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TheRiseOfWesnoth

2011-12-21T06:58:32Z

Fredbobsmith2: /* Lizard Beach */

== Strategy Guide for The Rise of Wesnoth Campaign ==

===Campaign strategy===

Over the course of this campaign, you will need to level up to some:

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead killers: Paladins (two)
* Mobile strikers: Silver Mages (at least one, preferably more), Grand Knights (several), Fugitives (one or more helps)
* Damage sinks: Royal Guards, Iron Maulers, Highwaymen, Halberdiers, level 3 Burin, and again Grand Knights
* Leaders: level 3 Haldric, level 3 Lady Outlaw, and much later level 3 Commander Aethyr
* Ranged attackers: Great Mages (can use several in the last scenario), Longbowmen/Master Bowmen (two), Trapper/Huntsman (one is helpful)

A Mage of Light, one Paladin, and five Grand Knights make a perfect assault team!

Although Horsemen are key for the first three or four scenarios, it's important not to be too reliant on horse units through the middle part of the campaign, as there are many hard levels underground, in swamps, in water, or against Saurians; use XP from the scenario ''The Vanguard'' to get to 2 Paladins and 2+ Grand Knights.

Don't overlook Pikemen/Halberdiers, which are useful in many levels; pierce attacks work well against Drakes and against the dragon, and they are handy for defensive roles especially repelling Wolf Riders. They are less good against undead, though, and don't get that +1 MP Royal Guard speed bonus.

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) leveled up. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which get marksmanship once at level 3. These, plus Lady Outlaw, 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.

Here are some recommended units to have obtained by specific scenarios:

2. The Fall - 1 Knight 
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops 
4a. The Midlands - avoid, go to The Swamp of Eden instead 
4b. The Swamp of Eden - level 2 Haldric, level 2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers 
6. Temple of the Deep - level 3 Haldric, level 3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits 
8. Clearwater Port - level 3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers 
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages 
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''[glandis] In 1.8.6, there was no opportunity for 3 loyal mermen - maybe this was in an older version? And only Merman fighters can be recruited - no Netcaster upgardes are possible 
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light 
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin 
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights) 
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, level 3 Commander Aethyr desirable 
22. The Rise of Wesnoth - 2 Paladins, 3 Royal Guards, 4 Mages of Light

Because the campaign is long and you won't be able to recall all your level 3's in the final scenario, it pays to create some "uber-units". An example is a quick, resilient Silver Mage that has been AMLA advanced a few times.

==Scenarios==
===A Summer Of Storms ===

This is a relatively easy scenario, so gear your recruitment and strategy with an eye towards gathering XP.

Recruitment...
# For the first round, recruit 2-3 Horsemen and the rest can be all Spearmen or a mix of Spearmen and Bowmen as you see fit.
# 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, grunts, and riders you will encounter. 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.

Strategy...
* Players have used at least three strategies with success...
# The "over the bridge" strategy: Send the horsemen with the king over the bridge, and the others should follow or start going over the mountain, to avoid being attacked from behind. Send subsequent Spearmen and Bowmen on the "over-the-bridge" road, and when the Prince and final troops have just about caught up, march on the enemy camp.
# The "hide in the swamp" strategy: Proceed much like the above, but send the king 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, you can use a Spearman and a Mage (to level him.)
# "Sandbagging" strategy: On the hardest difficulty level, the initial enemy assault will only be easy to handle by entrenching your troops behind the river. Use the king to block the bridge initially, while Spearmen handle the shoreline just north and Horsemen carefully flag villages across the river. Run the king around, lending his leadership as you massacre the stupid enemy troops that have jumped like lemmings into the water.
* For all these options, you will also need to send a squad north into the mountains and around into the flank of the enemy. A quick Spearman, a quick Bowman, and one other unit, possibly a quick Mage, should be more than sufficient.
* When you see that the fronts are under control, stop recruiting and send prince Haldric and your Mages over the bridge on a quest for XP, assisted by the leadership of the king, and converge on the enemy camp.

===The Fall===

This is a scenario that looks scary, but it is only moderately difficult with proper recruitment and strategy.

Recruitment...
* Recall or recruit Spearmen and Bowmen to man the lines.
* Horsemen/Knights are desirable, because you probably do not yet have a White Mage, and the villages are widely spaced.
* Recalling or recruiting Mages for XP gathering is highly advisable for future scenarios.

Strategy...
* There are three basic approaches to take out the outlaw leader...
# "Brute force" strategy: You can march west with a large army and use part of it to hold northwestern 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.
# "Assassination over the bridge" strategy: You can assassinate the outlaw leader. One way is to wait until the orcs have killed almost all outlaws and then assassinate the outlaw leader with Knights, rushing over the enemy camp's bridge and into the keep. This strategy is risky because orcs can kill the leader before you.
# "Assassination via the mountain pass" strategy: Another way to assassinate the leader is to send a squad through the southern mountains to the outlaw keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen are enough. You may wish to substitute one of the Spearmen with a Knight or Horseman, though horse units have only a narrow passage devoid of mountains and could get pinned by the enemy.
* On the hardest difficulty level, you may be forced to assassinate. For either of the assassination strategies, it is a good idea to fight against the northeastern orc nearby your keep. This way, you can secure your back and earn experience.

Hints...

* Saving the loyal Heavy Infantrymen (or Shock Troopers on easy) pays off in later scenarios. To save all three, move them south towards the outlaws.

* Once you eliminate the HP of the Lady Outlaw, she offers to help you. If you say yes, she comes back as a loyal unit in future scenarios and you will be able to recruit outlaw units, plus she cannot be killed in the next couple of scenarios (instead, she disappears when she goes to zero HP, and comes back the next scenario.) This is quite valuable. If you say no and try to kill her, you find out she cannot be killed. However, you do get 200 gold that she leaves behind.

* Heads up: The following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is a handful on the hardest difficulty level. On hard, a carryover of almost 150 gold (so you have 250 starting gold) would be wise, so although Lady Outlaw's assistance is worth much more than 200 gold, you may be forced to choose the gold. Another thing you need to beat the following scenario on hard is a White Mage at or near the start of the scenario. Also, about-to-level units will be especially nice for their self-healing ability and low initial upkeep. Steer XP accordingly.

===A Harrowing Escape===

This scenario is much easier on lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

On easy/medium...
* Recruitment: You should recruit/recall 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. Other than the Mages, 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.
* Strategy: Leave a few units in the rear, as the enemy can cross hills quickly. Note that Footpads and Outlaws will also cross hills at reasonable speed, if you need to hunt down some units. There are two castle tiles about halfway down, try to send Lady Outlaw and Brunin the Lost to them, they make good guards in case the enemy tries to come straight up. You can also send a couple groups of units down southeast to the lake, so you can prevent the Green team (southeast) from coming up the river. You can also kill the two Orcish Grunts (or Warriors on medium) on the southern castle tiles and then move Lady Outlaw and Brunin to them.

On hard...
* Recruitment: To beat this scenario on the hardest difficulty level, you need some level 2 (or better yet, about-to-level level 1) units already and a lot of starting gold. It is possible with ~200 starting gold, but only barely. 250+ is better. You can stretch your gold a bit by not going negative on upkeep and waiting until you can't wait any longer to do one last round of recruiting, recalling mostly level 2's. For timing your final recruitment, watch the wolves that are likely trying to flank through the mountains south of your keep. Another requirement for beating this scenario is a White Mage (or two.) If need be, you must promote a Mage (or two) tout de suite, as you will be dealing with severe damage and assassins, while only having easy access to 2 or 3 villages initially. Horsemen and Knights are useful for dissipating damage by serving as meat shields against blades and then running off to remote villages to heal. Quick Horsemen are especially nice, as they can transfer between two strategically placed villages in one turn, for healing on the go. Horsemen, Knights, and Swordsmen are useful for swatting assassins.

* Strategy: More important than terrain is avoiding getting flanked, so mobility of individual units is key; if you climb up deep into the mountains, you will have a harder time with mobility than staying on or near the valley floor. Additionally, many of your units cannot go on mountain hexes, so it's easier to maintain your lines if everyone stays close to the valley. Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill units quickly on the road: first the wave of wolves, then the wave of assassins. In contrast to easy and medium, on the hardest difficulty level both pairs of roadside castle tiles are guarded, not just the second pair. As on medium, the guards are Orcish Warriors.

Hints...
* On medium/hard, you can lure out the roadside guard Warriors one at a time by putting a unit within attack range of one (and out of range of the other.) They mostly come at night. Mostly. That is, the Warriors might not bite bait put out during the day.

* If you have Lady Outlaw, note that she has leadership, which will be useful to help promote Prince Haldric, if he is still level 0. It's worth advancing her to level 2, to continue to provide leadership to level 1 Haldric and your other level 1's. You may also make use of her odd ability "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore ZOCs. And Lady Outlaw allows you to recruit outlaw types. On hard especially, Thugs can be useful as meat shields and to provide strong attacks at night when your lawful forces are crippled. Remember too that Lady Outlaw cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

Spoilers...

* There is Dwarf Steelclad in the village at 8,5. It's 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."

* After you kill the first orc leader, an Orcish Slayer and two Assassins will pop out of nowhere, so you would be wise not to have any wounded units stuck without movement points at that point. Also, the other leader will get an infusion of gold and start recruiting on all available hexes, so if you can sit on some of those hexes first, it will help keep the situation from getting out of control.

* At the end, you will be given the choice of the river/swamp road or the midlands/orc road. These fork to the scenarios ''The Swamp of Esten'' and ''The Midlands'', respectively. The swamp scenario is relatively easy, while ''The Midlands'' could cost you some leveled units or even prove impossible to beat if you are low on gold. Also, the swamp gives you a free loyal White Mage, so it's a no brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

* Heads up: it would be wise to have at least 1 Mage either levelled up to White or about to level up before going to the scenario ''The Swamp of Esten''.

===Diverging Campaign Path===
====The Midlands====

Orcs again. But you chose that way. This scenario may appear impossible, but with a lot of gold and a little strategy, it can be beat.

Recruitment...
* You are given plenty of time, so use it wisely. The enemies send lots of orcs, mostly weak ones. So recruit and recall everything you can.
* Recall any White Mages you have. You'll need them.
* Bowmen are good for the wolf units you will be facing.
* The rest depends on your strategy.

Strategy...
* The "Fast Assault" option: use an assassination team. If you go west, only your Knights and Horsemen will arrive and fight at daytime. So 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, but hopefully not the latter, as they are loyal units in a long campaign. With this approach, you can finish early (around 25 turns) and keep your losses low.
* The "Dark Assault" option: use Footpads. If you chose to work with the the outlaws in the last round, then this works well. 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 them to the upper west and south, followed by more powerful units: Mages, Horsemen, etc. For the time being, leave 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 enemy's gold and increases yours. Don't attack at first, just defend, until more of your slow higher powered units arrive. The strategy here is to pick off the orcs, and send the Horsemen to capture villages. While this is going, to the south you send your Footpads to capture any villages you can and, more importantly, put a Footpad on the hex that is adjacent to the bridge, thereby stopping easy advancement of their greater numbered troops. A White Mage, a couple Trappers and some Bowmen would make a good escort. Probably sending a Thief or two would be good too, to help dispatch any enemy that infiltrate the villages north of the river. one enemy got into one of the villages on the north of river, and it took a lot to dislodge him. The intention is to engage the enemy so that they are fighting from the river squares, at a huge disadvantage.

====The Swamp Of Esten====

This scenario is not too hard if you are conservative and don't send important units off alone.

Recruitment...
# First round, recall 1-2 quick Knights (or Paladins, if you have them), recruit 1-2 Horsemen, and recall your loyal Shocktroopers or whatever they are now.
# Next round, recruit/recall Mages to kill Scorpions (and Bats) and at least one White Mage to deal with poison, plus maybe a Poacher, as they are good in swamp (and you would like a Huntsman eventually, for its markmanship.)
# A little Thug spam can come next, but you don't need a full third round of recruitment. Then send Prince Haldric off to lend his leadership.

Strategy...
# You must blitz the northeastern leader, or risk getting bogged down on bad terrain facing a swarm of undead spam, which can be nasty at night. Quickly send Knights (or Paladins) and Burin over the ford to start wailing on undead. A disposable Horseman can try to take out Scorpions in this area at first. On the way is your proper Scorpion disposal unit, the Mages and White Mage. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as his ranged attack is nasty and can be followed up by waves of kamikaze Walking Corpses, which can take out a Knight.
# After you have killed the northeastern leader and eliminated troops there, you can either send your whole army back across the ford and south or split your army into two halves, sending one part to each leader. If you have lost several units but have lots of turns left, it's probably safer to stick together. This is not a simple mop-up operation, as powerful undead can take out some of your valuable units if you're not careful. On hard, Shadows are a constant threat at night.

Spoiler...

* Searching the temples is a good idea. Some have gold. There is 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 a horse unit or Lady Outlaw to the temple at 19,5. However, some of the temples contain undead, so keep extra troops nearby when you enter one.

===The Oldwood===

This is a relatively easy scenario.

Recruitment...
# First round, recall your (probably leveled up) Heavy Infantry from The Fall and some quick fighters.
# Second round, recall White Mages and quick Mages.
# Third round, round out with Thugs, Bowmen, and Spearmen, preferably quick.

Strategy...
* Your forces will have three main combat arenas: the northeast, the south, and the middle.
# The main bulk of your force, including at least one White Mage, should head east to the orc in the northeastern castle. The leader there recruits a lot of units, and most of them are level 2, so watch out.
# Haldric, a White Mage, your loyal Heavy Infantry types, and a couple of level 1's (maybe a Mage and a Thug) should head south to the other orc leader. 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.
# The castle in the middle is inhabited by the tree folk, so don't bother sending troops there; however, you might want to keep a couple speedy units not far off to watch their backs, in case the allied leader gets into trouble, as is usually the case.

Spoilers...
* The temple contains the entrance to the catacombs, but you need the leader Wose's help to open it, and to get that help you have to win the current scenario, so there is no point in visiting this temple.

* Heads up: The next scenario is in the catacombs, i.e., underground, and it's a tough one, so you need to groom your roster accordingly. Two Mages of Light would make it a whole lot easier. Failing that, level up your fearless loyal Shocktrooper and chaotic outlaw types. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice. Quick units of almost any type (except horse units) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

===Temple in the Deep===

You will be facing undead underground. This is a difficult situation that will prove much easier with proper recruitment. Then the strategy will be fairly straightforward.

Recruitment...

* All in all, what you need is a small elite force. Two rounds of recalls is enough, if you didn't lose Burin in a prior scenario.
# First round, recall your loyal Shocktroopers / Iron Maulers, especially the fearless one, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water (if Burin is not your choice.)
# Second round, recall any Mages of Light you might already have, and a total of at least two White Mages or Mages of Light, preferably quick. For the rest of your recruitment, what you need are high movement (6+ MP) non-horse units with high hitpoints (>50 HP), preferably chaotic, preferably with a ranged attack, and preferably impact attacks. Put all the requirements together and it points to Fugitives. Outlaws and quick Arch Mages are worth recalling too. Fill out the rest with Bandits/Highwaymen, Trappers/Huntsmen, and Longbowmen/Master Bowmen, preferably quick. You might think that Red Mages would be good, but they attract melee attacks that they likely will not survive. Note that Horse units are too sluggish to be useful here and should not be recalled/recruited.
# Third round (optional), you can add a unit or two for a safety margin.

Strategy...

# 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 Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a level 3 unit. Once you see the two choke points, hold them so one of their units is facing 2 of yours (preferably with a White Mage behind them). You may be able to level up a White Mage to a Mage of Light while fighting in the choke point. If your troops are too slow to grab both choke points, you can send Burin and others to the west choke point while your slow troops line up at the southeast shoreline and bridge.
# Gradually progress northwards once the flow 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. Be careful if he has recruits around, as their combined damage can take down one of your level 3's. Note that the Ruby can only be picked up by Haldric.

Hints...

* Holy water: Burin is very effective if you give him the holy water; however, it's more helpful to send Burin running to the west choke point without delay. A good alternative is a Highwayman - or a Bandit, who should level quickly. Compared to a Highwayman/Bandit, Prince Haldric or a Royal Guard is not that great a choice for the holy water due to their lawful alignment and -25% penalty, unless you have (or will soon get) a Mage of Light.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. If you're hurting for leveled chaotic units, you can even level up two raw recruit Thugs (use Haldric's leadership to assist). Keep Burin away from the water at this stage, or he'll kill all tentacles as they attack, depriving those who could benefit from the XP.

Spoilers...

* Your killed units will be turned into Walking Corpses (or Soulless on hard.) Therefore, spam is not helpful. A Mage or two can be okay, if used with great care, but mostly you need to recall leveled troops here.

===Return to Oldwood===

Plot only.

===Clearwater Port===

This scenario is easy if you take the first boat out, more and more challenging for the second and third boats, and very difficult (on hard) if you want to take out all three leaders.

Recruitment...
# First turn, recall your loyal Shocktroopers / Iron Maulers from ''The Fall.'' You will also want several Footpads, for speedy village snatching, coastline defending (under leader supervision), and possibly for filling castle hexes if your lines get too thin.
# Second turn, recruit/recall more low maintenance units. It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so recalling acouple half-leveled Spearmen or similar is a good idea.
# Third and later turns, start recalling your high maintenance units. The key to winning this scenario is to recall several advanced units that can take a lot of damage and get good defense in castles (no Horsemen). You will also want at least 3 White Mages or Mages of Light.

Strategy...
# Backstab your ally, stealing all his villages. Your ally is useless anyway, except for the entertainment value from his troops' suicide runs. The income is much better in your hands.
# Send your heavy duty troops with some White Mages over to the line of castle near Lt. Aethyr. (Optionally, you can rush forward past the castle, but you will need to return almost as quickly before the main enemy wave and night arrive.) 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 Knight Sir Rudry in the one non castled tile (or leave it empty, if no enemy are adjacent.) Place the White Mages behind this line. 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.
# Meanwhile, on the northeastern coast, the northern enemy leader will send lots of units to catch your flank unguarded. Send 2 Footpads, a Spearman, Lady Jessene, and Haldric to guard the coast. If Lady Jessene is already level 3, you can substitute a Royal Guard, Swordsman, or Javelineer for Haldric. This coastline defense squad may need help later, so be ready to divert a speedy powerful unit there. If you keep a healthy unit on the village at the tip of the land, then, unless you are very unlucky, you will be able to hold off everything the northern leader sends. After the assault from the water has been crushed, some of your troops may be able to cross the ford north, 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.) Also, notice that the lighthouse has a similar effect as a Mage of Light.
# You have two options for the endgame:
## "Total victory" strategy: 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 eney 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.
## "Run like hell" strategy: Alternatively, you can leave your leader near the docks and take one of the boats to end the scenario.

===Fallen Lich Point===

This is a high variance scenario. It may be very easy or very hard, depending on events beyond your control.

Recruitment...
* Recruit fairly lightly initially, as you will likely have a chance to use the Lich's keep to recruit again.
* Mages, White Mages, and Mages of Light are good, and as are all the other advancements of Mages.
* You automatically should have your loyal Knight. Because of the mountains around "lichland" and frozen ground everywhere else, additional horse units are not recommended, except a single Paladin will come in handy.
* Some Thugs or a Bandit or Highwayman will provide a little extra undead bashing power.
* Footpads will help with village flagging, after the Wolf Rider types are taken care of, but you can postpone buying Footpads until after killing the Lich.

Strategy...
# The Orcs will be busy with the Yetis, so you can walk with a big group south and kill the Lich-Lord. Move Haldric to the stone monument to de-petrify the Lich. It may help to post some units around the undead before doing so. Use several mages to make a hole or two in the ring of undead, and then push in a burly fighter or two and/or Paladin to kill the Lich.
# After killing the Lich, assess the Orc/Yeti situation (as well as the empty village situation) and decide if you need to use the Lich's keep to recruit some reinforcements.
# After that, head north and walk into the sewer entrance (the "cave") or else kill the orc leaders.

Hints...
* 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 Yetis. However, be careful not to be attacked by a Yeti yourself; a Yeti is dangerous even if heavily wounded. A Yeti will attack you if it can get to a unit within one turn (and it doesn't have a more appealing orc target.)
* 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.)
* Note that this level becomes a lot tougher if the Yetis get poisoned early on and quickly die. If this happens you basically have no other choice than to kill the orc leaders first.

===Sewer of Southbay===

This is a swampy underground scenario, but with attention to recruitment, it's not very difficult.

Recruitment...
* As always underground, you want non-horse units with 6+ MP.
* Recall White Mages / Mages of Light, at least two, three is probably the optimal number.
* There are quite a few villages in this cave, so an expensive force is supportable, though not necessary. Some players recruit a large and spammy force, while others go with small and elite:
** Option 1, "Large and spammy" recruitment: Recruit four each of Mages, Thugs, and Poachers. Yes, Poachers normally stink, but here they really shine in a swamp that is permanently dark, underground. If you recruit four Poachers, you could finish with three Trappers and a Huntsman - or you could finish with four dead Poachers. The Thugs are especially likely to die, as they will be facing off against Red Mages, but somebody has to do it.
** Option 2, "Small and elite" recruitment: Recall something like one Red Mage, one Arch Mage, one Silver Mage, 2 twooyal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.

Strategy...
# After leaving your initial chamber, you will be in a large swamp room with three entrances, through which will be a flood of bad guys. Use two Poachers and a Thug or similar to blockade the southeast, a small elite group to block the north, and then a mix of fighters and mages to handle the west entrance. Give each group a White Mage or Mage of Light, as well as at least one regular Mage. Try to keep the Mages of Light away from your chaotic forces on the front lines, though. Use the leadership of Haldric and Lady Jessene - and Mage of Light illumination or lack thereof - to get the most from each attack.
# When the initial battle has died down, you have two options:
## If you have enough forces, you can divide into two groups and attack both brothers simultanously, east and west.
## Otherwise, do them one after the other, and then look for the exit.

Spoilers...
* Danger: there is a Giant Spider at the exit. You may wish to keep one or two cannon fodder units in order to be able to save your advanced units. It is best to use ranged attacks against the spider, so leveled mages are good here.
* Heads up: the next scenario is a lot easier with a lot of gold, especially on the hardest difficulty level.

===Southbay in Winter===

Plot only.

===A Final Spring===

This is a large battle, and any mistake on any front can spell doom, but overall it will be fairly easy on the easier difficulty levels. On hard, it will only be a cakewalk with a lot of starting gold (more than 450 or so.)

Recruitment...
# On the first turn, recall a Silver Mage to teleport to the island, recruit Footpads for village snatching, recall one or more of your loyal Iron Maulers (leveled up Heavy Infantrymen from ''The Fall''), and recall one or more Knights or similar.
# Second turn, continue with this theme, but it will be nightfall soon, so recall Outlaws, Bandits, Assassins, etc.
# Turn three is a bit more of the same, but you need to start thinking about preserving your income and also keeping a gold reserve. You can spam some peasants to preserve cash and income.
# Turn four turn is more of the same.
# Turn five is similar, but it will be day soon, so lawfuls like Knights and level 1 Mages are a good idea.
# Turn six, you will have new recruitment options (see spoiler at walkthrough end.)

Strategy is broken into four fronts...
# The first front is the south land area. Do a counter-clockwise sweep with mounted units, optionally augmented with Footpads, which can help pad out your lines with forest and village hexes. Note that it will be nightfall soon after game start, so it might be wise to delay any serious mounted assault until the next day, and you can delay your recalls for this.
# The second front is the walled city. Move slower units and your loyal White Mage / Mage of Light to defend here. Take your ally's villages; your ally wouldn't do much useful with the money anyway. When your mounted units from the second front complete their sweep, you can break the remaining southern forces against the city wall in a hammer and anvil. Then your united forces can move north. On easy, you may be able to push north more quickly than that using just part of your city troops.
# The third front is the bay and peninsula north of your keep. If you don't protect this area well, Wolf Riders and others will mount an amphibious assault in an effort to flank your troops. On the easier difficulty levels, you may wish to beat the punch and quickly establish a bridgehead on the other side of the bay.
# The fourth front is the two small islands. Send a Silver Mage there ASAP. (You should have a village already there, so the Silver Mage can teleport over.) Footpads/Outlaws/Fugitives and others will help later. Lady Jessene could be used. A quick White Mage would be useful, either on the coast or on the islands. Do not use Assassins on this front. 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. Overall, you need to devote more resources to this front than you might think.

Hints...
* You should have lots of high-level units now, so concentrate on recruiting new ones and levelling them up to fill needs.
* Peasants are useful as placeholders for villages and distractions for the enemy.

Spoilers...
* On turn 5, a gang of nasty undead show up in the east. So, for your city taskforce, you'll want to recruit/recall units with impact and arcane attacks. Note that if undead capture villages, they will be flagged with the Orc island boss' black flag! This can result in an overwhelming number of Nagas, and it's one reason that you must devote a lot of resources to the island campaign. Flag any black flag villages you can.
* On turn 6, a gang of nasty Mermen show up in the west. Fortunately, they are on your side. You can now recruit Mermen. This is the real reason to keep a gold reserve until this time.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a bloody scenario versus Drakes. It can be a real challenge on the hardest difficulty setting, less so on the easier levels. Proper recruitment is more important than strategy here, as you will have little opportunity to maneuver.

Recruitment...
* Drakes can be dangerous, so this is a great scenario to use the 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 to distract the Drakes' firepower.
* Drakes are vulnerable to pierce attacks, so spam cheap pierce attack units. In addition to Peasants, there are Poachers, Bowmen, Peasants, Spearmen, Merman Fighters, and Merman Hunters. Poachers are key here, due to the swampy terrain and their chaotic alignment.
* You will need about 3 White Mages / Mages of Light in all.
* On your last turn of recruitment when you have about 80 gold, recall some advanced units, like Master Bowmen.

Strategy...
* Since you will have a lot of level 1 and 0 units, make sure to use the leadership of Prince Haldric and Lady Jessene.
* Look for opportunities to heal via leveling up.
* Pay attention to the day-night cycle in this scenario. Drakes will be strong during day, but become very weak in the night.
* Take advantage of the mountains for defense, but note that on hard, you need to set up a relatively small perimeter around your base, as you will be hard pressed to even hold a small area.
* Be careful with your loyals.
* Because most Drakes have powerful ranged attacks, the roles of your melee and ranged units are reversed from the norm. Whereas usually you would use fighters to protect archers, here you will use archers to protect fighters. Melee-only units should hide behind the lines until they attack, preferably at night (with a Mage of Light supplying illumination.)

Spoiler...
* 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 Fighter. Movement over land is important for Mermen in the campaign as a whole. If the Merman Fighter to whom you give the storm trident has the Quick attribute, you can make him a Hoplite when he gets to level 3. Otherwise, make him a Triton, because movement over land is important for Mermen in this campaign as a whole.

===Rough Landing===

You will be fighting Nagas and Vampire Bats, primarily. This is a scenario that may be frustrating on the easier difficulty levels, though on hard it is just par for the course. Good recruitment and strategy will save you from getting slaughtered.

Recruitment...
* You are probably going to go negative on gold and be unable to rectify that with the paultry early finish bonus, so you might as will go very negative and be resigned to start the next scenario with minimum gold.
* Recruit/recall many Mermen and 1 or 2 White Mages or Mages of Light. A few Peasants can be useful to pad out your force, distract the enemy, and protect villages from stray Bats. A Silver Mage can be useful for island hopping but is not essential. Thieves/Assassins are blade vulnerable, and Nagas only use blades, so it's probably best not to recall them.

Strategy...
# Knock out the southeastern leader in a blitz. It's important to get that out of the way, because a wave of Nagas is advancing at light speed from the north.
# Next, hurriedly set up a line in the water alongside your fortress island. Your fortress troops can anchor one flank, while Burin the Dwarf can go to the island to the northeast to anchor the other end of your line. Nobody messes with Burin. Move Lady Jessene behind the lines to lend her support to the Mermen. Your loyal Mage of Light will be able to move back and forth more (to lend illumination) if kept in the fortress area.
# Finally, once the enemy assault wave has been broken, advance northward to kill the final two leaders in a straightforward mop-up operation. Just be careful not leave isolated units where they can get swarmed.

Hints/Spoilers...
* Try to level up the mermen; they can be useful in another scenario later.
* Beware of Sea Serpents. Three of them will appear, one on each of the three turns following your first kill of an enemy unit. Make sure to kill them at once. The Storm Trident from the previous scenario and the Ruby of Fire will come in handy against the Serpents.

===A New Land===

This is a non-scenario. 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.

Recruitment...
* None necessary.

Strategy...
* The optimal strategy for gold carryover is to grab the three closest villages, then retreat to your keep and wait. Once one attack occurs, the non-scenario will be over.

Spoiler...
* One thing to keep in mind is that this the last chance you have to grab some more Mermen 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.

===The Ka'lian===

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).

===Diverging Campaign Path===

All four scenarios have to be beaten, but in whatever order you choose.
====The Dragon====

This scenario is not as difficult as it looks, though your recruitment and strategy need to be tailored to fight the Saurian Skirmishers and other foes you will face here.

Recruitment...
* Saurians use piercing attacks mostly, so it's better to use units resistant to pierce. Spearmen have 40% pierce resistance. Javelineers are ideal as Saurians use ranged attacks a lot.
* You may wish to bench some or all of your loyal Iron Maulers. They are ineffective against the 70% impact resistant Mudcrawlers, while also vulnerable to the ranged attacks of both Mudcrawlers and Saurians.
* Consider adopting a force of all units with ranged attacks, save for horse and thief units, which can be kept behind the lines when not in use. It is amusing when Saurian Augers are forced to tap your units with their little staffs.
* Healers are a necessity to deal with the heavy damage your units will be sustaining. Depending on the strategy you adopt, you will want 2-4 healers. Mages of Light rock here, as they can easily do front line duty in pairs and their illumination blinds the Saurians, reducing their damage.
* You need something to clean up mud. Versus level 0 Mudcrawlers, Horsemen and their advancements can charge with no counterattack, and likewise Thieves and their advancements can backstab with no counterattack. Mages can be used as well on the fire vulnerable mud.
* A Merman or two will help with water hexes. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon.

Strategy...
* Players have used many different strategies with success:
** "Hedgehog" strategy: 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. You can 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, you can string non-wounded troops out a bit in the rush for the leaders.
** "Triangular Hedgehog" strategy: 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. You can fix this by creating 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. 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 Jessene, since she has excellent defense and is chaotic and therefore benefits by not being in the Mages' light.
** "Giant Hedgehog" strategy: Recruit a lot of units, and then move the whole army as one big bulk. Keep healers in the middle (about 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. Head first for the east or wast leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed until about turn 10, when there should be many few Saurians alive.
** "Standard Line" strategy: Form a line from the west board edge diagonally up towards your keep across the two villages just in front of the forest. You will probably wish to bend upwards at the forest, rather than running the line all the way to the keep. Whenever the Saurians have a small number of troops at your line and you have enough strength to kill them all, you can advance your whole line one hex south, allowing you to get additional attacks on them from non-frontline troops. Once you advance a unit to the first water hex at west board edge, the west leader will probably come out to greet it, so be ready to fry him with Haldric's ruby. After killing the leader, back up into good terrain to prepare to meet the dragon.
** "Wake the Dragon" strategy: Prematurely wake the dragon (see spoiler below) and back up your troops to north of your keep. When the dragon comes, kill him. The scenario can be over on turn 7. There is no early finish bonus for this, but you can recruit lightly so that you still have gold at the end and will carry-over 40%, if you need it for your next scenario.
* With all these strategies, the Saurians may hold back for quite a while. This is okay, as the Dragon will eventually appear and come to you. Kill it. Then you are given a choice of whether to end the scenario or to try to kill all the enemy leaders before time runs out. You can choose to finish the remaining Saurians for a nice bonus. However, on the hardest difficulty setting the turn limit (33 turns) is insufficient for you to plow through the vast hordes of level 0 spam to get to the leaders, so it's best to simply end the scenario after killing the dragon.

Spoilers...
* The dragon will awake on turn 15 or when you move a unit down around the road north of the mountains. If you wish to wake the dragon prematurely, you can recruit a Horseman on turn 1 and run him down. It's a suicide mission for him, however.
* If you have a fast non-horse unit in position, rush it to the mountain cave after the Dragon leaves to grab the 200 in gold, though that's nothing compared to the Hero bonus for defeating all the Saurian leaders. So focus on killing all of them first.

====Lizard Beach====

This is a scenario versus Saurians, Giant Scorpions, and Mudcrawlers, where good recruiting and strategy will save you from massive bloodshed.

Recruiting...
* Mermen are helpful for the swamp and water areas.
* Bench some or all of your loyal Iron Maulers, veterans from ''The Fall.'' They are laughably ineffective against the impact resistant Mudcrawlers - and laughably vulnerable to their ranged attacks.
* Thieves, Horsemen, and their advancements are good for mud cleanup, though you must keep them out of range of Saurian skirmishers. Swordsmen and Royal Guards are also good, though overkill.
* Recall a lot of fairly high HP units, preferably with strong non-impact ranged and melee attacks.
* Mages are good. Mages of Light are especially useful, since they can do front line duty. Lots of healing may be necessary, about 3 healers are good, so White Mages can be used too. Raw recruit Mages can be used as well, for disposal of Giant Scorpions and the occasional Saurian Skirmisher that wanders too far. At least one Silver Mage is highly desirable, along with a speedy unit (e.g., Fugitive, Footpad, or Horseman) to capture villages for the Silver Mage to use north of the river.
* [fredbobsmith2] An alternative strategy that works surprisingly well is to simply use a very mage-heavy army. Recall most or all of your high-level mages, throw in a few peasants, and spend the rest of your gold on recruiting mages. Victory will come with shocking ease.

Strategy...
* General strategy: as Saurians have skirmishers and a lot 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 straight so only two can mob one guy. Hedgehog tactic also seems to work well.
* Opening strategy: here are some specific strategies that players have used with success in the early part of the scenario:
# "Mermen in center" strategy: Recall 2-4 Mermen, 1-2 Trappers/Huntsmen, and a lot of high HP troops, then form a line. Initially, you can either form a north-south line around the lake area with one flank at the south board edge, or, if you want to be conservative, you can do a diagonal line in the southeast corner, with both flanks tied to board edges. You'll need the Mermen to handle the lake area, and Trappers/Huntsmen/Mermen for the swamp areas. Keep troops in reserve, so that when a few Saurians meet your line, you can advance your whole line over them. Do not be too conservative/defensive on hard, as your time is limited.
# "Mermen on flank" strategy: Recall several decent land melee units & then 4-5 level 2 Mermen on rounds 2-3. Most of your force forms a line of battle near your keep, Mermen on the north flank in the river, land units extending south, flanks bent back with strongest units at the corners - then 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. 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.
# "Mermen feint" strategy: 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.
# "No Mermen" 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.
# "Sacrificial lamb" strategy: In addition to a couple mages, 2 healers, and some other fighters, recruit a castle-full of peasants to draw the Saurians out onto open ground. Surround a single peasant on 5 sides, with 2 healers behind him. Build your formation around that.
* Closing strategy: The enemy's onslaught tapers out after their initial wave, so the final push for the southern leader should be quick and clean. Taking out the northern leader is harder, 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 don't want to lose any of your better units, patience may be the key.

Spoilers...
* When one of your units gets as far west as the second bridge, a wave of Nagas will arrive out at sea. You may wish to delay going that far until the second watch, so that the Nagas will make contact with your forces during the day.
* 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.

====The Troll Hole====

This is a scenario that you cannot win by brute force, because the trolls have more brute force than you. Wise recruitment and strategy are necessary.

Recruitment...
* It's underground time again, so as before, mainly recruit mages. The trolls are strong, so hopefully you have lots of levelled up mages. Mages of Light are especially nice, because they are tough enough to survive an attack from most trolls, while simultaneously reducing the damage sustained (due to illumination blinding the trolls.) Level 1 Mages can be used to good effect too, especially if quick. If only attacked by a single Troll Whelp, a healthy level 1 Mage will survive.
* 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.
* Forget about your loyal Iron Maulers (leveled up Heavy Infantrymen from ''the Fall''). They are too slow. It's not that you'll be running around, but you will be rotating troops due to heavy damage, and they will only get in the way.
* Putting Mermen in the moat will really help you fend off the first wave of attacks.

Strategy...
* There are 4 castles, and two of them (randomly placed it seems) are the troll leaders you need to kill.
* 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, probably by the fangs of a Giant Spider.
* 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.
* Alternative: 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.

====Cursed Isle====

You will be fighting undead, mostly of the incorporeal and ghoulish lineages. Victory comes surprisingly easily.

Recruitment...
* Recruit lightly, certainly no more than two castles of troops. You could use 1-3 Paladins, 1-2 Mages, and 1-2 White Mages / Mages of Light.
* Recall your loyal Merman Triton or similar and have him pick up the holy water.

Strategy...
* This can be the first or last quest you choose. If you can wait, do it last, as you will come out of it with a lot of gold, which you will need for the first scenario after the quests, ''The Vanguard''.
* Keep a very tight formation for the first night, as Shadows will hit hard and you don't want to get backstabbed or swarmed. By dawn, it should be smooth sailing.
* If you get anywhere near the enemy leaders' keeps, expect to get rushed by a leader.

Spoiler...
* In one of the temples if a Vampire Lady. All you really need is a Paladin or three to rush the temples. Kill her. Game over, you win. One of the other temples has some gold; grab that first.

===A Spy In The Woods===

Plot only.

===The Vanguard===

You will be fighting a large number of orcs, trolls and other enemies in a location with a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. This scenario will be difficult or impossible with minimum gold (200), but quite doable with a large amount of gold (450+) even on the hardest difficulty setting. Recruitment and strategy are fairly straightforward, given the board layout.

Recruitment...
* Recruit a lot of units; you will need them.
# First turn, recall/recruit speedy units: Knights, Lancers, Paladins, Horsemen, Outlaws, and similar.
# Second turn, recall your loyal Iron Maulers (leveled up from ''The Fall'') and Spearmen/Swordsmen/Royal Guards.
# On subsequent turns, recall/recruit healers and other sorts of Mages, Thugs and their advancements, and Longbowmen. You will need quite a lot of healing power: 3-4 White Mages / Mages of Light and 1-2 Paladins. A Silver Mage would come in handy, since your forces will be widely spaced, but you could start with a couple of Red Mages and try to level up one or both to Silver Mage.

Strategy...
# This map is smaller than fog of war and sinkholes make it appear. Rush the west and northwest gaps with mounted units, but slow & strong will carry the day once the sun rises and the odds are in your favor.
# Seal of all the gaps in the ring of sinkholes. When the onslaught begins, wounded units can retreat back into villages or be cared for by healers - or actually both, since soon you will be out of non-wounded units.
# A "Sitzkrieg" may develop, where neither side can make progress. Shift units to the southwest and break out there, using the west board edge defensively. From there, sweep northwards, taking out the western orc leader first and then the next orc leader.
# Don't forget the chest of gold, which you can see even in fog.
# End the scenario with the kill of the final leader, a level 3 troll.

Spoilers...
* Once you kill more than half the units of any side, a few tough undead units will appear near that side's stronghold at the edge of the map. So, this will happen three times. Beware the Chocobones. Their double damage from charge means they can take out Commander Aethyr at night just by hitting 2 for 2, and they will certainly try if they get the opportunity.
* Heads up: the next scenario is much less difficult with extra gold. You can use Peasants to avoid going negative on gold, promoting them to Spearmen only when needed.

===Return of the Fleet===

Welcome to the "kitchen sink" defense. You've made it this far; now the enemy will launch a desperate defense, throwing a little bit of everything at you. The effect is mostly psychological, but it could be a problem if you came into the scenario with minimum gold or your initial assessment causes you to drastically under-recruit. Time is money.

Recruitment...
* On medium, at least, you don't want to overrecruit. First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. Later, you should recruit 1 or more Silver Mages also for this taskforce as well as for causing general mayhem. It's also worth recruiting 5-10 L1/L0 units to take the brunt of the first wave of attacks; you can use any combination of Footpads, Poachers, Thugs, Spearmen, and Peasants, as you see fit. You'll want some decent L2 and L3 recalls for healing, to flank your lines, and to start kicking some butt at daybreak. A Mage or Red Mage to blast Trolls and Chocobones will level up by end of scenario. Paladins are good too. In addition to your loyal Mage of Light, you will need a bare minimum of 1 more healer.
* On medium, 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 (on 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.
* On hard, you also don't want to recruit too much for fighting the undead, but it's only because going on an offensive early against them will get you crushed by a Chocobone armada.

Strategy...
# Move the Mermen (including the storm trident) 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.
# Your loyal units can do a little village grabbing, but it would be unwise to venture too far north.
# After nightfall, fog will appear; for the rest of the scenario, the map will become shrouded, like in a cave scenario. So while you're still amazingly able to see, note the key terrain features, castle and city locations, and troop dispositions (especially Chocobones.) Also, visually explore the avenues of approach you want to be able to see later.
# The first wave is largely at night and will have Goblin Knights and Pillagers, and later Chocobones and Troll Warriors. The damage they can cause is bone chilling, so make sure to divert their attention with plenty of spam. You want to meet them on the edge of the woodland, while inducing the orcs to fight from the grassland. Footpads and Poachers are handy here, as they have high defense in woodland. Players have had success setting up the initial line in either the north and northeast woodlands, with respect to the castle. Others have succeeded by fighting mostly from the open plain, retaining mobility by leaving the woodlands to their Footpads.
# Once your Mermen have taken an island city, teleport over one or more Silver Mages to help kill the undead leader - in addition to a Silver Mage, you will want the storm trident, a Netcaster/Entangler, plus one more leveled unit to be fairly sure to knock him out in one round. Quick striking like this you end up fighting a lot 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 mermen up to fight with any orcs or trolls that come into the water. Silver Mages can assist, since they are not needed much in the other part of the fight.
# After the undead leader is assassinated and the first wave is broken, you may advance cautiously due north or to the northwest along the coast and ultimately finish off the two orc leaders.

Spoilers...
* When you are close to the break in the woods at the east board edge, tighten your formation and keep wounded units well away, as a small force of high-level Saurians will appear. Trigger them in daylight if possible, and knock them out fast. Alternatively, you can delay triggering the Saurians as long as possible by moving your force northwest near the water and then onto the small island, though even then it is possible to trigger the Saurians if you are not careful where you step. (Stepping to 10 hexes or less from 34,15 triggers the Saurians.) You can fight the final wave of orcs from the island, then move northeast to the mainland, finally triggering the Saurians.
* 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.
* 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 knock out both leaders on the same turn before they can recruit more. Alternatively, 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.
* Heads up: The next scenario is the final one. Therefore, loyal units are now somewhat disposable. However, you will need plenty of gold. Recruit some Peasants in the current scenario if you need to save some gold. Not only are they cheap, but they have no upkeep and Chocobones love 'em. Send a unit with leadership with them and they can even deal some amount of damage and be used to finish off wounded enemy, though at night you should just let them take the beating passively since otherwise they die too quickly.

===Rise of Wesnoth===

It's the final battle: be patient, recall everybody - the early finish bonus doesn't mean anything. Also, loyal units are no better than other units after your recruitment is finished.

Recruitment...
* You will need at least 300 starting gold, maybe more like 400 on the hardest difficulty level, so if need be, replay the previous scenario.
* To stretch your money, start with loyal Iron Maulers and a couple ready-to-level level 1's and level 2's. Finally, recall as many level 3's as possible.
* Healers: 3-6 Mages of Light / White Mages. Your few chaotic units will appreciate a White Mage.
* Horse units: 2-4 Paladins, 3-4 Knights / Grand Knights.
* Horse escorts: about 3 speedy units, like Royal Guards, Fugitives, and Silver Mages.
* Tanks: at least 6 high HP units, such as Royal Guards, Highwayman, Master Bowmen, and the loyal Iron Maulers.
* Mages: at least 3 high level Mages aside from your basic healers, so Arch Mages, Great Mages, and Silver Mages. Additional Mages of Light can be substituted.
* Some Mermen might be useful here, but surprisingly, they're not really necessary.
* On 1.9.3 and earlier, you can recruit Saurian Skirmishers on medium and Skirmishers plus Ambushers on hard. This appears to be a bug, so ignore the option.

Strategy...
* You will launch a two pronged assault: mounted units will race to the west and then south, while the main army heads due south.
* With your mounted units, race forwards by day and backwards by night.
* Along with the mounted units should go some escorts, speedy foot units intended to kill things like Goblin Impalers, which make even Grand Knights nervous. They would also benefit from a quick Mage of Light.
* Meanwhile, with your tanks and the rest of your healers and support units, form a line or hedgehog in the woods just south of your keep or next to the river.
* Keep your leaders with the main army, to avoid drawing too much attention to the mounted detachment.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield. If the main army gets in trouble, you can send some or all of the mounted units to assist. There may be an opportunity to hammer-and-anvil enemy forces trapped in the middle. And you may wish to transfer units, like Paladins may be useful to the main army after it is on the move.
* You'll need at least two Paladins to kill Jevyan himself; nothing else is half as effective (except perhaps Mages of Light and suicidal Lancers). 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 may still be alive. You'll have to kill one, leaving at least one orc leader alive. You pick. Congratulations! Enjoy the ending!

Spoilers...
* When one of your units is within 8 hexes of a bridge, but you have no units within 2 hexes of the bridge, and there are no units on the bridge, then a Cuttle Fish will appear and destroy the bridge. This is usually disadvantageous. Not only does it leave you with a Cuttle Fish to fight, but it slows your progress south and the bad guys progress north. At least on the hardest difficulty level, it's hard to kill all the spam in time, so you don't want to impede their advance by removing the bridge.
* When any of your units is killed, it becomes a Walking Corpse. On hard, it becomes a Soulless, which makes it important to be careful with your level 2's, especially Lancers.
* After the first orc leader is killed, then some gold goes to mister Lich. It's 40, 80, or 120 gold, for easy, medium, and hard, respectively.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

[[Category:Campaigns - The Rise of Wesnoth]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

HeirToTheThrone

2011-01-15T00:11:09Z

Fredbobsmith2: /* Scenario 17 - The Sceptre of Fire */

This is a walkthrough of '''Heir to the Throne''', the campaign featuring Konrad. It contains spoilers.

The suggestions herein are based on the "Medium" and "Hard" difficulty levels. It should be possible to win the "Easy" difficulty level without trying very hard if you are an accomplished gamer. If you feel comfortable with turn-based games, especially ones featuring units moving on a hex map, then you can play the Tutorial and then dive right into "Medium" to get a feel for the elements of the game. After you have played a few scenarios and are ready to restart from the beginning (and yes, it is very likely you will have to restart the first time you play Wesnoth), try reading [[AdvancedTactics]]. You should also be familiar with the basics in [[WesnothManual]] -- this is a walkthrough, not an exposition of basic game mechanics.

Each scenario has an individual forum thread where you can provide feedback to the authors. See also the forum posts [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3601 Suggestions for Heir to the Throne walkthrough] and [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4026 Yet another "Heir to the Throne" walktrough] (sic) for more. [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7064 Ye Compleat Walkthrough To "Heir To The Throne"] is a detailed guide, with illustrations, to the first several scenarios.

Finally, some [http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/my-wesnoth-replays-online replays] were posted by Uwe Hermann.

'''Warning spoilers ahead!'''

== Scenario 1 - The Elves Besieged ==
Scenario objectives: Both Konrad and Delfador must survive, and Konrad must escape to the signpost in the northwest corner of the map.

The orcs as well as your allies will levy a great many troops, you'll soon find yourself between the lines in a huge battle. All those units slugging it out can take quite some time, you may want to try two options on the Preferences dialog, "Accelerated Speed" or maybe even "Skip AI Moves".

This scenario is a "runner" scenario; on turn one, recruit a castle full of fresh recruits, and immediately make a break for it! If you're new to Wesnoth, getting Konrad out of there in one piece will be difficult enough and may require you to start over a couple of times. Hint: don't keep your units all lumped around Konrad, as a large host will attract the enemies' attention.

Terrain dictates two routes to the signpost: west to the druid and then north, or north over the bridge and then west. Either way, you should send Delfador and most of your army straight north. This is a ruse, the sole purpose is to lure the enemy towards the road while Konrad (with only one or two level-1 bodyguards) makes his way towards the exit. There's no chance of winning, your troops should perform a skirmishing retreat westwards into the forest.

Other than getting Konrad on his way, the inofficial objective of this scenario is to gain some experience for your troops. Experience is gained by fighting; once a level of experience is reached, your units will "level up" and become more powerful units. Killing an opponent will give much more experience than just fighting, so you should try to arrange it in such a way that the unit you want to upgrade gets to deliver the coup de grace.

Now a few words about the units at your disposal. In-game, you cannot check the data of unknown units; if you want to take a peek anyway, check the [http://www.wesnoth.org/units/ Wesnoth Unit Tree].

* Fighters and Archers. Melee and ranged, all elvish warriors are capable of both, it's more a matter of emphasis than an actual distinction. When they level up, most should become Heroes and Rangers, repectively; you'll only need one or two Captains, and probably are better off without any Marksmen: spellcasters will serve the same purpose much better.

* Shamans are minor healers. As a rule of thumb, you should never enter into any scenario without at least one healer. Leveling up a Shaman is somewhat tricky, as they can do only very little damage. If you use stronger units to knock an enemy unit's HP down, you can move your shamans up from behind the lines to administer the finishing blow. As difficult as it is to level up a shaman, it is well worth the hassle. Druids will be standard healers, you want one (and possibly only one) of those as soon as possible. A Sorceress cannot heal at all, but is a powerful spellcaster. At their higest level, both will learn to fly and become very mobile.

* Scouts may seem weak, but there's more to them than meets the eye. While most riders suffer severe penalties in difficult terrain, the elvish variant can cross rivers, swamps and even mountains rather quickly and will usually even receive a reasonable defense modifier. Insofar, they're less like horsemen and more like fast infantry. Whether you employ them in numbers is a matter of taste, however, you should always remember that you have these extremely mobile units at your disposal.

* Konrad, your leader, starts most scenarios at a keep where he may recruit some troops, but that doesn't mean that he should stay there forever: Being always on the map, he may just as well make himself useful. Getting him to level two will earn him a crossbow as well as the "leadership" ability, both will come in handy time and again.

* Delfador, the Elder Mage, is insanely powerful (at least compared to your other troops for the time being). Mages usually aren't very sturdy, but at level 5 he has so many hit points that you don't have to worry too much about him – he'll survive quite a few counterattacks. Don't overcommit him, but the first few scenarios depend on his abilities to instantly slay nearly any opponent and soaking up some damage that would otherwise kill several of your (still minor) units.

Remember to use the CTRL-v command to see how far all enemy units will be able to move on their next turn. Click on an unoccupied hex and then move the cursor over an enemy unit to see how far that unit will be able to move. Be careful with your heroes and constantly think of their safety.

Early finish bonus: 32 gold per turn.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2881 forum discussion].

== Scenario 2 - Blackwater Port ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns (9 on Hard), or kill the enemy leader.

The opening dialog will introduce a new friend, Haldiel, a loyal Horseman. The importance of loyalty is explained in [http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CampaignStrategies#The_importance_of_loyalty Campaign Strategies].

'''Horsemen'''
:Now that's cavalry as we know it. Their charges can be truly devastating if somewhat suicidal, as your ally will demonstrate soon. Employing charge attacks takes a little getting used to, as it differs so much from ordinary melee. Keep an eye on the "Damage Calculations" until you get the knack of it. 

Back to topic: If you recall units, choose those that have enough experience to be worth the 2 to 6 gold difference over fresh recruits, or who have specific traits that you need. Hole up in the forest on your side of the road (so the enemy has to stand on the plains to face you). Feel free to seize a few villages from your ally, he won't complain. If you have a unit to spare, you may even take the villages next his castle. Matter of fact, this is a prudent move – after all, Sir Kaylan would only use the gold to recruit troops that would steal your experience!

You can also send Haldiel west as fast as possible and attempt to take the village due south of the enemy castle. This will draw some orcs south, reducing the pressure on your actual army and giving you more freedom to shape the battle. However, be careful to not let him get pinned down and killed.

Sir Kaylan will send one or two horsemen to the enemy lines to assist you. Although these horsemen are not under your direct control, they can serve as a distraction if you manoeuver your forces properly, taking the brunt during the enemy's turn to attack.

The first night will be tough, be prepared to lose some units; but if you use the terrain to your advantage, you should have enough of an army left to launch a serious counterattack during the next day. The momentum should keep you going even through the next night and you may soon find yourself besieging the enemy keep. However, the actual objective is merely to survive – if everything fails, you may still retreat behind the swordsmen guarding Sir Kaylans fortress.

There is an early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader, however, it will probably be small. In other words: rushing it won't be worthwhile, instead you should play it safe: manoeuver carefully and try to get some experience to those units that need it most. By the end of this scenario, you really ought to have a Druid – that's absolutely vital. Next in line should be an elvish Fighter (make him a Captain) and Konrad, anything else is optional. But the more the merrier as they say.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2929 forum discussion].

== Scenario 3 - Isle of Alduin ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

The key to victory is to control the villages, earning the gold you need to recruit or recall troops. You have the option to send the majority of your army west or south with village grabbers going the opposite direction. If you choose to send your army west (recommended) send a scout and an archer south, grabbing alternating villages. Done intelligently they will each grab 1 village per turn until they are near the opponents keep. Be careful of engaging the enemy on the west flank near the hills at night: this is where they shine. Back off to the forests and wait for a more favorable time of day if necessary.

The following strategy works well if you take care of your unit placement. Protect units you cannot afford to lose from multiple attacks at night or when weakened, particularly new horsemen and magi.

First recall or recruit 3 elvish scouts. Send two scouts to the southern villages, and the third to the village to the northwest. Recruit 3 fighters; send one to the south and the other two to the southwest. This works best if one scout is "quick" and the fighter recruited to fill the southeastern hex of your castle is also "quick". If not you may have to modify this strategy. Send Delfador up to the northwest on the first turn to find the mage and send the mage down to the village next to the castle. Konrad should take two nearby villages in the first two turns, because you have no money left anyway.

One of the scouts goes as far south as possible, taking villages and distracting the enemy. This scout is usually destroyed by turn 4. That's OK. The other scout in the south usually has to retreat to survive. You try to take all the villages in the south you can and then reinforce the south slowly and move south. Now your main push is in the west because most villages are there and you need an income of over 20 per turn to recall all of your good troops. I usually use the scout I have sent to the northwest village on the island to take all of the far northwest villages. Delfador can destroy an enemy unit each turn, especially saurians, because these pesky units can kill weakened units in the rear. Horsemen take too long to cross the forest south of your castle but are strong on the western plains during daytime. Send newly-recruited horsemen to the west along with magi. A shaman is useful to the south and later one can be sent to the west.

Approaching turn 10-12, you should have assembled two reasonably powerful forces on each side of the lake. The westerly one usually is based on Delfador and horsemen-mage combos with fighters and archers for ZOC purposes, and the eastern force almost entirely of elves. Remember magi work best against trolls and grunts, and horsemen against archers.

Move south in tight groups, trying not to get too aggressive at night with the west group, until they meet at the far southern end of the island, and assault the castle together.

If you are a new player, you've probably been focusing on game mechanics and how the units and terrain interact. If so, it's time to give serious thought to leveling up some units by allowing them to strike the killing blow. When Konrad or an elven fighter is at level 2, they get the "leadership" skill. When a shaman levels up, they get the "cure" skill.

Hardly any player notices this, but this scenario offers the opportunity for some extra experience at the expense of very little gold. The early finish bonus is 38, but there are 36 villages on the island, so if you control all villages, you only lose 2 gold per turn (or only 1.6 gold, since only 80% can be retained - should be less than 24, since you hardly ever finish more than 15 turns early). So instead of killing the remaining enemies - especially the enemy leader - you might encircle them and reduce their health to a minimum. If you do not attack them in the subsequent turns, they will neither attack nor move, thus regain 2 HP per turn and will eventually be healthy enough to stand an attack of your weaker units. This is a relatively safe way to milk some extra XPs out of them for your weaker units (preferably magi and shamans). While milking level 1 units may not be very rewarding, milking the level 2 leader might easily give 20 extra XPs.

A note about playing with Magi: They are weak units, but become important later in the game. Over the next few levels, you'll want to level at least two Magi to White Magi for later in the game; they have an arcane (or holy) attack which does incredible amounts of damage to the undead. Fire Magi can eventually level up to level 4 Great Magi, which are walking killing machines, and Fire Magi do decent damage to most other units, especially trolls and skeletons. Magi are weak, however, so they need to be guarded by stronger units. Don't let the enemy have more than one attack position on them.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2959 forum discussion].

== Scenario 4 - Bay of Pearls ==
Scenario objectives: Kill one or both enemy leaders.

Opening moves: On the first turn, have Konrad recruit or recall some units. Which units, and in which order, is your first tactical decision. If you recruit/recall in pairs, with one fast (6 movement points or more) and one slow unit, then one will be able to move onto the island the next turn, while the other is still wading through the river.

Then, move Konrad to the cage on the island just to the east. This will free some mermen. (How many depends on whether you are playing on Easy, Medium, or Hard.) One of these can go open the second cage, and so on: by the end of your very first turn, you should have five mermen in the water.

Watch out: there's one cage far out at sea that's easily overlooked. The first Merman you set free tells you as much, but if you skip the message... Anyway, it is guarded by two nagas. Send two or (at most) three Mermen up there and *do not* fight it out: get the cage first, then kill the nagas with the help of the mermen from that cage. It holds at least four Mermen, on of them an Initiate. The latter may become a healer, try to get her experienced as soon as possible.

Even further north than the last cage there's a trident in the water. It will confer a powerful ranged attack to its bearer. Have a "quick" merman pick it up (who should eventually become a Hoplite).

The remaining mermen should try to hold the sea leaders' recruits at bay. Mermen and nagas both have high defense in water, so combat can be a bit slow and frustrating. Concentrate three or four mermen on a single enemy unit at a time, rather than spreading your attacks piecemeal. Don't push too hard, especially not at night when your attacks are weak. Keeping your loyal mermen alive is more important than the possession of a village, and things will look much better on the next day. If that doesn't suffice, the troops from the deep-sea cage may lend a hand.

It will be nigh impossible for your horsemen and elves to wade to the island to fight the sea leader in time, so eventually your need to do this. The Storm Trident and the Initiate both have magic attacks (70% to-hit regardless of terrain) and should go a long way... you better attack him during the day, even if it means that you need to wait for a few turns.

On land, you have to fight off a wave of orcs and wolves. Your decision is how far west to engage the enemy, though really, you have little choice: You are hindered by the limited recruitment you can do each turn, and how long it takes your elves and horsemen to trickle across the river. Some wolves may reach you in the night, but the bulk of his army won't arrive until daybreak. Press hard during the day, and there will be little left of his army when the night comes.

Careful management of your killing blows should allow several units to get to Level 2. A charging horseman does so much damage it will be easy for the horsemen to get all the kills, but try to get at least Konrad, your loyal mage, and an elven fighter to level-2 (if you haven't already).

The outcome of this battle affects the next scenario you play. If you kill the sea leader you wind up on Isle of the Damned. If you kill the land leader you wind up on Muff Malal's Peninsula. If you kill both, you can choose (and get an early finish bonus).

New players should take the land route to Muff Malal's Peninsula, where you can easily level up many units or collect an early finish bonus. Experienced players or those who are looking for an interesting tactical exercise may wish to consider the sea route to the Isle of the Damned, where you will find a loyal White Mage who *might* join you... if you meet some very tough winning conditions. Either choice will be a battle against undead.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3022 forum discussion].

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 5A - Muff Malal's Peninsula ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

This is an easy scenario, and your aim here should be to build up your gold by controlling most villages, while earning experience against enemy forces. The enemy recruits bats to capture villages, and hordes of Walking Corpses to keep you busy. The occasional Dark Adept can be dangerous on Hard difficulty, but is vulnerable to melee attack, especially from knights.

One approach is to recall a few level 2 units supported by a mage. These units build a defensive position in the central part of the map, using hills and forest for cover, and hold off the first wave of Walking Corpses. Mounted troops capture villages in the north and west, and can charge down the flanks at daytime. A merman or two distract enemy bats and capture sea villages. If you can recall the merman that picked up the trident in Bay of Pearls, it will be able to dispatch bats easily on its own.

During daytime, your main force advances to one of the villages in the south-east, where you wait for more Walking Corpses to attack. A level 2 melee unit (eg. Elvish Captain) can use the village defense bonus to survive attacks, and heal between turns. By the time it is low on hit points, it should be advancing to level 3.

You should now control most villages and have some gold, so recruit or recall additional troops. Launch an offensive with your central force, supported by your horsemen advancing at the sides. Don't forget to use Konrad in the attack.

Try to attack with human units only at day, when the undead are at their weakest, and hold the lines with your elves at night.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3178 forum discussion].

=== Scenario 5B - Isle of the Damned ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leaders, or survive for 27 turns.

Konrad is washed overboard during a storm, but is rescued by two mermen. You start out with 100 gold and cannot recall any units. You are joined by Urlaf, a level 2 Outlaw. In addition to Mermen, you can recruit his friends: Thugs, Poachers and Footpads. This is the only time in the campaign that these units can be recruited, but any outlaw units surviving this scenario can be recalled later. Your gold from Bay of Pearls (minus the usual 20% discount) is saved for the next scenario.

Moremirmu is a White Mage with a holy sword which is very effective against undead. He is hiding in one of the three temples, and will join your cause if you find him. Beware: Xakae, a Revenant with a retinue of Walking Corpses, is waiting to ambush you in another temple. Moremirmu and Xakae are randomly placed; the third temple is always empty. Xakae and the Corpses can be a useful source of experience if you have the troops to deal with them.

Mermen can be used successfully to harass the undead in their rear. Typically the undead responds by withdrawing forces to deal with your mermen. Occasionally this tactic can be used to isolate and trap an undead leader while their forces are busy with your land troops. Don't expect the mermen to survive, though.

Moremirmu is critical to winning but also quite fragile. He will die quickly if he is attacked by multiple undead.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders. Moremirmu (and his holy sword) will join you in future scenarios only if both are defeated.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3179 forum discussion].

== Scenario 6 - The Siege of Elensefar ==
Scenario objectives: Kill both enemy leaders.

Konrad arrives at the southern end of a large map. The island city of Elensefar dominates the center, and the cave of the necromancer Muff Jaanal is far to the north. The orcish warlord Agadla has taken the city. You know what to do!

Your first objective is to retake the city. You could choose to charge across the bridges and fight your way onto the island, taking heavy casualties from the level 2 orcish warriors along the way - but casualties will probably be lower than if you do it the slow way. Or, you can lure the orcs into the water where they are easy to hit. Remember that mermen, especially the one with the Storm Trident, move quickly and defend quite well in water or on the bridges. Whichever strategy you choose, remember that the undead are well on their way to join the orcs occupying the city. Speed is a factor.

Konrad will receive some help from the Thieves Guild. Apparently, an orcish occupation is bad for business. They will either show you a hidden ford onto the island, or attack the north gate after you take one of the island villages. Whether you choose to storm the city, and which aid to accept, depends in large part on how much of a hurry you are in. Every turn, the undead march southward, and you'll have quite a fight on your hands after they reinforce the orcs in the city proper.

After you defeat the orcs, you must fight your way north. Fighting against the undead requires a different mix of units than fighting the orcs. Your mermen are too slow on land. Horsemen and elvish units do reduced damage to skeletons. Here, you need... mages. Lots and lots of mages. And a paladin, if you've leveled a unit that high enough. Expect to spend many turns fighting through the northernmost six hexes. You are fighting in a cave, which slows your units down. Being underground, it is also treated as night for the time of day penalties. Also, don't forget that mages can't take a lot of abuse, especially from melee attacks. You will have to figure out how to use your less effective elvish units and horsemen to shield your mages.

By now, you should have either Konrad or a level 2 elven fighter with the Leadership ability. A unit adjacent to a leader receives a +25% bonus to damage. Likewise, carefully position shamen or white mages in your lines so they can heal wounded units. Two adjacent healers will heal each other.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3224 forum discussion].

== Scenario 7 - Crossroads ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the north-eastern enemy leader.

There are two strategies: either to "run for it", or "kill them all". Which you choose will probably depend on whether you want to earn lots of gold, or level up lots of units.

If you choose to run, recall two turn's worth of troops. Most should be level 2, but you should recruit one or two units as sacrifical lambs. Having two healers (who will stay adjacent to each other for mutual healing) is almost a necessity. Move the units in formation (probably in two packs) along the road. Do not be tempted to move units into the mountains. The increased defence is not worth the risk of triggering ambushes. Drive your way to the leader in the northwest, kill them, and reap the early finish bonus.

The second strategy is to methodically destroy all enemy units on the map. Recruit two turns worth of units, and then drive south. Overcome the southern leader, and recruit more troops in his castle. Move back north, moving into every town and through the mountains, in order to trigger ambushes. This strategy is trickier to pull off, but careful management of your kills should allow you to level multiple units. (Just be careful not to run out of turns...)

Note: The first two villages that on the screen that you will likely attempt to grab trigger an Elvish Fighter and Elvish Archer to join your party and warn you about the hills. Keep in mind that they, too, are Loyal troops.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3281 forum discussion].

== Scenario 8 - The Princess of Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Subdue Li'sar to win

Konrad's life now takes an interesting turn, as he meets the Princess of Wesnoth, Li'sar. Instead of dying when you "kill" her, she surrenders.

Li'sar is supported by troops from the Loyalist faction. Even your tough level 2 units make tempting targets for her lawful horsemen; they will charge and probably kill them. Use terrain and position sacrificial level 1 screening units while the sun is high. Likewise, you can try for a quick kill by charging Li'sar with your own horsemen or knights.

This otherwise straightforward battle is enlivened by reinforcements that Li'sar summons on turns 5 and 10. Also, a level 2 Duelist will defend the Princess' honor when you approach her, appearing from the south of your position. You can trigger his arrival by exploring the mountain with an entrance. Capture the villages on the eastern side as you cross the river, and position units to cover the north-eastern plain to prevent Li'sar's mounted units from capturing these villages.

By the end of this scenario, you should have learned a painful lesson in how the computer player targets its attacks...

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3401 forum discussion].

== Scenario 9 - The Valley of Death ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns.

There are two holy water bottles on the map. The unit which picks them up will have their melee attacks be holy for the duration of this scenario. These are especially useful for powerful melee units like Elvish Heroes or Champions which otherwise do little damage to the undead. Or, you could recruit Horsemen and have them grab the holy water. They should easily level to level 2 Lancers or Knights, and maybe even to a Level 3 Paladin by the end of the scenario. As in previous scenarios, mages will be effective against most of the undead enemies.

You'll be facing many level-2 undead. They're all dangerous but two kinds require special attention:
* Spectres (level2 ghosts) are fast in every terrain, somewhat hard to hit, resistant to all common kinds of damage, and have a draining attack. Attacking them in melee is not recommendend, killing them with arrows will eventually work but takes many arrows. They are vulnerable to arcane spells and fireballs, though.
* Walking Corpses: they're slow, they're weak, they're fragile. Usually nothing to worry about, but this time they're many. Hordes. Night of the Living Dead. A strong fighter will easily slay them, but that can become his downfall: an attacking corpse that gets killed makes room for the next corpse to move in and attack... and the next, and the next, and each one gets a few blows. Even a Paladin or Champion will eventually be overwhelmed, taking like ten or fifteen zombies with him. Whether you consider this to be a good exchange is up to you. Incidentally, something similar can happen between Paladins and level-1 Skeletons.

The castle you start in is a well-defensible position, but all enemies arrive at about the same time. Once surrounded, you'll have very little wiggle room or inside tiles for your wounded units to retreat to. Filling the moat with Mermen might work a bit better, but their tridents won't impress the skeletons.

You should consider attacking the southern enemy, then hole up in his castle and the surrounding hills. This increases the distance to the others: their troops will reach you later and they will be strung out, so you don't have to fight them all at once.

If you don't have the money to recruit a large or powerful army, recruit a few Elvish Fighters and send them to the forest north of your castle. Their job is to slow the Revenant for several turns and then die gloriously. Flee with Konrad and the rest of your army to the south-east corner. If you're lucky, the WC horde will be too slow to reach you before the scenario ends. A cowardly tactic, yes -- but you'll survive...

If you played Isle of The Damned without killing both Liches, and Moremirmu survived, then he will reinforce you with three White Mage buddies between turns 7-10. You can't recall them after this scenario, so they are expendable.

Another strategy, which requires to have Moremirmu to help you and allows you to kill the three Liches, is to recruit 2 horsemen (or recall their leveled up units) and as many thieves as you can, send each horsemen to gather the bottles of holy water, and kill with them the northern and eastern Liches; don't send them the horseman to the northern Lich too quick, because if you do his army will focus on it, and it won't reach the Lich. Move Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, and your thieves towards the southeast corner. The thieves be used as a barrier to protect your more important units; place them in woods, mountains or villages(never in plains) as soon as they can, so that the northern and eastern Liches concentrate on them and leave Konrad and his group alone. With some luck you'll kill the northern and eastern Liches around the same turn that Moremirmu appears, and Konrad and his group will survive enough time to have one of Moremirmu's white mages kill the Southern Lich during day time.

Early finish bonus if you somehow manage to defeat all enemy leaders. If you do, feel free to boast about your accomplishment at the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3402 forum discussion].

== Scenario 10 - Gryphon Mountain ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

Konrad starts in the lower left corner of the map. General Robert, commanding Loyalist troops, is in the upper right. In the middle of the map, surrounded by mountains, is the Mother Gryphon and three sleeping Gryphons.

If you kill the Mother Gryphon before the Loyalists do, you will have access to gryphon eggs, allowing you to to recruit Gryphon Riders in future scenarios. Opinions differ as to whether their ability to capture far-flung villages, safely lure enemy troops, and ability to pierce the map shroud are worth their high cost. Even if you decide not to attack the Gryphons, the enemy will -- and then the wild beasts of the air might decide to attack you.

For a quick victory to earn the early finish bonus, head up the right side of the mountains. To earn experience, head towards the Mother Gryphon, and the enemy will come to you.

Early finish bonus for killing both the mother gryphon as well as the enemy leader.

== Scenario 11 - The Ford of Abez ==
Scenario objectives: Move Konrad to the north side of the river

The wide Abez river cuts across the middle of the map from left to right, with Konrad starting on the lower right side. Princess Li'sar starts on the lower left, and an orc band is on the north side of the river. Killing the Princess is meant to be impossible: she has plenty of troops as is, and if you actually get near her there will be numerous high-quality reinforcements. Do not even try to attack her, it will be a waste of good troops for no gain. Instead, fill the river with mermen: this is an excellent opportunity to get many of them leveled up.

But first things first: your task is to get Konrad across the river. The chaotic orcs will attack from the north, the Princess's lawful Loyalists will attack from the south, and... a new enemy (alignment: hungry) will be attacking from downstream. All will happily fight each other if they ever meet, but with your army standing right between them in the middle of the river... it will pretty much seem as if everyone was out to get you.

Remember those loyal mermen from in the Bay of Pearls? They should comprise your principal fighting force. Be sure to send one downstream to acquire the Storm Trident there. If you have some of the flying elvish units, they move (and fight) fight equally well over land or water. Wait for the Orcs and Humans to get into the water where the mermen have excellent defence while the landlubbers do not.

Even if you have the money, don't recruit for more than two turns, otherwise Konrad might not even make it into the river. The scenario ends as soon as he makes it to the other side (off the beach and onto flat ground) -- by the time he gets there, there will be few orcs left on that shore, Kalenz and Delfador can well deal with them. If you recruit any land troops at all (healers perhaps?), make sure they have at least two moves in shallow water.

This is an excellent opportunity to get your mermen some XP, and you don't really need the early finish bonus.

Early finish bonus for getting Konrad onto dry land.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8716 forum discussion]

== Scenario 12 - Northern Winter ==
*Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders (2 of them)
*Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
*Turns: 50 (as of 1.8.3 on medium difficulty turns = 40)
*Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, a random soldier
*Early finish bonus: 47 / turn
*Other:
**Snow falls on turns 6 and 10, making the tundra patches larger.
 
This is a relatively simple scenario. The enemy will mostly raise level-1 wolf riders and orcish archers, plus the occasional level-2 Ogre or Troll. You can field a similar mix of mostly fresh recruits plus a few veterans. Throughout the scenario, the wolves will attempt to seize villages, often bypassing your forces: a few Elvish Scouts behind your lines will come in handy. Alternatively, your loyal Thieves can play hide-and-seek just as well. Don't overrecruit, though: there's only so many units you can actually bring to bear on the enemy. You've got enough time to win this twice, so you may chose to take it slow and milk this battle for experience. You'll still end this with more than enough gold in your coffers.

== Scenario 13 - The Dwarven Doors ==
* Objectives: Move Konrad to entrance of the Dwarfen Kingdom
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 26 / 20 / 15
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, one experienced Rider, one outlaw unit (if you have any)

You may defeat all enemy leaders if you feel like it, but this won't end the scenario. The sole winning condition is to get Konrad to the entrance of the Dwarven Kingdom. Actually, there are two entrances: the "Great Gates", clearly labeled as such, and a less conspicious side entrance in the north-eastern corner. Only one of these is open, the other is blocked from the inside (determined at random).

You start the scenario with one rider who suggests to scout ahead: that's a good idea, even though you may chose another unit for the task (the game picks the most experienced). Anyone reaching an entrance will tell you whether it's open or not. Alternatively, if you played the Isle of the Damned, one of your outlaws will tell you about his uncle who used to have business with the dwarves, hiding in a village along the way (at 18/24, you'd probably seize it anyway). The uncle is a loyal bandit who joins your troops; he also tells you which entrance to chose, main gate or mine tunnels. It pays off to actually read that dialog.

The most minimalistic approach is to recruit one castle full of cavalry and RUN. The enemies have to cover some distance and cross difficult terrain in order to get in you way -- if Konrad starts running on turn one, he can move past them practically unopposed. It falls to the cavalry to bring up the rear: let them form a line somewhere near the Pillars of Thunedain while Konrad, Delfador and the other walkers keep going. Holding the line for a single turn is enough, then the riders may follow Konrad, leaving the pursuers behind and unable to catch up again (except for the wolves, but there shouldn't be many).

You can still follow this basic principle if you recruit for two turns, adding a healer or two and perhaps some Rangers (their ambushes will stop many opponents). If you recruit for more than two turns, this will become a rather normal battle: your rearguard can no longer disengage, but will have to keep on fighting. There's nothing wrong with that, you can gain quite some experience that way, just don't forget the actual objective.

Konrad needs to get into the mines. Scenario ends with early finish bonus as soon he does so.

== Scenario 14 - Plunging into the Darkness ==
* Objectives: Find the dwarves
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 19
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Secret pasage in southeastern part of the tunnel
** A very short and straightforward map

In principle, this is quite simple. You cannot recruit and just have to walk down that corridor until you find the dwarves -- you can't possibly miss them. You will be attacked by a few bats. They may hurt, that's all. This is mostly a lesson: see how slow Kalenz is in the caves? Notice his abysmal terrain defense? Clearly, this is no place for elves.

Since you're reading this walkthrough, you'll also be interested in locating the secret passage leading to a chest of 200 gold pieces in the southwest. Just stick to the wall, step by step, and you'll eventually find it. However, said chest is guarded by a rather nasty spider: watch out! It's a level-3 beast that poisons and slows.

After you're done with the bats, you can just sit there and wait until your men are healed again. There is no turn limit, after all. Once you found the secret door, do not get in. Step back a bit and the spider will rush out where you can attack her three to one. You should be able to kill her in a single turn, don't worry about getting poisoned -- you won't die from poison and there are no other enemies left. However, if you fail to kill her quickly... you saved the game, didn't you?

== Scenario 15 - The Lost General ==
* Objectives: Kill all enemy leaders (there are two)
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 64(!)
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing both enemy leaders

Moving underground is slow, especially for elves. Their fighters and archers are also ineffective against undead. Outriders and slyphs might be worth recalling, if you can afford them. Likewise, gryphons and horsemen are bogged down. Recruit dwarves for speed, and mages to back them up. (However, a Gryphon can pass the small pond quickly, and there are four towns on the other side.)

You are fighting Lionel, a former general turned Death Knight, who starts trapped in the south. To the west is the usual orc/troll force. In the north is a dwarven ally, although if you are too slow they will be overwhelmed by the orcs.

Dwarven fighters do well against the undead, while the Thunderers do best against the orcs and trolls. If you choose to go for money, rush troops both south and north, reinforcing the native dwarves and triggering the appearance of the undead. If you choose to go for experience, ignore the undead until you have killed the orcs, then return en masse to destroy the undead. Don't take too long, as Lionel will break forth on turn 20.

There are two ways to get to Lionel: an entrance opens in the pond on turn 19/20; and walls collapse when units move into tiles just south of the sign that says "Guest Quarters", regardless of when this happens.

Tip: If you make dwarf leader to survive (and actually reveal him), Dwarvish Guardsman will become available.

Note: If you recall/recruit a merman and send it to the pond, then have it go to the whirlpool, it will arrive in a hidden cavern with a friendly ulfserker. Once your merman returns to the whirlpool through the other end, it will carry the ulf with it.

== Scenario 16 - Hasty Alliance ==
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing enemy leader + 200 Gold from Li'sar

Li'sar is about to attack, when you are surrounded by orcs and trolls. She joins forces with you to defeat the troll leader, bringing her Royal Guards and 500 gold worth of allied troops to the struggle.

Your greatest challenge will be to survive the first few turns, as the death of any of Konrad's companions will end the scenario.
Once you have defeated the first wave, it is relatively easy to finish off any remaining trolls and move north to the troll leader. Try and encourage your allies to go first and take the hefty damage from the Level 2 and Level 3 trolls, while your mages and dwarves get the experience for killing blows.

The way I did it was to recruit a keep of thieves (the cheapest unit) and move Delfador and Kalenz out of the way. Then my allies were able to send help over so that I could get 'real' units on my second turn without suffering casualties. One thief survived and I got a Rogue with 36/56 XP by the end of the scenario! -CountPenguin

== Scenario 17 - The Sceptre of Fire ==
* Objectives: Capture the Sceptre of Fire with Konrad or Li'sar
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 50
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Gold gift from Li'sar: 300 on easy, 200 on medium, 100 on hard
** Milk this level for experience as there is no early finish bonus
** Randomly generated map

The map changes each time, so if you're save-scumming, be sure to checkpoint right after the scenario starts, and replay once you know where the Sceptre is.

There's three or four enemy leaders, depending on difficulty. The map is randomly generated; there's no telling how many villages there are and where... but more often than not, it's something like 25 villages and most will be placed where you can seize them early. The scenario certainly feels as if you're in for a major underground struggle, but the enemy leaders have little money to begin with and -usually- they won't have much of an income either.

Usually there's two large tunnels going north, and quite often you meet little resistance in one, and quite a lot in the other -- though the latter still doesn't qualify as tough. You can gain quite some XP in the contested tunnel, just form a shieldwall with (mostly) guardians, play it safe, and you can level up some 4-8 dwarves. It's a good idea to station Kalenz here, his faerie fire will help a lot against the occasional lvl-3 Troll.

Meanwhile, The Princess, Delfador, one healer and several of your better dwarves should move up the less contested corridor and scout the map. The Scepter usually is somewhere about 2/3rds up the map. You may encounter the occasional enemy... it's alright to buzz off in all directions, but make sure that everyone has a line of retreat and may receive support within a turn or two.

The scenario ends as soon as Konrad or the Princess gets to the scepter. You may delay this a bit in order to milk a few more XP, but there's not that many more to be gained by then. All things considered, it's better to let Li'sar have the scepter -- she'll be with you until the end, she has no ranged attack, and while Konrad will often be held back by recruiting, Li'sar can be in the frontline from turn one.

Note: When the earth rumbles, something actually happens. There are lava chasms in various places, and these grow when there is a rumble, so keep your units away.

== Scenario 18 - A Choice Must Be Made ==
* Objectives: Defeat either of the leaders
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill either leader
* Other:
** Next level depends on killed leader
*** Northern orcish leader will get you to the ''Snow Plains'' and the Flaming Sword (15-4, magical)
*** Southern undead leader will get you to the ''Swamp Of Dread'' and a suit of armor (high resistance to blade, pierce, impact)
*** If you take a merman to the eastern side of the river, you get to the cliffs of Thoria, an insanely difficult battle where you can find a loyal Sergeant (may become a level-4 leader)
** Simply decide for one direction and block the bridge in the other direction unless you want to fight on two large fronts
** First real chance to level gryphons

Scenario objectives: Kill either leader.

Going south is the easiest way: the orcs coming from the north may only cross the river at the bridge, a chokepoint that's easy to block. In fact, a determined attack may defeat the undead before the bulk of the orcs even makes it to the bridge. Fighting the orcs in the hills will take longer while the undead can walk through deep water or fly over it, crossing the river wherever they like.

Going south will also the most prudent choice when considering the possible goodies: currently, Li'sar goes into battle wearing lingerie. While a magic sword or a loyal leader might come in handy, you don't need them as badly as the Princess needs a suit of armor.

The undead need to be dealt with even if you don't want to kill their leader. Delfador, Kalenz and Lisar all have undead-killing ranged attacks (you *did* give her the scepter, didn't you?) -- add two more mages (one of them a healer) and three dwarfish steelclads as bodyguards. Recruit those on turn one and move them to a position where they may receive the chocobones' attack by dusk. You need at least steelclads in order to survive their charge. However, after the chocobones are gone the remaining undead ought to be manageable even if you don't throw any more troops that way (though you may do so if you're after the undead and want this to be finished quickly). You may need a few turns' rest before you can tackle the Death Knight, but eventually your spellcasters should dispose of him quickly.

In order to hold back the orcs, a few elves plus a healer are enough to secure your end of the bridge; the orcs will be reluctant to attack even level-1 archers during the day, and if you employ more and better troops (like, level-3 loyalists in the woods and a few mermen in the water) the orcs may not even attack at night. There's not much experience to be gained that way, though. If you want to actually fight the orcs, you should get to the other side and meet them there. There's plenty of mountains, an excellent opportunity to get some more experience to your dwarves (you will have good use for high-level dwarves later on). Dwarves, Gryphons and Orcs all have high defense in the mountains, so fighting will be slow.

It will be a long walk to the northern leader even after you rubbed out his army. You might consider an assassination: send like 4-6 suicidal gryphons to his keep. Bonus points if you have a silver mage (teleport!). Of course, you can assassinate him without defeating his host first. just wait until his army is too far away to turn back and help him.

Talking about Gryphons... this is the first time that you can really use them. Gryphons alone won't really impress the orcs, not even when supported by leaders and healers (they're level-1 units, after all). They may however seize a few villages, harass and distract the enemy, track down wounded units and so on. You should certainly get a few.

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 19A - Snow Plains ===
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 43
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill the leader
* Other:
** Li'sar will tell you she does not like her mother

Konrad will find the Flaming Sword (15-4 melee, fire, magical) hidden under the great tree in the northeast near the enemy keep. It will take Konrad a while to slog through the snow, forest, and hills, so you'll have to think about how many turns he will recall units. Dwarves will do well in the mountains, as will the flying gryphons.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

=== Scenario 19B - Swamp Of Dread ===
Scenario objectives: Kill all enemy leaders.

There are lots of undead, but mostly level-1. The terrain is unfavorable, but hampers the undead as much as you.

The swamp is good terrain for your mermen. Those with attacks that hurt the undead (the ones with Storm Tridents, Netcasters, Healers...) can make quite a difference. However, be aware that the campaign is coming to an end and you'll have little use for mermen in the following battles. So while the mermen may well lend a hand, any experience they gain will effectively be wasted.

One of the Death Knights drops the Void Armor when killed. The unit that picks it up will gain high resistance to physical damage (blade, impact and pierce). Since Li'sar is very vulnerable to precisely those types of damage, you should probably give her the armor. Keep her in the center at first so she doesn't have to walk across the whole map if the armor appears at the other end.

Some of the Liches' power seems to be tied to the death knights; killing all four will hurt the Lich for about half its hitpoints.

Early finish bonus for killing all 5 enemy leaders.

=== Scenario 19C - The Cliffs of Thoria ===
Scenario Objective: Make it to the end of the river

Turns: 45

Defeat:
* Death of Konrad, Delfador, Li'sar, or Kalenz
* Turns run out

Early Finish Bonus: 40% gold carryover

Starting Units:
* Konrad
* Delfador
* Li'sar
* Kalenz
* Your strongest merman

After a little spat between Kalenz and the merman you use to go east, you'll head for the Cliffs of Thoria. You'll find a long water level full of derelict vessels of the Queen. You'll also meet a Drake. After some conversation you discover that the Queens' forces attacked the Drakes, and now the Drakes will stop you from going forward. Since you have to move forward, you'll have to fight them.

There are a number of small islands on this map with Drake bases. Each base will produce one Drake every turn until one of your units occupies the base. This means that although the drakes may run out of money, they will never run out of reinforcements. In order to win this, you need to kill them faster than they spawn new recruits. No easy task.

Further, if you find that you can't win in a direct assault and want to bypass the drakes by going through the swamps, you'll discover very powerful undead enemies guarding the shoreline. They won't move, but any casualty will be immediately replaced by a new unit. Clearly, that area is cursed. Just avoid the dark blue water. It's impossible to get into the swamps, any attempt will be a waste of time.

Tip: Compared to the other two choices, this map is insanely hard. While there is an opportunity to pick up a wonderful loyal unit, you may wish to skip the challenge unless you have at least 800 gold and a sufficient number of leveled-up mermen.

If you're going to insist on playing this map, hire many gryphons and merfolk and move as fast as you can and just take the heavy losses. Since each base creates a unit every turn, to destroy a base you have to kill the unit occupying it and immediately move onto the base in that turn. Since merfolk can't move onto mountains, you'll need gryphons for that. Getting the first two or three bases quickly is absolutely vital.

With a somewhat longer perspective, spend all your money as long as you have it: you will inevitably run out of funds during this scenario. Drakes are vulnerable to piercing and arcane damage, so elvish arrows can be useful, as can your healers as spellcasters. Don't get too many landlubbers though, most of the fighting will happen in or over the water. Level-1 mermen will either die quickly or level up; high-level mermen will wreak havoc on the drakes. However, you need a good many level-2 mermen to begin with. Rookies alone cannot maintain the constant pressure you need, and the turn limit is short enough as it is.

When you finally make it to the far side, you'll be told that the waterfall is impassable: you need Konrad to enter the cave in the middle of the map. Start walking early, he'll take a while.

A loyal leader can be found on the most south-western island. He's badly hurt, keeping him alive may be tricky... better to discover him only on he very last moment.

== Scenario 20 - Home of the North Elves ==
* Objectives:
* Konrad must reach the forest kingdom of Emetria
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 21
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 47 Gold per turn
* Other:
** Your base will be dismantled after the first turn

This is a very large map with some interesting challenges. First, Konrad needs to move all the way across to the right side, and if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you don't have many turns to waste. Second, Fog of War is turned on, so you won't know where the enemy is until you blunder into them.

However, even in the fog you can see the terrain, including the enemy keeps. The orcs start in the north central part of the map, while the humans begin in the southeast. What you can't see are the large hosts of level-3 units standing near their respective camps: these are the armies, and *they will not move* unless someone walks into their striking range. Getting at an enemy leader will be difficult indeed, but if you're content with moving past the armies you'll only have to cope with the level-2 vanguards seeking each other.

You start with all loyal units who can move six or more hexes per turn (provided you kept them alive) and can recruit one castle full of more troops; it's probably best to get only riders, be they human, elf or gryphon. Most of them should be level-2. If you want to bring a healer, get the fastest on your roster (a quick elvish flyer, perhaps?) and make sure it's spawned at the right side of your keep.

There is some dialogue to remind you that the winning condition is to a) move Konrad into the forest and b) keep Li'sar, Delfador and Kalenz alive; everyone else is "not important". During the game, some elvish riders will show up and happily demonstrate how sacrificing a single unit can keep many others safe; they do it so well that you probably don't need to sacrifice any units of your own, but now you know how it works.

The dialogue makes you expect a large battle between humans and orcs, but noone tells you that the elves (they have a keep in the woods) will also recruit a large force and attack anyone in sight; you'll probably see your first human warriors much later than you'd expect and find that they're busy enough fighting the elves. So you only really have to deal with the orcs; once you're confident that they can't get at Konrad anymore, he can move on pretty much on his own. Your troops may turn around and fight the remaining orcs, or join the elves and steal a few kills there, or whatever. Have Konrad stop short of the forest to give your troops more time for fighting if you feel like it.

Delfador will tell you when Konrad enters the domain of the elves, but the scenario won't end then: you need to finish your turn and let everyone else have one last chance to attack your troops. If Konrad is still alive at the beginning of your next turn, you've won.

Early finish bonus: 47/turn

== Scenario 21 - The Elven Council ==
This is a cut-scene furthering the storyline. No combat takes place.

== Scenario 22 - Return to Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Kill all three enemy leaders.

Three Halbardiers appear as enemy reinforcements in the lower southeastern corner of the map when you slay the nearest general, Josephus. The bridge across the river is a good place to establish a defensive position, since attackers have to use the beach and water hexes to attack. Use the forests to your advantage: elven troops are best in forest, while the loyalists and orcs are seriously slowed by the trees.

Early finish bonus for killing all enemy leaders: 27 Gold

== Scenario 23 - Test of the Clans ==
* Objectives: Defeat either all four leaders or 25 units in total
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 53
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 55 Gold per turn

This is a large map against mostly Knights, Horsemen and Bowmen. The map is mostly open plains which is ideal for horse-bound units. The easiest way to win the scenario is to keep all your units in one group and take them en mass to the enemy. Fast and powerful units like Grand Knights, Lancers or Paladins are important. Units with pierce attacks (Archers, Shydes, Knights) will do good damage to Knights.

Expect heavy losses from the charge attacks, but don't fret because this is the second-to-last scenario. You'll want to finish this scenario quickly to get a nice bonus for the next level.

When any of the enemy leaders is killed, it is replaced with one or two knights (two or three in Hard). Reportedly, one way to win is to gang up on Bayar with fast units while attacking the south-eastern leader with the rest of your army.

If you want to have a long field battle, you can put groups of dwarves or elves in the hills. The enemy will tend to attack the hills, thus giving you some advantage. Hills also make a good safe haven for healing your mounted units. Try to kill the south-eastern leader early so you don't have to divert so many of your resources to the south flank.

If you want to kill all the clan leaders before killing 25 units (which finishes the scenario), recruit a castle of healers, then recruit a good force of Gryphon Riders. Grab as many villages as is safe, and then position your Gryphons on the deep water in the lake. The next castleful of recruits is your main army and two more Gryphon rides. March this south, take out the south-east leader and then send the two Gryphons to the group in the lake.

As soon as the majority of the northwest leader's troops move away from him, assassinate him with your Gryphons. He should die in 1-2 rounds of attacks assuming you don't lose too many of your troops. In the south-east, recruit a couple of castles worth of Gryphon Riders and send them west to take on the Southwest (black) leader, all the while keeping your main force just out of range of attackers if at all possible. As your Gryphons cross the river on the offensive, the AI usually moves troops back in to defend with. You should be able to out-run these. Converge all the Gryphons you have left on the middle leader (purple). I won around turn 25 giving me around 1600 gold to start the last scenario.

== Scenario 24 - The Battle for Wesnoth ==
* Objectives: Defeat Asheviere
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 60
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar, as many Grand Knights as you defeated in the last map
* Early finish bonus: 46
Scenario objectives: Defeat Asheviere and, by killing her, reclaim the throne.

One good strategy for this scenario is to set up camp around your fort and let the enemy come to you. You'll want to make sure the units on your front line can survive the beating they receive for one turn, and then you rotate them with freshly healed units. Don't attack the attackers if it means your unit won't have enough hit points to survive the next thrashing. Three or four healers will be needed behind the lines, and keep them fully occupied (remember that healers will heap 8HP to every unit adjacent to them. They're like walking sets of 6 villages).

For front-line units, level one Dwarvish Guardsman are excellent; they'll take a good beating but not lose too many hit points because of their steadfast attribute. Because they don't lose many HP, they'll also heal quickly. Only attack the enemy if no hit points will be lost. Guardsmen can throw a spear at the attacker on every turn if the attacker has no ranged attack.

Other units that are good for the front line are any unit with more than 50HP. Elvish Marshals will make your Dwarvish Guardsmen even more awesome. Dwarvish Lords have an incredible 79HP and can dish it out back to the enemy. Unfortunately, after a good thrashing, these units will take a long time to heal back up because of the large number of HP lost.

If you have any Assassins, rotate them up and down the line poisoning each enemy unit. The enemies have very few villages available to them, so with three Assassins you can poison half the army until the enemies have a bunch of level three units walking around with 1HP each.

Once the enemy has no army left, you can just wander up to Asheviere and discuss her resignation over a cup of hot tea. Asheviere has exactly 48 HP, so three hits of a 16-damage weapon, like the Scepter, or four 12-damage hits, is enough for the kill. Or you could surround her with about 20 Elvish Shamans and get the last little bit of fun juice out of this game.

A quick assassination can even be performed by Master Gryphons or even sometimes Gryphon Riders: you can recruit a castle of them on turn 1, send them south, elude enemy forces sent by the general in the futile attempt to catch you, then approach Asheviere for the kill (she will not have many troops at her own protection). Using this strategy, I won on turn 6 (and without losses). Swarming all four enemies with 6 new knights each turn is a very effective distraction strategy. Asheviere may divert about half of her force to destory the Gryphons. If this happens, congratulations. This means you've won. You should have still about 20 living Knights, and you should easily break through her lines.

A good bonus from The Test of the Clans should be enough to win this scenario.

One extraordinarily hilarious way to win this battle is through mass recruiting of Knights, which is quite possibly the only level Two unit you can ever recruit in the mainline campaigns. With roughly 1500 Gold from the plains battle, you can recall every single unit of level two or higher before recruiting loads of Knights to massacre the enemy with suicidal attacks. As long as you keep your heroes alive... It'll be a very bloody, but short, win.

== Scenario 25 - Epilogue ==

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]][[Category:Campaigns - Heir to the Throne]]

HeirToTheThrone

2011-01-14T04:26:58Z

Fredbobsmith2: /* Scenario 15 - The Lost General */

This is a walkthrough of '''Heir to the Throne''', the campaign featuring Konrad. It contains spoilers.

The suggestions herein are based on the "Medium" and "Hard" difficulty levels. It should be possible to win the "Easy" difficulty level without trying very hard if you are an accomplished gamer. If you feel comfortable with turn-based games, especially ones featuring units moving on a hex map, then you can play the Tutorial and then dive right into "Medium" to get a feel for the elements of the game. After you have played a few scenarios and are ready to restart from the beginning (and yes, it is very likely you will have to restart the first time you play Wesnoth), try reading [[AdvancedTactics]]. You should also be familiar with the basics in [[WesnothManual]] -- this is a walkthrough, not an exposition of basic game mechanics.

Each scenario has an individual forum thread where you can provide feedback to the authors. See also the forum posts [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3601 Suggestions for Heir to the Throne walkthrough] and [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4026 Yet another "Heir to the Throne" walktrough] (sic) for more. [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7064 Ye Compleat Walkthrough To "Heir To The Throne"] is a detailed guide, with illustrations, to the first several scenarios.

Finally, some [http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/my-wesnoth-replays-online replays] were posted by Uwe Hermann.

'''Warning spoilers ahead!'''

== Scenario 1 - The Elves Besieged ==
Scenario objectives: Both Konrad and Delfador must survive, and Konrad must escape to the signpost in the northwest corner of the map.

The orcs as well as your allies will levy a great many troops, you'll soon find yourself between the lines in a huge battle. All those units slugging it out can take quite some time, you may want to try two options on the Preferences dialog, "Accelerated Speed" or maybe even "Skip AI Moves".

This scenario is a "runner" scenario; on turn one, recruit a castle full of fresh recruits, and immediately make a break for it! If you're new to Wesnoth, getting Konrad out of there in one piece will be difficult enough and may require you to start over a couple of times. Hint: don't keep your units all lumped around Konrad, as a large host will attract the enemies' attention.

Terrain dictates two routes to the signpost: west to the druid and then north, or north over the bridge and then west. Either way, you should send Delfador and most of your army straight north. This is a ruse, the sole purpose is to lure the enemy towards the road while Konrad (with only one or two level-1 bodyguards) makes his way towards the exit. There's no chance of winning, your troops should perform a skirmishing retreat westwards into the forest.

Other than getting Konrad on his way, the inofficial objective of this scenario is to gain some experience for your troops. Experience is gained by fighting; once a level of experience is reached, your units will "level up" and become more powerful units. Killing an opponent will give much more experience than just fighting, so you should try to arrange it in such a way that the unit you want to upgrade gets to deliver the coup de grace.

Now a few words about the units at your disposal. In-game, you cannot check the data of unknown units; if you want to take a peek anyway, check the [http://www.wesnoth.org/units/ Wesnoth Unit Tree].

* Fighters and Archers. Melee and ranged, all elvish warriors are capable of both, it's more a matter of emphasis than an actual distinction. When they level up, most should become Heroes and Rangers, repectively; you'll only need one or two Captains, and probably are better off without any Marksmen: spellcasters will serve the same purpose much better.

* Shamans are minor healers. As a rule of thumb, you should never enter into any scenario without at least one healer. Leveling up a Shaman is somewhat tricky, as they can do only very little damage. If you use stronger units to knock an enemy unit's HP down, you can move your shamans up from behind the lines to administer the finishing blow. As difficult as it is to level up a shaman, it is well worth the hassle. Druids will be standard healers, you want one (and possibly only one) of those as soon as possible. A Sorceress cannot heal at all, but is a powerful spellcaster. At their higest level, both will learn to fly and become very mobile.

* Scouts may seem weak, but there's more to them than meets the eye. While most riders suffer severe penalties in difficult terrain, the elvish variant can cross rivers, swamps and even mountains rather quickly and will usually even receive a reasonable defense modifier. Insofar, they're less like horsemen and more like fast infantry. Whether you employ them in numbers is a matter of taste, however, you should always remember that you have these extremely mobile units at your disposal.

* Konrad, your leader, starts most scenarios at a keep where he may recruit some troops, but that doesn't mean that he should stay there forever: Being always on the map, he may just as well make himself useful. Getting him to level two will earn him a crossbow as well as the "leadership" ability, both will come in handy time and again.

* Delfador, the Elder Mage, is insanely powerful (at least compared to your other troops for the time being). Mages usually aren't very sturdy, but at level 5 he has so many hit points that you don't have to worry too much about him – he'll survive quite a few counterattacks. Don't overcommit him, but the first few scenarios depend on his abilities to instantly slay nearly any opponent and soaking up some damage that would otherwise kill several of your (still minor) units.

Remember to use the CTRL-v command to see how far all enemy units will be able to move on their next turn. Click on an unoccupied hex and then move the cursor over an enemy unit to see how far that unit will be able to move. Be careful with your heroes and constantly think of their safety.

Early finish bonus: 32 gold per turn.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2881 forum discussion].

== Scenario 2 - Blackwater Port ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns (9 on Hard), or kill the enemy leader.

The opening dialog will introduce a new friend, Haldiel, a loyal Horseman. The importance of loyalty is explained in [http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CampaignStrategies#The_importance_of_loyalty Campaign Strategies].

'''Horsemen'''
:Now that's cavalry as we know it. Their charges can be truly devastating if somewhat suicidal, as your ally will demonstrate soon. Employing charge attacks takes a little getting used to, as it differs so much from ordinary melee. Keep an eye on the "Damage Calculations" until you get the knack of it. 

Back to topic: If you recall units, choose those that have enough experience to be worth the 2 to 6 gold difference over fresh recruits, or who have specific traits that you need. Hole up in the forest on your side of the road (so the enemy has to stand on the plains to face you). Feel free to seize a few villages from your ally, he won't complain. If you have a unit to spare, you may even take the villages next his castle. Matter of fact, this is a prudent move – after all, Sir Kaylan would only use the gold to recruit troops that would steal your experience!

You can also send Haldiel west as fast as possible and attempt to take the village due south of the enemy castle. This will draw some orcs south, reducing the pressure on your actual army and giving you more freedom to shape the battle. However, be careful to not let him get pinned down and killed.

Sir Kaylan will send one or two horsemen to the enemy lines to assist you. Although these horsemen are not under your direct control, they can serve as a distraction if you manoeuver your forces properly, taking the brunt during the enemy's turn to attack.

The first night will be tough, be prepared to lose some units; but if you use the terrain to your advantage, you should have enough of an army left to launch a serious counterattack during the next day. The momentum should keep you going even through the next night and you may soon find yourself besieging the enemy keep. However, the actual objective is merely to survive – if everything fails, you may still retreat behind the swordsmen guarding Sir Kaylans fortress.

There is an early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader, however, it will probably be small. In other words: rushing it won't be worthwhile, instead you should play it safe: manoeuver carefully and try to get some experience to those units that need it most. By the end of this scenario, you really ought to have a Druid – that's absolutely vital. Next in line should be an elvish Fighter (make him a Captain) and Konrad, anything else is optional. But the more the merrier as they say.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2929 forum discussion].

== Scenario 3 - Isle of Alduin ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

The key to victory is to control the villages, earning the gold you need to recruit or recall troops. You have the option to send the majority of your army west or south with village grabbers going the opposite direction. If you choose to send your army west (recommended) send a scout and an archer south, grabbing alternating villages. Done intelligently they will each grab 1 village per turn until they are near the opponents keep. Be careful of engaging the enemy on the west flank near the hills at night: this is where they shine. Back off to the forests and wait for a more favorable time of day if necessary.

The following strategy works well if you take care of your unit placement. Protect units you cannot afford to lose from multiple attacks at night or when weakened, particularly new horsemen and magi.

First recall or recruit 3 elvish scouts. Send two scouts to the southern villages, and the third to the village to the northwest. Recruit 3 fighters; send one to the south and the other two to the southwest. This works best if one scout is "quick" and the fighter recruited to fill the southeastern hex of your castle is also "quick". If not you may have to modify this strategy. Send Delfador up to the northwest on the first turn to find the mage and send the mage down to the village next to the castle. Konrad should take two nearby villages in the first two turns, because you have no money left anyway.

One of the scouts goes as far south as possible, taking villages and distracting the enemy. This scout is usually destroyed by turn 4. That's OK. The other scout in the south usually has to retreat to survive. You try to take all the villages in the south you can and then reinforce the south slowly and move south. Now your main push is in the west because most villages are there and you need an income of over 20 per turn to recall all of your good troops. I usually use the scout I have sent to the northwest village on the island to take all of the far northwest villages. Delfador can destroy an enemy unit each turn, especially saurians, because these pesky units can kill weakened units in the rear. Horsemen take too long to cross the forest south of your castle but are strong on the western plains during daytime. Send newly-recruited horsemen to the west along with magi. A shaman is useful to the south and later one can be sent to the west.

Approaching turn 10-12, you should have assembled two reasonably powerful forces on each side of the lake. The westerly one usually is based on Delfador and horsemen-mage combos with fighters and archers for ZOC purposes, and the eastern force almost entirely of elves. Remember magi work best against trolls and grunts, and horsemen against archers.

Move south in tight groups, trying not to get too aggressive at night with the west group, until they meet at the far southern end of the island, and assault the castle together.

If you are a new player, you've probably been focusing on game mechanics and how the units and terrain interact. If so, it's time to give serious thought to leveling up some units by allowing them to strike the killing blow. When Konrad or an elven fighter is at level 2, they get the "leadership" skill. When a shaman levels up, they get the "cure" skill.

Hardly any player notices this, but this scenario offers the opportunity for some extra experience at the expense of very little gold. The early finish bonus is 38, but there are 36 villages on the island, so if you control all villages, you only lose 2 gold per turn (or only 1.6 gold, since only 80% can be retained - should be less than 24, since you hardly ever finish more than 15 turns early). So instead of killing the remaining enemies - especially the enemy leader - you might encircle them and reduce their health to a minimum. If you do not attack them in the subsequent turns, they will neither attack nor move, thus regain 2 HP per turn and will eventually be healthy enough to stand an attack of your weaker units. This is a relatively safe way to milk some extra XPs out of them for your weaker units (preferably magi and shamans). While milking level 1 units may not be very rewarding, milking the level 2 leader might easily give 20 extra XPs.

A note about playing with Magi: They are weak units, but become important later in the game. Over the next few levels, you'll want to level at least two Magi to White Magi for later in the game; they have an arcane (or holy) attack which does incredible amounts of damage to the undead. Fire Magi can eventually level up to level 4 Great Magi, which are walking killing machines, and Fire Magi do decent damage to most other units, especially trolls and skeletons. Magi are weak, however, so they need to be guarded by stronger units. Don't let the enemy have more than one attack position on them.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2959 forum discussion].

== Scenario 4 - Bay of Pearls ==
Scenario objectives: Kill one or both enemy leaders.

Opening moves: On the first turn, have Konrad recruit or recall some units. Which units, and in which order, is your first tactical decision. If you recruit/recall in pairs, with one fast (6 movement points or more) and one slow unit, then one will be able to move onto the island the next turn, while the other is still wading through the river.

Then, move Konrad to the cage on the island just to the east. This will free some mermen. (How many depends on whether you are playing on Easy, Medium, or Hard.) One of these can go open the second cage, and so on: by the end of your very first turn, you should have five mermen in the water.

Watch out: there's one cage far out at sea that's easily overlooked. The first Merman you set free tells you as much, but if you skip the message... Anyway, it is guarded by two nagas. Send two or (at most) three Mermen up there and *do not* fight it out: get the cage first, then kill the nagas with the help of the mermen from that cage. It holds at least four Mermen, on of them an Initiate. The latter may become a healer, try to get her experienced as soon as possible.

Even further north than the last cage there's a trident in the water. It will confer a powerful ranged attack to its bearer. Have a "quick" merman pick it up (who should eventually become a Hoplite).

The remaining mermen should try to hold the sea leaders' recruits at bay. Mermen and nagas both have high defense in water, so combat can be a bit slow and frustrating. Concentrate three or four mermen on a single enemy unit at a time, rather than spreading your attacks piecemeal. Don't push too hard, especially not at night when your attacks are weak. Keeping your loyal mermen alive is more important than the possession of a village, and things will look much better on the next day. If that doesn't suffice, the troops from the deep-sea cage may lend a hand.

It will be nigh impossible for your horsemen and elves to wade to the island to fight the sea leader in time, so eventually your need to do this. The Storm Trident and the Initiate both have magic attacks (70% to-hit regardless of terrain) and should go a long way... you better attack him during the day, even if it means that you need to wait for a few turns.

On land, you have to fight off a wave of orcs and wolves. Your decision is how far west to engage the enemy, though really, you have little choice: You are hindered by the limited recruitment you can do each turn, and how long it takes your elves and horsemen to trickle across the river. Some wolves may reach you in the night, but the bulk of his army won't arrive until daybreak. Press hard during the day, and there will be little left of his army when the night comes.

Careful management of your killing blows should allow several units to get to Level 2. A charging horseman does so much damage it will be easy for the horsemen to get all the kills, but try to get at least Konrad, your loyal mage, and an elven fighter to level-2 (if you haven't already).

The outcome of this battle affects the next scenario you play. If you kill the sea leader you wind up on Isle of the Damned. If you kill the land leader you wind up on Muff Malal's Peninsula. If you kill both, you can choose (and get an early finish bonus).

New players should take the land route to Muff Malal's Peninsula, where you can easily level up many units or collect an early finish bonus. Experienced players or those who are looking for an interesting tactical exercise may wish to consider the sea route to the Isle of the Damned, where you will find a loyal White Mage who *might* join you... if you meet some very tough winning conditions. Either choice will be a battle against undead.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3022 forum discussion].

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 5A - Muff Malal's Peninsula ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

This is an easy scenario, and your aim here should be to build up your gold by controlling most villages, while earning experience against enemy forces. The enemy recruits bats to capture villages, and hordes of Walking Corpses to keep you busy. The occasional Dark Adept can be dangerous on Hard difficulty, but is vulnerable to melee attack, especially from knights.

One approach is to recall a few level 2 units supported by a mage. These units build a defensive position in the central part of the map, using hills and forest for cover, and hold off the first wave of Walking Corpses. Mounted troops capture villages in the north and west, and can charge down the flanks at daytime. A merman or two distract enemy bats and capture sea villages. If you can recall the merman that picked up the trident in Bay of Pearls, it will be able to dispatch bats easily on its own.

During daytime, your main force advances to one of the villages in the south-east, where you wait for more Walking Corpses to attack. A level 2 melee unit (eg. Elvish Captain) can use the village defense bonus to survive attacks, and heal between turns. By the time it is low on hit points, it should be advancing to level 3.

You should now control most villages and have some gold, so recruit or recall additional troops. Launch an offensive with your central force, supported by your horsemen advancing at the sides. Don't forget to use Konrad in the attack.

Try to attack with human units only at day, when the undead are at their weakest, and hold the lines with your elves at night.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3178 forum discussion].

=== Scenario 5B - Isle of the Damned ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leaders, or survive for 27 turns.

Konrad is washed overboard during a storm, but is rescued by two mermen. You start out with 100 gold and cannot recall any units. You are joined by Urlaf, a level 2 Outlaw. In addition to Mermen, you can recruit his friends: Thugs, Poachers and Footpads. This is the only time in the campaign that these units can be recruited, but any outlaw units surviving this scenario can be recalled later. Your gold from Bay of Pearls (minus the usual 20% discount) is saved for the next scenario.

Moremirmu is a White Mage with a holy sword which is very effective against undead. He is hiding in one of the three temples, and will join your cause if you find him. Beware: Xakae, a Revenant with a retinue of Walking Corpses, is waiting to ambush you in another temple. Moremirmu and Xakae are randomly placed; the third temple is always empty. Xakae and the Corpses can be a useful source of experience if you have the troops to deal with them.

Mermen can be used successfully to harass the undead in their rear. Typically the undead responds by withdrawing forces to deal with your mermen. Occasionally this tactic can be used to isolate and trap an undead leader while their forces are busy with your land troops. Don't expect the mermen to survive, though.

Moremirmu is critical to winning but also quite fragile. He will die quickly if he is attacked by multiple undead.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders. Moremirmu (and his holy sword) will join you in future scenarios only if both are defeated.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3179 forum discussion].

== Scenario 6 - The Siege of Elensefar ==
Scenario objectives: Kill both enemy leaders.

Konrad arrives at the southern end of a large map. The island city of Elensefar dominates the center, and the cave of the necromancer Muff Jaanal is far to the north. The orcish warlord Agadla has taken the city. You know what to do!

Your first objective is to retake the city. You could choose to charge across the bridges and fight your way onto the island, taking heavy casualties from the level 2 orcish warriors along the way - but casualties will probably be lower than if you do it the slow way. Or, you can lure the orcs into the water where they are easy to hit. Remember that mermen, especially the one with the Storm Trident, move quickly and defend quite well in water or on the bridges. Whichever strategy you choose, remember that the undead are well on their way to join the orcs occupying the city. Speed is a factor.

Konrad will receive some help from the Thieves Guild. Apparently, an orcish occupation is bad for business. They will either show you a hidden ford onto the island, or attack the north gate after you take one of the island villages. Whether you choose to storm the city, and which aid to accept, depends in large part on how much of a hurry you are in. Every turn, the undead march southward, and you'll have quite a fight on your hands after they reinforce the orcs in the city proper.

After you defeat the orcs, you must fight your way north. Fighting against the undead requires a different mix of units than fighting the orcs. Your mermen are too slow on land. Horsemen and elvish units do reduced damage to skeletons. Here, you need... mages. Lots and lots of mages. And a paladin, if you've leveled a unit that high enough. Expect to spend many turns fighting through the northernmost six hexes. You are fighting in a cave, which slows your units down. Being underground, it is also treated as night for the time of day penalties. Also, don't forget that mages can't take a lot of abuse, especially from melee attacks. You will have to figure out how to use your less effective elvish units and horsemen to shield your mages.

By now, you should have either Konrad or a level 2 elven fighter with the Leadership ability. A unit adjacent to a leader receives a +25% bonus to damage. Likewise, carefully position shamen or white mages in your lines so they can heal wounded units. Two adjacent healers will heal each other.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3224 forum discussion].

== Scenario 7 - Crossroads ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the north-eastern enemy leader.

There are two strategies: either to "run for it", or "kill them all". Which you choose will probably depend on whether you want to earn lots of gold, or level up lots of units.

If you choose to run, recall two turn's worth of troops. Most should be level 2, but you should recruit one or two units as sacrifical lambs. Having two healers (who will stay adjacent to each other for mutual healing) is almost a necessity. Move the units in formation (probably in two packs) along the road. Do not be tempted to move units into the mountains. The increased defence is not worth the risk of triggering ambushes. Drive your way to the leader in the northwest, kill them, and reap the early finish bonus.

The second strategy is to methodically destroy all enemy units on the map. Recruit two turns worth of units, and then drive south. Overcome the southern leader, and recruit more troops in his castle. Move back north, moving into every town and through the mountains, in order to trigger ambushes. This strategy is trickier to pull off, but careful management of your kills should allow you to level multiple units. (Just be careful not to run out of turns...)

Note: The first two villages that on the screen that you will likely attempt to grab trigger an Elvish Fighter and Elvish Archer to join your party and warn you about the hills. Keep in mind that they, too, are Loyal troops.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3281 forum discussion].

== Scenario 8 - The Princess of Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Subdue Li'sar to win

Konrad's life now takes an interesting turn, as he meets the Princess of Wesnoth, Li'sar. Instead of dying when you "kill" her, she surrenders.

Li'sar is supported by troops from the Loyalist faction. Even your tough level 2 units make tempting targets for her lawful horsemen; they will charge and probably kill them. Use terrain and position sacrificial level 1 screening units while the sun is high. Likewise, you can try for a quick kill by charging Li'sar with your own horsemen or knights.

This otherwise straightforward battle is enlivened by reinforcements that Li'sar summons on turns 5 and 10. Also, a level 2 Duelist will defend the Princess' honor when you approach her, appearing from the south of your position. You can trigger his arrival by exploring the mountain with an entrance. Capture the villages on the eastern side as you cross the river, and position units to cover the north-eastern plain to prevent Li'sar's mounted units from capturing these villages.

By the end of this scenario, you should have learned a painful lesson in how the computer player targets its attacks...

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3401 forum discussion].

== Scenario 9 - The Valley of Death ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns.

There are two holy water bottles on the map. The unit which picks them up will have their melee attacks be holy for the duration of this scenario. These are especially useful for powerful melee units like Elvish Heroes or Champions which otherwise do little damage to the undead. Or, you could recruit Horsemen and have them grab the holy water. They should easily level to level 2 Lancers or Knights, and maybe even to a Level 3 Paladin by the end of the scenario. As in previous scenarios, mages will be effective against most of the undead enemies.

You'll be facing many level-2 undead. They're all dangerous but two kinds require special attention:
* Spectres (level2 ghosts) are fast in every terrain, somewhat hard to hit, resistant to all common kinds of damage, and have a draining attack. Attacking them in melee is not recommendend, killing them with arrows will eventually work but takes many arrows. They are vulnerable to arcane spells and fireballs, though.
* Walking Corpses: they're slow, they're weak, they're fragile. Usually nothing to worry about, but this time they're many. Hordes. Night of the Living Dead. A strong fighter will easily slay them, but that can become his downfall: an attacking corpse that gets killed makes room for the next corpse to move in and attack... and the next, and the next, and each one gets a few blows. Even a Paladin or Champion will eventually be overwhelmed, taking like ten or fifteen zombies with him. Whether you consider this to be a good exchange is up to you. Incidentally, something similar can happen between Paladins and level-1 Skeletons.

The castle you start in is a well-defensible position, but all enemies arrive at about the same time. Once surrounded, you'll have very little wiggle room or inside tiles for your wounded units to retreat to. Filling the moat with Mermen might work a bit better, but their tridents won't impress the skeletons.

You should consider attacking the southern enemy, then hole up in his castle and the surrounding hills. This increases the distance to the others: their troops will reach you later and they will be strung out, so you don't have to fight them all at once.

If you don't have the money to recruit a large or powerful army, recruit a few Elvish Fighters and send them to the forest north of your castle. Their job is to slow the Revenant for several turns and then die gloriously. Flee with Konrad and the rest of your army to the south-east corner. If you're lucky, the WC horde will be too slow to reach you before the scenario ends. A cowardly tactic, yes -- but you'll survive...

If you played Isle of The Damned without killing both Liches, and Moremirmu survived, then he will reinforce you with three White Mage buddies between turns 7-10. You can't recall them after this scenario, so they are expendable.

Another strategy, which requires to have Moremirmu to help you and allows you to kill the three Liches, is to recruit 2 horsemen (or recall their leveled up units) and as many thieves as you can, send each horsemen to gather the bottles of holy water, and kill with them the northern and eastern Liches; don't send them the horseman to the northern Lich too quick, because if you do his army will focus on it, and it won't reach the Lich. Move Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, and your thieves towards the southeast corner. The thieves be used as a barrier to protect your more important units; place them in woods, mountains or villages(never in plains) as soon as they can, so that the northern and eastern Liches concentrate on them and leave Konrad and his group alone. With some luck you'll kill the northern and eastern Liches around the same turn that Moremirmu appears, and Konrad and his group will survive enough time to have one of Moremirmu's white mages kill the Southern Lich during day time.

Early finish bonus if you somehow manage to defeat all enemy leaders. If you do, feel free to boast about your accomplishment at the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3402 forum discussion].

== Scenario 10 - Gryphon Mountain ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

Konrad starts in the lower left corner of the map. General Robert, commanding Loyalist troops, is in the upper right. In the middle of the map, surrounded by mountains, is the Mother Gryphon and three sleeping Gryphons.

If you kill the Mother Gryphon before the Loyalists do, you will have access to gryphon eggs, allowing you to to recruit Gryphon Riders in future scenarios. Opinions differ as to whether their ability to capture far-flung villages, safely lure enemy troops, and ability to pierce the map shroud are worth their high cost. Even if you decide not to attack the Gryphons, the enemy will -- and then the wild beasts of the air might decide to attack you.

For a quick victory to earn the early finish bonus, head up the right side of the mountains. To earn experience, head towards the Mother Gryphon, and the enemy will come to you.

Early finish bonus for killing both the mother gryphon as well as the enemy leader.

== Scenario 11 - The Ford of Abez ==
Scenario objectives: Move Konrad to the north side of the river

The wide Abez river cuts across the middle of the map from left to right, with Konrad starting on the lower right side. Princess Li'sar starts on the lower left, and an orc band is on the north side of the river. Killing the Princess is meant to be impossible: she has plenty of troops as is, and if you actually get near her there will be numerous high-quality reinforcements. Do not even try to attack her, it will be a waste of good troops for no gain. Instead, fill the river with mermen: this is an excellent opportunity to get many of them leveled up.

But first things first: your task is to get Konrad across the river. The chaotic orcs will attack from the north, the Princess's lawful Loyalists will attack from the south, and... a new enemy (alignment: hungry) will be attacking from downstream. All will happily fight each other if they ever meet, but with your army standing right between them in the middle of the river... it will pretty much seem as if everyone was out to get you.

Remember those loyal mermen from in the Bay of Pearls? They should comprise your principal fighting force. Be sure to send one downstream to acquire the Storm Trident there. If you have some of the flying elvish units, they move (and fight) fight equally well over land or water. Wait for the Orcs and Humans to get into the water where the mermen have excellent defence while the landlubbers do not.

Even if you have the money, don't recruit for more than two turns, otherwise Konrad might not even make it into the river. The scenario ends as soon as he makes it to the other side (off the beach and onto flat ground) -- by the time he gets there, there will be few orcs left on that shore, Kalenz and Delfador can well deal with them. If you recruit any land troops at all (healers perhaps?), make sure they have at least two moves in shallow water.

This is an excellent opportunity to get your mermen some XP, and you don't really need the early finish bonus.

Early finish bonus for getting Konrad onto dry land.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8716 forum discussion]

== Scenario 12 - Northern Winter ==
*Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders (2 of them)
*Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
*Turns: 50 (as of 1.8.3 on medium difficulty turns = 40)
*Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, a random soldier
*Early finish bonus: 47 / turn
*Other:
**Snow falls on turns 6 and 10, making the tundra patches larger.
 
This is a relatively simple scenario. The enemy will mostly raise level-1 wolf riders and orcish archers, plus the occasional level-2 Ogre or Troll. You can field a similar mix of mostly fresh recruits plus a few veterans. Throughout the scenario, the wolves will attempt to seize villages, often bypassing your forces: a few Elvish Scouts behind your lines will come in handy. Alternatively, your loyal Thieves can play hide-and-seek just as well. Don't overrecruit, though: there's only so many units you can actually bring to bear on the enemy. You've got enough time to win this twice, so you may chose to take it slow and milk this battle for experience. You'll still end this with more than enough gold in your coffers.

== Scenario 13 - The Dwarven Doors ==
* Objectives: Move Konrad to entrance of the Dwarfen Kingdom
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 26 / 20 / 15
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, one experienced Rider, one outlaw unit (if you have any)

You may defeat all enemy leaders if you feel like it, but this won't end the scenario. The sole winning condition is to get Konrad to the entrance of the Dwarven Kingdom. Actually, there are two entrances: the "Great Gates", clearly labeled as such, and a less conspicious side entrance in the north-eastern corner. Only one of these is open, the other is blocked from the inside (determined at random).

You start the scenario with one rider who suggests to scout ahead: that's a good idea, even though you may chose another unit for the task (the game picks the most experienced). Anyone reaching an entrance will tell you whether it's open or not. Alternatively, if you played the Isle of the Damned, one of your outlaws will tell you about his uncle who used to have business with the dwarves, hiding in a village along the way (at 18/24, you'd probably seize it anyway). The uncle is a loyal bandit who joins your troops; he also tells you which entrance to chose, main gate or mine tunnels. It pays off to actually read that dialog.

The most minimalistic approach is to recruit one castle full of cavalry and RUN. The enemies have to cover some distance and cross difficult terrain in order to get in you way -- if Konrad starts running on turn one, he can move past them practically unopposed. It falls to the cavalry to bring up the rear: let them form a line somewhere near the Pillars of Thunedain while Konrad, Delfador and the other walkers keep going. Holding the line for a single turn is enough, then the riders may follow Konrad, leaving the pursuers behind and unable to catch up again (except for the wolves, but there shouldn't be many).

You can still follow this basic principle if you recruit for two turns, adding a healer or two and perhaps some Rangers (their ambushes will stop many opponents). If you recruit for more than two turns, this will become a rather normal battle: your rearguard can no longer disengage, but will have to keep on fighting. There's nothing wrong with that, you can gain quite some experience that way, just don't forget the actual objective.

Konrad needs to get into the mines. Scenario ends with early finish bonus as soon he does so.

== Scenario 14 - Plunging into the Darkness ==
* Objectives: Find the dwarves
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 19
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Secret pasage in southeastern part of the tunnel
** A very short and straightforward map

In principle, this is quite simple. You cannot recruit and just have to walk down that corridor until you find the dwarves -- you can't possibly miss them. You will be attacked by a few bats. They may hurt, that's all. This is mostly a lesson: see how slow Kalenz is in the caves? Notice his abysmal terrain defense? Clearly, this is no place for elves.

Since you're reading this walkthrough, you'll also be interested in locating the secret passage leading to a chest of 200 gold pieces in the southwest. Just stick to the wall, step by step, and you'll eventually find it. However, said chest is guarded by a rather nasty spider: watch out! It's a level-3 beast that poisons and slows.

After you're done with the bats, you can just sit there and wait until your men are healed again. There is no turn limit, after all. Once you found the secret door, do not get in. Step back a bit and the spider will rush out where you can attack her three to one. You should be able to kill her in a single turn, don't worry about getting poisoned -- you won't die from poison and there are no other enemies left. However, if you fail to kill her quickly... you saved the game, didn't you?

== Scenario 15 - The Lost General ==
* Objectives: Kill all enemy leaders (there are two)
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 64(!)
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing both enemy leaders

Moving underground is slow, especially for elves. Their fighters and archers are also ineffective against undead. Outriders and slyphs might be worth recalling, if you can afford them. Likewise, gryphons and horsemen are bogged down. Recruit dwarves for speed, and mages to back them up. (However, a Gryphon can pass the small pond quickly, and there are four towns on the other side.)

You are fighting Lionel, a former general turned Death Knight, who starts trapped in the south. To the west is the usual orc/troll force. In the north is a dwarven ally, although if you are too slow they will be overwhelmed by the orcs.

Dwarven fighters do well against the undead, while the Thunderers do best against the orcs and trolls. If you choose to go for money, rush troops both south and north, reinforcing the native dwarves and triggering the appearance of the undead. If you choose to go for experience, ignore the undead until you have killed the orcs, then return en masse to destroy the undead. Don't take too long, as Lionel will break forth on turn 20.

There are two ways to get to Lionel: an entrance opens in the pond on turn 19/20; and walls collapse when units move into tiles just south of the sign that says "Guest Quarters", regardless of when this happens.

Tip: If you make dwarf leader to survive (and actually reveal him), Dwarvish Guardsman will become available.

Note: If you recall/recruit a merman and send it to the pond, then have it go to the whirlpool, it will arrive in a hidden cavern with a friendly ulfserker. Once your merman returns to the whirlpool through the other end, it will carry the ulf with it.

== Scenario 16 - Hasty Alliance ==
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing enemy leader + 200 Gold from Li'sar

Li'sar is about to attack, when you are surrounded by orcs and trolls. She joins forces with you to defeat the troll leader, bringing her Royal Guards and 500 gold worth of allied troops to the struggle.

Your greatest challenge will be to survive the first few turns, as the death of any of Konrad's companions will end the scenario.
Once you have defeated the first wave, it is relatively easy to finish off any remaining trolls and move north to the troll leader. Try and encourage your allies to go first and take the hefty damage from the Level 2 and Level 3 trolls, while your mages and dwarves get the experience for killing blows.

The way I did it was to recruit a keep of thieves (the cheapest unit) and move Delfador and Kalenz out of the way. Then my allies were able to send help over so that I could get 'real' units on my second turn without suffering casualties. One thief survived and I got a Rogue with 36/56 XP by the end of the scenario! -CountPenguin

== Scenario 17 - The Sceptre of Fire ==
* Objectives: Capture the Sceptre of Fire with Konrad or Li'sar
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 50
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Gold gift from Li'sar: 300 on easy, 200 on medium, 100 on hard
** Milk this level for experience as there is no early finish bonus
** Randomly generated map

The map changes each time, so if you're save-scumming, be sure to checkpoint right after the scenario starts, and replay once you know where the Sceptre is.

There's three or four enemy leaders, depending on difficulty. The map is randomly generated; there's no telling how many villages there are and where... but more often than not, it's something like 25 villages and most will be placed where you can seize them early. The scenario certainly feels as if you're in for a major underground struggle, but the enemy leaders have little money to begin with and -usually- they won't have much of an income either.

Usually there's two large tunnels going north, and quite often you meet little resistance in one, and quite a lot in the other -- though the latter still doesn't qualify as tough. You can gain quite some XP in the contested tunnel, just form a shieldwall with (mostly) guardians, play it safe, and you can level up some 4-8 dwarves. It's a good idea to station Kalenz here, his faerie fire will help a lot against the occasional lvl-3 Troll.

Meanwhile, The Princess, Delfador, one healer and several of your better dwarves should move up the less contested corridor and scout the map. The Scepter usually is somewhere about 2/3rds up the map. You may encounter the occasional enemy... it's alright to buzz off in all directions, but make sure that everyone has a line of retreat and may receive support within a turn or two.

The scenario ends as soon as Konrad or the Princess gets to the scepter. You may delay this a bit in order to milk a few more XP, but there's not that many more to be gained by then. All things considered, it's better to let Li'sar have the scepter -- she'll be with you until the end, she has no ranged attack, and while Konrad will often be held back by recruiting, Li'sar can be in the frontline from turn one.

== Scenario 18 - A Choice Must Be Made ==
* Objectives: Defeat either of the leaders
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill either leader
* Other:
** Next level depends on killed leader
*** Northern orcish leader will get you to the ''Snow Plains'' and the Flaming Sword (15-4, magical)
*** Southern undead leader will get you to the ''Swamp Of Dread'' and a suit of armor (high resistance to blade, pierce, impact)
*** If you take a merman to the eastern side of the river, you get to the cliffs of Thoria, an insanely difficult battle where you can find a loyal Sergeant (may become a level-4 leader)
** Simply decide for one direction and block the bridge in the other direction unless you want to fight on two large fronts
** First real chance to level gryphons

Scenario objectives: Kill either leader.

Going south is the easiest way: the orcs coming from the north may only cross the river at the bridge, a chokepoint that's easy to block. In fact, a determined attack may defeat the undead before the bulk of the orcs even makes it to the bridge. Fighting the orcs in the hills will take longer while the undead can walk through deep water or fly over it, crossing the river wherever they like.

Going south will also the most prudent choice when considering the possible goodies: currently, Li'sar goes into battle wearing lingerie. While a magic sword or a loyal leader might come in handy, you don't need them as badly as the Princess needs a suit of armor.

The undead need to be dealt with even if you don't want to kill their leader. Delfador, Kalenz and Lisar all have undead-killing ranged attacks (you *did* give her the scepter, didn't you?) -- add two more mages (one of them a healer) and three dwarfish steelclads as bodyguards. Recruit those on turn one and move them to a position where they may receive the chocobones' attack by dusk. You need at least steelclads in order to survive their charge. However, after the chocobones are gone the remaining undead ought to be manageable even if you don't throw any more troops that way (though you may do so if you're after the undead and want this to be finished quickly). You may need a few turns' rest before you can tackle the Death Knight, but eventually your spellcasters should dispose of him quickly.

In order to hold back the orcs, a few elves plus a healer are enough to secure your end of the bridge; the orcs will be reluctant to attack even level-1 archers during the day, and if you employ more and better troops (like, level-3 loyalists in the woods and a few mermen in the water) the orcs may not even attack at night. There's not much experience to be gained that way, though. If you want to actually fight the orcs, you should get to the other side and meet them there. There's plenty of mountains, an excellent opportunity to get some more experience to your dwarves (you will have good use for high-level dwarves later on). Dwarves, Gryphons and Orcs all have high defense in the mountains, so fighting will be slow.

It will be a long walk to the northern leader even after you rubbed out his army. You might consider an assassination: send like 4-6 suicidal gryphons to his keep. Bonus points if you have a silver mage (teleport!). Of course, you can assassinate him without defeating his host first. just wait until his army is too far away to turn back and help him.

Talking about Gryphons... this is the first time that you can really use them. Gryphons alone won't really impress the orcs, not even when supported by leaders and healers (they're level-1 units, after all). They may however seize a few villages, harass and distract the enemy, track down wounded units and so on. You should certainly get a few.

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 19A - Snow Plains ===
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 43
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill the leader
* Other:
** Li'sar will tell you she does not like her mother

Konrad will find the Flaming Sword (15-4 melee, fire, magical) hidden under the great tree in the northeast near the enemy keep. It will take Konrad a while to slog through the snow, forest, and hills, so you'll have to think about how many turns he will recall units. Dwarves will do well in the mountains, as will the flying gryphons.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

=== Scenario 19B - Swamp Of Dread ===
Scenario objectives: Kill all enemy leaders.

There are lots of undead, but mostly level-1. The terrain is unfavorable, but hampers the undead as much as you.

The swamp is good terrain for your mermen. Those with attacks that hurt the undead (the ones with Storm Tridents, Netcasters, Healers...) can make quite a difference. However, be aware that the campaign is coming to an end and you'll have little use for mermen in the following battles. So while the mermen may well lend a hand, any experience they gain will effectively be wasted.

One of the Death Knights drops the Void Armor when killed. The unit that picks it up will gain high resistance to physical damage (blade, impact and pierce). Since Li'sar is very vulnerable to precisely those types of damage, you should probably give her the armor. Keep her in the center at first so she doesn't have to walk across the whole map if the armor appears at the other end.

Some of the Liches' power seems to be tied to the death knights; killing all four will hurt the Lich for about half its hitpoints.

Early finish bonus for killing all 5 enemy leaders.

=== Scenario 19C - The Cliffs of Thoria ===
Scenario Objective: Make it to the end of the river

Turns: 45

Defeat:
* Death of Konrad, Delfador, Li'sar, or Kalenz
* Turns run out

Early Finish Bonus: 40% gold carryover

Starting Units:
* Konrad
* Delfador
* Li'sar
* Kalenz
* Your strongest merman

After a little spat between Kalenz and the merman you use to go east, you'll head for the Cliffs of Thoria. You'll find a long water level full of derelict vessels of the Queen. You'll also meet a Drake. After some conversation you discover that the Queens' forces attacked the Drakes, and now the Drakes will stop you from going forward. Since you have to move forward, you'll have to fight them.

There are a number of small islands on this map with Drake bases. Each base will produce one Drake every turn until one of your units occupies the base. This means that although the drakes may run out of money, they will never run out of reinforcements. In order to win this, you need to kill them faster than they spawn new recruits. No easy task.

Further, if you find that you can't win in a direct assault and want to bypass the drakes by going through the swamps, you'll discover very powerful undead enemies guarding the shoreline. They won't move, but any casualty will be immediately replaced by a new unit. Clearly, that area is cursed. Just avoid the dark blue water. It's impossible to get into the swamps, any attempt will be a waste of time.

Tip: Compared to the other two choices, this map is insanely hard. While there is an opportunity to pick up a wonderful loyal unit, you may wish to skip the challenge unless you have at least 800 gold and a sufficient number of leveled-up mermen.

If you're going to insist on playing this map, hire many gryphons and merfolk and move as fast as you can and just take the heavy losses. Since each base creates a unit every turn, to destroy a base you have to kill the unit occupying it and immediately move onto the base in that turn. Since merfolk can't move onto mountains, you'll need gryphons for that. Getting the first two or three bases quickly is absolutely vital.

With a somewhat longer perspective, spend all your money as long as you have it: you will inevitably run out of funds during this scenario. Drakes are vulnerable to piercing and arcane damage, so elvish arrows can be useful, as can your healers as spellcasters. Don't get too many landlubbers though, most of the fighting will happen in or over the water. Level-1 mermen will either die quickly or level up; high-level mermen will wreak havoc on the drakes. However, you need a good many level-2 mermen to begin with. Rookies alone cannot maintain the constant pressure you need, and the turn limit is short enough as it is.

When you finally make it to the far side, you'll be told that the waterfall is impassable: you need Konrad to enter the cave in the middle of the map. Start walking early, he'll take a while.

A loyal leader can be found on the most south-western island. He's badly hurt, keeping him alive may be tricky... better to discover him only on he very last moment.

== Scenario 20 - Home of the North Elves ==
* Objectives:
* Konrad must reach the forest kingdom of Emetria
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 21
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 47 Gold per turn
* Other:
** Your base will be dismantled after the first turn

This is a very large map with some interesting challenges. First, Konrad needs to move all the way across to the right side, and if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you don't have many turns to waste. Second, Fog of War is turned on, so you won't know where the enemy is until you blunder into them.

However, even in the fog you can see the terrain, including the enemy keeps. The orcs start in the north central part of the map, while the humans begin in the southeast. What you can't see are the large hosts of level-3 units standing near their respective camps: these are the armies, and *they will not move* unless someone walks into their striking range. Getting at an enemy leader will be difficult indeed, but if you're content with moving past the armies you'll only have to cope with the level-2 vanguards seeking each other.

You start with all loyal units who can move six or more hexes per turn (provided you kept them alive) and can recruit one castle full of more troops; it's probably best to get only riders, be they human, elf or gryphon. Most of them should be level-2. If you want to bring a healer, get the fastest on your roster (a quick elvish flyer, perhaps?) and make sure it's spawned at the right side of your keep.

There is some dialogue to remind you that the winning condition is to a) move Konrad into the forest and b) keep Li'sar, Delfador and Kalenz alive; everyone else is "not important". During the game, some elvish riders will show up and happily demonstrate how sacrificing a single unit can keep many others safe; they do it so well that you probably don't need to sacrifice any units of your own, but now you know how it works.

The dialogue makes you expect a large battle between humans and orcs, but noone tells you that the elves (they have a keep in the woods) will also recruit a large force and attack anyone in sight; you'll probably see your first human warriors much later than you'd expect and find that they're busy enough fighting the elves. So you only really have to deal with the orcs; once you're confident that they can't get at Konrad anymore, he can move on pretty much on his own. Your troops may turn around and fight the remaining orcs, or join the elves and steal a few kills there, or whatever. Have Konrad stop short of the forest to give your troops more time for fighting if you feel like it.

Delfador will tell you when Konrad enters the domain of the elves, but the scenario won't end then: you need to finish your turn and let everyone else have one last chance to attack your troops. If Konrad is still alive at the beginning of your next turn, you've won.

Early finish bonus: 47/turn

== Scenario 21 - The Elven Council ==
This is a cut-scene furthering the storyline. No combat takes place.

== Scenario 22 - Return to Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Kill all three enemy leaders.

Three Halbardiers appear as enemy reinforcements in the lower southeastern corner of the map when you slay the nearest general, Josephus. The bridge across the river is a good place to establish a defensive position, since attackers have to use the beach and water hexes to attack. Use the forests to your advantage: elven troops are best in forest, while the loyalists and orcs are seriously slowed by the trees.

Early finish bonus for killing all enemy leaders: 27 Gold

== Scenario 23 - Test of the Clans ==
* Objectives: Defeat either all four leaders or 25 units in total
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 53
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 55 Gold per turn

This is a large map against mostly Knights, Horsemen and Bowmen. The map is mostly open plains which is ideal for horse-bound units. The easiest way to win the scenario is to keep all your units in one group and take them en mass to the enemy. Fast and powerful units like Grand Knights, Lancers or Paladins are important. Units with pierce attacks (Archers, Shydes, Knights) will do good damage to Knights.

Expect heavy losses from the charge attacks, but don't fret because this is the second-to-last scenario. You'll want to finish this scenario quickly to get a nice bonus for the next level.

When any of the enemy leaders is killed, it is replaced with one or two knights (two or three in Hard). Reportedly, one way to win is to gang up on Bayar with fast units while attacking the south-eastern leader with the rest of your army.

If you want to have a long field battle, you can put groups of dwarves or elves in the hills. The enemy will tend to attack the hills, thus giving you some advantage. Hills also make a good safe haven for healing your mounted units. Try to kill the south-eastern leader early so you don't have to divert so many of your resources to the south flank.

If you want to kill all the clan leaders before killing 25 units (which finishes the scenario), recruit a castle of healers, then recruit a good force of Gryphon Riders. Grab as many villages as is safe, and then position your Gryphons on the deep water in the lake. The next castleful of recruits is your main army and two more Gryphon rides. March this south, take out the south-east leader and then send the two Gryphons to the group in the lake.

As soon as the majority of the northwest leader's troops move away from him, assassinate him with your Gryphons. He should die in 1-2 rounds of attacks assuming you don't lose too many of your troops. In the south-east, recruit a couple of castles worth of Gryphon Riders and send them west to take on the Southwest (black) leader, all the while keeping your main force just out of range of attackers if at all possible. As your Gryphons cross the river on the offensive, the AI usually moves troops back in to defend with. You should be able to out-run these. Converge all the Gryphons you have left on the middle leader (purple). I won around turn 25 giving me around 1600 gold to start the last scenario.

== Scenario 24 - The Battle for Wesnoth ==
* Objectives: Defeat Asheviere
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 60
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar, as many Grand Knights as you defeated in the last map
* Early finish bonus: 46
Scenario objectives: Defeat Asheviere and, by killing her, reclaim the throne.

One good strategy for this scenario is to set up camp around your fort and let the enemy come to you. You'll want to make sure the units on your front line can survive the beating they receive for one turn, and then you rotate them with freshly healed units. Don't attack the attackers if it means your unit won't have enough hit points to survive the next thrashing. Three or four healers will be needed behind the lines, and keep them fully occupied (remember that healers will heap 8HP to every unit adjacent to them. They're like walking sets of 6 villages).

For front-line units, level one Dwarvish Guardsman are excellent; they'll take a good beating but not lose too many hit points because of their steadfast attribute. Because they don't lose many HP, they'll also heal quickly. Only attack the enemy if no hit points will be lost. Guardsmen can throw a spear at the attacker on every turn if the attacker has no ranged attack.

Other units that are good for the front line are any unit with more than 50HP. Elvish Marshals will make your Dwarvish Guardsmen even more awesome. Dwarvish Lords have an incredible 79HP and can dish it out back to the enemy. Unfortunately, after a good thrashing, these units will take a long time to heal back up because of the large number of HP lost.

If you have any Assassins, rotate them up and down the line poisoning each enemy unit. The enemies have very few villages available to them, so with three Assassins you can poison half the army until the enemies have a bunch of level three units walking around with 1HP each.

Once the enemy has no army left, you can just wander up to Asheviere and discuss her resignation over a cup of hot tea. Asheviere has exactly 48 HP, so three hits of a 16-damage weapon, like the Scepter, or four 12-damage hits, is enough for the kill. Or you could surround her with about 20 Elvish Shamans and get the last little bit of fun juice out of this game.

A quick assassination can even be performed by Master Gryphons or even sometimes Gryphon Riders: you can recruit a castle of them on turn 1, send them south, elude enemy forces sent by the general in the futile attempt to catch you, then approach Asheviere for the kill (she will not have many troops at her own protection). Using this strategy, I won on turn 6 (and without losses). Swarming all four enemies with 6 new knights each turn is a very effective distraction strategy. Asheviere may divert about half of her force to destory the Gryphons. If this happens, congratulations. This means you've won. You should have still about 20 living Knights, and you should easily break through her lines.

A good bonus from The Test of the Clans should be enough to win this scenario.

One extraordinarily hilarious way to win this battle is through mass recruiting of Knights, which is quite possibly the only level Two unit you can ever recruit in the mainline campaigns. With roughly 1500 Gold from the plains battle, you can recall every single unit of level two or higher before recruiting loads of Knights to massacre the enemy with suicidal attacks. As long as you keep your heroes alive... It'll be a very bloody, but short, win.

== Scenario 25 - Epilogue ==

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]][[Category:Campaigns - Heir to the Throne]]

HeirToTheThrone

2011-01-13T04:03:03Z

Fredbobsmith2: /* Scenario 15 - The Lost General */

This is a walkthrough of '''Heir to the Throne''', the campaign featuring Konrad. It contains spoilers.

The suggestions herein are based on the "Medium" and "Hard" difficulty levels. It should be possible to win the "Easy" difficulty level without trying very hard if you are an accomplished gamer. If you feel comfortable with turn-based games, especially ones featuring units moving on a hex map, then you can play the Tutorial and then dive right into "Medium" to get a feel for the elements of the game. After you have played a few scenarios and are ready to restart from the beginning (and yes, it is very likely you will have to restart the first time you play Wesnoth), try reading [[AdvancedTactics]]. You should also be familiar with the basics in [[WesnothManual]] -- this is a walkthrough, not an exposition of basic game mechanics.

Each scenario has an individual forum thread where you can provide feedback to the authors. See also the forum posts [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3601 Suggestions for Heir to the Throne walkthrough] and [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4026 Yet another "Heir to the Throne" walktrough] (sic) for more. [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7064 Ye Compleat Walkthrough To "Heir To The Throne"] is a detailed guide, with illustrations, to the first several scenarios.

Finally, some [http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/my-wesnoth-replays-online replays] were posted by Uwe Hermann.

'''Warning spoilers ahead!'''

== Scenario 1 - The Elves Besieged ==
Scenario objectives: Both Konrad and Delfador must survive, and Konrad must escape to the signpost in the northwest corner of the map.

The orcs as well as your allies will levy a great many troops, you'll soon find yourself between the lines in a huge battle. All those units slugging it out can take quite some time, you may want to try two options on the Preferences dialog, "Accelerated Speed" or maybe even "Skip AI Moves".

This scenario is a "runner" scenario; on turn one, recruit a castle full of fresh recruits, and immediately make a break for it! If you're new to Wesnoth, getting Konrad out of there in one piece will be difficult enough and may require you to start over a couple of times. Hint: don't keep your units all lumped around Konrad, as a large host will attract the enemies' attention.

Terrain dictates two routes to the signpost: west to the druid and then north, or north over the bridge and then west. Either way, you should send Delfador and most of your army straight north. This is a ruse, the sole purpose is to lure the enemy towards the road while Konrad (with only one or two level-1 bodyguards) makes his way towards the exit. There's no chance of winning, your troops should perform a skirmishing retreat westwards into the forest.

Other than getting Konrad on his way, the inofficial objective of this scenario is to gain some experience for your troops. Experience is gained by fighting; once a level of experience is reached, your units will "level up" and become more powerful units. Killing an opponent will give much more experience than just fighting, so you should try to arrange it in such a way that the unit you want to upgrade gets to deliver the coup de grace.

Now a few words about the units at your disposal. In-game, you cannot check the data of unknown units; if you want to take a peek anyway, check the [http://www.wesnoth.org/units/ Wesnoth Unit Tree].

* Fighters and Archers. Melee and ranged, all elvish warriors are capable of both, it's more a matter of emphasis than an actual distinction. When they level up, most should become Heroes and Rangers, repectively; you'll only need one or two Captains, and probably are better off without any Marksmen: spellcasters will serve the same purpose much better.

* Shamans are minor healers. As a rule of thumb, you should never enter into any scenario without at least one healer. Leveling up a Shaman is somewhat tricky, as they can do only very little damage. If you use stronger units to knock an enemy unit's HP down, you can move your shamans up from behind the lines to administer the finishing blow. As difficult as it is to level up a shaman, it is well worth the hassle. Druids will be standard healers, you want one (and possibly only one) of those as soon as possible. A Sorceress cannot heal at all, but is a powerful spellcaster. At their higest level, both will learn to fly and become very mobile.

* Scouts may seem weak, but there's more to them than meets the eye. While most riders suffer severe penalties in difficult terrain, the elvish variant can cross rivers, swamps and even mountains rather quickly and will usually even receive a reasonable defense modifier. Insofar, they're less like horsemen and more like fast infantry. Whether you employ them in numbers is a matter of taste, however, you should always remember that you have these extremely mobile units at your disposal.

* Konrad, your leader, starts most scenarios at a keep where he may recruit some troops, but that doesn't mean that he should stay there forever: Being always on the map, he may just as well make himself useful. Getting him to level two will earn him a crossbow as well as the "leadership" ability, both will come in handy time and again.

* Delfador, the Elder Mage, is insanely powerful (at least compared to your other troops for the time being). Mages usually aren't very sturdy, but at level 5 he has so many hit points that you don't have to worry too much about him – he'll survive quite a few counterattacks. Don't overcommit him, but the first few scenarios depend on his abilities to instantly slay nearly any opponent and soaking up some damage that would otherwise kill several of your (still minor) units.

Remember to use the CTRL-v command to see how far all enemy units will be able to move on their next turn. Click on an unoccupied hex and then move the cursor over an enemy unit to see how far that unit will be able to move. Be careful with your heroes and constantly think of their safety.

Early finish bonus: 32 gold per turn.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2881 forum discussion].

== Scenario 2 - Blackwater Port ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns (9 on Hard), or kill the enemy leader.

The opening dialog will introduce a new friend, Haldiel, a loyal Horseman. The importance of loyalty is explained in [http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CampaignStrategies#The_importance_of_loyalty Campaign Strategies].

'''Horsemen'''
:Now that's cavalry as we know it. Their charges can be truly devastating if somewhat suicidal, as your ally will demonstrate soon. Employing charge attacks takes a little getting used to, as it differs so much from ordinary melee. Keep an eye on the "Damage Calculations" until you get the knack of it. 

Back to topic: If you recall units, choose those that have enough experience to be worth the 2 to 6 gold difference over fresh recruits, or who have specific traits that you need. Hole up in the forest on your side of the road (so the enemy has to stand on the plains to face you). Feel free to seize a few villages from your ally, he won't complain. If you have a unit to spare, you may even take the villages next his castle. Matter of fact, this is a prudent move – after all, Sir Kaylan would only use the gold to recruit troops that would steal your experience!

You can also send Haldiel west as fast as possible and attempt to take the village due south of the enemy castle. This will draw some orcs south, reducing the pressure on your actual army and giving you more freedom to shape the battle. However, be careful to not let him get pinned down and killed.

Sir Kaylan will send one or two horsemen to the enemy lines to assist you. Although these horsemen are not under your direct control, they can serve as a distraction if you manoeuver your forces properly, taking the brunt during the enemy's turn to attack.

The first night will be tough, be prepared to lose some units; but if you use the terrain to your advantage, you should have enough of an army left to launch a serious counterattack during the next day. The momentum should keep you going even through the next night and you may soon find yourself besieging the enemy keep. However, the actual objective is merely to survive – if everything fails, you may still retreat behind the swordsmen guarding Sir Kaylans fortress.

There is an early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader, however, it will probably be small. In other words: rushing it won't be worthwhile, instead you should play it safe: manoeuver carefully and try to get some experience to those units that need it most. By the end of this scenario, you really ought to have a Druid – that's absolutely vital. Next in line should be an elvish Fighter (make him a Captain) and Konrad, anything else is optional. But the more the merrier as they say.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2929 forum discussion].

== Scenario 3 - Isle of Alduin ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

The key to victory is to control the villages, earning the gold you need to recruit or recall troops. You have the option to send the majority of your army west or south with village grabbers going the opposite direction. If you choose to send your army west (recommended) send a scout and an archer south, grabbing alternating villages. Done intelligently they will each grab 1 village per turn until they are near the opponents keep. Be careful of engaging the enemy on the west flank near the hills at night: this is where they shine. Back off to the forests and wait for a more favorable time of day if necessary.

The following strategy works well if you take care of your unit placement. Protect units you cannot afford to lose from multiple attacks at night or when weakened, particularly new horsemen and magi.

First recall or recruit 3 elvish scouts. Send two scouts to the southern villages, and the third to the village to the northwest. Recruit 3 fighters; send one to the south and the other two to the southwest. This works best if one scout is "quick" and the fighter recruited to fill the southeastern hex of your castle is also "quick". If not you may have to modify this strategy. Send Delfador up to the northwest on the first turn to find the mage and send the mage down to the village next to the castle. Konrad should take two nearby villages in the first two turns, because you have no money left anyway.

One of the scouts goes as far south as possible, taking villages and distracting the enemy. This scout is usually destroyed by turn 4. That's OK. The other scout in the south usually has to retreat to survive. You try to take all the villages in the south you can and then reinforce the south slowly and move south. Now your main push is in the west because most villages are there and you need an income of over 20 per turn to recall all of your good troops. I usually use the scout I have sent to the northwest village on the island to take all of the far northwest villages. Delfador can destroy an enemy unit each turn, especially saurians, because these pesky units can kill weakened units in the rear. Horsemen take too long to cross the forest south of your castle but are strong on the western plains during daytime. Send newly-recruited horsemen to the west along with magi. A shaman is useful to the south and later one can be sent to the west.

Approaching turn 10-12, you should have assembled two reasonably powerful forces on each side of the lake. The westerly one usually is based on Delfador and horsemen-mage combos with fighters and archers for ZOC purposes, and the eastern force almost entirely of elves. Remember magi work best against trolls and grunts, and horsemen against archers.

Move south in tight groups, trying not to get too aggressive at night with the west group, until they meet at the far southern end of the island, and assault the castle together.

If you are a new player, you've probably been focusing on game mechanics and how the units and terrain interact. If so, it's time to give serious thought to leveling up some units by allowing them to strike the killing blow. When Konrad or an elven fighter is at level 2, they get the "leadership" skill. When a shaman levels up, they get the "cure" skill.

Hardly any player notices this, but this scenario offers the opportunity for some extra experience at the expense of very little gold. The early finish bonus is 38, but there are 36 villages on the island, so if you control all villages, you only lose 2 gold per turn (or only 1.6 gold, since only 80% can be retained - should be less than 24, since you hardly ever finish more than 15 turns early). So instead of killing the remaining enemies - especially the enemy leader - you might encircle them and reduce their health to a minimum. If you do not attack them in the subsequent turns, they will neither attack nor move, thus regain 2 HP per turn and will eventually be healthy enough to stand an attack of your weaker units. This is a relatively safe way to milk some extra XPs out of them for your weaker units (preferably magi and shamans). While milking level 1 units may not be very rewarding, milking the level 2 leader might easily give 20 extra XPs.

A note about playing with Magi: They are weak units, but become important later in the game. Over the next few levels, you'll want to level at least two Magi to White Magi for later in the game; they have an arcane (or holy) attack which does incredible amounts of damage to the undead. Fire Magi can eventually level up to level 4 Great Magi, which are walking killing machines, and Fire Magi do decent damage to most other units, especially trolls and skeletons. Magi are weak, however, so they need to be guarded by stronger units. Don't let the enemy have more than one attack position on them.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2959 forum discussion].

== Scenario 4 - Bay of Pearls ==
Scenario objectives: Kill one or both enemy leaders.

Opening moves: On the first turn, have Konrad recruit or recall some units. Which units, and in which order, is your first tactical decision. If you recruit/recall in pairs, with one fast (6 movement points or more) and one slow unit, then one will be able to move onto the island the next turn, while the other is still wading through the river.

Then, move Konrad to the cage on the island just to the east. This will free some mermen. (How many depends on whether you are playing on Easy, Medium, or Hard.) One of these can go open the second cage, and so on: by the end of your very first turn, you should have five mermen in the water.

Watch out: there's one cage far out at sea that's easily overlooked. The first Merman you set free tells you as much, but if you skip the message... Anyway, it is guarded by two nagas. Send two or (at most) three Mermen up there and *do not* fight it out: get the cage first, then kill the nagas with the help of the mermen from that cage. It holds at least four Mermen, on of them an Initiate. The latter may become a healer, try to get her experienced as soon as possible.

Even further north than the last cage there's a trident in the water. It will confer a powerful ranged attack to its bearer. Have a "quick" merman pick it up (who should eventually become a Hoplite).

The remaining mermen should try to hold the sea leaders' recruits at bay. Mermen and nagas both have high defense in water, so combat can be a bit slow and frustrating. Concentrate three or four mermen on a single enemy unit at a time, rather than spreading your attacks piecemeal. Don't push too hard, especially not at night when your attacks are weak. Keeping your loyal mermen alive is more important than the possession of a village, and things will look much better on the next day. If that doesn't suffice, the troops from the deep-sea cage may lend a hand.

It will be nigh impossible for your horsemen and elves to wade to the island to fight the sea leader in time, so eventually your need to do this. The Storm Trident and the Initiate both have magic attacks (70% to-hit regardless of terrain) and should go a long way... you better attack him during the day, even if it means that you need to wait for a few turns.

On land, you have to fight off a wave of orcs and wolves. Your decision is how far west to engage the enemy, though really, you have little choice: You are hindered by the limited recruitment you can do each turn, and how long it takes your elves and horsemen to trickle across the river. Some wolves may reach you in the night, but the bulk of his army won't arrive until daybreak. Press hard during the day, and there will be little left of his army when the night comes.

Careful management of your killing blows should allow several units to get to Level 2. A charging horseman does so much damage it will be easy for the horsemen to get all the kills, but try to get at least Konrad, your loyal mage, and an elven fighter to level-2 (if you haven't already).

The outcome of this battle affects the next scenario you play. If you kill the sea leader you wind up on Isle of the Damned. If you kill the land leader you wind up on Muff Malal's Peninsula. If you kill both, you can choose (and get an early finish bonus).

New players should take the land route to Muff Malal's Peninsula, where you can easily level up many units or collect an early finish bonus. Experienced players or those who are looking for an interesting tactical exercise may wish to consider the sea route to the Isle of the Damned, where you will find a loyal White Mage who *might* join you... if you meet some very tough winning conditions. Either choice will be a battle against undead.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3022 forum discussion].

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 5A - Muff Malal's Peninsula ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

This is an easy scenario, and your aim here should be to build up your gold by controlling most villages, while earning experience against enemy forces. The enemy recruits bats to capture villages, and hordes of Walking Corpses to keep you busy. The occasional Dark Adept can be dangerous on Hard difficulty, but is vulnerable to melee attack, especially from knights.

One approach is to recall a few level 2 units supported by a mage. These units build a defensive position in the central part of the map, using hills and forest for cover, and hold off the first wave of Walking Corpses. Mounted troops capture villages in the north and west, and can charge down the flanks at daytime. A merman or two distract enemy bats and capture sea villages. If you can recall the merman that picked up the trident in Bay of Pearls, it will be able to dispatch bats easily on its own.

During daytime, your main force advances to one of the villages in the south-east, where you wait for more Walking Corpses to attack. A level 2 melee unit (eg. Elvish Captain) can use the village defense bonus to survive attacks, and heal between turns. By the time it is low on hit points, it should be advancing to level 3.

You should now control most villages and have some gold, so recruit or recall additional troops. Launch an offensive with your central force, supported by your horsemen advancing at the sides. Don't forget to use Konrad in the attack.

Try to attack with human units only at day, when the undead are at their weakest, and hold the lines with your elves at night.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3178 forum discussion].

=== Scenario 5B - Isle of the Damned ===
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leaders, or survive for 27 turns.

Konrad is washed overboard during a storm, but is rescued by two mermen. You start out with 100 gold and cannot recall any units. You are joined by Urlaf, a level 2 Outlaw. In addition to Mermen, you can recruit his friends: Thugs, Poachers and Footpads. This is the only time in the campaign that these units can be recruited, but any outlaw units surviving this scenario can be recalled later. Your gold from Bay of Pearls (minus the usual 20% discount) is saved for the next scenario.

Moremirmu is a White Mage with a holy sword which is very effective against undead. He is hiding in one of the three temples, and will join your cause if you find him. Beware: Xakae, a Revenant with a retinue of Walking Corpses, is waiting to ambush you in another temple. Moremirmu and Xakae are randomly placed; the third temple is always empty. Xakae and the Corpses can be a useful source of experience if you have the troops to deal with them.

Mermen can be used successfully to harass the undead in their rear. Typically the undead responds by withdrawing forces to deal with your mermen. Occasionally this tactic can be used to isolate and trap an undead leader while their forces are busy with your land troops. Don't expect the mermen to survive, though.

Moremirmu is critical to winning but also quite fragile. He will die quickly if he is attacked by multiple undead.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders. Moremirmu (and his holy sword) will join you in future scenarios only if both are defeated.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3179 forum discussion].

== Scenario 6 - The Siege of Elensefar ==
Scenario objectives: Kill both enemy leaders.

Konrad arrives at the southern end of a large map. The island city of Elensefar dominates the center, and the cave of the necromancer Muff Jaanal is far to the north. The orcish warlord Agadla has taken the city. You know what to do!

Your first objective is to retake the city. You could choose to charge across the bridges and fight your way onto the island, taking heavy casualties from the level 2 orcish warriors along the way - but casualties will probably be lower than if you do it the slow way. Or, you can lure the orcs into the water where they are easy to hit. Remember that mermen, especially the one with the Storm Trident, move quickly and defend quite well in water or on the bridges. Whichever strategy you choose, remember that the undead are well on their way to join the orcs occupying the city. Speed is a factor.

Konrad will receive some help from the Thieves Guild. Apparently, an orcish occupation is bad for business. They will either show you a hidden ford onto the island, or attack the north gate after you take one of the island villages. Whether you choose to storm the city, and which aid to accept, depends in large part on how much of a hurry you are in. Every turn, the undead march southward, and you'll have quite a fight on your hands after they reinforce the orcs in the city proper.

After you defeat the orcs, you must fight your way north. Fighting against the undead requires a different mix of units than fighting the orcs. Your mermen are too slow on land. Horsemen and elvish units do reduced damage to skeletons. Here, you need... mages. Lots and lots of mages. And a paladin, if you've leveled a unit that high enough. Expect to spend many turns fighting through the northernmost six hexes. You are fighting in a cave, which slows your units down. Being underground, it is also treated as night for the time of day penalties. Also, don't forget that mages can't take a lot of abuse, especially from melee attacks. You will have to figure out how to use your less effective elvish units and horsemen to shield your mages.

By now, you should have either Konrad or a level 2 elven fighter with the Leadership ability. A unit adjacent to a leader receives a +25% bonus to damage. Likewise, carefully position shamen or white mages in your lines so they can heal wounded units. Two adjacent healers will heal each other.

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3224 forum discussion].

== Scenario 7 - Crossroads ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the north-eastern enemy leader.

There are two strategies: either to "run for it", or "kill them all". Which you choose will probably depend on whether you want to earn lots of gold, or level up lots of units.

If you choose to run, recall two turn's worth of troops. Most should be level 2, but you should recruit one or two units as sacrifical lambs. Having two healers (who will stay adjacent to each other for mutual healing) is almost a necessity. Move the units in formation (probably in two packs) along the road. Do not be tempted to move units into the mountains. The increased defence is not worth the risk of triggering ambushes. Drive your way to the leader in the northwest, kill them, and reap the early finish bonus.

The second strategy is to methodically destroy all enemy units on the map. Recruit two turns worth of units, and then drive south. Overcome the southern leader, and recruit more troops in his castle. Move back north, moving into every town and through the mountains, in order to trigger ambushes. This strategy is trickier to pull off, but careful management of your kills should allow you to level multiple units. (Just be careful not to run out of turns...)

Note: The first two villages that on the screen that you will likely attempt to grab trigger an Elvish Fighter and Elvish Archer to join your party and warn you about the hills. Keep in mind that they, too, are Loyal troops.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3281 forum discussion].

== Scenario 8 - The Princess of Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Subdue Li'sar to win

Konrad's life now takes an interesting turn, as he meets the Princess of Wesnoth, Li'sar. Instead of dying when you "kill" her, she surrenders.

Li'sar is supported by troops from the Loyalist faction. Even your tough level 2 units make tempting targets for her lawful horsemen; they will charge and probably kill them. Use terrain and position sacrificial level 1 screening units while the sun is high. Likewise, you can try for a quick kill by charging Li'sar with your own horsemen or knights.

This otherwise straightforward battle is enlivened by reinforcements that Li'sar summons on turns 5 and 10. Also, a level 2 Duelist will defend the Princess' honor when you approach her, appearing from the south of your position. You can trigger his arrival by exploring the mountain with an entrance. Capture the villages on the eastern side as you cross the river, and position units to cover the north-eastern plain to prevent Li'sar's mounted units from capturing these villages.

By the end of this scenario, you should have learned a painful lesson in how the computer player targets its attacks...

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3401 forum discussion].

== Scenario 9 - The Valley of Death ==
Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns.

There are two holy water bottles on the map. The unit which picks them up will have their melee attacks be holy for the duration of this scenario. These are especially useful for powerful melee units like Elvish Heroes or Champions which otherwise do little damage to the undead. Or, you could recruit Horsemen and have them grab the holy water. They should easily level to level 2 Lancers or Knights, and maybe even to a Level 3 Paladin by the end of the scenario. As in previous scenarios, mages will be effective against most of the undead enemies.

You'll be facing many level-2 undead. They're all dangerous but two kinds require special attention:
* Spectres (level2 ghosts) are fast in every terrain, somewhat hard to hit, resistant to all common kinds of damage, and have a draining attack. Attacking them in melee is not recommendend, killing them with arrows will eventually work but takes many arrows. They are vulnerable to arcane spells and fireballs, though.
* Walking Corpses: they're slow, they're weak, they're fragile. Usually nothing to worry about, but this time they're many. Hordes. Night of the Living Dead. A strong fighter will easily slay them, but that can become his downfall: an attacking corpse that gets killed makes room for the next corpse to move in and attack... and the next, and the next, and each one gets a few blows. Even a Paladin or Champion will eventually be overwhelmed, taking like ten or fifteen zombies with him. Whether you consider this to be a good exchange is up to you. Incidentally, something similar can happen between Paladins and level-1 Skeletons.

The castle you start in is a well-defensible position, but all enemies arrive at about the same time. Once surrounded, you'll have very little wiggle room or inside tiles for your wounded units to retreat to. Filling the moat with Mermen might work a bit better, but their tridents won't impress the skeletons.

You should consider attacking the southern enemy, then hole up in his castle and the surrounding hills. This increases the distance to the others: their troops will reach you later and they will be strung out, so you don't have to fight them all at once.

If you don't have the money to recruit a large or powerful army, recruit a few Elvish Fighters and send them to the forest north of your castle. Their job is to slow the Revenant for several turns and then die gloriously. Flee with Konrad and the rest of your army to the south-east corner. If you're lucky, the WC horde will be too slow to reach you before the scenario ends. A cowardly tactic, yes -- but you'll survive...

If you played Isle of The Damned without killing both Liches, and Moremirmu survived, then he will reinforce you with three White Mage buddies between turns 7-10. You can't recall them after this scenario, so they are expendable.

Another strategy, which requires to have Moremirmu to help you and allows you to kill the three Liches, is to recruit 2 horsemen (or recall their leveled up units) and as many thieves as you can, send each horsemen to gather the bottles of holy water, and kill with them the northern and eastern Liches; don't send them the horseman to the northern Lich too quick, because if you do his army will focus on it, and it won't reach the Lich. Move Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, and your thieves towards the southeast corner. The thieves be used as a barrier to protect your more important units; place them in woods, mountains or villages(never in plains) as soon as they can, so that the northern and eastern Liches concentrate on them and leave Konrad and his group alone. With some luck you'll kill the northern and eastern Liches around the same turn that Moremirmu appears, and Konrad and his group will survive enough time to have one of Moremirmu's white mages kill the Southern Lich during day time.

Early finish bonus if you somehow manage to defeat all enemy leaders. If you do, feel free to boast about your accomplishment at the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3402 forum discussion].

== Scenario 10 - Gryphon Mountain ==
Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

Konrad starts in the lower left corner of the map. General Robert, commanding Loyalist troops, is in the upper right. In the middle of the map, surrounded by mountains, is the Mother Gryphon and three sleeping Gryphons.

If you kill the Mother Gryphon before the Loyalists do, you will have access to gryphon eggs, allowing you to to recruit Gryphon Riders in future scenarios. Opinions differ as to whether their ability to capture far-flung villages, safely lure enemy troops, and ability to pierce the map shroud are worth their high cost. Even if you decide not to attack the Gryphons, the enemy will -- and then the wild beasts of the air might decide to attack you.

For a quick victory to earn the early finish bonus, head up the right side of the mountains. To earn experience, head towards the Mother Gryphon, and the enemy will come to you.

Early finish bonus for killing both the mother gryphon as well as the enemy leader.

== Scenario 11 - The Ford of Abez ==
Scenario objectives: Move Konrad to the north side of the river

The wide Abez river cuts across the middle of the map from left to right, with Konrad starting on the lower right side. Princess Li'sar starts on the lower left, and an orc band is on the north side of the river. Killing the Princess is meant to be impossible: she has plenty of troops as is, and if you actually get near her there will be numerous high-quality reinforcements. Do not even try to attack her, it will be a waste of good troops for no gain. Instead, fill the river with mermen: this is an excellent opportunity to get many of them leveled up.

But first things first: your task is to get Konrad across the river. The chaotic orcs will attack from the north, the Princess's lawful Loyalists will attack from the south, and... a new enemy (alignment: hungry) will be attacking from downstream. All will happily fight each other if they ever meet, but with your army standing right between them in the middle of the river... it will pretty much seem as if everyone was out to get you.

Remember those loyal mermen from in the Bay of Pearls? They should comprise your principal fighting force. Be sure to send one downstream to acquire the Storm Trident there. If you have some of the flying elvish units, they move (and fight) fight equally well over land or water. Wait for the Orcs and Humans to get into the water where the mermen have excellent defence while the landlubbers do not.

Even if you have the money, don't recruit for more than two turns, otherwise Konrad might not even make it into the river. The scenario ends as soon as he makes it to the other side (off the beach and onto flat ground) -- by the time he gets there, there will be few orcs left on that shore, Kalenz and Delfador can well deal with them. If you recruit any land troops at all (healers perhaps?), make sure they have at least two moves in shallow water.

This is an excellent opportunity to get your mermen some XP, and you don't really need the early finish bonus.

Early finish bonus for getting Konrad onto dry land.

See also the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8716 forum discussion]

== Scenario 12 - Northern Winter ==
*Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders (2 of them)
*Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
*Turns: 50 (as of 1.8.3 on medium difficulty turns = 40)
*Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, a random soldier
*Early finish bonus: 47 / turn
*Other:
**Snow falls on turns 6 and 10, making the tundra patches larger.
 
This is a relatively simple scenario. The enemy will mostly raise level-1 wolf riders and orcish archers, plus the occasional level-2 Ogre or Troll. You can field a similar mix of mostly fresh recruits plus a few veterans. Throughout the scenario, the wolves will attempt to seize villages, often bypassing your forces: a few Elvish Scouts behind your lines will come in handy. Alternatively, your loyal Thieves can play hide-and-seek just as well. Don't overrecruit, though: there's only so many units you can actually bring to bear on the enemy. You've got enough time to win this twice, so you may chose to take it slow and milk this battle for experience. You'll still end this with more than enough gold in your coffers.

== Scenario 13 - The Dwarven Doors ==
* Objectives: Move Konrad to entrance of the Dwarfen Kingdom
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 26 / 20 / 15
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, one experienced Rider, one outlaw unit (if you have any)

You may defeat all enemy leaders if you feel like it, but this won't end the scenario. The sole winning condition is to get Konrad to the entrance of the Dwarven Kingdom. Actually, there are two entrances: the "Great Gates", clearly labeled as such, and a less conspicious side entrance in the north-eastern corner. Only one of these is open, the other is blocked from the inside (determined at random).

You start the scenario with one rider who suggests to scout ahead: that's a good idea, even though you may chose another unit for the task (the game picks the most experienced). Anyone reaching an entrance will tell you whether it's open or not. Alternatively, if you played the Isle of the Damned, one of your outlaws will tell you about his uncle who used to have business with the dwarves, hiding in a village along the way (at 18/24, you'd probably seize it anyway). The uncle is a loyal bandit who joins your troops; he also tells you which entrance to chose, main gate or mine tunnels. It pays off to actually read that dialog.

The most minimalistic approach is to recruit one castle full of cavalry and RUN. The enemies have to cover some distance and cross difficult terrain in order to get in you way -- if Konrad starts running on turn one, he can move past them practically unopposed. It falls to the cavalry to bring up the rear: let them form a line somewhere near the Pillars of Thunedain while Konrad, Delfador and the other walkers keep going. Holding the line for a single turn is enough, then the riders may follow Konrad, leaving the pursuers behind and unable to catch up again (except for the wolves, but there shouldn't be many).

You can still follow this basic principle if you recruit for two turns, adding a healer or two and perhaps some Rangers (their ambushes will stop many opponents). If you recruit for more than two turns, this will become a rather normal battle: your rearguard can no longer disengage, but will have to keep on fighting. There's nothing wrong with that, you can gain quite some experience that way, just don't forget the actual objective.

Konrad needs to get into the mines. Scenario ends with early finish bonus as soon he does so.

== Scenario 14 - Plunging into the Darkness ==
* Objectives: Find the dwarves
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 19
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Secret pasage in southeastern part of the tunnel
** A very short and straightforward map

In principle, this is quite simple. You cannot recruit and just have to walk down that corridor until you find the dwarves -- you can't possibly miss them. You will be attacked by a few bats. They may hurt, that's all. This is mostly a lesson: see how slow Kalenz is in the caves? Notice his abysmal terrain defense? Clearly, this is no place for elves.

Since you're reading this walkthrough, you'll also be interested in locating the secret passage leading to a chest of 200 gold pieces in the southwest. Just stick to the wall, step by step, and you'll eventually find it. However, said chest is guarded by a rather nasty spider: watch out! It's a level-3 beast that poisons and slows.

After you're done with the bats, you can just sit there and wait until your men are healed again. There is no turn limit, after all. Once you found the secret door, do not get in. Step back a bit and the spider will rush out where you can attack her three to one. You should be able to kill her in a single turn, don't worry about getting poisoned -- you won't die from poison and there are no other enemies left. However, if you fail to kill her quickly... you saved the game, didn't you?

== Scenario 15 - The Lost General ==
* Objectives: Kill all enemy leaders (there are two)
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
* Turns: 64(!)
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing both enemy leaders

Moving underground is slow, especially for elves. Their fighters and archers are also ineffective against undead. Outriders and slyphs might be worth recalling, if you can afford them. Likewise, gryphons and horsemen are bogged down. Recruit dwarves for speed, and mages to back them up. (However, a Gryphon can pass the small pond quickly, and there are four towns on the other side.)

You are fighting Lionel, a former general turned Death Knight, who starts trapped in the south. To the west is the usual orc/troll force. In the north is a dwarven ally, although if you are too slow they will be overwhelmed by the orcs.

Dwarven fighters do well against the undead, while the Thunderers do best against the orcs and trolls. If you choose to go for money, rush troops both south and north, reinforcing the native dwarves and triggering the appearance of the undead. If you choose to go for experience, ignore the undead until you have killed the orcs, then return en masse to destroy the undead. Don't take too long, as Lionel will break forth on turn 20.

There are two ways to get to Lionel: an entrance opens in the pond on turn 19/20; and walls collapse when units move into tiles just south of the sign that says "Guest Quarters", regardless of when this happens.

Tip: If you make dwarf leader to survive (and actually reveal him), Dwarvish Guardsman will become available.

Note: If you recall/recruit a merman and send it to the pond, then have it go to the whirlpool, it will arrive in a hidden cavern with a friendly ulfserker. You will not be able to use him this scenario, since there is no way out of the cave, but he will be available for the next.

== Scenario 16 - Hasty Alliance ==
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
* Early finish bonus: Killing enemy leader + 200 Gold from Li'sar

Li'sar is about to attack, when you are surrounded by orcs and trolls. She joins forces with you to defeat the troll leader, bringing her Royal Guards and 500 gold worth of allied troops to the struggle.

Your greatest challenge will be to survive the first few turns, as the death of any of Konrad's companions will end the scenario.
Once you have defeated the first wave, it is relatively easy to finish off any remaining trolls and move north to the troll leader. Try and encourage your allies to go first and take the hefty damage from the Level 2 and Level 3 trolls, while your mages and dwarves get the experience for killing blows.

The way I did it was to recruit a keep of thieves (the cheapest unit) and move Delfador and Kalenz out of the way. Then my allies were able to send help over so that I could get 'real' units on my second turn without suffering casualties. One thief survived and I got a Rogue with 36/56 XP by the end of the scenario! -CountPenguin

== Scenario 17 - The Sceptre of Fire ==
* Objectives: Capture the Sceptre of Fire with Konrad or Li'sar
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 50
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: n/a
* Other:
** Gold gift from Li'sar: 300 on easy, 200 on medium, 100 on hard
** Milk this level for experience as there is no early finish bonus
** Randomly generated map

The map changes each time, so if you're save-scumming, be sure to checkpoint right after the scenario starts, and replay once you know where the Sceptre is.

There's three or four enemy leaders, depending on difficulty. The map is randomly generated; there's no telling how many villages there are and where... but more often than not, it's something like 25 villages and most will be placed where you can seize them early. The scenario certainly feels as if you're in for a major underground struggle, but the enemy leaders have little money to begin with and -usually- they won't have much of an income either.

Usually there's two large tunnels going north, and quite often you meet little resistance in one, and quite a lot in the other -- though the latter still doesn't qualify as tough. You can gain quite some XP in the contested tunnel, just form a shieldwall with (mostly) guardians, play it safe, and you can level up some 4-8 dwarves. It's a good idea to station Kalenz here, his faerie fire will help a lot against the occasional lvl-3 Troll.

Meanwhile, The Princess, Delfador, one healer and several of your better dwarves should move up the less contested corridor and scout the map. The Scepter usually is somewhere about 2/3rds up the map. You may encounter the occasional enemy... it's alright to buzz off in all directions, but make sure that everyone has a line of retreat and may receive support within a turn or two.

The scenario ends as soon as Konrad or the Princess gets to the scepter. You may delay this a bit in order to milk a few more XP, but there's not that many more to be gained by then. All things considered, it's better to let Li'sar have the scepter -- she'll be with you until the end, she has no ranged attack, and while Konrad will often be held back by recruiting, Li'sar can be in the frontline from turn one.

== Scenario 18 - A Choice Must Be Made ==
* Objectives: Defeat either of the leaders
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 33
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill either leader
* Other:
** Next level depends on killed leader
*** Northern orcish leader will get you to the ''Snow Plains'' and the Flaming Sword (15-4, magical)
*** Southern undead leader will get you to the ''Swamp Of Dread'' and a suit of armor (high resistance to blade, pierce, impact)
*** If you take a merman to the eastern side of the river, you get to the cliffs of Thoria, an insanely difficult battle where you can find a loyal Sergeant (may become a level-4 leader)
** Simply decide for one direction and block the bridge in the other direction unless you want to fight on two large fronts
** First real chance to level gryphons

Scenario objectives: Kill either leader.

Going south is the easiest way: the orcs coming from the north may only cross the river at the bridge, a chokepoint that's easy to block. In fact, a determined attack may defeat the undead before the bulk of the orcs even makes it to the bridge. Fighting the orcs in the hills will take longer while the undead can walk through deep water or fly over it, crossing the river wherever they like.

Going south will also the most prudent choice when considering the possible goodies: currently, Li'sar goes into battle wearing lingerie. While a magic sword or a loyal leader might come in handy, you don't need them as badly as the Princess needs a suit of armor.

The undead need to be dealt with even if you don't want to kill their leader. Delfador, Kalenz and Lisar all have undead-killing ranged attacks (you *did* give her the scepter, didn't you?) -- add two more mages (one of them a healer) and three dwarfish steelclads as bodyguards. Recruit those on turn one and move them to a position where they may receive the chocobones' attack by dusk. You need at least steelclads in order to survive their charge. However, after the chocobones are gone the remaining undead ought to be manageable even if you don't throw any more troops that way (though you may do so if you're after the undead and want this to be finished quickly). You may need a few turns' rest before you can tackle the Death Knight, but eventually your spellcasters should dispose of him quickly.

In order to hold back the orcs, a few elves plus a healer are enough to secure your end of the bridge; the orcs will be reluctant to attack even level-1 archers during the day, and if you employ more and better troops (like, level-3 loyalists in the woods and a few mermen in the water) the orcs may not even attack at night. There's not much experience to be gained that way, though. If you want to actually fight the orcs, you should get to the other side and meet them there. There's plenty of mountains, an excellent opportunity to get some more experience to your dwarves (you will have good use for high-level dwarves later on). Dwarves, Gryphons and Orcs all have high defense in the mountains, so fighting will be slow.

It will be a long walk to the northern leader even after you rubbed out his army. You might consider an assassination: send like 4-6 suicidal gryphons to his keep. Bonus points if you have a silver mage (teleport!). Of course, you can assassinate him without defeating his host first. just wait until his army is too far away to turn back and help him.

Talking about Gryphons... this is the first time that you can really use them. Gryphons alone won't really impress the orcs, not even when supported by leaders and healers (they're level-1 units, after all). They may however seize a few villages, harass and distract the enemy, track down wounded units and so on. You should certainly get a few.

== Diverging campaign path ==
=== Scenario 19A - Snow Plains ===
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 43
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: Kill the leader
* Other:
** Li'sar will tell you she does not like her mother

Konrad will find the Flaming Sword (15-4 melee, fire, magical) hidden under the great tree in the northeast near the enemy keep. It will take Konrad a while to slog through the snow, forest, and hills, so you'll have to think about how many turns he will recall units. Dwarves will do well in the mountains, as will the flying gryphons.

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

=== Scenario 19B - Swamp Of Dread ===
Scenario objectives: Kill all enemy leaders.

There are lots of undead, but mostly level-1. The terrain is unfavorable, but hampers the undead as much as you.

The swamp is good terrain for your mermen. Those with attacks that hurt the undead (the ones with Storm Tridents, Netcasters, Healers...) can make quite a difference. However, be aware that the campaign is coming to an end and you'll have little use for mermen in the following battles. So while the mermen may well lend a hand, any experience they gain will effectively be wasted.

One of the Death Knights drops the Void Armor when killed. The unit that picks it up will gain high resistance to physical damage (blade, impact and pierce). Since Li'sar is very vulnerable to precisely those types of damage, you should probably give her the armor. Keep her in the center at first so she doesn't have to walk across the whole map if the armor appears at the other end.

Some of the Liches' power seems to be tied to the death knights; killing all four will hurt the Lich for about half its hitpoints.

Early finish bonus for killing all 5 enemy leaders.

=== Scenario 19C - The Cliffs of Thoria ===
Scenario Objective: Make it to the end of the river

Turns: 45

Defeat:
* Death of Konrad, Delfador, Li'sar, or Kalenz
* Turns run out

Early Finish Bonus: 40% gold carryover

Starting Units:
* Konrad
* Delfador
* Li'sar
* Kalenz
* Your strongest merman

After a little spat between Kalenz and the merman you use to go east, you'll head for the Cliffs of Thoria. You'll find a long water level full of derelict vessels of the Queen. You'll also meet a Drake. After some conversation you discover that the Queens' forces attacked the Drakes, and now the Drakes will stop you from going forward. Since you have to move forward, you'll have to fight them.

There are a number of small islands on this map with Drake bases. Each base will produce one Drake every turn until one of your units occupies the base. This means that although the drakes may run out of money, they will never run out of reinforcements. In order to win this, you need to kill them faster than they spawn new recruits. No easy task.

Further, if you find that you can't win in a direct assault and want to bypass the drakes by going through the swamps, you'll discover very powerful undead enemies guarding the shoreline. They won't move, but any casualty will be immediately replaced by a new unit. Clearly, that area is cursed. Just avoid the dark blue water. It's impossible to get into the swamps, any attempt will be a waste of time.

Tip: Compared to the other two choices, this map is insanely hard. While there is an opportunity to pick up a wonderful loyal unit, you may wish to skip the challenge unless you have at least 800 gold and a sufficient number of leveled-up mermen.

If you're going to insist on playing this map, hire many gryphons and merfolk and move as fast as you can and just take the heavy losses. Since each base creates a unit every turn, to destroy a base you have to kill the unit occupying it and immediately move onto the base in that turn. Since merfolk can't move onto mountains, you'll need gryphons for that. Getting the first two or three bases quickly is absolutely vital.

With a somewhat longer perspective, spend all your money as long as you have it: you will inevitably run out of funds during this scenario. Drakes are vulnerable to piercing and arcane damage, so elvish arrows can be useful, as can your healers as spellcasters. Don't get too many landlubbers though, most of the fighting will happen in or over the water. Level-1 mermen will either die quickly or level up; high-level mermen will wreak havoc on the drakes. However, you need a good many level-2 mermen to begin with. Rookies alone cannot maintain the constant pressure you need, and the turn limit is short enough as it is.

When you finally make it to the far side, you'll be told that the waterfall is impassable: you need Konrad to enter the cave in the middle of the map. Start walking early, he'll take a while.

A loyal leader can be found on the most south-western island. He's badly hurt, keeping him alive may be tricky... better to discover him only on he very last moment.

== Scenario 20 - Home of the North Elves ==
* Objectives:
* Konrad must reach the forest kingdom of Emetria
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 21
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 47 Gold per turn
* Other:
** Your base will be dismantled after the first turn

This is a very large map with some interesting challenges. First, Konrad needs to move all the way across to the right side, and if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you don't have many turns to waste. Second, Fog of War is turned on, so you won't know where the enemy is until you blunder into them.

However, even in the fog you can see the terrain, including the enemy keeps. The orcs start in the north central part of the map, while the humans begin in the southeast. What you can't see are the large hosts of level-3 units standing near their respective camps: these are the armies, and *they will not move* unless someone walks into their striking range. Getting at an enemy leader will be difficult indeed, but if you're content with moving past the armies you'll only have to cope with the level-2 vanguards seeking each other.

You start with all loyal units who can move six or more hexes per turn (provided you kept them alive) and can recruit one castle full of more troops; it's probably best to get only riders, be they human, elf or gryphon. Most of them should be level-2. If you want to bring a healer, get the fastest on your roster (a quick elvish flyer, perhaps?) and make sure it's spawned at the right side of your keep.

There is some dialogue to remind you that the winning condition is to a) move Konrad into the forest and b) keep Li'sar, Delfador and Kalenz alive; everyone else is "not important". During the game, some elvish riders will show up and happily demonstrate how sacrificing a single unit can keep many others safe; they do it so well that you probably don't need to sacrifice any units of your own, but now you know how it works.

The dialogue makes you expect a large battle between humans and orcs, but noone tells you that the elves (they have a keep in the woods) will also recruit a large force and attack anyone in sight; you'll probably see your first human warriors much later than you'd expect and find that they're busy enough fighting the elves. So you only really have to deal with the orcs; once you're confident that they can't get at Konrad anymore, he can move on pretty much on his own. Your troops may turn around and fight the remaining orcs, or join the elves and steal a few kills there, or whatever. Have Konrad stop short of the forest to give your troops more time for fighting if you feel like it.

Delfador will tell you when Konrad enters the domain of the elves, but the scenario won't end then: you need to finish your turn and let everyone else have one last chance to attack your troops. If Konrad is still alive at the beginning of your next turn, you've won.

Early finish bonus: 47/turn

== Scenario 21 - The Elven Council ==
This is a cut-scene furthering the storyline. No combat takes place.

== Scenario 22 - Return to Wesnoth ==
Scenario objectives: Kill all three enemy leaders.

Three Halbardiers appear as enemy reinforcements in the lower southeastern corner of the map when you slay the nearest general, Josephus. The bridge across the river is a good place to establish a defensive position, since attackers have to use the beach and water hexes to attack. Use the forests to your advantage: elven troops are best in forest, while the loyalists and orcs are seriously slowed by the trees.

Early finish bonus for killing all enemy leaders: 27 Gold

== Scenario 23 - Test of the Clans ==
* Objectives: Defeat either all four leaders or 25 units in total
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 53
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
* Early finish bonus: 55 Gold per turn

This is a large map against mostly Knights, Horsemen and Bowmen. The map is mostly open plains which is ideal for horse-bound units. The easiest way to win the scenario is to keep all your units in one group and take them en mass to the enemy. Fast and powerful units like Grand Knights, Lancers or Paladins are important. Units with pierce attacks (Archers, Shydes, Knights) will do good damage to Knights.

Expect heavy losses from the charge attacks, but don't fret because this is the second-to-last scenario. You'll want to finish this scenario quickly to get a nice bonus for the next level.

When any of the enemy leaders is killed, it is replaced with one or two knights (two or three in Hard). Reportedly, one way to win is to gang up on Bayar with fast units while attacking the south-eastern leader with the rest of your army.

If you want to have a long field battle, you can put groups of dwarves or elves in the hills. The enemy will tend to attack the hills, thus giving you some advantage. Hills also make a good safe haven for healing your mounted units. Try to kill the south-eastern leader early so you don't have to divert so many of your resources to the south flank.

If you want to kill all the clan leaders before killing 25 units (which finishes the scenario), recruit a castle of healers, then recruit a good force of Gryphon Riders. Grab as many villages as is safe, and then position your Gryphons on the deep water in the lake. The next castleful of recruits is your main army and two more Gryphon rides. March this south, take out the south-east leader and then send the two Gryphons to the group in the lake.

As soon as the majority of the northwest leader's troops move away from him, assassinate him with your Gryphons. He should die in 1-2 rounds of attacks assuming you don't lose too many of your troops. In the south-east, recruit a couple of castles worth of Gryphon Riders and send them west to take on the Southwest (black) leader, all the while keeping your main force just out of range of attackers if at all possible. As your Gryphons cross the river on the offensive, the AI usually moves troops back in to defend with. You should be able to out-run these. Converge all the Gryphons you have left on the middle leader (purple). I won around turn 25 giving me around 1600 gold to start the last scenario.

== Scenario 24 - The Battle for Wesnoth ==
* Objectives: Defeat Asheviere
* Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
* Turns: 60
* Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar, as many Grand Knights as you defeated in the last map
* Early finish bonus: 46
Scenario objectives: Defeat Asheviere and, by killing her, reclaim the throne.

One good strategy for this scenario is to set up camp around your fort and let the enemy come to you. You'll want to make sure the units on your front line can survive the beating they receive for one turn, and then you rotate them with freshly healed units. Don't attack the attackers if it means your unit won't have enough hit points to survive the next thrashing. Three or four healers will be needed behind the lines, and keep them fully occupied (remember that healers will heap 8HP to every unit adjacent to them. They're like walking sets of 6 villages).

For front-line units, level one Dwarvish Guardsman are excellent; they'll take a good beating but not lose too many hit points because of their steadfast attribute. Because they don't lose many HP, they'll also heal quickly. Only attack the enemy if no hit points will be lost. Guardsmen can throw a spear at the attacker on every turn if the attacker has no ranged attack.

Other units that are good for the front line are any unit with more than 50HP. Elvish Marshals will make your Dwarvish Guardsmen even more awesome. Dwarvish Lords have an incredible 79HP and can dish it out back to the enemy. Unfortunately, after a good thrashing, these units will take a long time to heal back up because of the large number of HP lost.

If you have any Assassins, rotate them up and down the line poisoning each enemy unit. The enemies have very few villages available to them, so with three Assassins you can poison half the army until the enemies have a bunch of level three units walking around with 1HP each.

Once the enemy has no army left, you can just wander up to Asheviere and discuss her resignation over a cup of hot tea. Asheviere has exactly 48 HP, so three hits of a 16-damage weapon, like the Scepter, or four 12-damage hits, is enough for the kill. Or you could surround her with about 20 Elvish Shamans and get the last little bit of fun juice out of this game.

A quick assassination can even be performed by Master Gryphons or even sometimes Gryphon Riders: you can recruit a castle of them on turn 1, send them south, elude enemy forces sent by the general in the futile attempt to catch you, then approach Asheviere for the kill (she will not have many troops at her own protection). Using this strategy, I won on turn 6 (and without losses). Swarming all four enemies with 6 new knights each turn is a very effective distraction strategy. Asheviere may divert about half of her force to destory the Gryphons. If this happens, congratulations. This means you've won. You should have still about 20 living Knights, and you should easily break through her lines.

A good bonus from The Test of the Clans should be enough to win this scenario.

One extraordinarily hilarious way to win this battle is through mass recruiting of Knights, which is quite possibly the only level Two unit you can ever recruit in the mainline campaigns. With roughly 1500 Gold from the plains battle, you can recall every single unit of level two or higher before recruiting loads of Knights to massacre the enemy with suicidal attacks. As long as you keep your heroes alive... It'll be a very bloody, but short, win.

== Scenario 25 - Epilogue ==

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]][[Category:Campaigns - Heir to the Throne]]