and an occasional level three) will spring out of the ground near the unit you just moved. Therefore less units are better. Advanced mages and paladins work well here. The villages will get you either 20 gold or two peasants to help you. <br />
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Also note that the Skeletal Dragon has lowered resistance against impact (but not holy, and strong resistance against everything else). The dragon is just wandering around, and won't attack or go for you until you get near it, so make sure you have a powerful enough force ready to kill it before you move within range of it.<br />
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[Bartimaeus] Or you could just sacrifice the peasants that you might find in some of the villages. Get them to charge into unknown territory, reveal the enemy and get your stronger units to obliterate them next turn.<br />
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=== Approaching Weldyn ===<br />
This scenario is fairly easy, and should only take 6-8 units. The first turn, recall any mounted holy units you may have (paladins, or any other who have picked up an amulet), and some advanced mages. Don't get heavy infantry, they are too slow, and a rush strategy is most appropriate. Rush the Dark Sorcerer closest to you; since he only recruits level 1 units, he should be easy to defeat. If you are good, he will be dead around turn 5. Then, just run south with Gweddry, and defeat against any undead coming at you from the west with your other units. Since the other two enemies are more powerful than the one you killed, and Konrad II acts, well, stupid, they might start beating him. So, send some of your quicker units (the mounted ones) to help him out. Just make sure the undead archers don't kill them.<br />
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=== The Council ===<br />
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Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.<br />
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=== Weldyn Under Attack ===<br />
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Luckily, you have a lot of allies, but they tend to act rather stupid, and their units are level 1 while the enemies' are level 2 or 3. So, they will serve as distractions, but won't win the battle for you. The northern enemy is one of the strongest, so don't attack him first, just send a few units to form a defensive wall. He tends to recruit a lot of Spectres, and a group of 4 of them can kill any first level unit in one turn. You should try to kill the enemies on this level, not just survive the night. Send rather large forces to attack the south-eastern and south-western enemies, making sure that your ally puts his units on the front line - that way, the undead will kill his units, but have no one left to attack you. Advanced mages are very useful, since they tend to kill revenants and ghouls in one attack. Once the other enemies are defeate, advance on the northern enemy, killing his spectres with mages. You should be able to level up a few. After the scenario, there is a choice of going to The Duel, or to Weldyn Besieged. In The Duel, you can only use your 6 best units, and Weldyn Besieged is just another big battle.<br />
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===Diverging Campaign Path===<br />
==== The Duel ====<br />
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Get ready to face an assorted set of one ancient lich, 6 liches and necromancers, plus some lower units.<br />
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3 great mages and 3 mages of light can do the trick, just go for Mal-Ravanal at daylight. Seemed much too easy (version 0.9.1 + 1.0, medium difficulty). He is really dumb (or cocky), blindly rushing forward. Even suiciding on a white mage isn't beneath him.<br />
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If you ever gave a red mage an amulet and leveled him up, a holy great mage can kill Mal-Ravanal in two hits. A strong Iron Mauler with an amulet and leadership (Grand Marshal) can even take him out in one hit. But if you plan on Iron Mauling your way through, keep in mind that they are vulnerable to cold ! Thus the best units here are without a doubt cavaliers outfitted with an amulet. If you don't have or want amulets, I guess some paladins could be used too.<br />
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==== Weldyn Besieged ====<br />
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I had hoped for a big final battle like in Heir of the Throne - but instead I could assassinate Mal-Ravanal in just 5 turns. Apparently, the later scenarios in "Eastern Invasion" aren't balanced yet (version 0.9.1 here, medium difficulty).<br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24945TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T23:44:21Z<p>IoN: add</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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<br />
Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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<br />
After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
<br />
== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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<br />
After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
<br />
== "Tidings, Good and Ill" (elf branch) ==<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
<br />
== "Into the Depths" (elf branch) ==<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this campaign. When you encounter the trolls you may choose to give them gold, which makes them ally with you and also grant you a shortcut to Mal M'Brin's castle.<br />
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If you want to try to fight the trolls, offer them freedom. They'll turn it down, and you can barrage them with Elvish Fighters. The scenario is extremely easy if you fight alongside the trolls.<br />
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Either way, recall experienced range-attack units on the first turn, then recruit a keep of Elvish Fighters as fodder.<br />
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==Return to Kerlath (elf branch)==<br />
This is a straightforward level. Recall a lot of high-level units and the some fodder, then slaughter the bandits.<br />
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== "Vengeance" (elf branch) ==<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethiliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
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== "Long March" (bandit branch) ==<br />
Just follow Urza Afalas for a standard scenario unless you want a challenge, in which case head north and fight. The end result is the same. <br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24936TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T19:48:22Z<p>IoN: /* Return to Kerlath */ elf branch</p>
<hr />
<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
<br />
== "Tidings, Good and Ill" (elf branch) ==<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
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== "Into the Depths" (elf branch) ==<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this campaign. When you encounter the trolls you may choose to give them gold, which makes them ally with you and also grant you a shortcut to Mal M'Brin's castle.<br />
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If you want to try to fight the trolls, offer them freedom. They'll turn it down, and you can barrage them with Elvish Fighters. The scenario is extremely easy if you fight alongside the trolls.<br />
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Either way, recall experienced range-attack units on the first turn, then recruit a keep of Elvish Fighters as fodder.<br />
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==Return to Kerlath (elf branch)==<br />
This is a straightforward level. Recall a lot of high-level units and the some fodder, then slaughter the bandits.<br />
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== "Vengeance" (elf branch) ==<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethiliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24935TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T19:32:59Z<p>IoN: ah forgot a scenario</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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<br />
On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
<br />
<br />
By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
<br />
<br />
Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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<br />
On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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<br />
As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
<br />
<br />
By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
<br />
== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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<br />
Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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<br />
By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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<br />
Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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<br />
If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
<br />
* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
<br />
* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
<br />
* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
<br />
* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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<br />
By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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<br />
If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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<br />
By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
<br />
== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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<br />
After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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<br />
Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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<br />
So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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<br />
Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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== "Tidings, Good and Ill" (elf branch) ==<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
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== "Into the Depths" (elf branch) ==<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this campaign. When you encounter the trolls you may choose to give them gold, which makes them ally with you and also grant you a shortcut to Mal M'Brin's castle.<br />
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If you want to try to fight the trolls, offer them freedom. They'll turn it down, and you can barrage them with Elvish Fighters. The scenario is extremely easy if you fight alongside the trolls.<br />
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Either way, recall experienced range-attack units on the first turn, then recruit a keep of Elvish Fighters as fodder.<br />
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==Return to Kerlath==<br />
This is a straightforward level. Recall a lot of high-level units and the some fodder, then slaughter the bandits.<br />
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== "Vengeance" (elf branch) ==<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethiliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24934TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T19:12:23Z<p>IoN: /* "Into the Depths" (elf branch) */ +</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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<br />
Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
<br />
== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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<br />
Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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<br />
By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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<br />
Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
<br />
<br />
If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
<br />
* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
<br />
* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
<br />
* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
<br />
* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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== "Tidings, Good and Ill" (elf branch) ==<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
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== "Into the Depths" (elf branch) ==<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this campaign. When you encounter the trolls you may choose to give them gold, which makes them ally with you and also grant you a shortcut to Mal M'Brin's castle.<br />
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If you want to try to fight the trolls, offer them freedom. They'll turn it down, and you can barrage them with Elvish Fighters. The scenario is extremely easy if you fight alongside the trolls.<br />
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Either way, recall experienced range-attack units on the first turn, then recruit a keep of Elvish Fighters as fodder.<br />
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== "Vengeance" (elf branch) ==<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethiliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24933TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T18:45:27Z<p>IoN: oops, sorry for the misinformation I provided. I was playing through an old version</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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== "Tidings, Good and Ill" (elf branch) ==<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
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== "Into the Depths" (elf branch) ==<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this campaign. When you encounter the trolls you may choose to give them gold, which makes them ally with you and also grant you a shortcut to Mal M'Brin's castle.<br />
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If you want to try to fight the trolls, offer them freedom. They'll turn it down, and you can barrage them with Elvish Fighters.<br />
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Either way, recall experienced range-attack units on the first turn, then recruit a keep of Elvish Fighters as fodder.<br />
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== "Vengeance" (elf branch) ==<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethiliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24875TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T01:59:46Z<p>IoN: /* Elvish Fork */ add</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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==Elvish Fork==<br />
==="Tidings, Good and Ill"===<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
==="Into the Dephs"===<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this game. There's probably a split here if you keep Mal M'Brin (who, as you may have guessed now, is actually Mebrin) from dying, but this is extremely difficult. The easiest way is to give the trolls food, which makes them ally with you. They then can easily kill Mal M'Brin on their own. The downside to this is the dissatisfying ending: the elves try to get vengeance, but Ethilliel parlays with them, and the campaign ends with a cautious peace between humans and elves. If you want a challenge, you can attempt to kill the trolls by offering them money (which they don't want), which is difficult. If you don't stop them from killing Mal M'Brin, then the ending scenario is the same. As mention above, killing them '''and''' stopping them from killing Mal M'Brin is difficult.<br />
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To kill the trolls without stopping them from killing Mal M'Brin, simply swarm their north entrance with Elvish Fighters. Eventually, they'll be worn down, and then you can enter and kill their leader after a lot of work and patience.<br />
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Theoretically, you could both stop them from killing Mal M'Brin and kill them by blocking both their north and eastern entrances, but I haven't tried this.<br />
===M'Brin Death Fork===<br />
===="Vengeance"====<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethilliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
===M'Brin Lives Fork===<br />
Unknown.<br />
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==Bandit Fork==<br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24874TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T01:57:54Z<p>IoN: /* Elvish Fork */ add</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
<br />
== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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==Elvish Fork==<br />
==="Tidings, Good and Ill"===<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
==="Into the Dephs"===<br />
One of the few genuinely tough scenarios in this game. There's probably a split here if you keep Mal M'Brin (who, as you may have guessed now, is actually Mebrin) from dying, but this is extremely difficult. The easiest way is to give the trolls food, which makes them ally with you. They then can easily kill Mal M'Brin on their own. The downside to this is the dissatisfying ending: the elves try to get vengeance, but Ethilliel parlays with them, and the campaign ends with a cautious peace between humans and elves. If you want a challenge, you can attempt to kill the trolls by offering them money (which they don't want), which is difficult. If you don't stop them from killing Mal M'Brin, then the ending scenario is the same. As mention above, killing them '''and''' stopping them from killing Mal M'Brin is difficult.<br />
===M'Brin Death Fork===<br />
===="Vengeance"====<br />
Just recruit a lot of fodder to keep the elves busy and send Ethilliel to the tree quickly. As mentioned above, a dissatisfying ending. <br />
===M'Brin Lives Fork===<br />
Unknown.<br />
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==Bandit Fork==<br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24872TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T01:44:14Z<p>IoN: add</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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==Elvish Fork==<br />
==="Tidings, Good and Ill"===<br />
This scenario, as mentioned above, is a pushover, Just recruit some Elvish Fighters, and push northwards. None of your opponents will be any match for you.<br />
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==Bandit Fork==<br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoNhttps://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=TheSouthGuard&diff=24871TheSouthGuard2008-03-30T01:43:00Z<p>IoN: add some stuff</p>
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<div>== "Born To The Banner" ==<br />
This campaign was written as a continuation of the Tutorial. If you completed that you will have no problems here. The recommended course is to head to the River Fort, which is just out of range. Before leaving, however, note that you can recruit here. You can only recruit Peasants for now, and will be able to get better units soon. In general you should save your money for the Archers and Spearmen to come, but it might be nice to bring in a single Peasant now for a special mission. After that, everybody should head towards a village. You might as well park Deoran at 16, 8 and move Moreth towards 24, 8. Turn 2 you reach the River Fort and are rewarded by an Infantry Lieutenant joining your forces. Sir Gerrick will be able to supply your troops with weapons and armor to make Archers and Spearmen. Now you can send Deoran back to the keep to recruit in earnest. If you recruited the Peasant last turn, send him towards the 'village' in the river at 6, 10. This might be considered a little bit of spoiler, but you will find something good there. Actually, if you make a concerted effort to flag all villages [You ARE, aren't you?] you will eventually find this, but you might not be aware that this is a village. Besides, if you get there too late it won't help this scenario...<br />
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On turn three Deoran should be back in the keep recruiting Bowmen. Bring in the occasional Spearman, but the bulk of your forces now should be Bowmen. This is because the Urza mostly recruits Thugs, which have no ranged attack. Once you've discovered your enemy's weakness, you're halfway to defeating them. Even with your Spearmen, you'll want to stick to thrown spears at night against the Thugs unless your target is wounded enough that you are likely to finish it off. Your other forces are too skimpy to accomplish anything now, so have them continue to capture unallied villages. One keep worth of troops [four units] is likely not enough to last all the way to the Urza, so go ahead and stay for another round of recruiting. By turn 5 you will be nearly out of money, but will have a decent size force along the Northern bank of the river. It's okay to run out of money this early in a scenario, as you'll be earning more income from your villages every turn. This in now night-time, during which your [Lawful] forces will be weaker and the Bandits [Chaotic] will be stronger. Short of suicide, the reasonable thing to do is to assume a defensive stance until the sun rises.<br />
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By now your troops will be somewhat scattered. You might want to get used to tapping the "n" key several times before ending your turn. "n" brings the focus to next unit that has any movement points left. This way it will be easy to find those units you might have forgotten. Most of your units should be arranged in a line [more of a crescent, really] from the River Fort going East. Moreth [the original Spearman] might have gotten all the way to the village at 22, 12. If so, he could be safe there, unless you see several enemy units moving his way. Another gamble would be moving the Peasant down to 5, 16 and send the Mermen, if any, into the middle of the swamp. This could be enough of a distraction to split up the Bandit army marching towards the river fort. These are the only of your troops that will be somewhat safe South of the river.<br />
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Normal advice is to put leaders and healers in the 'second line' behind the front line. You don't have any healers yet, but Sir Gerrick can help lead. Depending upon what difficulty level you selected upon starting the campaign, Deoran is probably only first level. Note that leadership only applies to units that are lower in level than the leader. A first level leader can only lead Peasants and other zero level troops. Sir Gerrick will be able to direct the fire of your bowmen to better effect and will also be able to exert his influence on Deoran. It will be a priority for you to get Deoran enough experience to advance to the next level without getting him killed. Ideally you'd also like to minimize the number of times he becomes wounded bad enough to have to pull away from the battle and retreat to a village for healing. Usually this is accomplished by having your other troops soften up a target such that your leader can get the kill. You don't have to attack every character every turn, particularly if it looks like you'll take more damage than you'll dish out.<br />
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On turn 7 the daylight comes: your counterattacks will have more effect, and you should be crossing the river in force on turn 8. When you capture the village at 15,12 you will be rewarded with Aleron, a Peasant who is Loyal to you. In game terms, he will work for you for free [has no upkeep]. Since he is only a level 0, there's no upkeep cost anyway. Big deal, right? Well, it is. You should make every effort to keep those Loyal troops alive, and those should be the ones that reach the highest levels. If Aleron becomes a Halberdier [which normally costs you 3 gold per turn to supply], he will still be Loyal and cost you nothing. Moreth and the Mermen are loyal as well, so keep them alive. That means don't throw Mermen away on land attacks. Keep them in the river or swamps where they are better adapted. After you have crossed the river, leave them behind as a rear guard.<br />
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As you press towards the Urza, the majority of your troops will be funneled along the road South. A few should come along the edge of the hills in order to attack the enemy keep from due North. The idea here is to get the enemy to split up his forces, or you'll have an unguarded area to attack. By turn 9 you should be in more defensible terrain [forest, hills or mountains] as night will be falling again. Hopefully you will have dispatched the majority of the baddies in the battle by the river, but a lucky strike by some bandits could still cripple you. By the way [this is a matter of playing style] i usually pull a unit back for healing once its health bar turns yellow or red. There are times when you have to sacrifice a unit to achieve some bigger goal, but you'll never get your units to level up if they get killed before they get enough experience...<br />
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By turn 11 or so, you should have captured all the villages on the map. On turn 12 i would expect to see some of your units in the enemy keep. The keep is the best defensive terrain; also, the more of its area you fill up, the fewer fresh troops the enemy can recruit. By turn 13 your troops could be attacking the Urza himself, and daylight is coming. With luck you can finish him off on turn 14. Since the enemy keep is mostly surrounded by forest it gets kind of fussy juggling all your troops around so as to rest the wounded, bring your attackers where they will do the most good [Archers against Thugs and Bandits, Spearmen against Poachers], and get the most from your leaders. If it not obvious, you can have Sir Gerrick direct several attacks, move him, direct more attacks, etc. Optionally he can finish his turn by attacking. Ideally you'd like the killing blow against the Urza to be delivered by Sir Gerrick or [better] Deoran. That way he can accumulate enough experience to eventually advance.<br />
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== "Proven By The Sword" ==<br />
Similar to the last go round, this scenario comes in two parts: first is seizing control of the Westin Keep, second is actually defeating the enemy. I would initially recall Moreth and Aleron [the loyal ground troops] and one of the Bowmen that has accumulated good experience. You are sitting in a temporary keep right now, fill it up and go capture a village. You don't want to hang around, but it would be risky to send Deoran into the city alone. Turn 2 send Deoran back to the keep to recall/recruit more troops. Again you'll want a mix of types, but Bowmen should still predominate. Meanwhile send the first batch of troops south to handle the Footpads that are coming your way. Sir Gerrick could either head down with them or accompany the other bunch into the city.<br />
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Here i'll give a few words about the criminals: Footpads, Thieves, etc. are extremely agile. If they are in halfway defensible terrain, you'll have a stated 30% chance to hit them. I think this is exaggerated, as i have had to swing many, many times to get a single hit on these guys. It's kind of like trying to hit an Agent in the movie "The Matrix". The other thing to watch out for is the Backstab ability that the Thieves possess: they can stab for double damage if an allied unit is on the other side of their target. You have to keep you units close enough together that they can't break through and surround you.<br />
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By turn 4 Deoran and his retinue should cross the bridge and face down the criminals in the city. If it takes you longer than that, the Urza's forces will have reinforced the city and you'll have a *much* harder time crossing the river. After Deoran has captured the city [i.e., is at the hex 22, 16; labeled 'Westin'], the citizens of the city will give him 5 more loyal troops: 4 more peasants and a White Mage. Minister Hylas is an extremely important figure in this campaign, and is currently the only of your troops who will be very effective against the undead that you will soon face. He also bears the blue badge that all significant characters wear. Deoran should recruit/recall again here, possibly including bringing back the loyal Mermen, then go on the attack. The Peasants will be kind of difficult to keep alive against the criminals they face, so perhaps send a few of them around to capture the blue villages. However, in this scenario i had a Peasant upgrade to Bowman and again to Longbowman.<br />
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Now the Urza begins playing hardball: he won't capture any of your villages. If one of his troops comes upon a village held by you, they will destroy it. It is up to you if you need the money bad enough to keep troops behind and defend the villages. The important thing is to take all villages away from him to reduce how many recruits he can send against you. Of course, we should also think of the happiness of our citizens, as well... Once you have Minister Hylas on your side, the Urza reveals the trick in his sleeve: he can recruit Undead. The skeletons are a real nuisance, as they are highly resistant to attacks by piercing and bladed weapons [exactly the kind that all of your troops except Minister Hylas possess].<br />
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If you're curious, select one and look at the description. Depending upon how the version of Wesnoth you are using was compiled, usually this is accomplished by pressing the 'd' key or right-clicking and selecting 'Unit Description'. You will see that the Skeletons are vulnerable to Fire, Impact weapons, and particularly weak against Holy attacks. You don't have any Fire attacks yet, and the only Impact attack you have is Minister Hylas' Staff. His Lightbeam is much better against these foul creatures, however: <br />
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* -100% resistance to this attack means you will deliver much better damage to them. During broad daylight this totals up to a maximum 80 points of damage every turn.<br />
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* Four attacks is almost always better than one.<br />
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* The Lightbeam is a 'Magical' attack rather than a physical. In practical terms, it does not matter if they're hiding in mountains, a village or whatever; you still have a 70% chance to hit them.<br />
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* The majority of the Skeletons have no ranged attack. There is no better attack for you than an attack with no risk of counterattack...<br />
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By turn 8 you can have cleared the West bank of the river and will be lined up ready to wade across. As before, wait for dawn to start the attack and you should be able to beat you way through during the day. Since the water is such an impediment to travel, you might risk putting units into the river along row 24. Even though they are exposed there [typically 20% defense means they would be hit 80% of the time], enemies would themselves have to step into the water to attack you there. Since it typically takes 3 to 4 movement points to pass through water, a unit standing [for example] on 18, 23 would run out of points before getting to dry land. It's much better to end your turn on the shore.<br />
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If it takes longer to clear out the city, or if the resistance in the South is particularly stiff, then better wait on your side of the river and let them attack you from the water. By turn 14 you should have reduced their numbers enough to make it across. Some of the bad guys will try to ford the eastern stream [hexes 26, 22 to 29, 23]. I would send a handful of troops [assisted by the Mermen] down the East bank of the river to prevent those from getting behind you.<br />
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After you've crossed the river again, the rest is quite straightforward: get through the forest to the enemy keep, and beat them down. I should mention that while Minister Hylas is healing all of your troops that are near him, nobody is healing Minister Hylas. Since he is so critical, you'll have to retreat him if he gets banged up too bad. It takes some juggling since he is your only effective undead fighter. However, he can't fight them when he's dead...<br />
== "A Desperate Errand" ==<br />
There is a marker at 17,7 indicating where Deoran should head, though it is partly obscured by the large tree in front of it. You don't need lots of troops for this scenario, maybe just two or three keeps worth. On the first turn i would just bring back the loyals, perhaps one of them a Merman. Don't head to the target yet, as on turn two you will receive a Dragoon and the ability to recruit Cavalrymen. Buy one or two to screen Deoran, then perhaps bring back another Merman. Deoran and the other mounted troops can immediately cross the river heading North, while the others head West. When there are no enemies in the immediate area, the cavalry can capture villages while still remaining somewhat close to Deoran. He should just make a beeline towards the elven keep. As enemies get closer he should be a little more conservative in his movement; not ending his turn in a forest, for example. <br />
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By about turn six or seven the walking and swimming types should be in the neighborhood of the village at 12, 24 while the Vampire Bats will be catching up with the horsey set having just crossed the river again. You should be able to hold 12, 24 though expect to see some fierce attempts to wrest the village from you. It would be possible to send a merman to the village at 4, 23, though i wouldn't recommend you send anybody you really like there, as they're likely to get slaughtered. Still, it might be worthwhile to send a throwaway [read: non-loyal] merman there to take the heat off the main force around 12, 24. Note that the Scenario Objectives say nothing about defeating the Urza. Your foot troops need only engage him to keep him out of Deoran's hair, and you're home free. Of course if you are able to finish him off, then bully for you.<br />
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== "Vale of Tears" ==<br />
I might initially recall a single keep worth of troops, as another five bodies might be overkill on top the now large retinue around Deoran. On the other hand, you'll have to fight Skeletons again, so expect to lose a few. As always, Minister Hylas can take down one every turn. Ethiliel can put her 'ensnare' attack to good use as well. It uses Impact damage and has the beneficial effect of slowing down the target [If she hits, the target will only deliver half damage for the remaining of this round and the beginning of next]. It's best to use her to attack an axe-wielding Skeleton, then quickly finish it off with your melee fighters. You'll have to rein in the temptation to have Deoran or any of the mounted fighters charge in ahead of the others, that could be a form of suicide. If you keep your troops shoulder-to-shoulder [in a line] that'll reduce the ability of the enemy to gang up on any one character. Of course, you can afford to take more risks after there are only a few skeletons left. There will also be times when you choose to expose some of your troops in order to surround and defeat an enemy.<br />
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After you have finished off Mal A'kai you can use his keep to replenish your forces for the next battle. A useful shortcut at this point might be to send Ethiliel due South after she's done bashing Skeletons. Hopefully won't really need her help to deal with the villains in the woods, Also, the sooner you send her off to Mebrin's Village, the sooner you can complete the second objective for this scenario. If she circles around the eastern side of the lake she can make the village [31, 32] in about a half dozen turns.<br />
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Meanwhile the villains should mostly be so spread out as to be easy prey.<br />
== "Choice In The Fog" ==<br />
The title is a precise summation of this scenario, but more about that later. Right now, you're surrounded by fog that only lets you see as far as you can move in the next turn. One possible [though expensive] means of dealing with this is to make sure that every squad of yours has a fast moving unit like Cavalryman with them. However, cavalry fight at a disadvantage in the woods, which is mostly what you'll be dealing with here. Elves are much better in the forest, and therein lies the choice i mentioned earlier. You won't be forced to chose yet, but you may as well think about it: your decision will affect the type of recruits you are about to gather. As of now, Ethiliel will allow you to recruit Elvish Fighters and Elvish Shamen. The Shaman is the only healing unit you'll get other than Minister Hylas in the whole campaign. If you choose against the elves, you will then be allowed to recruit a powerful unit to fight undead. If you're going to go that way, then don't bother recruiting any elves, as they will all leave you.<br />
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So recruit a keeps worth of mixed troops. You might need more, depending upon how you choose. Your objective now is simply to explore. I don't think it will be too much of a spoiler to tell you that there are a handful of sites to fjord the river, but only one bridge. I usually send the horsed and elven types along the northern bank of the river, since it's a long way across the map. Minister Hylas and the rest of the humans should march South across the bridge. Of course, if you're going with the elves, you may as well reinforce them with some Elvish Fighters, too. Your faster troops will eventually encounter some resistance about three quarters of the way across. After you've cleared the northern bank, prepare to cross the river and meet them on their own turf. <br />
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Meanwhile, the others should keep heading South and will eventually run into bunches of Zombies. While they are quite weak individually, wave after wave of them can eventually wear down even the strongest hero. The unique attack [plague] of the Zombie and Souless means that any living creature they kill will be brought back as one of their own. Keep your fighters close to Minister Hylas, and rotate them as necessary. As level zero creatures, Zombies don't exert a Zone of Control. In practical terms, it means that they can't slow your movement. Just remember you are in no hurry, and eventually you will beat them at their own game. Even if they hurry it is unlikely that they could meet up with their brethren for the battle against the skeletons on the east side. The leader of the Zombies is a level one Souless called Gruth.<br />
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On the eastern front, you will face Bandits and such again. Eventually sordid secrets will be revealed, and you will be forced to choose between them and the Elves. If you chose Bandits, your elven allies will IMMEDIATELY disappear. This may leave some of your units exposed to counterattack from the undead, so beware. After so choosing, Urza Afalas and all his surviving bandits will become yours to command, and you will be able to use his keep to recruit more Thugs and Footpads. Both are well suited to cracking skeletal skulls. If you choose to stay with the Elves, of course you'll have the Shamen to console you as you fight your way through the Bandits. By the time you are through with them, the skeletons will probably be making their way up from their keep on the southeast corner of the map.<br />
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Just keep bashing away, and eventually you will win through to the big baddie: Mal M'Brin, who, in terms of number of units, is actually quite weak and easy to defeat. This name might sound vaguely familiar, but i won't go into that now. Just keep in mind that it is tougher than the other two leaders put together. Its magic attack can hit you for a basic 36 points [Dawn/Dusk], while its melee attack does 15. It's worse than that, however, as the melee attack can drain hit points from the target to regain Mal's hit points. Just keep hammering away at it with your Thugs and Bandits, and hold Deoran back so he can get the final whack. It turns out that this is merely an apparition of the real Mal M'Brin, and the actual one is hiding in tunnels beneath his keep.<br />
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After this scenario, there will be a branch: If you choose to stay with the elves, you'll lead Sir Gerrick back to Wesnoth to deliver news of the undead in a scenario that's almost a pushover, and then you'll try to hunt out Mal inside his caves. If you choose to go with the bandits, then you'll try to return to Wesnoth, but the remaining undead, under the real Mal M'Brin, will follow you. You'll then be forced to play a last-as-long-as-you-can scenario where Gerrick and Urza Afalas are forced to die so that Deoran can return to Westin and prepare a defense against the final undead attack. The first fork is much less difficult.<br />
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[[Category:Campaigns]]</div>IoN