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LegendofWesmere

2022-11-04T20:26:07Z

Revolting peasant: Emphasized scenario parameter categories; capitalization; slight rephrasing in intro

This is a walkthrough of '''Legend of Wesmere''', a campaign that tells the story of ''Kalenz'', the famous elf hero that plays an important role in [[HeirToTheThrone|Heir to the Throne]].

This is a long campaign, organized in five chapters, where you play Elves. It is therefore recommended to take a moment to review their top level units; there are two units capable of flight! One of them is a curing healer +8, the other one is level 4. Both of them can do magic, and both of them can slow their enemies! If you can team up two Shydes and two Sylphs, you get a magically hard hitting, regenerating, slowing air force that can ZoC-lock an enemy. As if that wasn't enough, late in the campaign you'll lose access to most of your veteran troops, but not your Sylphs and Shydes. Hence, it really pays to level Shamans. The only catch, however, is that they are not available during the first chapter of the story (the first three scenarios); you will still have enough opportunity to level them up, but it requires some determined effort.

As a general rule of thumb throughout this campaign, if your elves need to make a stand and you have a choice of options, choose the one that will put most of them in the woods. Not only will this give you the best chance of survival, it will ensure that the AI playing your allies will do useful things. This matters a lot, because many of the scenarios in this campaign involve allies you cannot control whose death results in your defeat.

Loyal troops are even more valuable in this campaign than in most others, partially because they get three traits, but mainly because you'll get to keep them when your other troops are unavailable. With that in mind, you should strongly consider leveling Arkildur (a loyal fighter that starts with you) into a marshal. The leadership skill will prove invaluable when you depend on level 1 units.

== The Uprooting ==
* '''Objectives''': Kill any of the orc leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz or Landar dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 20/17/14 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Anduilas and Arkildur

Like the first scenario in Heir to the Throne, this scenario begins with the hero in a forest with enemies preparing to close in on all sides. You might want to simply run away (and previously you could), but you have to kill one enemy leader.

The keep directly to the east is one option. If you keep most of his stronghold hexes plugged up with your units or your enemy's, then he will not be able to spend all his gold before you kill the leader, possibly when he dives in the water.

A good alternative is going southwest, as this puts the maximum distance between you and the troops of the other orcish leaders, and only level 1 orcs will come from that corner.

You can only recruit fighters and archers. Use fighters to shield yourself and archers to kill the grunts (and warriors on hard.) Keep loyals and leaders safe - if only one unit shields them, remember that it can be killed by a single lucky L2 orc. If you manage to level up units choose captain for fighters and marksman for archers.

== Hostile Mountains ==
* '''Objectives''': Move Kalenz to the signpost or defeat the troll leader
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar or Olurf dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 32/28/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar and any surviving loyal units

The most important thing to do is get the dwarves to fight the trolls. The trolls will go to the east bank without any bait, just take care you don't lure them away or worse anger the dwarves yourself. Even after they fight with the trolls, do not go to the east bank.

Recruit fighters to die, archers to do damage. The trolls will tend to go for the fighters when given the option. If you don't have a captain yet, level up a fighter as soon as possible, and use his leadership on your archers. You will need marksmen to kill trolls on mountains, so keep your archers safe (well, at least on reasonable terrain).

Do not, under any circumstances, cross the river. If you do, Olurf will attack you, and the trolls will cut both you and the dwarves to pieces. You can have units stand in the river if necessary to reach a particular unit, but since your enemies are more powerful than your units avoid doing so if you are likely to be counterattacked. Instead, send out an archer or two (preferably ''quick'' ones) to grab the villages in the far northern reaches of the board while you move your troops onto the wooded island in the middle of the river, directly south of your keep. From here, you can help the dwarves whittle down the trolls while you slowly wend your way southwest toward the troll keep. The scenario will end if you succeed in killing the troll leader. Note: Olurf's death counts as a defeat.

There is a reason the middle island has so much forest. The western bank of the river has a narrow swath of forest surrounded by mountains and hills. This is not ideal terrain for fighting trolls. Trolls move faster than elves on hills and mountains and have comparable defense. A much better idea is to try to occupy the middle island, forcing the trolls to attack from water. Chances are you'll only be able to claim the northern tip of the island at first, so half your army will spill over to the forest on the west bank. The dwarves help by putting units in water and doing other things to distract the trolls and draw fire away from you.

[revolting_peasent:] I don't subscribe that much to the advice above. The bottom-half of the Island is the Troll-Dwarf highway of death... and I kept to the North of the island. Also, some Trolls were going up, North, to try to flank me, so I put a (sort of) a line on the West bank as well, and managed to kill them off with some unit rotations, dwarf help, and the occasional forray into the water (or the Troll stupid enough to attack from the water). [/revolting_peasent]

It is preferable to aim to kill the troll leader rather than get to the signpost as the experience is most important. Also, on Medium, the Dwarves will just kill him anyway if you don't get to him first.

== Ka'lian Under Attack ==
* '''Objectives''': Survive the initial attack with Galtrid, then defeat the enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar or Galtrid dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 5/7/9 initially, then 35/30/25 extra (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar and any surviving loyal units

Take careful note of this map; you'll be fighting on it again later.

For the first turns (original turn limit) you play the defenders of the Ka'lian. See all those Orcish Assassins in the water? Make sure they receive as much retaliation as possible when they poison your units (archers). As you can heal only 2 units per turn, make sure they can't poison your fresh recruits as well. Also, you can kill Assassins with some of your poisoned units, as long as they have still enough hitpoints. Distribute XP carefully; units heal upon level up; rarely is this more useful than in this scenario.

Don't just hit Ctrl-R to recruit; you have a massive keep so put your new units in the right place. Don't let the orcs in good defense terrain and you should be fine. Use Galtrids leadership carefully by moving him multiple times per turn to support different areas of the castle.

When Kalenz arrives, the orcs just pile up in the northwestern corner ''if'' you defended the Ka'lian well. Control the map, by trapping and killing the village stealing wolf riders, heal your poisoned Ka'lian defenders and let them do some work. Close in carefully - it will be very hard avoiding casualties, but when the time comes, let them be L1 fighters and not your L2. You can level a number of units, but don't wait too long, because you will need gold for the next scenario. (250+ carryover)

The behaviour of the orcs will depend directly on your ability to hold out the invasion of your fortress. If you manage to repel somewhat successfully their initial attack, the orcs will assume a defensive stance for the second part of the battle (usually triggered when Kalenz arrives). If, on the other hand, the orcs have a more successful start, they then become more aggressive and the battle becomes much more lively on the second part.

A special feature of this particular scenario—something not very common in a campaign—is that you will control two armies simultaneously after Kalenz' arrival. You start by assuming the role of Galtrid, and later Kalenz joins the party, at which time you will switch between your two roles. Note that, although Galtrid's army should not be your main concern, you will get a chance to recall Ka'lian's veterans in the future (see ''Elves' Last Stand''), so it's useful to protect any level 2 or 3 levels you get from Galtrid's team.

''Note for versions older than 1.12:'' Galtrid's army does not show up again, so those units are truly expendable in that case.

== The Elvish Treasury ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat the enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar or Cleodil dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 35/30/25 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar and any surviving loyal units

There are two main ways to play this scenario. The most straightforward solution is to send your army en masse to the keep in the northwest first; that's where Cleodil (an Elvish Shyde) is. Then turn east to take out the other saurian. Recruit plenty of Fighters, use leadership to full extent and try to heal by leveling up.

Alternatively, it is possible to kill the eastern leader with Rangers/Avengers. The AI will completely ignore them once they are in the woods again. This allows you to play more defensively in the west.

When fighting the saurians, there are three things to remember: 1) Don't send out isolated units, because they'll be swarmed and killed; 2) Try to keep the saurians on bad terrain 3) watch the day/night cycle (it doesn't affect your elves, but the saurians are significantly weaker by day and you can turn that fact to great advantage). Kill the Augurs as soon as possible with your fighter line. The skirmishers have a lot of movement points; make sure that wounded units are safe or meant to be sacrificed. In general, take your time to experiment and figure out what works best on your strategy against saurians, as you'll be seeing many more of them in the future.

Along with Cleodil, two other units will be freed from the prison. All of them become loyal to your cause, so by the end of this scenario you'll have a small loyal army on your hands. Protect them well.

There's a couple of things worth noting regarding Cleodil. One is that she has a couple of interesting abilities: ''elates Kalenz'' which works basically like leadership but only works on Kalenz, and ''heals Kalenz'' which boosts her healing powers, but only on Kalenz. As you may guess, this means that from now on it's a good idea to keep those two close to each other in the battle field. The other important detail is that she can recruit Shamans and Woses. You may try it out in this scenario, in the small keep to the north. This works out nicely if your strategy for this scenario is to concentrate on the northwestern enemy first. With a little effort, you can free Cleodil relatively quickly, and then her recruits can be very helpful for the rest of the battle.

== The Saurian Treasury ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat the enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar or Cleodil dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 24/20/18 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil and any surviving loyal units

This scenario is much trickier than the last one because here you have to fight the saurians on terrain that's hostile to your elves (desert and swamp). Try to confront them on favorable terrain and form a defensive line (against Skirmishers) each turn. Woses are very effective against saurians, so if you have trouble with this scenario, try recruiting at least 6 Woses. Also, the ''slows'' attribute of Shamans' ranged attacks limits the damage potential and mobility of Skirmishers. Kill the southern leader first.

When you've dealt with the southern leader and the treasury (the single saurian sitting on a village and not moving) you can either take an Elvish Scout to the treasury to pick up the gold and return it to the sign post (but traveling more slowly than usual) or just go kill the northern leader. Killing the leader is preferable. You'll get XP and any loss in gold from early finish is dwarfed by the 1800 gold you get for beating the level.

Keep an eye on the turn limit. The enemy leaders are easily lured out with an Elvish Scout.

== Acquaintance in Need ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat the enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil or Olurf dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 35/30/25 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil and any surviving loyal units

There is another troll leader to kill, so it is an XP opportunity, like for your Shamans. For recruiting, you need to make sure that you neither overrecruit nor underrecruit. With too few units, you will take too long to finish your enemies (as always), while too many units won't help you in the fight, and you will need the money!

Start with the green enemy, who is the closest one to you. The dwarves, who are your allies for this scenario, should provide substantial help in doing so. While you finish off the first orc, you should start sending a fair amount of relatively unexperienced Archers/Shamans west to take on the troll. Then move north over the mountains in a broad line to take out the orcs. A broad front line will help you to quickly overrun the orcs and allow you to finish in good time. Of course, you need sufficient numbers to do this without overstretching yourself.

The dwarves will get a lot of kills/occupy the enemy quite a bit. Their high mountain defense and mobility ensure this. You may need to resign yourself to softening the orcs up and letting the dwarves get the kills.

On this scenario you'll be able to ask Olurf to move to a specific location inside the map (using right-click), which may be useful in case you want his help in some particularly tight spot. This is one of the ways in which you can control the behaviour of your allies (you'll see another in the next scenario). Notice, however, that this command only applies to Olurf himself, and his troops will continue to move freely as they please, often taking experience away from you.

By the end of the scenario, you will end up "hiring" Olurf—paying him 400 gold—but if you've been careful with your finances, you probably won't miss that amount.

== Elves' Last Stand ==
* '''Objectives''':
** Defeat all of the enemy leaders ''or''
** "Own the field," which means having more than 25 units while the enemy has under 15.
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil or Galtrid dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 30/25/20 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil and any surviving loyal units

This is the same map as in Kal'ian Under Attack, but with many more enemies. You'll be facing vast numbers of trolls, orcs, and naga. On the upside, you get one more chance to fight with the Ka'lian's army, and can use your veterans from the scenario ''Ka'lian Under Attack''.

For recruitment, spamming Fighters and Archers is essential. Supplement them with Elder Woses or just plain Woses. You'll be facing the poison of Assassins, Slayers, and Water Serpents as well the damage of L2 and L3 Trolls, so recall as many healers as you have, plus a lot of Shamans. Mix some in with your ally's forces, since he has no Shaman line units. Finish your recruitment by recalling whatever L3 units you have.

Now that you have control of your allies, it makes most sense to let him have all the villages. Have your ally recruit a couple of Elf Scouts to keep reflagging villages after you use them for healing or the enemy captures them. It's impossible for you or your ally to have gold carryover from this scenario, so make sure to spend it all here. Recruit as much as you can and be aggressive.

To save Eradion (your elf ally to the west), you likely either need to evacuate him to the Ka'lian or send reinforcements from the Ka'lian to him. Note that Eradion can also recall Galtrid's veterans. Therefore if you can manage it, having Eradion stay in the keep to the west is recommended, so that he can recruit and recall right into the middle of the battlefield.

If you wish to keep control of the Ka'lian, you'll need to maintain considerable forces there. However, this island fortress is not much of a defense against the droves of Water Serpents and L1, L2 and maybe L3 Naga headed its way. They get 60% defense in water, so your moat is like a fortress for them. Therefore, abandoning the Ka'lian after your initial recruiting is an option to consider. Fortunately, there is good terrain (forest) to the west and north/northeast of the Ka'lian. Note that if you avoid waterfront hexes, the Water Serpents will crawl onto land, where they are much easier to kill.

Good tactics are essential. Don't get sloppy about formation and protecting the wounded. Maintain mostly straight lines early on. Don't get flanked. Try to keep loyals and criticals ''off'' the front line, especially at night versus trolls. If you're careful, you can use the heavy fighting to level units.

700 starting gold is sufficient, barely. Try abandoning the Ka'lian, sending your allied troops west to Eradion's keep area, while your main army digs in within the forest northeast of the Ka'lian. Good luck!

Olurf does not show up until the battle is won.

''Note for versions older than 1.12:'' This scenario formerly had AI-controlled allies that you could "instruct" in various ways, not very effectively as it turns out. You don't fight nagas, and Olurf did participate in the battle after showing up around turn 12. The turn limit for the older versions was 35/30/25 (Easy/Medium/Hard).

== Council of Hard Choices ==

Story only.

== Bounty Hunters ==
* '''Objectives''': Move Kalenz across the river
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil or Olurf dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 32/28/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil and any surviving loyal units

The only thing you gain from defeating the saurians is experience. If you are having trouble beating this level, just recruit one round, and run north as fast as you can with your criticals. To slow down the saurians, you can divide your recruits and send half left and half right. When you reach the river, sea monsters (Water Serpents and Cuttle Fish) will attack. You may try distracting the monsters by tossing threm some tasty Elvish Scouts. The saurians will catch up as you're crossing the river, but at least a few of the saurians will focus on killing any remaining sea monsters before worrying about your leaders. Make use of the island to get Kalenz across as quickly as possible.

By getting Kalenz quickly across the river, you'll get a hefty early finish bonus, rebuilding your gold reserve. Gold will become very important by the time you reach the ''Human Alliance'' scenario.

If you want to claim some experience as well, a small cadre of Elder Woses and Rangers can lure units one or two at a time to their deaths in the southern woods. They can hide in forest terrain if too many enemy units are in the area. Meanwhile, three Dwarf Guardsmen can serve as a disposable rear guard for your leaders fleeing to the north.

== Cliffs of Thoria ==
* '''Objectives''': Move Kalenz to the signpost or defeat the enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil or Olurf dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 32/28/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf and any surviving loyal units

There are three tricky elements about this one.

First, if you want Kalenz to get to the signpost, he'll have to climb there over high mountains, so the going will be very slow; watch the turn clock carefully.

Second, the "fog of war" applies so you won't know much about your enemies until you actually bump into them.

Third, among your enemies you will find level 4 Yetis (which pack quite a punch) and Gryphons (which move very quickly through any terrain). Keep your Shamans ready to slow Yetis before you attack them with other units.

For recruitment, you can probably get by with one round of raw recruits. However, note that dwarves do well in the mountains, so you may want more than three dwarf recruits. Avoid Ulfserkers and Berzerkers, though, as they are too vulnerable in this scenario, where things tend to jump out of the fog at you.

Heed the dialog; proceed with caution. After the initial battle, you can split your forces, sending a group to each enemy stronghold (northwest and east), while optionally sending a third group with Kalenz directly to the signpost.

== Battle of the Book ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat Aquagar the drake wizard
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Crelanu or Olurf dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 30/34/38 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf and any surviving loyal units

The drakes, commanded by Aquagar (the foe you must defeat), are at the northwest corner, while a keep of trolls is located at the northeast. Crelanu, the wise mage for whom you came, is by the lake. You can send a quick unit (e.g. an Outrider or Cleodil) towards that keep in the middle of the map to trigger the dialogue with Crelanu.

For recalling, especially useful units include Steelclads, Pathfinders, Marksmen, Rangers, Sorceresses, Thungerguards, and Stalwarts. A good mix of impact and ranged fighters is essential, because a lot of drakes breathe fire. One round of recruiting/recalling should be more than sufficient.

You may try splitting your forces, sending half of your troops east along the road first to Crelanu's keep to save him and kill the troll leader (whose keep is close by). Take the remaining troops west to kill the drake leader.

However, it will take some time for the trolls to reach Crelanu, so it's probably better to focus all your power towards Aquagar to finish him as quickly as possible, and then Crelanu won't need any assistance. A quick finish means a big win bonus. You'll need it for the next scenario.

== Revelations ==

Story only.

== News from the Front ==

Story only.

== Human Alliance ==
* '''Objectives''': Survive until the end of turns
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf or Aldar (the human leader) dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 18/20/22 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf and any surviving loyal units

Historically, this scenario has been considered the unofficial finale and it used to be very challenging in versions previous to 1.12. In those older versions, the following scenarios are kind of a sequel, and easier too.

The enemy is in three places: the northwest, the northeast (trolls) and the southwest. The most challenging aspect of this scenario is that your army has to do three things practically simultaneously: contain the northwest orcs (this is not that hard due to favorable terrain), aid your human allies to the south, and hold off the trolls. Fortunately, you have a lot of support from your allies, and this time you control 3 different armies.

You should spend all your gold upfront—there is no much point in saving it for later. The human leader gets a steady stream of income plus can recruit some 2nd and 3rd level units, so is a formidable force. However, the trolls are no push over and may be the toughest of your three fronts. It may be no problem holding off the NW front given the water and favorable terrain, and the forces from the SW come in a slow enough stream that by the time they reach you, they are not much more than an annoyance given the tree line. However, the trolls, with a constant stream of recruits, are a challenge. Strive to use the human army well to either help with trolls or tie up the SW enemy so you can focus on the trolls. Woses backed by leadership are very good against the trolls. (And BTW, for the ''Breaking the Siege'' scenario coming up, you definitely want to focus on getting at least a couple each of Sylphs and Shydes here if you don't already have them.)

On turn 9, the veterans you left at the Ka'lian appear in the western forest near the keeps of the allied elves.

''Notes for versions older than 1.12:'' This used to be a significantly harder challenge. Each enemy line received reinforcements every few turns, and their numbers were much larger. You didn't control your allies, which meant keeping the human general alive was quite difficult.

== The Treaty ==

Story only.

== The Chief Must Die ==
* '''Objectives''': Kill the orc chief then return to the signpost
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz or Landar dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 32/32/32 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz and Landar

You get no keep, and no chance to recruit, in this one. The only units you have are Kalenz and Landar, and their only task is to assassinate the Orc Sovereign (in the middle) and then return to the signpost at the southwestern corner of the map. Your units will have special attributes (invisible, 80% dodge) for this scenario only that will make this easy.

When Kalenz takes the potion he changes into a level 2 Elvish Lord (as you might remember him if you have played [[HeirToTheThrone|HttT]]). He will now possess an arcane-magical attack, which proves very useful against many enemies. You should easily be able to get him to level up during this scenario.

You should have plenty of turns. The only units that will bother you are the Wolf Rider line. They don't pose much threat thanks to Landar's bow and your 80% dodge. Go to the orc leader, kill him and return to the signpost. There is no point in grabbing villages as you get no income from them. There is also no point in finishing early so go ahead and level Kalenz.

== Breaking the Siege ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat all enemy leaders
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf or Uradredia (the elf leader) dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 40/36/32 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar, Cleodil, Olurf and any surviving loyal units

Stick to recruiting units with lots of mobility, since the map is large and mostly snow-covered, hampering most of your unit types (don't even bother to recruit dwarves—they won't get to the scene of the action in time to strike any blows). Sylphs and Shydes are best, of course.

It is essential that you reach your ally quickly. Otherwise he might be dead before you even see him. Despite the fact that fog of war is turned on for this scenario, it's pretty simple to figure out from the geography which keep belongs to your ally (the one in the middle of the forest). You will want to finish this level quickly or/and to grab as soon as possible all the villages to have lots of gold for the next scenario (on medium you'll probably want at least 500 gold). Send some fast units north to keep your ally alive and send the rest straight west. The western units can sweep up after taking out the southern orc boss. A few of Direwolf Riders come as reinforcements when you get to close to the southern orc, so be careful. Alternatively just send everyone north and fan out from there.

With good units this level shouldn't be tough to beat. Just make sure you beat it in good standing for the next scenario. At this point, this campaign becomes a very good example of why keeping your loyal units alive is very much worth it.

== Hour of Glory ==

Story only.

== Costly Revenge ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat all enemy units and destroy all enemy villages
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Landar dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 40/35/30 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Landar and any surviving loyal units

This is the same map as The Saurian Treasury, but with most of the terrain snow-covered. Since you're fighting the saurians again, most of the advice from that scenario still applies. Mobility is not a great issue, even though one of the enemy keeps is near the top northeastern corner of the map, because by the time you can dispose of your southern enemy he will have already sent most of his troops south after you. Numbers are an issue, however. In any case, there is no gold carryover for the next scenario, so you might as well spend all your gold here recruiting.

The best place to make a stand is probably near the patch of forest in the middle (high casualty approach) or the forest with the big ice plain in front of it (low casualty approach).

The only poor-defense terrain for the saurians is the ice, so keep them on it. The Oracles/Soothsayers will use their ranged attack on your melee units and the Skirmishers/Flankers will use their melee attack on your archers. You will take heavy losses but this is actually good (more on that in a second).

I like to send Kalenz and a couple of fast units (Scouts/Riders) along the northern forest and then have them cut across the top of the map. This accomplishes three things: one, you torch some out of the way villages; two, you can distract the northern saurians long enough to keep your main force (in the middle of the map) in control; three, you can move them over to kill the northern leader at the end.

There is a weird twist to this level. After this the elvish civil war breaks out. All your units except loyal ones and scouts defect and serve Landar. So, see that Elvish Champion racking up the kills? Next time he's in battle he will be killing ''your'' units. After the tide of the battle has turned try and get the non-loyal high level units killed (attack those last two Oracles with ranged attack, etc).

If you have enough gold your main worries will be getting to the villages in time (scouts come in handy), getting to the northern leader in time and leaving as few good units for the civil war as possible.

1.10.1 (hard): It is not necessary to get your units killed consciously and this scenario is possible with fairly low gold (220 gold for me) by recruiting mainly veterans and exploiting the horrible saurian movement / defence on ice (low casualty approach). As the turn limit isn't very long, it is useful to send some rangers/avengers behind the saurian lines to start burning villages, as soon as they hide in a forest they are invisible to the AI. Constantly check the turn clock, and be as aggresive as possible during the day.

[stejoo]: It is indeed doable with lower amounts of gold. The advice of recruiting veterans is sound, soms level 2 help as they can regen when they level up. What helped best was the advice of exploiting the horrible Saurian movement on snow/ice, and they are also slow through forest tiles. I actively retreated during the night and let some units rest behind my new line. You can keep one unit in range of the snow, and try to pick a tile the Saurian can only get one unit on. Using your movement was key. I also moved Kalenz around and even moved him away fromy my mainstay. This drew off half of the Saurian forces, which really helped my regular forces to remain standing. I used the Outriders and an Avenger for taking villages and killing the Saurian leaders.

== Council Ruling ==

Story only.

== Elvish Assassins ==
* '''Objectives''': Move Kalenz to the signpost
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz or Cleodil dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 20/16/12 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Cleodil and Anduilas

There's no need to recruit - Kalenz can make it to the signpost with just the units you're given.

You might feel tempted to take this scenario as an opportunity to level up some new recruits from scratch, but this may not be a good idea. After a few turns, one of your elf allies (chosen at random) will turn against you, making the battle unpredictable and risky, for not a lot of gain.

There's just a couple of extra scenarios left in this campaign, and if you feel like leveling up units for the final battle, it's better to do it in the next scenario, where you can recall Cleodil's troops again.

== Northern Battle ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat all enemy leaders or survive for six days
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz, Cleodil or Uradredia dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 40/36/32 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Cleodil and Anduilas

This is the same map as Breaking the Siege, but since it's not winter, most of the board is grassland and woods, and much easier for your elves to fight on.

Landar, now one of your enemies, will be in the far southwest, while another enemy elf has a keep a little to the north from yours. Approximately two thirds of your non-loyal veterans, chosen at random, will go with Landar, while the remaining third will go with Uradredia.

If you have been building a formidable "air force" (Shaman line) you can beat this level very easily. Moreover, the objective description is not very faithful, since you don't really have to kill all enemy leaders. It suffices to move any of your units adjacent to Landar. This makes this scenario quite easy to beat. If you still have Huraldur (your loyal quick elvish rider) on your side and you have leveled him up, you can take him straight to Landar's keep, and—thanks to the vulnerable design of Landar's keep—place him next to Landar by turn 3, finishing the scenario with a huge gold reward. Alternatively, you may try a similar strategy with a group of new scout recruits or other quick units.

However, you can take the opportunity to level up a few recruits. Particularly, now could be a good time to level up any Shamans/Woses from Cleodil's old recall list to their maximum. Keep in mind that you need to put Cleodil in the ''Encampment Keep'' tile so you can recall those units.

Because of Landar's betrayal and the loss of most of your veterans, you will be working mostly with first level units. Consequently, don't try to take on either enemy on the naked grasslands where their keeps lie; recruit as much as you can, then head for your ally's keep in the north central region of the board, taking as many villages during the process as possible. If you need to, make a stand in and about your ally's keep, though depending upon how well you delay Crintil's army you may be able to pick off your enemy a few at a time in the forest long enough to survive until the end of the scenario.

Playing this scenario patiently has a nice side-effect: by killing Landar's strong veterans here, they won't be available to him in the final battle. As a consequence, if you completely wipe up his army now, he'll be stuck with just fresh level-1 and level-2 elves to recruit by then (unless you're playing on ''hard'' difficulty). Also, all of Uradredia's units will become yours, so if you have the chance to save some of his veterans in this scenario, it's worth doing it.

If you have some experienced Woses (highly resistant against pierce damage!), you can as well crush all the traitors frontally - as long as you engage them outside the forest - for an early finish and large bonus.

== End of War ==
* '''Objectives''': Defeat Landar
* '''Lose if''': Kalenz or Cleodil dies or turns run out
* '''Turns''': 24/21/18 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kalenz, Cleodil and any surviving loyal units

A relatively short and simple battle, considering this is the final scenario. Recall/recruit all worthy veterans, and don't worry about gold or grabbing villages. If you've made it this far, surely you have the necessary strategic/tactical skills necessary to deal with Landar's army. Now is the time to try risky ideas; this is the last stop for you and your army, so give them the chance to act heroically on the battle field.

A straightforward strategy involves recalling any remaining veteran troops, then recruiting an army of level 1 elves. Form up your line of battle at the edge of the forest to maximize the difference in defense (70% vs. 40%, while trying to hold the shore is only 40% vs. 20%). The forest defense bonus also means that your level 1 troops stand a good chace of surviving at least one round of two level 2 attacks (which they are unlikely to survive on open ground). If any enemy elves make it into the forest the best approach is to use magic attacks to smoke them out (a Sylph works wonders). Once Landar's army has been dealt with, sweep your troops down to the enemy keep to deliver the coup de grace.

Again, experienced Woses dominate your enemies outside of forests.

== Epilogue ==

Story only.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

DelfadorsMemoirs

2022-10-24T18:55:42Z

Revolting peasant: Reflecting some of the changes to this campaign since 1.12.x. Dropped recommendation about leveling Delfador up for Houses of the Dead

==Story==

This campaign follows the adventures of Delfador, beginning from him leaving home as a newly qualified journeyman mage, and leading up to him helping to bring peace to Wesnoth. It is set two generations earlier than [[HeirToTheThrone|Heir to the Throne]].

==Development==

* Original developer: Josh Parsons, email jp30 AT st-and.ac.uk.
* Current maintainer: Oto 'tapik' Buchta, see [[CampaignDelfadorsMemoirs]].
* Discussion thread: [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1293 Here].

==Campaign Strategy==

This section gives some advice on long-term strategy in this campaign. '''NOTE: plot spoilers for later scenarios below'''.

In this campaign, you work with multiple armies from different factions: Human (Loyalists essentially), Elves, Dwarves and even Undead; and the availability of these armies for recall varies from scenario to scenario. To an extent, this means that long-term strategy doesn't matter, because you keep being given a clean slate; conversely, if you are short some vital units, you might have to go back ten whole levels to fix that.

=== Army participation by scenario ===

To help you keep track of the armies you will be managing and their incidence, the following table summarizes their races, the context in which they first appear, and the scenarios in which they will be available:

{| style="border-width: 1px; border-color: #333;border-style: solid;padding:8px;"
!Army
!Context
! colspan="22"|Scenarios
|-
|
|
|[[#Overture|1]]
|[[#This Valley Belongs to Me|2]]
|[[#The_Road_to_Weldyn|3]]
|[[#Leollyn|4]]
|[[#Council_in_Weldyn|5]]
|[[#Swamps_of_Illuven|6]]
|[[#Night_in_the_Swamp|7]]
|[[#Ur-Thorodor|8]]
|[[#Houses_of_the_Dead|9]]
|[[#The_Gate_Between_Worlds|10]]
|[[#Wasteland|11]]
|[[#Terror_at_the_Ford_of_Parthyn|12]]
|[[#The_Return_of_Trouble_|13]]
|[[#Shadows_in_the_Dark|14]]
|[[#Save_the_King|15]]
|[[#Dark_Sky_Over_Weldyn|16]]
|[[#A_New_Ally|17]]
|[[#The_Portal_of_Doom|18]]
|[[#Showdown_in_the_Northern_Swamp|19]]
|[[#Prince_of_Wesnoth|20]]
|[[#Clash_at_the_Manor|21]]
|[[#Face_of_the_Enemy|22]]
|-
|Humans
|Delfador's initial force
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|
|
|-
|Undead
|Supporters from the land of the dead
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|
|
|
|-
|Elves
|Chantal's forces
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|-
|Humans
|Garrison & Mage school of Parthyn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|
|
|
|-
|Elves
|Kalenz' army
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|-
|Humans
|Delfador's reinforcements
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#204a87"|
|style="background-color:#204a87"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Dwarves
|Allies against the undead
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#ef2929"|
|style="background-color:#ef2929"|
|
|
|
|}

As the campaign progresses, money will become scarce, and you'll recall ever-smaller armies; don't spread experience among too many units, but strive to build a small core of elite troops. With very few exceptions, loyal units will not be available to you on this campaign; this means that practically all your units (including your heroes, in scenarios where they do not act as leaders) will require upkeep. Any extra length you can go to on each scenario to avoid over–recruiting is very likely to pay off later on.

=== Recruitment & Leveling ===

Before suggesting a strategy for your troops, remember to save some XP-gains for Delfador himself, to level him up - as on some levels he is likely to get more personally involved.

==== Loyalists ====

* '''Mages''': for your starting Loyalist army, Mages are important. '''Get two White Mages as early as you can'''. You face a lot of assassins in the early levels, and from level 7 onward there are a lot of Undead. You'll have little use for Red Mages; just one (other than Delfador) really is enough.
* '''Heavy Infantry''': not that useful, despite the numbers of Undead. Too many of the levels are big wide open spaces, or have difficult terrain where your HI will founder, or you are given holy water or Dwarves and thus have better options. Nonetheless, it is worth recruiting some HI in levels that do suit them, because you lose the ability to recruit them at some point but can still recall them later on.
* '''Horsemen''': Now these are useful! The early levels suit them well and you can employ them in numbers. Later you'll be mostly facing Undead - and Paladins will be excellent, but it will be hard to level up any more Horsemen into Knights (and not so easy to level low-XP Knights into Paladins either). Make your Paladins while you're still facing Orcs; you'll hardly be able to level up more than three (and probably employ only two).

==== Elves ====

The standard mixture of Elves is fine; although there are many Undead, you get holy water to deal with them. The notable exceptions are:

* '''Druids''': You get one Druid free, but you will want to level-up a second one.
* '''Sorceresses''': On Hard, these will be important for your Elven army's well-being. You should get several of Sorceresses/Enchantresses - as these are a good match for the sort of Undead that you don't want to face in melee even with holy water (e.g. Spectres).
* '''Rangers/Avengers''': Some consider these "compromise" units an undesirable promotion for Archers, seeing how Elvish Marksmen are more deadly with the Marksmanship capability increasing their changes to hit. However, Orcs will likely go after your warriors more than your archers; and you'll probably have enough Marksmen/Sharpshooters; and last but not least - Rangers' camouflage evens things up by allowing you to retreat more safely, to lure units into an ambush or to circumnavigate them.

==Walkthrough==

You should 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. You can find these [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=25554 here]. Feedback is useful as it helps the developers improve the campaign in future versions; and the posts by other players may contain advice or pointers beyond those in this walkthrough.

===Overture===

Just an introduction - sit back and enjoy the show.

===This Valley Belongs to Me===
* Objective: Defeat Grogor-Tuk, the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, Methor.

This one is tricky for a first scenario, so play patiently. The enemy has a lot of gold and sends a steady stream of units your way for the first day. In the South-center is the easy bit - defend the river. Use your mage of light here to back up a few Horsemen and/or Spearmen to fend off the attackers.

The tricky bit is to the north - wolf riders cross the river to the north and come down through the woods. Some Spearmen and mages in the woods works here, and there's a village in the woods to the north to anchor your defense on. Wolf riders don't benefit as much as your units do on the woodland tiles. Aim to give plenty of XP to at least one mage, so you can level him up here or early at the next level.

[Mal Shubertal]
It is possible to finish a bit earlier by splitting your forces. Send horsemen north and south to claim the villages, and your mage of light with a mage and some Spearmen across the river. The enemy will also split up, with many fording the river to attack Delfador, who will keep recruiting mages to defend the castle tiles and pick them off as they cross. If the AI sends just one wolf rider against the northern horseman, wait until daylight, lure him into the open, and charge. You may need to send another horseman to help him out. Then, in control of all villages, everyone converges on the enemy leader.

===The Road to Weldyn===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, a Bowman, two Horsemen.

You want quite a few horsemen here; it's a good opportunity to get lots of horsemen on your recall list (they are cheaper to recall than recruit later on). There are enough villages to fund recruiting or recalling 9 units and still have positive income throughout. You want at least half of your units to be horsemen: if you do the enemy will have lots of archers who are easy prey in these open fields. You start with an archer and gain the ability to recruit more here. Often you can avoid fighting in the first night altogether, strike hard during the second day and the scenario is already won.

This level is dead-easy to win because the enemy has a small keep, so his forces arrive spread out and not supporting each other. Use the day/night cycle: At night just fall back and, particularly on the first night, use the line of woods and castle tiles just west of your start. Your Horsemen can ride out, take villages, and make it back to fight at dawn on day 2. At daytime, crush them with the Horsemen and the Mages. You want to level up Mages to White Mages and Horsemen to Knights, as per the [[#Campaign_Strategy]].

Once you have broken the enemy army, take the remaining villages and milk the remaining enemy forces for XP - the early finish bonus is only +15/turn, and you should be able to get +14/turn or even +15/turn while keeping the leader alive to recruit and occasionally take a jab at your troops.

===Leollyn===
* Objective: Defeat Hagha-Tan.
* Lose if: Delfador or Leollyn die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, two Bowmen (which will be recalled if you have any in your list, or fresh recruits otherwise).

You can usually ignore the ally; the enemy sends a few units down that way, but the L3 mage and his L2 mage recruits are well able to handle them.

You want to recall at least one and preferably two White Mages (there will be lots of assassins), and a Horseman near leveling up. The rest of your recruit should be a mix of Bowmen and Spearmen, including one or two level 2 ones. March up to the ford to the north-west and build a defensive position for the night; keep the front line together with as few units as you can, as most will end up poisoned each turn; cycle them out and replace with others.

Once day breaks, hopefully you have enough decent units left to mop up the enemy's first wave; your horseman is ideal to pick off any strong enemy units standing in the water. When you handled most wolves, red mages (Delfador and other) are good front-line units against assassins and archers as they won't use their ranged attack against them.

Hopefully you can push over the river by afternoon on the second day. If you've managed that, there are probably still some Archers, Assassin and/or Wolf Riders closing in on you; instead of focusing on clearing all of them, try to lure out the enemy leader by putting units in his range of movement. You want to finish this one early, turn 10-12, to get a big enough bonus for the next scenario, as it seems impossible with minimum starting gold.

===Council in Weldyn===

Dialog only.

===Swamps of Illuven===
* Objective: Move Delfador to the signpost in the northeast.
* Lose if: Delfador or Lionel die or turns run out.
* Turns: 28.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.
* Other
** You can recruit Cavalryman and Heavy Infantryman units now.
** There is a chest with 100 gold in the rogue's keep if you refuse to pay him.

You will be approached by bandits, demanding a protection charge. The charge is always 80% of whatever gold you have, and gets rid of Garrath, the North-Western leader (the one *not* in the way of getting to the signpost). The North-Eastern enemy leader (Harold, the one blocking the signpost) gets a small gold bonus if you make the deal. You are thus giving away 80% of your gold to get rid of around 40% of the enemy's gold: Your business sense (if they teach that in magic school) should be telling you to refuse to pay. If you're still not convinced: Garrath is hiding his savings from his extortion career (or just regular banditry) in a treasure chest, in his keep in the North-West. If you take him on, not only will *you* not be paying *him* - *he* will end up paying *you*. Well, sort off.

On Easy difficulty, the deal is even worse, as the net effect is only about -25% of the enemy gold.

Finally, if you employ in-game logic - paying Garrath does not improve your security one bit: He's still a bandit; why would he keep his end of the bargain? Not to mention the fact that he seems to be in league with Harold, the other leader. And there's the moral issue of abetting felons; and a public relations disaster: If it becomes known that you misused large amounts of royal funds while on official crown business in the middle of a war, your career is not very likely to blossom further, shall we say.

Still, you do have both options.

'''Refuse to pay & take them both on:'''

If you don't pay the charge, you get to recruit a big army, get more XP, and finish quicker. Both leaders' forces tend to scatter out, fail to support each other well enough, and not really follow your own forces' movements too well. One strategy is to move your forces into the central island and holding it against the NE leader's push - while yourself sending off a force to press North-West towards Garrath and his treasure chest. Another approach (at least on Medium difficulty) is to have your force targeting Garrath just press Northwards right from your own keep in the South-West. You'll pay for this with more pressure on the central island, but reach Garrath faster, easily dispatching him - as he'll typically only have money for a single round of recruitment to help defend himself, and his other troops may not make it back in time.

A balanced force for this option would consist of couple of Horsemen (recall them, don't pay the extra 3 gold for nothing), two White Mages (you _have_ leveled them up already, right?), a couple of other Level-2's - Knights perhaps, a couple of L11 Mages (which are pretty good against Footpads and Poachers, as they ignore their high defense ratings), and the rest - Spearmen as fodder to form your defensive line. On Middle difficult you might even skip one of the L1 Mages. It is vital to use Lionel's L3 leadership to help your L1 units fight better.

'''Pay up like a boss:'''

The level is playable paying the charge if you are coming in with ~250 gold or more. Although it gives the AI a big lead in gold, you have halved the recruit rate for the AIs and ensured that they are all on the far side of the level; the AI's forces don't concentrate so well and your small force can evade them at night. You may take this approach if you prefer a challenging small-army scouting battle rather than a big army battle. Alternatively, you can win by starting with as little as two raw-recruit Spearman and a recalled Horseman, if you take some villages so that you can recall some more units later.

===Night in the Swamp===
* Objective: Survive until daybreak.
* Lose if: Delfador or Lionel die.
* Turns: 13.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.
* Other: This scenario doesn't follow the usual day/night cycle.

This is a very small level - four villages within a turn's reach from your keep, and magical Skeleton generator stones a bit further away; and you have nowhere else to go other than that. You'll have 1 generator stone on Easy and 2 on Medium. On Easy or Medium, each turn the stone generates an enemy unit - either a Skeleton or a Skeleton Archer. The generated unit does not act immediately - just like a unit recalled or recruited at a keep. There are 2 stones on easy & medium, and hard has 3.

As the scenario name suggests, it occurs over a single night, stretched onto 13 turns. The first turn is Dusk, the last turn is Dawn, and all other turns are night-time - so the Skeletons have the Chaotic advantage over you.

You can put a generator out of action by landing any Mage or Paladin on it - and if you take out all generators you'll win and get an early finish bonus. It's probably a better idea, though, to use this level as a training ground to level-up some units.

Recruit considering the [[#Campaign Strategy]]; specifically, this is an opportunity to recruit some Heavy Infantry, which will not be available later, to get some Mages more experience, and maybe also advance a Knight further towards leveling up into a Paladin.

===Ur-Thorodor===
* Objective: Move Delfador to Ur-Thorodor's castle.
* Lose if: Delfador, Lionel or Ur-Thorodor die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.

This is another small level area-wise - but not nearly as easy as the previous nightly interlude... you need to cross over from the South side of the main river to a small river-island to your North-East, populated by Woses. The enemy leader is an Ancient Wose (Ur-Thorodor), who rejects your attempts to parley because of grudges against past human transgressions. In addition to his grudge, he also has a tidy sum of gold to recruit Woses and Wose Shamans, who will do their best to block your way, forming a defensive line. They also have the benefit of forest or fortification hexes.

You, on the other hand, will be moving across shallow water and sand, at an uneven pace and with a limited number of units. This, while being hounded by another kind of recruits - Gryphons. Remember they're extremely mobile and will simply not fail to attack those vulnerable units you failed to surround. You may need to use some fodder units to lure the Gryphons, then blast them with your stronger/ranged-attack units.

Be careful with Lionel and Delfador: While they may not be singled out by the Ur-Thorodor's forces, Delfador must be able to press forward while being able to withstand an attack, and Lionel's leadership is crucial to have an effect on the Woses, with their being highly resistant to piercing and otherwise well-protected. Remember that he affects Red Mages and White Mages - they're still just Level 2's.

On Hard difficulty, a suggested recall could be: A Red Mage (you _have_ leveled a Red Mage, haven't you?), a good damage sink (a Knight will do; if he's close to leveling - that's perfect), a Healer, and perhaps another Mage and a fodder unit. Cross straight away, and don't get bogged down on the other side - blast a hole with your Mages and get Delfador into the castle as soon as you can; you are not likely to win a long fight.

On Easy or Medium you can do about the same, but with a second round of recall (if you have the money) you should be able to subdue Ur-Thorodor's forces and take control of the island, stepping into the castle at your leisure. Note that you're not going to be keeping any money from this scenario, so prolonging the fight only makes sense for leveling units up.

Note that Ur Thorodor only recruits 2 Gryphons, and they are by far the most dangerous enemies on this map, so it's possible to use delfador or a fodder mage as bait to draw one or both of them out in the first few turns, then take it down with your other ranged units. Your white mage can heal your units during the crossing, and you will have an easier time on the other side.

Also note that Ur Thorodor will ''never'' attack your units, so it's perfectly safe to stand right next to him as you take out his troops.

===Houses of the Dead===
* Objective: Move Delfador to the signpost.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 35 (on Medium).
* Starting units: Delfador.
* Other: Delfador acquires the Staff of An-Usrukhar, which grants him his 4-hit lightning attack ans boosts his melee attack.

Relax, this isn't a 35-turn long arduous fight. What you have here is one enemy leader - a Death Knight - near the sign post to which you need to get - who churns out a Skeleton every turn or two; and those Skeletons slowly advance in your direction.

This place is well-populated with villages - apparently the dead are rather industrious; you want to capture these, since you'll need gold in subsequent scenarios. Each captured village houses some undead - which will come out and join Delfador, provided he captures the villages himself rather than via another undead. They are surprisingly friendly and helpful... funny how they don't act that way back in the real world.

Explore to your North-West first - it's a dead-end, but there's one village, and a Ghost recruit, there. To your North is an impassable barrier behind some mountains, so next turn back and work around the level anti-clockwise. No need to climb through the mountains: if you stick to the "road" you won't miss anything (but do watch the forks in the road). If you pay attention to what you're told, you'll learn about a secret passage that _will_ make life easier: It is located North of the village where you find a ghost by the name Sythan, on the East side of the map. But this scenario is pretty straightforward either way.

As your new minions and yourself battle the steady trickle of skeletons, remember that survivors will be available for recall on the next level, and one will even be recalled for free. On Medium difficulty, You get at least one Shadow from one of the village, so don't miss its village (to the West of the road and right below the pass with the cobbled road on which the Skeletons advance).

When you reach the Death Knight's keep, to the North-West, don't capture his two villages until after you have dealt with him: Additional skeleton guards are waiting in there and will come out if 'prodded'. The guards will ask you to declare whether you serve Iliah-Malal; but they don't really care about your answer.

Be careful about timing your use of the secret passage too quickly; remember you're facing a long line of Skeleton Warriors which, while easily done away with individually, occasionally also hit you, and you could end up dying a sad death at the hand of the n'th weakling - even if you hole up in the village near where you found the staff. This is especially an issue if Delfador is not a Great Mage (Mage Magister) yet. If you make it to the staff by, say, turn 17 you should be Ok even with Delfador as an Arch Mage (Mage Commander). And once you've gotten the staff you have to attack the Death Knight right away, or you'll be awash with Skeletons.

Remembering you need your gold on the next scenario, avoid delaying to milk more XP for your new troops, and aim for the early finish bonus.

===The Gate Between Worlds===
* Objective: Defeat Iliah-Malal.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, and a surviving Ghost, Ghoul or advancement from the previous scenario.

You get to recruit Ghosts and Ghouls here, your allies of the last level. Money should be no problem.

Players have used two options with success:

'''Option 1: attack with Ghouls.''' Backed by Delfador's leadership, ghouls can actually do a lot of damage. But he can't be everywhere, and anyway the ghouls will probably perish quickly. That's alright, as long as you manage to poison most enemies. There's not enough villages for your opponent to heal his army, and if you give battle on your shore of the swamp they won't get anywhere quickly. Ghosts can then finish the poisoned enemies (if they're not busy with distant Bats and such). On Medium difficulty, a castle of Ghouls, a half-castle of Ghosts and recalling the Shadow from Houses of the Dead is enough to comfortably defeat Iliah-Malal; you might be able to do it with less.

'''Option 2: Leader assassination with Ghosts.''' Send 8 Ghosts (on Hard difficulty) around the flanks of the enemy to converge on Iliah-Malal, surrounding and killing him, albeit slowly. Send a Ghoul-heavy force supported by Delfador and a couple of Ghosts up the middle to distract the majority of the enemy forces. Delfador should be cautious; he is only there to distract, and the Dark Adepts and Thugs pack enough of a punch to kill him if you are not careful.

It is worth noting that if you finish this scenario with any Undead veterans, you will be able to recall them one more time in the future - in fact, you will have to recall at least one. However, it's unlikely they will be incredibly useful to you then, so just focus on leveling one of them - preferably a Ghost, and preferably to L3 if you can.
. If you want to use them, then it's a good idea to level up some of your ghosts here and make sure that you end up with at least a couple of Shadows.

===Wasteland===
* Objectives:
*# Find shelter.
*# Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador.

Straightforward scenario, albeit the enemy can recruit L2 units and you have only raw Elven recruits. The walk north to the Elven castle is simple. Most of the fighting takes place in the woods that you can see to your west, so elven archers are good here. Also grab a scout to steal all your ally's villages, otherwise she will keep recruiting L2 units and stealing your XP. On Hard, consider recruiting 1 or 2 shamans, as a sorceress would come in handy early in the next level (on Medium this is less of a priority.)

Although Chantal's units do have a tendency to "steal" xp, you will be able to recall them yourself in the next scenario, so you can use shamans and other units to soften up the enemy and intentionally "give" the kills to her units, so as to come into the next scenario with several units at or near level 3.

===Terror at the Ford of Parthyn===
* Objectives:
*# Find out what is happening at the Ford.
*# Defeat all enemy leaders (orc and undead).
* Lose if: Delfador or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 36/36/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Chantal.

In this scenario you will join forces with a number of troops making a stand near the ford of Parthyn. Orcs will come from the west, and an army of undeads will come from the east—the latter receiving reinforcements around turn 7. Your main strategic decision will be whether to form an army on your initial keep to confront one of your enemies (possibly the orcs) from the very beginning, or move quickly to the south and organize the combined forces of your current veterans plus all the units that will join you in this scenario, to then work from there.

'''Conservative strategy:'''
As soon as you spot the ford guard, it will come under your control. Using a scout, you can get there in time for the humans to man the walls. Actually, the walls are one huge keep, so Delfador can recruit directly into the fortifications and fill the gaps. You should be able to fend off the first wave of attackers, the more so as the baddies will conveniently arrive at daybreak. The mages, on the other hand, won't get across the river until the fun is mostly over; recall your own healers. You should leave two mages on the other shore anyway, in order to deal with any ghosts that try to get at the villages down there.

'''Play-it-safe strategy:'''
Abandon the northern shore; run to the south castle (without recruiting at all) and play defensive through the first wave of enemies. The orcs and undead are hostile to each other, so this gives them ample opportunity to fight amongst themselves. ''Needs investigation and comments.'' {{DevFeature1.13|6}} The orcs and undead are no longer hostile to each other.

[Hipparchos] This is definitely the easiest way to play it. Run Delfador and Chantal straight south and pick up the north castle defenders as a bodyguard as you head for the south castle. You'll get a few hits as you retreat but nothing serious, as long as you keep Chantal well guarded. Use Niktor to wake the mages and put the White Mages initially in the center of the castle to heal the wall defenders (but be prepared to move them to the walls). When Delfador gets to the south castle, have him recall any L2 and L3 elves to fill any remaining wall spots. Don't over-recruit because you won't have anywhere to put them. I also put a few strong units and a mage in the villages just southeast of the castle to deal with the ambushers who will pop up there.

Basically what happens is the orcs from the west and undead from the east will meet at the north castle and have a massive battle, which you cannot see because of the fog of war. The undead will win this battle and send the surviving remnants of their army straggling across the ford, 2 or 3 per turn, where they will be decimated by your mages on the walls. The draugs look dangerous but are no match for an arch mage. Patience is the key: just sit tight and kill what comes across.

By dawn on turn 16 the undead stragglers will be done for. Send your army back across the ford and split it into two groups, one northwest to kill the orcish warlord (who might be beset by a spectre) and one east to kill the Death Knight. You will pick up the village defenders when you re-take the north castle. Make sure you put at least one red mage and one white mage with each group, and you're home free. I played this strategy and didn't lose a single unit.

'''Aggressive strategy:'''
Recruit/Recall an army and send them west to deal with the orcs; only one scout should head south and find the guards, which should then retreat to the sourthern castle. The downside is that this approach will lead to more night-time engagements; dont try this if you don't have several lvl-2 elves to begin with. The benefit is that you'll get more experience on the units that need it most: your elves and the human mages. The latter will stay with your host, and often be automatically recalled for free.

You will find that some villages in the north of the map contain ambushes. The burned village near your inital keep, plus three of the villages (including the burned one) near the ford contain allied troops; releasing these early would be a big help to defending the south castle.

===The Return of Trouble===
* Objective: Defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Kalenz dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/27/30 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz.

This level has a no-breathing-room start - the east enemy is almost on top of you and has as much gold as you (at Great Mage). The mountains and starting camp are poor terrain for you as that terrain is better for orcs; cross your forces into the woods opposite where you have advantages in defence and movement.

Although you can recruit "raw" L2 units here, don't feel you need to recruit too many of them; the large number of enemy L2s attacking means that it is hard to keep units in the front line alive, and so recruiting good numbers of units will matter: A few Druids and Captains, supporting L1 units as the bulk of the army, should work well. Specifically, on Medium difficulty 2 Druids and 2 Captains should suffice if you place and move them carefully

Note that Orcish Grunts and Warriors are less likely to attack a Captain than Archers or Fighters. (In fact, on Medium, Orc forces seem to really focus on the Fighters first with all their units.) So you can have Captains in rotation on the front line - as they will still inspire their adjacent units, so you're not losing their effect this way (in fact, you might get 3 effective-L2 units on the line instead of 2 in some cases).

In addition to your own forces, you have an Elvish ally to the South in this scenario. Unfortunately, he spends his forces quickly and unwisely, so he will die out early (on Hard) or possibly by mid-Scenario (on Medium and with a bit of luck); remember you aren't required to keep him alive, so don't worry about him. He might be outlasted by a unit or two of his, which may even end up tailing your own forces and picking out the occasional enemy.

At lower skill levels, aim to knock out the east enemy early. His right flank is open but rests on the mountains, which is bad terrain for you - if you try to go around that way he can easily shift forces to meet you. Instead you can approach close to his keep through the woods; this, his left flank, usually isn't open but the AI isn't smart about keeping a proper line here. On Hard, you may not have the forces to spare to take him out (if you can even make an opening - he has plenty of units); instead slow him with a shaman when he pops out of his keep to attack and block him from getting back to recruit.

Note: With the right recruits (e.g. quick Marksmen) it is possible to snipe the east leader on the second turn (but rather difficult and low probability).

You should aim to maintain a line along the north part of the woods; the main line is down the West side of the woods for a few tiles and this is where Kalenz should be; and a line back East inside the wood for your left flank, to catch enemy units coming at you through the woods. Hold out in the woods for two days and the onslaught will eventually subside; you will probably have heavy losses, but your survivors should all be L3 or close to it (on Hard) or mostly L2 (on Medium) by that time. Now you go on the offensive...

At this point you might have enough gold to recruit again; do ''not'' be tempted to send Kalenz to one of the keeps to recruit. You'll miss him on the battlefield and by the time he recruits, and the new recruit(s) make it to combat - either you won't need them anyway, or you will be so far behind you won't make it by the turn limit anyway. Save your money.

You're attacking the South-Western leader first: Just across the stream, the forest leads up to his keep; and you've probably dealt with most of his units - since they're pretty helpless against you in the forest. Focus on taking him out ASAP, even at the price of exposing your units to damage from of his leftover units. This focus is especially important if you're past turn 20, since you can't spare the time to play it safe.

[Mal Shubertal] On hard, it is still possible to rush the eastern enemy immediately. You spam out archers and fighters supported by a few druids and captains, and engage the orcs on open terrain between your keeps, where neither has an advantage. Keep solid lines, rotate out damaged units, use your healers, and after a few turns your ally's troops will rush up from the south, and the orc line will collapse as they fight on 2 fronts. In the meantime, your ally also sends out random doomed units to distract the other orcs. After you mop up the eastern orcs and whatever orcish reinforcements came up behind you, return to the woods and proceed as usual. This faster engagement saves more of your ally's units, and they continue to be useful fodder/distractions throughout the level.

===Shadows in the Dark===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kalenz, Chantal or Delfador (in the second part) die or turns run out.
* Turns: 32/28/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz, Chantal.

You start with your Kalenz force, and get back your Delfador force during the scenario (he arrives in the SE). There are two necromancer leaders in this scenario, located west and south, and one Death Knight to the east, this last one being the most dangerous enemy of all—he even receives reinforcements on turns 7 and 11.

You'll have three holy water vials near your keep to hand out to your troops: Note they only affect your ''melee'' attack, so giving them to archers is a waste; you'll want Heroes or Rangers taking them (or Avengers/Champions, but then you'd be wasting experience). Don't bother having Druids or Kalenz himself take holy water - they have magical attacks with a good chance to hit and impact or arcane damage type anyway.

As for recruitment - it's likely you don't have more than the starting gold, so (on Medium) you'll probably just be recalling 5 units. Facing Undead, go for Champions and Avengers if you have them; otherwise, if you have Rangers and Heros - recall some of them and a Marshal, or a Captain close to leveling. It's a good idea to recall another Druid, so the Druids can heal each other; but perhaps another Champion or Avenger instead is also a reasonable choice. A Sorceress may also be relevant, although a bit of a gamble.

Alternative recruitment advice (for Hard difficulty): Because you are facing some L1 and L2 troops here, recruit- a mix of L1 and L2 units; they should advance all the way to L3 during the level. Recall any Elven Sorcerers or Shaman with good XP, and Shamans are good extra recruits at the start, again to level to Sorcerers.

After recruiting and picking up the holy water, gather your forces and head West, to take out the first Necromancer. The forest and water slows up most of the undead and so means that the undead converging from the other two camps won't catch you before you overwhelm and eliminate the enemy leader that you target.
Once you have knocked out the NW leader, your elven force should head south to take out the south leader, and Delfador's force, arriving on turn 12, can head north to take out the NE leader. By this point, keep your units in tight groups and don't let important units wander off by themselves at night, where Nightgaunts can surprise them.

Lots of the undead forces will spend the whole level floundering around in the north woods around your start camp, chasing but never catching you up. Don't get duped into taking them out - even if you've isolated one or two of them; you have other priorities.

===Save the King===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kalenz, Delfador, Chantal or Garard II die or turns run out.
* Turns: 35/30/25 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal, a group of Delfador's companions having survived the previous scenario.

You'll need to push aggressively to distract Zorlan and get help to Garard by turn 10 when the two southern orcs' reinforcements start hitting him or he's not long for the world. You get a big automatic recall of your white mages, Chantal, and a shock trooper and Kalenz; you can also recruit some new elves as it gives you some units to give XP to, fodder to face the trolls with, and they are handy to take out the SW enemy faster. An elvish sylph if you have one will be especially useful for its ability to fly.

Zorlan should be simple; some of his units tangle with Garard's units in the river, so you should meet little opposition getting to his camp - which can be easily crushed with your mages. The onset of trolls at around first watch is the only dangerous moment, but once they have attacked, your mages and high level units can wipe them out mostly in one round. Then send Delfador and a couple of other units to take out the troll leader, and send some elves south with Kalenz to help Garard clean up the orcs.

Try not to delay the initial battle to the north too much, because around turns 8-10, the two southern orc leaders will be ready to send a second wave of enemies.

===Dark Sky Over Weldyn===

Just story.

===A New Ally===
* Objective: Defeat Gruv-Malal.
* Lose if: Delfador, Ulrek or Relgorn die or turns run out.
* Turns: 32.
* Starting units: Delfador.

This is a relatively easy scenario. You regain command of your original human army plus the rest of the troops from the Ford or Parthyn. Recruit and recall some mages and maybe one or two knights/paladins. You may also get a few L1s and you should be able to level up a couple by the end of the level.

'''Conservative strategy''': Move to Ulrek's keep - provided you have some units there by second watch, there is no danger of him being defeated. The Dwarves wear down the undead and your Mages get to clean up and take the XP.

'''Assertive strategy''': On Easy or Medium, don't both with Ulrek's keep - just keep your eyes on the prize. If you recall enough muscle to be able to reach Gruv-Malal before night has fallen. A Paladin, a Knight, a Mage of Light, a quick Red Mage / Arch Mage and more of these to the extent you have the money - should do the trick. Pressing North immediately (Delfador leaves the keep at Dawn), your horseback units should land their first hit(s) on Gruv-Malal by Dusk, preferably backed by the illumination of a Mage of Light. The undead should be busy with the Dwarves to the west, and will not have time to fall back to their keep before, say, Second Watch at the earliest - while you'll finish the Necromancer off by First Watch. On Hard this may be more difficult but should still be possible.

The early finish bonus for this scenario is very important for making the next one manageable, so consider trying out the more aggressive approach.

===The Portal of Doom===
* Objectives:
*# Guide Delfador to the portal to close it.
*# Move all your units into the mine entrance where you came from, moving Delfador last.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 40.
* Starting units: Delfador, Ulrek.

This is a small, narrow map where you need to move west-to-east and then back again. There are two enemy leaders on your way, recruiting skeletons and ghosts, and Illah-Malal appears with a strong body of undead troops on turn 9. There are two basic ways to approach this scenario:

''Option 1'': Going through the ice. Your main force should be dwarf warriors, with a few white mages or quick mages to weaken enemy units and to deal with nightgaunts and the like. Heavy-infantry are too slow on the ice. A knight (even better, a paladin) would also be useful here, due to the speed and for finishing off enemy units when the dwarves can't reach. Don't rush into the ice from the start, unless you're okay with heavy losses. Instead, defend at your camp to defeat the first wave of undead, then march over the ice to close the portal, letting the northern undead come to you. Don't worry too much about the villages to the north and focus on moving Delfador quickly to the portal. On the way back, Delfador can stay a little behind, while the rest of your army goes through the tunnel. After all, Delfador has to be the last one to exit through the mines.

''Option 2'': Going north, then south-east. The main goal is to get a strong army heavy on mages, shock troopers and paladins on the northern castle before Illah-Malal appears. The enemies from the east will be slow to catch up with you, except for ghosts which shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once you deal with the lich and his bodyguards—fortunately they arrive during the day—, you can move south, close the portal and go back to your base. With a little luck, this strategy can be used to beat the scenario quickly and with minimal losses.

Regardless of the way you play it, it's very likely that you will finish with very little or negative gold, but it won't matter much. From this point until the end of the campaign, gold carryovers will have little or no impact and it is normal that you will start these last scenarios with the minimum amount of gold each time.

[Mal Shubertal: On hard in 1.12.2, I recruited a keep of only steelclads and one white Mage, then ran everyone directly into the hills on the southern map edge , ignoring ghosts and bats. Dwarves in hills against skeletons in snow is an excellent matchup, and the hills also help everyone survive Nightgaunt and Spectre attacks. revolution_peasent: Mopped all of my enemies up with this strategy - no losses - on Medium. I actually ended up being pushed into the mountains, and everyone was one me, so by the time Delfador got the portal all the Undead except the second coming of Iliah-Malal had already come and gone, i.e. died, so the way back was just a stroll with a brief dispatching of Lich.] {{DevFeature1.13|10}} Iliah-Malal no longer disappears temporarily when killed, he heals immediately and can't be defeated in this scenario.

===Showdown in the Northern Swamp===
* Objective: Defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Delfador, Lionel or Kalenz die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/28/32 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, {{DevFeature1.13|10}} Ulrek.
* Other: If you have any undead veterans from [[#The_Gate_Between_Worlds|The Gate Between Worlds]], then one of them has to give the final strike to Illah-Malal, otherwise Delfador has to do it. {{DevFeature1.13|11}} Either your undead veterans or Delfador can give the killing blow to Illah-Malal.

There is a few holy water flasks at the start, but you may not have many fast, high-level units with powerful melee attacks to assign them. You get control of Lionel on turn 3 (plus a castle of L1 recruits), so you don't have to take villages off of him. It is recommended to save one of the holy water flasks for Lionel, and give the other two to Ulrek and Kalenz, or some other loyalist veteran (perhaps a Halberdier or a Knight). Your remaining recalls could be 2 white mages, a steelclad and a paladin (or a knight close to leveling - as it is an open level).

A good strategy here is to strike straight north and seize the south end of the bridge. The NE necromancer recruits dark adepts, and you will have to run a long way during the night to outrun them if you don't bottle them up at the crossing. Once you hold the bridge, a good melee unit and a white mage, plus some of the ally's archers, can easily hold off the NE forces. The NW enemies attack during the first night, and the main tricky bit is dealing with the nightgaunts and spectres here - just keep L2 and L3 melee units in the front line to meet the attack, then clean up with your mages. The SW enemy's units are slower and Lionel's recruits can help in that front, holding them in the western bridge. By keeping those two forces under control on the river crossings, you should have little difficulty crushing each in turn.

If you have undead units, one of them will have to finish the lich. Protect your undead units well and reserve them for that final hit. Use Delfador or other mages or holy water fighters to weaken the lich, but be careful not to accidentally reduce his hitpoints to zero with the wrong unit, or the lich will be fully healed and stronger than before.

===Prince of Wesnoth===
* Objective: Defeat Eldred.
* Lose if: Kalenz or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/22/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz, Chantal.

'''Strategies for the rich:'''

The central woods seem like a tempting spot to fight from, but if you have a decent amount of gold, you may struggle to maximize your recruitment and still get all your units across into it: The Southern enemy camp is not far from your line of advance into the forest, and he'll recruit fast Cavalrymen that will quickly catch up with you. However, if you have quick units that can cross the river fast enough, fighting from the central forest will be very advantageous.

Alternatively, abandon all your villages and the rest of the level to the enemy and just defend the SW corner. Elves along the edge of the woods should be able to hold out and wear through the enemy. The number of L2 units, and the Mages that the enemy recruit, mean that you will take casualties; but you will be killing a lot and scoring plenty of XP. A general mix of level 1, 2 and 3 units works well here; use the best units to hold tiles that can be attacked from several directions, which will deter the enemy from attacking them.

Once the initial wave of enemies is spent, mop up and proceed swiftly through the central woods and jump into an enemy camp to kill the general. You don't have to have much gold for the next level, but will want high-level units, so take time here to level some up if you don't have enough.

'''Strategy for the poor (but experienced):'''

The following has been reported to work on Medium and on Hard with only the starting gold (100).

Recall a second Shyde (in addition to Chantal) and 4 Avengers/Rangers. These will be invisible in those woods, a trait which will sure comes in handy in this scenario seeing how outnumbered you are... you did remember to level enough of those up, right? ... you will likely be able to make another recall before your enemies flag enough villages; you could go for another Ranger/Avenger, a Sylph if you have one, a Sharpshooter, or even an Outrider which would be able to move from the central to the Western woods or back in a single turn.

Kalenz, either one or two Shydes, and the extra unit if you got one, stay in the Western woods. Start moving them up to the Northern part of the woods in the beginning and then back down South. Basically their job is not to get killed. ;-) So only attack single enemies and retreat whenever you are under serious attack.

The Avengers cross over into the central woods right away. Whenever only one or at most two enemy units are in reach, they attack or flag villages to become visible and lure individual enemy units into the woods. This also distracts most of the main enemy forces and stops them from attacking Kalenz.

Doing this for about 10 to 15 turns (on Hard; less on Medium) wears down the enemy forces quite easily. When only a few enemy units are left, move your 4 Avenger/Ranger units into the keep of either one enemy leader. You should be able to finish him off within a single turn or two turns at the most.

===Clash at the Manor===
* Objectives:
*# Defeat Pilafman.
*# Find the secret door.
* Lose if: Delfador, Kalenz or Chantal die, an enemy reaches a signpost or turns run out.
* Turns: 40/32/30 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal.

As there are two roads and two signposts, you need to watch both routes. You can break your forces in two or just send one unit to keep an eye on the other route. If you wait at the edge of your forest, almost all the forces should come to you (Dragoons and Cavalry will try to escape instead), and you'll have the terrain advantage. Just be ready to counter anyone trying to make a run for it. You start with Chantal, and a second druid or shyde would be a good idea so that you have a healer and someone to entangle any royal guards. The rest of your recalls should be top melee units (e.g., champions and avengers.) After the assault is broken, the mopping up operation is just to kill the sitting duck leader.

The second phase of the level is a search; just explore the cave walls right below the northernmost encampment tile.

[Thrash: I don't think just sending a single unit to cover one route will work. If enemy sends a couple riders that way, you won't catch them.]

===Face of the Enemy===
* Objective: Defeat Sagus.
* Lose if: Delfador, Kalenz or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/22/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal.

Last level, so you don't have to worry about losses or leveling up; recall some sorcerers and a decent melee unit to take the holy water. The enemy recruits few units, so you don't have to cover all the passageways; just advance as a group by the shortest route to the keep, and keep side passages covered (the enemy sometimes uses nightgaunts to ambush and slip in through any gaps). Beware of putting Delfador in front, as the enemy can use Banebows like walking corpses for suicide attacks against him. {{DevFeature1.13|10}} When you spot the enemy leader, he will unleash a second wave of recruits on the following turn.

This scenario is fairly straightforward, so just play conservatively and coast to victory.

== See Also ==

* [[Mainline Campaigns]]

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

DelfadorsMemoirs

2022-10-22T19:43:56Z

Revolting peasant: We're long past v13.10

==Story==

This campaign follows the adventures of Delfador, beginning from him leaving home as a newly qualified journeyman mage, and leading up to him helping to bring peace to Wesnoth. It is set a couple of generations earlier than [[HeirToTheThrone|Heir to the Throne]].

==Development==

Original developer: email to Josh Parsons, jp30 AT st-and.ac.uk.
Thread is at http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1293.

More recently, the campaign has been picked up and improved by 'tapik' - see [[CampaignDelfadorsMemoirs]].

==Campaign Strategy==

This section gives some advice on long-term strategy in this campaign. '''NOTE: plot spoilers below'''.

In this campaign, you work with multiple armies from different factions: Human (Loyalists essentially), Elves, Dwarves and even Undead; and the availability of these armies for recall varies from scenario to scenario. To an extent this means that long-term strategy doesn't matter, because you keep being given a clean slate; conversely, if you are short of vital units, you might have to go back ten whole levels to fix it.

=== Army participation by scenario ===

To help you keep track of the armies you will be managing and their incidence, the following table summarizes their races, the context in which they first appear, and the scenarios in which they will be available:

{| style="border-width: 1px; border-color: #333;border-style: solid;padding:8px;"
!Army
!Context
! colspan="22"|Scenarios
|-
|
|
|[[#Overture|1]]
|[[#This Valley Belongs to Me|2]]
|[[#The_Road_to_Weldyn|3]]
|[[#Leollyn|4]]
|[[#Council_in_Weldyn|5]]
|[[#Swamps_of_Illuven|6]]
|[[#Night_in_the_Swamp|7]]
|[[#Ur-Thorodor|8]]
|[[#Houses_of_the_Dead|9]]
|[[#The_Gate_Between_Worlds|10]]
|[[#Wasteland|11]]
|[[#Terror_at_the_Ford_of_Parthyn|12]]
|[[#The_Return_of_Trouble_|13]]
|[[#Shadows_in_the_Dark|14]]
|[[#Save_the_King|15]]
|[[#Dark_Sky_Over_Weldyn|16]]
|[[#A_New_Ally|17]]
|[[#The_Portal_of_Doom|18]]
|[[#Showdown_in_the_Northern_Swamp|19]]
|[[#Prince_of_Wesnoth|20]]
|[[#Clash_at_the_Manor|21]]
|[[#Face_of_the_Enemy|22]]
|-
|Humans
|Delfador's initial force
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|style="background-color:#729fcf"|
|
|
|
|-
|Undead
|Supporters from the land of the dead
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#555753"|
|
|
|
|-
|Elves
|Chantal's forces
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|style="background-color:#8ae234"|
|-
|Humans
|Garrison & Mage school of Parthyn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|style="background-color:#3465a4"|
|
|
|
|-
|Elves
|Kalenz' army
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|style="background-color:#73d216"|
|-
|Humans
|Delfador's reinforcements
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background-color:#204a87"|
|style="background-color:#204a87"|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Dwarves
|Allies against the undead
|
|
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As the campaign progresses, money will become scarce, and you'll recall ever-smaller armies; don't spread experience among too many units, but strive to build a small core of elite troops. With very few exceptions, loyal units will not be available to you on this campaign; this means that practically all your units (including your heroes, in scenarios where they do not act as leaders) will require upkeep. Any extra length you can go to on each scenario to avoid over–recruiting is very likely to pay off later on.

=== Recruitment & Leveling ===

==== Loyalists ====

* '''Mages''': for your starting Loyalist army, Mages are important. '''Get two White Mages as early as you can'''. You face a lot of assassins in the early levels, and from level 7 onward there are a lot of Undead. You'll have little use for Red Mages; just one (other than Delfador) really is enough.
* '''Heavy Infantry''': not that useful, despite the numbers of Undead. Too many of the levels are big wide open spaces, or have difficult terrain where your HI will founder, or you are given holy water or Dwarves and thus have better options. Nonetheless, it is worth recruiting some HI in levels that do suit them, because you lose the ability to recruit them at some point but can still recall them later on.
* '''Horsemen''': Now these are useful! The early levels suit them well and you can employ them in numbers. Later you'll be mostly facing Undead - and Paladins will be excellent, but it will be hard to level up any more Horsemen into Knights (and not so easy to level low-XP Knights into Paladins either). Make your Paladins while you're still facing Orcs; you'll hardly be able to level up more than three (and probably employ only two).

==== Elves ====

The standard mixture of Elves is fine; although there are many Undead, you get holy water to deal with them. The notable exceptions are:

* '''Druids''': You get one Druid free, but you'll will want to level-up a second one.
* '''Sorceresses''': On Hard, these will be important for your Elven army's well being, you should get several of Sorceresses/Enchantresses - as these are a good match for the sort of Undead that you don't want to face in melee even with holy water (e.g. Spectres).
* '''Rangers/Avengers''': Some consider these "compromise" units an undesirable promotion for Archers, seeing how Elvish Marksmen are more deadly with the Marksmanship capability increasing their changes to hit. However, Orcs will likely go after your warriors more than your archers; and you'll probably have enough Marksmen/Sharpshooters; and last but not least - Rangers' camouflage evens things up by allowing you to retreat more safely, to lure units into an ambush or to circumnavigate them.

==== Delfador's "career path" ====

Perhaps the most important long run strategy in this campaign is to get Delfador to Mage Commander (i.e. Great Mage, i.e. Level 3) early, and if you're on Hard - making sure he's near reaching Mage Magister (i.e. Arch Mage, i.e. Level 4) by the end of the [[#Army participation by scenario|Loyalist levels]]. Delfador has to fight a certain scenario (''Houses of the Dead'') essentially on his own, and it's quite difficult unless he is at or near level 4 by then; the free heal from the level-up would be useful during that level.

==Walkthrough==

You should 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. You can find these [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=25554 here]. Feedback is useful as it helps the developers improve the campaign in future versions; and the posts by other players may contain advice or pointers beyond those in this walkthrough.

===Overture===

Just an introduction - sit back and enjoy the show.

===This Valley Belongs to Me===
* Objective: Defeat Grogor-Tuk, the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, Methor.

This one is tricky for a first scenario, so play patiently. The enemy has a lot of gold and sends a steady stream of units your way for the first day. In the South-center is the easy bit - defend the river. Use your mage of light here to back up a few Horsemen and/or Spearmen to fend off the attackers.

The tricky bit is to the north - wolf riders cross the river to the north and come down through the woods. Some Spearmen and mages in the woods works here, and there's a village in the woods to the north to anchor your defense on. Wolf riders don't benefit as much as your units do on the woodland tiles. Aim to give plenty of XP to at least one mage, so you can level him up here or early at the next level.

[Mal Shubertal]
It is possible to finish a bit earlier by splitting your forces. Send horsemen north and south to claim the villages, and your mage of light with a mage and some spearman across the river. The enemy will also split up, with many fording the river to attack delfador, who will keep recruiting mages to defend the castle tiles and pick them off as they cross. If the AI sends just one wolf rider against the northern horseman, wait until daylight, lure him into the open, and charge. You may need to send another horseman to help him out. Then, in control of all villages, everyone converges on the enemy leader.

===The Road to Weldyn===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, a Bowman, two Horsemen.

You want quite a few horsemen here; it's a good opportunity to get lots of horsemen on your recall list (they are cheaper to recall than recruit later on). There are enough villages to fund recruiting or recalling 9 units and still have positive income throughout. You want at least half of your units to be horsemen: if you do the enemy will have lots of archers who are easy prey in these open fields. You start with an archer and gain the ability to recruit more here. Often you can avoid fighting in the first night altogether, strike hard during the second day and the scenario is already won.

This level is dead-easy to win because the enemy has a small keep, so his forces arrive spread out and not supporting each other. Use the day/night cycle: At night just fall back and, particularly on the first night, use the line of woods and castle tiles just west of your start. Your Horsemen can ride out, take villages, and make it back to fight at dawn on day 2. At daytime, crush them with the Horsemen and the Mages. You want to level up Mages to White Mages and Horsemen to Knights, as per the [[#Campaign_Strategy]].

Once you have broken the enemy army, take the remaining villages and milk the remaining enemy forces for XP - the early finish bonus is only +15/turn, and you should be able to get +14/turn or even +15/turn while keeping the leader alive to recruit and occasionally take a jab at your troops.

===Leollyn===
* Objective: Defeat Hagha-Tan.
* Lose if: Delfador or Leollyn die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, two Bowmen (which will be recalled if you have any in your list, or fresh recruits otherwise).

You can usually ignore the ally; the enemy sends a few units down that way, but the L3 mage and his L2 mage recruits are well able to handle them.

You want to recall at least one and preferably two White Mages (there will be lots of assassins), and a Horseman near leveling up. The rest of your recruit should be a mix of Bowmen and Spearmen, including one or two level 2 ones. March up to the ford to the north-west and build a defensive position for the night; keep the front line together with as few units as you can, as most will end up poisoned each turn; cycle them out and replace with others.

Once day breaks, hopefully you have enough decent units left to mop up the enemy's first wave; your horseman is ideal to pick off any strong enemy units standing in the water. When you handled most wolves, red mages (Delfador and other) are good front-line units against assassins and archers as they won't use their ranged attack against them.

Hopefully you can push over the river by afternoon on the second day. If you've managed that, there are probably still some Archers, Assassin and/or Wolf Riders closing in on you; instead of focusing on clearing all of them, try to lure out the enemy leader by putting units in his range of movement. You want to finish this one early, turn 10-12, to get a big enough bonus for the next scenario, as it seems impossible with minimum starting gold.

===Council in Weldyn===

Just story.

===Swamps of Illuven===
* Objective: Move Delfador to the signpost in the northeast.
* Lose if: Delfador or Lionel die or turns run out.
* Turns: 28.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.
* Other
** You can recruit Cavalryman and Heavy Infantryman units now.
** There is a chest with 100 gold in the rogue's keep if you refuse to pay him.

You will be approached by bandits, demanding a protection charge. The charge is always 80% of whatever gold you have, and gets rid of Garrath, the North-Western leader (the one *not* in the way of getting to the signpost). The North-Eastern enemy leader (Harold, the one blocking the signpost) gets a small gold bonus if you make the deal. You are thus giving away 80% of your gold to get rid of around 40% of the enemy's gold: Your business sense (if they teach that in magic school) should be telling you to refuse to pay. If you're still not convinced: Garrath is hiding his savings from his extortion career (or just regular banditry) in a treasure chest, in his keep in the North-West. If you take him on, not only will *you* not be paying *him* - *he* will end up paying *you*. Well, sort off.

On Easy difficulty, the deal is even worse, as the net effect is only about -25% of the enemy gold.

Finally, if you employ in-game logic - paying Garrath does not improve your security one bit: He's still a bandit; why would he keep his end of the bargain? Not to mention the fact that he seems to be in league with Harold, the other leader. And there's the moral issue of abetting felons; and a public relations disaster: If it becomes known that you misused large amounts of royal funds while on official crown business in the middle of a war, your career is not very likely to blossom further, shall we say.

Still, you do have both options.

'''Refuse to pay & take them both on:'''

If you don't pay the charge, you get to recruit a big army, get more XP, and finish quicker. Both leaders' forces tend to scatter out, fail to support each other well enough, and not really follow your own forces' movements too well. One strategy is to move your forces into the central island and holding it against the NE leader's push - while yourself sending off a force to press North-West towards Garrath and his treasure chest. Another approach (at least on Medium difficulty) is to have your force targeting Garrath just press Northwards right from your own keep in the South-West. You'll pay for this with more pressure on the central island, but reach Garrath faster, easily dispatching him - as he'll typically only have money for a single round of recruitment to help defend himself, and his other troops may not make it back in time.

A balanced force for this option would consist of couple of Horsemen (recall them, don't pay the extra 3 gold for nothing), two White Mages (you _have_ leveled them up already, right?), a couple of other Level-2's - Knights perhaps, a couple of L11 Mages (which are pretty good against Footpads and Poachers, as they ignore their high defense ratings), and the rest - Spearmen as fodder to form your defensive line. On Middle difficult you might even skip one of the L1 Mages. It is vital to use Lionel's L3 leadership to help your L1 units fight better.

'''Pay up like a boss:'''

The level is playable paying the charge if you are coming in with ~250 gold or more. Although it gives the AI a big lead in gold, you have halved the recruit rate for the AIs and ensured that they are all on the far side of the level; the AI's forces don't concentrate so well and your small force can evade them at night. You may take this approach if you prefer a challenging small-army scouting battle rather than a big army battle. Alternatively, you can win by starting with as little as two raw-recruit Spearman and a recalled Horseman, if you take some villages so that you can recall some more units later.

===Night in the Swamp===
* Objective: Survive until daybreak.
* Lose if: Delfador or Lionel die.
* Turns: 13.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.
* Other: This scenario doesn't follow the usual day/night cycle.

This is a very small level - four villages within a turn's reach from your keep, and magical Skeleton generator stones a bit further away; and you have nowhere else to go other than that. You'll have 1 generator stone on Easy and 2 on Medium. On Easy or Medium, each turn the stone generates an enemy unit - either a Skeleton or a Skeleton Archer. The generated unit does not act immediately - just like a unit recalled or recruited at a keep. There are 2 stones on easy & medium, and hard has 3.

As the scenario name suggests, it occurs over a single night, stretched onto 13 turns. The first turn is Dusk, the last turn is Dawn, and all other turns are night-time - so the Skeletons have the Chaotic advantage over you.

You can put a generator out of action by landing any Mage or Paladin on it - and if you take out all generators you'll win and get an early finish bonus. It's probably a better idea, though, to use this level as a training ground to level-up some units.

Recruit considering the [[#Campaign Strategy]]; specifically, this is an opportunity to recruit some Heavy Infantry, which will not be available later, to get some Mages more experience, and maybe also advance a Knight further towards leveling up into a Paladin.

===Ur-Thorodor===
* Objective: Move Delfador to Ur-Thorodor's castle.
* Lose if: Delfador, Lionel or Ur-Thorodor die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Delfador, Lionel.

This is another small level area-wise - but not nearly as easy as the previous nightly interlude... you need to cross over from the South side of the main river to a small river-island to your North-East, populated by Woses. The enemy leader is an Ancient Wose (Ur-Thorodor), who rejects your attempts to parley because of grudges against past human transgressions. In addition to his grudge, he also has a tidy sum of gold to recruit Woses and Wose Shamans, who will do their best to block your way, forming a defensive line. They also have the benefit of forest or fortification hexes.

You, on the other hand, will be moving across shallow water and sand, at an uneven pace and with a limited number of units. This, while being hounded by another kind of recruits - Gryphons. Remember they're extremely mobile and will simply not fail to attack those vulnerable units you failed to surround. You may need to use some fodder units to lure the Gryphons, then blast them with your stronger/ranged-attack units.

Be careful with Lionel and Delfador: While they may not be singled out by the Ur-Thorodor's forces, Delfador must be able to press forward while being able to withstand an attack, and Lionel's leadership is crucial to have an effect on the Woses, with their being highly resistant to piercing and otherwise well-protected. Remember that he affects Red Mages and White Mages - they're still just Level 2's.

On Hard difficulty, a suggested recall could be: A Red Mage (you _have_ leveled a Red Mage, haven't you?), a good damage sink (a Knight will do; if he's close to leveling - that's perfect), a Healer, and perhaps another Mage and a fodder unit. Cross straight away, and don't get bogged down on the other side - blast a hole with your Mages and get Delfador into the castle as soon as you can; you are not likely to win a long fight.

On Easy or Medium you can do about the same, but with a second round of recall (if you have the money) you should be able to subdue Ur-Thorodor's forces and take control of the island, stepping into the castle at your leisure. Note that you're not going to be keeping any money from this scenario, so prolonging the fight only makes sense for leveling units up.

Note that Ur Thorodor only recruits 2 Gryphons, and they are by far the most dangerous enemies on this map, so it's possible to use delfador or a fodder mage as bait to draw one or both of them out in the first few turns, then take it down with your other ranged units. Your white mage can heal your units during the crossing, and you will have an easier time on the other side.

Also note that Ur Thorodor will NEVER attack your units, so it's perfectly safe to stand right next to him as you take out his troops.

===Houses of the Dead===
* Objective: Move Delfador to the signpost.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 64.
* Starting units: Delfador.
* Other: Delfador acquires the Staff of An-Usrukhar, which grants him his 4-hits lightning attack ans boosts his melee attack.

Relax, this isn't a 64-turn long arduous fight. What you have here is one enemy leader - a Death Knight - near the sign post to which you need to get - who churns out a Skeleton every turn or two; and those Skeletons slowly advance in your direction.

This place is rather well-populated with villages - apparently the dead are rather industrious; you want to capture these, since you'll need gold in subsequent scenarios. Each captured village houses some undead - and they are surprisingly friendly and helpful. Funny how they don't act that way back in the real world.

Explore to your North-West first - it's a dead-end, but there's one village in that direction. To your North is an impassable barrier behind some mountains, so next turn back and work around the level anti-clockwise. No need to climb through the mountains: if you stick to the "road" you won't miss anything (but do watch the forks in the road). If you pay attention to what you're told, you'll learn about a secret passage that _will_ make life easier: It is located North of the village where you find a ghost by the name Sythan, on the East side of the map. But this scenario is pretty straightforward either way.

The friends you find will try to help, but usually throw their, uh, existences away against the skeletons quite quickly; at least they serve as a temporary distraction. Any survivors will be available for recall on the next level, one even for free — but that's a huge benefit, since Ghosts cost as much to recruit as to recall (20 Gold) while Ghouls are _more_ expensive to recall than to recruit. On Medium difficult, You do get at least one Shadow, so consider delaying tapping his village (to the West of the road and right below the pass with the cobbled road on which the Skeletons advance. A Shadow and a Ghoul with some XP are very doable on Medium. But, again, don't bend over backwards for it.

When you reach the Death Knight's keep, to the North-West, don't capture his two villages until after you have dealt with him: Additional skeleton guards are waiting in there and will come out if 'prodded'. The guards will ask you to declare whether you serve Iliah-Malal; but they don't really care about your answer.

Be careful about timing your use of the secret passage too quickly; remember you're facing a long line of Skeleton Warriors which, while easily done away with individually, occasionally also hit you, and you could end up dying a sad death at the hand of the n'th weakling - even if you hole up in the village near where you found the staff. This is especially an issue if Delfador is not a Great Mage (Mage Magister) yet. If you make it to the staff by, say, turn 17 you should be ok even with Delfador as an Arch Mage (Mage Commander). And once you've gotten the staff you have to attack the Death Knight right away, or you'll be awash with Skeletons.

When you're done with the action here, get close to the signpost, but don't walk onto its hex until turn 64, as there is no early finish bonus and you want to maximize your income this level.

{{DevFeature1.13|10}} This level is 50 turns and the undead that join you are under your command immediately. The secret passage is bi-directional for all after the first usage. There is now an early finish bonus.

===The Gate Between Worlds===
* Objective: Defeat Iliah-Malal.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador, and a surviving Ghost, Ghoul or advancement from the previous scenario.

You get to recruit Ghosts and Ghouls here, your allies of the last level. Money should be no problem.

Players have used two options with success:

'''Option 1: attack with Ghouls.''' Backed by Delfador's leadership, ghouls can actually do a lot of damage. But he can't be everywhere, and anyway the ghouls will probably perish quickly. That's alright, as long as you manage to poison most enemies. There's not enough villages for your opponent to heal his army, and if you give battle on your shore of the swamp they won't get anywhere quickly. Ghosts can then finish the poisoned enemies (if they're not busy with distant Bats and such). On Medium difficulty, a castle of Ghouls, a half-castle of Ghosts and recalling the Shadow from Houses of the Dead is enough to comfortably defeat Iliah-Malal; you might be able to do it with less.

'''Option 2: Leader assassination with Ghosts.''' Send 8 Ghosts (on Hard difficulty) around the flanks of the enemy to converge on Iliah-Malal, surrounding and killing him, albeit slowly. Send a Ghoul-heavy force supported by Delfador and a couple of Ghosts up the middle to distract the majority of the enemy forces. Delfador should be cautious; he is only there to distract, and the Dark Adepts and Thugs pack enough of a punch to kill him if you are not careful.

It is worth noting that if you finish this scenario with any Undead veterans, you will be able to recall them one more time in the future - in fact, you will have to recall at least one. However, it's unlikely they will be incredibly useful to you then, so just focus on leveling one of them - preferably a Ghost, and preferably to L3 if you can.
. If you want to use them, then it's a good idea to level up some of your ghosts here and make sure that you end up with at least a couple of Shadows. Otherwise, make sure to get rid of all your undead units before finishing this scenario, or they will be more of a hindrance to you than anything else. See [[#Showdown_in_the_Northern_Swamp|Showdown in the Northern Swamp]] for the implications of finishing this scenario with or without any undead remaining. {{DevFeature1.13|11}} There is no longer any point to getting rid of your undead at the end of this scenario, see [[#Showdown_in_the_Northern_Swamp|Showdown in the Northern Swamp]].

===Wasteland===
* Objectives:
*# Find shelter.
*# Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Delfador.

Straightforward scenario, albeit the enemy can recruit L2 units and you have only raw Elven recruits. The walk north to the Elven castle is simple. Most of the fighting takes place in the woods that you can see to your west, so elven archers are good here. Also grab a scout to steal all your ally's villages, otherwise she will keep recruiting L2 units and stealing your XP. On Hard, consider recruiting 1 or 2 shamans, as a sorceress would come in handy early in the next level (on Medium this is less of a priority.)

Although Chantal's units do have a tendency to "steal" xp, you will be able to recall them yourself in the next scenario, so you can use shamans and other units to soften up the enemy and intentionally "give" the kills to her units, so as to come into the next scenario with several units at or near level 3.

===Terror at the Ford of Parthyn===
* Objectives:
*# Find out what is happening at the Ford.
*# Defeat all enemy leaders (orc and undead).
* Lose if: Delfador or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 36/36/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Chantal.

In this scenario you will join forces with a number of troops making a stand near the ford of Parthyn. Orcs will come from the west, and an army of undeads will come from the east—the latter receiving reinforcements around turn 7. Your main strategic decision will be whether to form an army on your initial keep to confront one of your enemies (possibly the orcs) from the very beginning, or move quickly to the south and organize the combined forces of your current veterans plus all the units that will join you in this scenario, to then work from there.

'''Conservative strategy:'''
As soon as you spot the ford guard, it will come under your control. Using a scout, you can get there in time for the humans to man the walls. Actually, the walls are one huge keep, so Delfador can recruit directly into the fortifications and fill the gaps. You should be able to fend off the first wave of attackers, the more so as the baddies will conveniently arrive at daybreak. The mages, on the other hand, won't get across the river until the fun is mostly over; recall your own healers. You should leave two mages on the other shore anyway, in order to deal with any ghosts that try to get at the villages down there.

'''Play-it-safe strategy:'''
Abandon the northern shore; run to the south castle (without recruiting at all) and play defensive through the first wave of enemies. The orcs and undead are hostile to each other, so this gives them ample opportunity to fight amongst themselves. ''Needs investigation and comments.'' {{DevFeature1.13|6}} The orcs and undead are no longer hostile to each other.

[Hipparchos] This is definitely the easiest way to play it. Run Delfador and Chantal straight south and pick up the north castle defenders as a bodyguard as you head for the south castle. You'll get a few hits as you retreat but nothing serious, as long as you keep Chantal well guarded. Use Niktor to wake the mages and put the White Mages initially in the center of the castle to heal the wall defenders (but be prepared to move them to the walls). When Delfador gets to the south castle, have him recall any L2 and L3 elves to fill any remaining wall spots. Don't over-recruit because you won't have anywhere to put them. I also put a few strong units and a mage in the villages just southeast of the castle to deal with the ambushers who will pop up there.

Basically what happens is the orcs from the west and undead from the east will meet at the north castle and have a massive battle, which you cannot see because of the fog of war. The undead will win this battle and send the surviving remnants of their army straggling across the ford, 2 or 3 per turn, where they will be decimated by your mages on the walls. The draugs look dangerous but are no match for an arch mage. Patience is the key: just sit tight and kill what comes across.

By dawn on turn 16 the undead stragglers will be done for. Send your army back across the ford and split it into two groups, one northwest to kill the orcish warlord (who might be beset by a spectre) and one east to kill the Death Knight. You will pick up the village defenders when you re-take the north castle. Make sure you put at least one red mage and one white mage with each group, and you're home free. I played this strategy and didn't lose a single unit.

'''Aggressive strategy:'''
Recruit/Recall an army and send them west to deal with the orcs; only one scout should head south and find the guards, which should then retreat to the sourthern castle. The downside is that this approach will lead to more night-time engagements; dont try this if you don't have several lvl-2 elves to begin with. The benefit is that you'll get more experience on the units that need it most: your elves and the human mages. The latter will stay with your host, and often be automatically recalled for free.

You will find that some villages in the north of the map contain ambushes. The burned village near your inital keep, plus three of the villages (including the burned one) near the ford contain allied troops; releasing these early would be a big help to defending the south castle.

===The Return of Trouble===
* Objective: Defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Kalenz dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/27/30 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz.

This level has a no-breathing-room start - the east enemy is almost on top of you and has as much gold as you (at Great Mage). The mountains and starting camp are poor terrain for you as that terrain is better for orcs; cross your forces into the woods opposite where you have advantages in defence and movement.

Although you can recruit "raw" L2 units here, don't feel you need to recruit too many of them; the large number of enemy L2s attacking means that it is hard to keep units in the front line alive, and so recruiting good numbers of units will matter: A few Druids and Captains, supporting L1 units as the bulk of the army, should work well. Specifically, on Medium difficulty 2 Druids and 2 Captains should suffice if you place and move them carefully

Note that Orcish Grunts and Warriors are less likely to attack a Captain than Archers or Fighters. (In fact, on Medium, Orc forces seem to really focus on the Fighters first with all their units.) So you can have Captains in rotation on the front line - as they will still inspire their adjacent units, so you're not losing their effect this way (in fact, you might get 3 effective-L2 units on the line instead of 2 in some cases).

In addition to your own forces, you have an Elvish ally to the South in this scenario. Unfortunately, he spends his forces quickly and unwisely, so he will die out early (on Hard) or possibly by mid-Scenario (on Medium and with a bit of luck); remember you aren't required to keep him alive, so don't worry about him. He might be outlasted by a unit or two of his, which may even end up tailing your own forces and picking out the occasional enemy.

At lower skill levels, aim to knock out the east enemy early. His right flank is open but rests on the mountains, which is bad terrain for you - if you try to go around that way he can easily shift forces to meet you. Instead you can approach close to his keep through the woods; this, his left flank, usually isn't open but the AI isn't smart about keeping a proper line here. On Hard, you may not have the forces to spare to take him out (if you can even make an opening - he has plenty of units); instead slow him with a shaman when he pops out of his keep to attack and block him from getting back to recruit.

Note: With the right recruits (e.g. quick Marksmen) it is possible to snipe the east leader on the second turn (but rather difficult and low probability).

You should aim to maintain a line along the north part of the woods; the main line is down the West side of the woods for a few tiles and this is where Kalenz should be; and a line back East inside the wood for your left flank, to catch enemy units coming at you through the woods. Hold out in the woods for two days and the onslaught will eventually subside; you will probably have heavy losses, but your survivors should all be L3 or close to it (on Hard) or mostly L2 (on Medium) by that time. Now you go on the offensive...

At this point you might have enough gold to recruit again; do ''not'' be tempted to send Kalenz to one of the keeps to recruit. You'll miss him on the battlefield and by the time he recruits, and the new recruit(s) make it to combat - either you won't need them anyway, or you will be so far behind you won't make it by the turn limit anyway. Save your money.

You're attacking the South-Western leader first: Just across the stream, the forest leads up to his keep; and you've probably dealt with most of his units - since they're pretty helpless against you in the forest. Focus on taking him out ASAP, even at the price of exposing your units to damage from of his leftover units. This focus is especially important if you're past turn 20, since you can't spare the time to play it safe.

[Mal Shubertal] On hard, it is still possible to rush the eastern enemy immediately. You spam out archers and fighters supported by a few druids and captains, and engage the orcs on open terrain between your keeps, where neither has an advantage. Keep solid lines, rotate out damaged units, use your healers, and after a few turns your ally's troops will rush up from the south, and the orc line will collapse as they fight on 2 fronts. In the meantime, your ally also sends out random doomed units to distract the other orcs. After you mop up the eastern orcs and whatever orcish reinforcements came up behind you, return to the woods and proceed as usual. This faster engagement saves more of your ally's units, and they continue to be useful fodder/distractions throughout the level.

===Shadows in the Dark===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kalenz, Chantal or Delfador (in the second part) die or turns run out.
* Turns: 32/28/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz, Chantal.

You start with your Kalenz force, and get back your Delfador force during the scenario (he arrives in the SE). There are two necromancer leaders in this scenario, located west and south, and one Death Knight to the east, this last one being the most dangerous enemy of all—he even receives reinforcements on turns 7 and 11.

You'll have three holy water vials near your keep to hand out to your troops: Note they only affect your ''melee'' attack, so giving them to archers is a waste; you'll want Heroes or Rangers taking them (or Avengers/Champions, but then you'd be wasting experience). Don't bother having Druids or Kalenz himself take holy water - they have magical attacks with a good chance to hit and impact or arcane damage type anyway.

As for recruitment - it's likely you don't have more than the starting gold, so (on Medium) you'll probably just be recalling 5 units. Facing Undead, go for Champions and Avengers if you have them; otherwise, if you have Rangers and Heros - recall some of them and a Marshal, or a Captain close to leveling. It's a good idea to recall another Druid, so the Druids can heal each other; but perhaps another Champion or Avenger instead is also a reasonable choice. A Sorceress may also be relevant, although a bit of a gamble.

Alternative recruitment advice (for Hard difficulty): Because you are facing some L1 and L2 troops here, recruit- a mix of L1 and L2 units; they should advance all the way to L3 during the level. Recall any Elven Sorcerers or Shaman with good XP, and Shamans are good extra recruits at the start, again to level to Sorcerers.

After recruiting and picking up the holy water, gather your forces and head West, to take out the first Necromancer. The forest and water slows up most of the undead and so means that the undead converging from the other two camps won't catch you before you overwhelm and eliminate the enemy leader that you target.
Once you have knocked out the NW leader, your elven force should head south to take out the south leader, and Delfador's force, arriving on turn 12, can head north to take out the NE leader. By this point, keep your units in tight groups and don't let important units wander off by themselves at night, where Nightgaunts can surprise them.

Lots of the undead forces will spend the whole level floundering around in the north woods around your start camp, chasing but never catching you up. Don't get duped into taking them out - even if you've isolated one or two of them; you have other priorities.

===Save the King===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kalenz, Delfador, Chantal or Garard II die or turns run out.
* Turns: 35/30/25 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal, a group of Delfador's companions having survived the previous scenario.

You'll need to push aggressively to distract Zorlan and get help to Garard by turn 10 when the two southern orcs' reinforcements start hitting him or he's not long for the world. You get a big automatic recall of your white mages, Chantal, and a shock trooper and Kalenz; you can also recruit some new elves as it gives you some units to give XP to, fodder to face the trolls with, and they are handy to take out the SW enemy faster. An elvish sylph if you have one will be especially useful for its ability to fly.

Zorlan should be simple; some of his units tangle with Garard's units in the river, so you should meet little opposition getting to his camp - which can be easily crushed with your mages. The onset of trolls at around first watch is the only dangerous moment, but once they have attacked, your mages and high level units can wipe them out mostly in one round. Then send Delfador and a couple of other units to take out the troll leader, and send some elves south with Kalenz to help Garard clean up the orcs.

Try not to delay the initial battle to the north too much, because around turns 8-10, the two southern orc leaders will be ready to send a second wave of enemies.

===Dark Sky Over Weldyn===

Just story.

===A New Ally===
* Objective: Defeat Gruv-Malal.
* Lose if: Delfador, Ulrek or Relgorn die or turns run out.
* Turns: 32.
* Starting units: Delfador.

This is a relatively easy scenario. You regain command of your original human army plus the rest of the troops from the Ford or Parthyn. Recruit and recall some mages and maybe one or two knights/paladins. You may also get a few L1s and you should be able to level up a couple by the end of the level.

'''Conservative strategy''': Move to Ulrek's keep - provided you have some units there by second watch, there is no danger of him being defeated. The Dwarves wear down the undead and your Mages get to clean up and take the XP.

'''Assertive strategy''': On Easy or Medium, don't both with Ulrek's keep - just keep your eyes on the prize. If you recall enough muscle to be able to reach Gruv-Malal before night has fallen. A Paladin, a Knight, a Mage of Light, a quick Red Mage / Arch Mage and more of these to the extent you have the money - should do the trick. Pressing North immediately (Delfador leaves the keep at Dawn), your horseback units should land their first hit(s) on Gruv-Malal by Dusk, preferably backed by the illumination of a Mage of Light. The undead should be busy with the Dwarves to the west, and will not have time to fall back to their keep before, say, Second Watch at the earliest - while you'll finish the Necromancer off by First Watch. On Hard this may be more difficult but should still be possible.

The early finish bonus for this scenario is very important for making the next one manageable, so consider trying out the more aggressive approach.

===The Portal of Doom===
* Objectives:
*# Guide Delfador to the portal to close it.
*# Move all your units into the mine entrance where you came from, moving Delfador last.
* Lose if: Delfador dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 40.
* Starting units: Delfador, Ulrek.

This is a small, narrow map where you need to move west-to-east and then back again. There are two enemy leaders on your way, recruiting skeletons and ghosts, and Illah-Malal appears with a strong body of undead troops on turn 9. There are two basic ways to approach this scenario:

''Option 1'': Going through the ice. Your main force should be dwarf warriors, with a few white mages or quick mages to weaken enemy units and to deal with nightgaunts and the like. Heavy-infantry are too slow on the ice. A knight (even better, a paladin) would also be useful here, due to the speed and for finishing off enemy units when the dwarves can't reach. Don't rush into the ice from the start, unless you're okay with heavy losses. Instead, defend at your camp to defeat the first wave of undead, then march over the ice to close the portal, letting the northern undead come to you. Don't worry too much about the villages to the north and focus on moving Delfador quickly to the portal. On the way back, Delfador can stay a little behind, while the rest of your army goes through the tunnel. After all, Delfador has to be the last one to exit through the mines.

''Option 2'': Going north, then south-east. The main goal is to get a strong army heavy on mages, shock troopers and paladins on the northern castle before Illah-Malal appears. The enemies from the east will be slow to catch up with you, except for ghosts which shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once you deal with the lich and his bodyguards—fortunately they arrive during the day—, you can move south, close the portal and go back to your base. With a little luck, this strategy can be used to beat the scenario quickly and with minimal losses.

Regardless of the way you play it, it's very likely that you will finish with very little or negative gold, but it won't matter much. From this point until the end of the campaign, gold carryovers will have little or no impact and it is normal that you will start these last scenarios with the minimum amount of gold each time.

[Mal Shubertal: On hard in 1.12.2, I recruited a keep of only steelclads and one white Mage, then ran everyone directly into the hills on the southern map edge , ignoring ghosts and bats. Dwarves in hills against skeletons in snow is an excellent matchup, and the hills also help everyone survive Nightgaunt and Spectre attacks. revolution_peasent: Mopped all of my enemies up with this strategy - no losses - on Medium. I actually ended up being pushed into the mountains, and everyone was one me, so by the time Delfador got the portal all the Undead except the second coming of Iliah-Malal had already come and gone, i.e. died, so the way back was just a stroll with a brief dispatching of Lich.] {{DevFeature1.13|10}} Iliah-Malal no longer disappears temporarily when killed, he heals immediately and can't be defeated in this scenario.

===Showdown in the Northern Swamp===
* Objective: Defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Delfador, Lionel or Kalenz die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/28/32 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, {{DevFeature1.13|10}} Ulrek.
* Other: If you have any undead veterans from [[#The_Gate_Between_Worlds|The Gate Between Worlds]], then one of them has to give the final strike to Illah-Malal, otherwise Delfador has to do it. {{DevFeature1.13|11}} Either your undead veterans or Delfador can give the killing blow to Illah-Malal.

There is a few holy water flasks at the start, but you may not have many fast, high-level units with powerful melee attacks to assign them. You get control of Lionel on turn 3 (plus a castle of L1 recruits), so you don't have to take villages off of him. It is recommended to save one of the holy water flasks for Lionel, and give the other two to Ulrek and Kalenz, or some other loyalist veteran (perhaps a Halberdier or a Knight). Your remaining recalls could be 2 white mages, a steelclad and a paladin (or a knight close to leveling - as it is an open level).

A good strategy here is to strike straight north and seize the south end of the bridge. The NE necromancer recruits dark adepts, and you will have to run a long way during the night to outrun them if you don't bottle them up at the crossing. Once you hold the bridge, a good melee unit and a white mage, plus some of the ally's archers, can easily hold off the NE forces. The NW enemies attack during the first night, and the main tricky bit is dealing with the nightgaunts and spectres here - just keep L2 and L3 melee units in the front line to meet the attack, then clean up with your mages. The SW enemy's units are slower and Lionel's recruits can help in that front, holding them in the western bridge. By keeping those two forces under control on the river crossings, you should have little difficulty crushing each in turn.

If you have undead units, one of them will have to finish the lich. Protect your undead units well and reserve them for that final hit. Use Delfador or other mages or holy water fighters to weaken the lich, but be careful not to accidentally reduce his hitpoints to zero with the wrong unit, or the lich will be fully healed and stronger than before.

===Prince of Wesnoth===
* Objective: Defeat Eldred.
* Lose if: Kalenz or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/22/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* Starting units: Kalenz, Chantal.

'''Strategies for the rich:'''

The central woods seem like a tempting spot to fight from, but if you have a decent amount of gold, you may struggle to maximize your recruitment and still get all your units across into it: The Southern enemy camp is not far from your line of advance into the forest, and he'll recruit fast Cavalrymen that will quickly catch up with you. However, if you have quick units that can cross the river fast enough, fighting from the central forest will be very advantageous.

Alternatively, abandon all your villages and the rest of the level to the enemy and just defend the SW corner. Elves along the edge of the woods should be able to hold out and wear through the enemy. The number of L2 units, and the Mages that the enemy recruit, mean that you will take casualties; but you will be killing a lot and scoring plenty of XP. A general mix of level 1, 2 and 3 units works well here; use the best units to hold tiles that can be attacked from several directions, which will deter the enemy from attacking them.

Once the initial wave of enemies is spent, mop up and proceed swiftly through the central woods and jump into an enemy camp to kill the general. You don't have to have much gold for the next level, but will want high-level units, so take time here to level some up if you don't have enough.

'''Strategy for the poor (but experienced):'''

The following has been reported to work on Medium and on Hard with only the starting gold (100).

Recall a second Shyde (in addition to Chantal) and 4 Avengers/Rangers. These will be invisible in those woods, a trait which will sure comes in handy in this scenario seeing how outnumbered you are... you did remember to level enough of those up, right? ... you will likely be able to make another recall before your enemies flag enough villages; you could go for another Ranger/Avenger, a Sylph if you have one, a Sharpshooter, or even an Outrider which would be able to move from the central to the Western woods or back in a single turn.

Kalenz, either one or two Shydes, and the extra unit if you got one, stay in the Western woods. Start moving them up to the Northern part of the woods in the beginning and then back down South. Basically their job is not to get killed. ;-) So only attack single enemies and retreat whenever you are under serious attack.

The Avengers cross over into the central woods right away. Whenever only one or at most two enemy units are in reach, they attack or flag villages to become visible and lure individual enemy units into the woods. This also distracts most of the main enemy forces and stops them from attacking Kalenz.

Doing this for about 10 to 15 turns (on Hard; less on Medium) wears down the enemy forces quite easily. When only a few enemy units are left, move your 4 Avenger/Ranger units into the keep of either one enemy leader. You should be able to finish him off within a single turn or two turns at the most.

===Clash at the Manor===
* Objectives:
*# Defeat Pilafman.
*# Find the secret door.
* Lose if: Delfador, Kalenz or Chantal die, an enemy reaches a signpost or turns run out.
* Turns: 40/32/30 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal.

As there are two roads and two signposts, you need to watch both routes. You can break your forces in two or just send one unit to keep an eye on the other route. If you wait at the edge of your forest, almost all the forces should come to you (Dragoons and Cavalry will try to escape instead), and you'll have the terrain advantage. Just be ready to counter anyone trying to make a run for it. You start with Chantal, and a second druid or shyde would be a good idea so that you have a healer and someone to entangle any royal guards. The rest of your recalls should be top melee units (e.g., champions and avengers.) After the assault is broken, the mopping up operation is just to kill the sitting duck leader.

The second phase of the level is a search; just explore the cave walls right below the northernmost encampment tile.

[Thrash: I don't think just sending a single unit to cover one route will work. If enemy sends a couple riders that way, you won't catch them.]

===Face of the Enemy===
* Objective: Defeat Sagus.
* Lose if: Delfador, Kalenz or Chantal die or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/22/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Delfador, Kalenz, Chantal.

Last level, so you don't have to worry about losses or leveling up; recall some sorcerers and a decent melee unit to take the holy water. The enemy recruits few units, so you don't have to cover all the passageways; just advance as a group by the shortest route to the keep, and keep side passages covered (the enemy sometimes uses nightgaunts to ambush and slip in through any gaps). Beware of putting Delfador in front, as the enemy can use Banebows like walking corpses for suicide attacks against him. {{DevFeature1.13|10}} When you spot the enemy leader, he will unleash a second wave of recruits on the following turn.

This scenario is fairly straightforward, so just play conservatively and coast to victory.

== See Also ==

* [[Mainline Campaigns]]

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheEasternInvasion

2022-09-12T20:09:41Z

Revolting peasant: Was missing some emboldenings

:''This walkthrough is in the process of being updated for version 1.16+''

In this campaign you play the role of Gweddry, a human Sergeant who has the responsibility of dealing with a powerful Lich who wants to destroy Wesnoth. As a sargeant, Gweddry has the potential to level up into a Grand Marshal, a level 4 unit that can empower his troops significantly through Leadership. You start with the support of a White Mage named Dacyn, who will be by your side throughout the campaign.

As any other walkthrough, this document describes plot details that can be considered spoilers. This is particularly true for this campaign, since it contains quite a few surprises along the way, and at some points you will have to make choices that will have important repercussions for later scenarios. You may wish to read ahead to see what you will be facing. In particular, you might wish to read about the scenarios ''Captured'', ''Evacuation'' and ''Weldyn Under Attack'' in order to plan ahead.

You will encounter different types of enemies, mostly undead units (especially towards the beginning and the end of the campaign), as well as orcs and trolls. Mages and Heavy Infantrymen will provide the backbone of your army. You'll probably want to level up at least one extra Mage of Light (other than Dacyn), and a few Arch/Silver Mages and Iron Maulers. You can also recruit Spearman, Cavalryman and Horseman units (the latter a few scenarios into the campaign), but their importance is perhaps less pronounced in many of the scenarios.

You will encounter a few tough challenges along the way, so be prepared, and be careful assigning experience to your units, especially during the first few scenarios.

=== The Outpost ===

* '''Objectives''': Defend the outpost, then move Gweddry to the trapdoor.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 16.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.

The best approach is to recruit heavy infantry and optionally a mage. Build a line using the heavy infantry, using the castle hexes and other hexes to the Northwest. When and if you have more money available later, purchase additional heavy infantry.

Just hold out for the enemy attack during night time; only rotate wounded units if possible, but do not counter-attack. At dawn, start your counter-attack without worrying too much about keeping the original line intact. Instead, try to level 2 or 3 HI to Shock Troopers. The enemy's forces quickly will cease to be any danger to yours.

On turn 7, Dacyn will mysteriously disappear, and you'll briefly meet Mal-Ravanal, the leader of the undead. On turn 10 (easy) or 12 (hard) the white mage returns and points out a trap door to exit the level. (Note that this trap door will be near your starting fort, so you'll either need to hold the fort or be prepared to get back to it by turn 16).

Use the remaining turns to level as many units as possible and only move your leader onto the trap door in the very last turn. You may be able to finish with a couple of shock troopers, another white mage, or a level 2 Gweddry.

On challenging, ignore most the above advice. The goal is to fall back and defend the Western bank of the river up through turn 9, then counterattack across the bridge on turns 10-11 so Gweddry is in position to immediately exit on turn 12. Recruit 4 HI and 2 magi on turn one, then keep recruiting more HI as often as you can up through turn 5. Use the magi and Dacyn to hold the central villages from bats while Gweddry recruits and your HI take up their positions on the far river bank. As darkness falls, you should abandon the villages and get your final units across the river as well. Most of the undead won't be able to reach your positions until dawn, when you'll have the advantage of daylight to slaughter anything crossing the river. This should destroy most of the first wave. By dusk, start preparing your forces to mass on the bridge, where they want to punch through any undead stragglers and reoccupy the city on turn 11 for a final last stand. As soon as Dacyn reappears on turn 12, get Gweddry to the trap door before your survivors are overwhelmed.

=== Escape Tunnel ===
* '''Objectives''': Move Gweddry to the end of the tunnel.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 26/24/22 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Permanent holy amulet in the North.
** Treasure of 200 gold in Southeast (50 in 1.13).

This scenario occurs in a small cave occupied by trolls and dwarves. You start on the far West of the map, and your mission is to take Gweddry all the way to the opposite side.

Take some time to choose your supporting units, depending on which ones you want to level up the quickest. Heavy Infantry are excellent frontline units, but the downside is that they move very slowly in caves. However, since Gweddry is the only unit that ''has'' to get quickly to the far West, this might not be a big problem. You can also go for a group of mostly Mages, and a couple of Spearmen. One keep of units in total should easily be enough—there's also a convenient keep with one castle tile to recruit additional units in the middle of the map, in case you need it during the battle.

The map is quite small. A little West from your keep the path is forked into three directions: North is a small area with a holy amulet, West is the troll keep and South is the dwarven keep. These two last paths will merge again to the West, leading to the exit, where Gweddry needs to go. The dwarves are friendly and will help you fight your enemies.

Given that you will probably be using inexperienced units, it's perhaps best to avoid going directly into the troll keep, but you can hold your position near the crossroads, on the Southern path, where you can easily witness a lot of action between trolls, dwarves and undead (who are following you and show up on turn 6 from the West). The different armies will all fight each other. If you want to take a defensive stance, after having moved all your units South position one strong unit (a spearman or HI) at the end of the path leading South (so only one unit a turn can attack him) and position the White Mage right behind him to heal it every turn. These two units should easily keep of the enemies following you until the end of the scenario.

The holy amulet to the North is a very useful item, which will make all the attacks (melee and ranged) of the unit that picks it up of type ''arcane''—and, unlike in other campaigns, this holy amulet is permanent! Send a quick Spearman there or Gweddry. Giving Gweddry the holy amulet (instead of a Spearman) allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the scenario ''The Crossing'', where you can get an easy first turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle.

Move Gweddry to the Northeast escorted by other units, to help him fight individual trolls if necessary, but before moving him to the end of the cave (which ends the level) send one of your units to the cave South–West, past the funny signpost warning you of the troll hole. In the cave you will discover a chest containing a troll treasure amounting to 200 gold (or 50 in 1.13).

[Thrash: Alternately, I used predominately Heavy Infantry on this level. I found (on medium) they were tough enough to hold the central cave and pretty much beat the trolls into submission long enough for Gweddry to run North to the the amulet and then cover his retreat South, only then recruiting a mage when the troll numbers were lower. With other units, I had problems with the trolls overrunning them and getting Gweddry trapped to the North. Also a heavy infantry in the village by your starting fort will hold off the undead for a long time.]

=== An Unexpected Appearance ===
* '''Objectives''': Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20/18/16 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.
** Both Dacyn and Gweddry never miss when they attack on turn 1.

In this scenario you have to defeat one of the dark sorcerers on the edges of the map. Your next scenario will depend on the enemy you choose to kill. Killing the one to the West (Mal-Skraat) will take you to the ''Elven Alliance'' scenario, while the one to the West (Mal-Kallat) takes you to ''The Undead Border Patrol''.

Going West is more difficult, especially on hard, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a loyal Paladin and several Knights.

Firstly, expel Mal-Tar out of your keep: either shoot him with Dacyn's ranged and Gweddry's melee attacks for a 1-turn kill, or attack using melee only to wound him (Dacyn is likelier to emerge less wounded this way). If you don't kill him the first turn, Mal-Tar recruits 3 soulless then retreats to the nearby village to heal. But that gives you more easy xp to farm... so food for thought.

You will be fighting a mix of skeletons & skeleton archers, along with skeleton riders and soulless (in the West) and vampire bats and ghouls (in the West). So recruiting Heavy Infantry and Magi work well (and recall whomever you gave the amulet to in the previous scenario), plus a single spearman or cavalry to grab villages and/or act as expendable blocker if you can't afford a last HI/mage. Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village to heal ASAP, as he will be the core mobile healer of your army unless you have another white mage.

Magi can generally fend for themselves in towns vs bats, unless the bats arrive in groups.

On easy or medium difficulty the attackers should be no problem, so focus on leveling units with Dacyn positioned at the epicenter of your assault so he can heal the wounded. If you move quickly you should only need to fight the attackers from one leader. Of course you can have some of your units double back to engage the second set.

On hard difficulty going West, the bats will catch up mid-battle and try to snipe your wounded units in the night. On hard heading West, be wary of the skeleton riders catching up from behind and being caught between the two main undead forces. Luckily the mix of bats and the single-path out of the Western swamp means those forces arrive fairly dispersed. Aggressively pressing your attack Westward should take them out in small batches so when the Western forces catch up you won't have to fight too many at once.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Elven Alliance ====
* '''Objectives''': Defeat enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Volas dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24/22/20 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.

The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure. The assassin disappears into the forest, but you won't bump into him, he'll just reappear near the elf leader on turn 6.

Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.

Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.

There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.

Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears, you may ignore it unless you have a unit close-by. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. It is possible to kill the orcish leader by turn 9 for a nice gold bonus.

==== The Undead Border Patrol ====
* '''Objective''': Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. There is a Dark Sorcerer in the Northwest corner and a Lich in the South-West corner. Defeating the Lich (Mal-Telnarad) will give you the chance to go to ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'', a challenging but rewarding scenario, while defeating the sorcerer (Mal-Skraat) is easier, and takes you directly to ''The Northern Outpost''.

If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The terrain is more open and the necromancer has less gold to recruit with than the lich. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance—you may recruit a couple of suicide cavalrymen to distract bats and grab distant towns. One might even get enough XP this way to be worth recalling in later scenarios. Because of the open terrain, it is recommended to use mostly heavy infantry and your holy amulet unit on this level backed up by a few magi. As in most scenarios against undead, white magi are very useful for their arcane attack as well as mobile healers. Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand; this gives you a significant advantage.

If you go East, expect to take some time getting over the river and through the swamp, but the lich can be drawn out of his fortress to fight in the swamp as soon as you come within range. Gweddry can lure enemy units into chasing him by moving Southwest into the mountains, thereby diverting many undead from contesting the river crossing. A small force recruited to defend the fort will keep troops from the NW off of your backside and they'll pick up a good amount of experience in the process, though alternatively Gweddry can lure these too. Finishing early is quite advantageous, as you'll want as much starting gold as possible to improve your chances in the next scenario.

==== Mal-Ravanal's Capital ====
* '''Objective''': Escape from the capital by killing one of the two dark sorcerers.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 26.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** The paladin's location is randomly chosen from among the six prison cells at the start of the scenario.

Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you may skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.

The main reason to get here is to acquire a cavalry force of one Paladin (a loyal unit) and five Knights. Focus on freeing the horsemen as quickly as possible. To do this, kill the 6 Revenants guarding the cages (they will not attack unless you stand next to them first), but note the number of Knights available is reduced by one for each of your troops that die *after you rescue the first one*. You might want to make sure any expendable troops are "expended" before this. Each rescued unit pops in with full moves.

The regular Time of Day cycle does not apply here. Instead, dusk and night are twice as long as usual. The large accumulating mob of undead will mull around in the center until turn 7 or so before swarming in Gweddry's general direction. Prior to that you can 'pull' the mob North or South by relocating Gweddry or alternatively by moving decoy units closer to the center, so adjust your tactics accordingly. Most importantly, try to finish the mission quickly.

''On easy'': This is still a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner. By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in position to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to ''The Northern Outpost''.

[Thrash] My take on just getting the paladin and 5 knights quickly is you want to send units in parallel to attack the NW enemy and free as many of the knights at the same time. The trick is you free the knights and then kill the NW leader right after before all your troops get overwhelmed by units from the East (and center). Time of day is critical - if you can get to the revenants before dusk, a white mage or shock trooper can kill them in one turn, after that it will take two turns or a little help (like a previously freed knight). Gweddry, even with an amulet, will probably take 3 turns to kill one, but with his one turn head start, that's OK. With one fort of recruits (2 white mages and 4 shock troopers), I was able to free 5 of the 6 and kill the NW enemy leader on turn 6 [?in which version?]. I sent 3 shock troopers and a white mage at the NW enemy, diverting one of those to freeing the 6th knight probably would have gotten me 6 out of the 6.

=== The Northern Outpost ===
* '''Objectives''':
** Find the outlaw leader in the villages and kill him.
** Defeat the undead leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Terraent.
* '''Other''':
** A holy amulet is located on the South-West.
** Horseman units can now be recruited.
** Owaec joins your team after the fight is over.

This scenario is reachable from the ''Elven Alliance'', ''The Undead Border Patrol'', and ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'' scenarios.

Here, there are two enemies that you must defeat: the undead and the outlaws. It is a good idea to create a separate task force for each.

The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does a good part of the work. To finish off the undead, it's useful to have a white mage, since Dacyn will be busy with his special spell to reveal the outlaws for this scenario. If you don't have a white mage, you can try recruiting a few mages or else go back one or more scenarios and promote a mage to white mage. In addition to the mages or white mage, recall whomever picked up the holy amulet in one of the previous scenarios and have them accompany Gweddry to the Southeast. If Gweddry is the one with the holy amulet and you have a white mage, then you can supplement them with a mage. You should also send a cavalryman/horseman or quick spearman to pick up the new holy amulet in the Southwest.

By contrast to the undead, the outlaws require a novel strategy. Recruit/recall fast units, e.g., cavalry and horsemen. You may supplement them by recalling quick spearmen and quick shock troopers. The challenge is that criminals will sometimes appear randomly around the villages you flag. Therefore, before flagging a village, make sure you have several healthy units around it. Note that you will get a chance to kill any newly appeared outlaws before they get a move. Outlaws will not appear in the villages that Owaec flags, so don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Send your outlaw hunting posse up the Western side of the map flagging villages and fighting the bandits. One of the villages has the assassin that is the outlaw leader, and there are a lot of villages, so speed is of the essence.

Once your undead task force has finished the undead, form them into a second outlaw hunting posse, transferring units as needed from the first posse. When you come across the village where the bandit leader hides, divert any available units to the battle, as the bandits have a bite.

Note: A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the bandits, especially at night.

Also note, that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assassination).

[Thrash] When I played, Oweac only recruited a couple mages, so he needed significant help as they get slaughtered quickly - I'd say 3-4 units. Also you don't really need to surround a village before flagging it, just have units in range to sweep in and attack if bandits pop out; this can save you some turns as move around as you can send one unit in to flag a village and move the rest on if nothing appears. Finally, the outlaw leader ran away when I played, so be prepared to chase him down.

=== Two Paths ===
* '''Objective''': Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 18/17/16 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

You must choose between going North to attack the orc leader or going Northwest to attack the undead leader.

One option is going North on the very West side of the map trying to fight your enemies from solid ground and mountains while they stand on sand ground with weak defense. As your troops move very slowly on this terrain, you will likely take some heavy losses however, as your enemies keep surrounding you. Also this will presumably take too many turns to reach the orc leader in time.

Thus the preferred choice is to recall a couple of shock troopers and white mages and move them on the path to the Northwest in a tight formation towards the undead leader. Once you survived the first enemy onslaught without loosing units, the rest of this scenario becomes rather easy as the remaining enemies come one by one. Make sure to keep on moving fast to the Northwest to reach the undead leader before turns run out.

On hard (and version 1.8.3), what will probably work better is an all-out suicidal cavalry charge to assassinate the undead leader as quickly as possible.

It's worth noting that killing the orc leader results in what appears to be an easier and more rewarding subsequent scenario (The Crossing) than killing the undead leader (Undead Crossing).

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Undead Crossing ====
* '''Objective''': Defeat the enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 18.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.

You need to cross the river, but not without first defeating a necromancer who is occupying a small island to the North.

A good general strategy can be something like the following: recall a couple of quick swordsmen (or about-to-level quick spearmen), two white mages, a red mage or multiple regular mages, and any units with holy amulets. Shock troopers are too slow. Send these units as quickly as possible Northwest through the swamp towards the Western crossing. Meanwhile, recruit/recall cavalry. The cavalry should run as fast as possible along the Southern board edge (so as to not attract undue attention from bats and swimming undead) and then up the Western crossing. You can divert a couple of cavalry and Owaec to snatch up villages and then those units can join the Western assault.

Now, this scenario has a nasty surprise... Once you have fought off the bats and skeletons, you will find this was not all, as the undead leader summons a number of cuttlefish monsters (1, 2 or 4 according to the difficulty level: easy, medium or hard respectively), which appear in the water between the two crossings. These always appear on turn number 10. Be very careful where to position your troops as the cuttlefish have a very nasty melee attack.

You have at least three options for the crossing. Option 1 is to just try to get a couple of your cavalry across each of the two crossings, while the rest of your units run like hell away from the water and swamp. Option 2 is to send across more units while tossing a spearman into the water as bait. Option 3 is to fight the cuttlefish, which is extremely hazardous. For a fight, maneuver your units to encourage the cuttlefish to separate, then use good melee troops backed by Gweddry (for leadership) and a white mage to kill them one at a time. Good luck. Make sure you leave your units enough time to cross the river and kill the undead leader before turns run out.

==== The Crossing ====
* '''Objective''': Get Gweddry and Owaec across the river.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** Special bonuses if the objective is completed while the Ogre leader is still alive:
*** Ogre leader joins you as recallable a loyal unit
*** You get two additional recallable Ogre units

Looking at the level, one might imagine the challenge in this scenario is crossing the wide river - where units are very vulnerable, and have very restricted mobility (particularly horses). However, this will likely prove to be the lesser of your concern: The Orcish force on the Northern bank is preoccupied with the Ogres for a good several turns, and the opponents going after you will be the Undead from the South.

On Turn 2, the first contingent of Undead will appear to the South-East of your keep: A weaker leader (Revenant on Medium) "unpacks" a keep and recruits it full of units (on Medium these are L1 recruits). If Gweddry and Owaec are already in the water, you may find yourself pretty bloodied by the encounter; and the Revenant has Gold to spare for more recruiting.

On Turn 8, the Undead are reinforced by a powerful Lich (on Medium) and a few leveled units (on Medium - two Revenants and a Bone Shooter) - and they get initiative, i.e. they get a round of action before you can attack them. Do you have units ready to take the blow? They might not be numerous, but they're quite deadly when ganging up on a unit of their choice. If, however, your units remain at a distance, the Lich will enter the keep and recruit...

On the North bank, the Orcs and the Ogres are exchanging blows. Within a couple of turns it becomes apparent the Ogres are going to lose - but you want their leader alive. That means you either have to draw much of the Orcish forces to chase you into the river, or alternatively get Gweddry and Owaec across fast enough so that the Orcs aren't completely done with the Ogres (the Leader will most probably be the last one to die).

So, when can you afford to send Gweddry and Owaec, and/or other units, up into the water? A slight tactical error in judgement can mean either numerous casualties by the undead, or alternatively loss of your potential Ogre ally.

If you ''do'' manage to cross before the Ogre leader is dead, he will agrees to help you; you'll get the bonuses listed above and will skip the ''Training the Ogres'' scenario, proceeding directly to ''Xenophobia''.

[Allefant]: I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight North from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the North. The Undead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the North side.

[Thrash] Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the Undead can move more quickly through the water than your units. Alternately, if you kill the first wave of Undead quickly enough (by turn 3), you can make it across the river before the second wave catches you from behind.

Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first Undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to Seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the Orcs enough to get across while the Undead behind you are not an issue.

I had problems with the Ogre leader dying before I could get to him with this strategy, but sending Oweac into the river on turn 1 seemed to draw enough of the Orcs South to solve this problem.

[Hipparchos] Agreed this is the only way to save the ogre leader (all others are too slow). I played this several ways before deciding the easiest is to recruit/recall only units with 6+ movement (Horsemen, Cavalrymen, quick Mages and quick Spearmen) which move 2 hexes through the water. Send them immediately South to the Undead leader's keep and defeat the units there within the first few turns. Then occupy the keep and wait for the reinforcements while one Horseman rides West to take villages. With no keep, the reinforcements are small and easy to defeat. Then you have no problems to your rear as your fast units catch up to Oweac and cross the river. You'll take some hits on the far bank but should get through in time to keep the Ogres alive.

=== Training the Ogres ===
* '''Objective''': Capture the ogres.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** To add ogres to your army, "capture" them by ZoC-locking them.

This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, your three units just have to survive. However, if you want to be able to recall ogres later, you need to "capture" them by surrounding them. Any ogre which cannot move more than one hex in every direction will be added to your recall list. Ogres which reach the rocky borders will "escape".

Ogres are especially mobile on mountains (such as in the scenario ''Lake Vrug'') and in caves (in the scenario ''Captured''). Being of neutral alignment, ogres can be helpful at night (especially in the scenario ''Weldyn Under Attack''). It's best to capture at least two.

=== Xenophobia ===
* '''Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec die or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 40/36/32 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* '''Other''':
** A holy amulet near the orcs' keep.

This is a fun and silly level as all parties in the scenario (i.e. elves, orcs, drawves, and yourself) decide to fight each other instead of forming alliances. The scenario is not very difficult, so you can use this time to gain some experience for your units and pick up another permanent holy amulet (in the North, roughly in the middle between the dwarf and the orc keep).

You have two obvious options: attack the elves first or the dwarves first. Don't worry, they will be distracted by the orcs. After you kill the first leader, proceed to the orcs and then finish off the remaining leader.

Attacking the elves first has the advantage that they have the richest lands, i.e., the most villages, so it means more gold for you by the end of the scenario. It has the side effect that you're more likely to face a live orc leader relative to if you had attacked the dwarves first, as the elves are pretty good at killing him.

Attacking the dwarves first has the advantage that it's probably easier, since the orc leader is more likely to die at the hands of the elves. It has the disadvantage that you have to spend time getting out of the dwarven mountains and then you will ultimately fight a lot of elves, though most of them will have come out of their forests by then.

In either case, you have a lot of ground to cover, so try to do without any non-quick shock troopers. Cavalry, white mages, red mages and spearman track units (preferably quick) are all good.

By the end of this scenario, it's very useful to have Gweddry at least on level 3, allowing you to use his leadership ability on other units like ogres (who reach their maximum at level 2). Leveling up a group of key units will also be very important for the upcoming scenario ''Captured'', where you won't be able to recruit, but a group of your most experienced veterans will have to fight their way out of a cave. You may want to prepare several mages and knights.

=== Lake Vrug ===
* '''Objective''': Defeat the Trolls and Gryphons (Drakes in 1.13), and move Dacyn to the stronghold
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 30.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* '''Other''':
** The stronghold provides 100 gold.

This is a very confusing hide and seek scenario that could take you several pointless restarts until you have finally discover the enemy leaders.

There are three keeps, all North of the river. The troll leader has his keep on the Northeast (go to the right into the mountains directly after crossing the bridge). To find the other two keeps, go West right after crossing the river; if you stay close to the Southern line of mountains, you'll find the Gryphon keep pretty easily. Finally, there is a stronghold straight North from the Gryphons, and Dacyn must reach this fortress to complete the level.

Gryphons are vulnerable to the impact damage of heavy infantry and shock troopers, so recall two or three, preferably quick ones. Also recall another white mage to supplement Dacyn and as many ogres as possible, because they are probably the most useful unit for this scenario. The reason is simple: the enemy keeps are surrounded by high mountains which some of your troops cannot pass, but which the ogres handle quite easily. You might also want to recruit a horseman to scout ahead, although using that money for another mage or ogre may be a better investment.

The action for this scenario can be divided into two phases. The first phase will be surviving the first onslaught of Gryphons and trolls coming your way. This will start around turn 4 with quite a number of Gryphons appearing from the Northwest. On hard, the onslaught will be especially difficult to handle. When you see the first Gryphon swoop out of the fog, watch out! This means many others are coming behind. So, fall back away from the fog and form a defensive line that will eventually become a circle. Keep in mind that you can grab good terrain, i.e., the mountains, as Gryphons are only too happy to attack you wherever you are, and your ogres will hold up well there. Once you have wounded units, position your heavy units such as shock troopers and ogres very tighly around them, as the Gryphons really have quite a large moving range and thus mercilessly slay unprotected injured units.

Just when you thought you had the Gryphons wrapped up, here come the trolls across the bridge. They may be only a minor nuisance on medium or easy, but on hard it's a strain facing a large number of trolls with troops bloodied by the swarm of Gryphons. Trolls are really no match for your shock troopers, however, who happily troll-crack away. Place these troopers on the grassland tiles on the edge of the river, so the trolls coming from the bridge will be forced to attack from unfavorable terrain for them (ice).

Once you have dealt with this first wave of enemies, the remaining phase consists in crossing the river, finding the enemy leaders and finishing them off, which will be much easier in comparison. Unfortunately, the shock troopers won't do you much good in this end phase. When taking the enemy keeps, use the ogres, who can move well on the high mountains, unlike most of your other units.

[revolting_peasent] Starting with version 1.13, the Gryphon leader recruits Drakes: First Glider Drakes (for the onslaught), then Sky Drakes. The former can be pretty safely defeated by a half-HP Ogre, the latter - not really, even individually. So even one of these can be very troublesome. This is especially true if they somehow gets near Dacyn, which they seem to have an inclination to do.

=== Captured ===
* '''Objective''': Rescue Gweddry, Dacyn, and Owaec, then escape through the South-West tunnel.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited, then 16.
* '''Starting units''': Rescue leader and two sidekicks.
* '''Other''':
** No recruiting, but a group of your veterans will be available.
** A holy amulet to the South.

Three of your recall troops will escape from a cell and plot a rescue operation. The scenario tries to select a level 3, level 2, and level 1 unit, but it is possible to end up with many variations. This group only needs to fight an orcish grunt and a few bats as they travel West, then South. Shortly after they encounter the orcish trash heap, one of your rescuers will don a disguise to sneak past the troll guards.

The disguised unit can open a cell door to release the prisoners within. Try to select a cell containing ogres; a quick ogre has the best chance of reaching and opening another cell in the same turn. Your three heroes will also be freed, and either Dacyn or Gweddry can reach the final cell to release the last of your troops. You'll be surrounded by Troll Warriors, and unlikely to do enough damage to kill them in the first turn. Sacrifice some of your less experienced troops to block the trolls from reaching any important units.

Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the Southwest corner. There is a holy necklace in the Southeast. Preferably grab the holy amulet with a horseman or something similar. He will come in very hand in later scenarios (if he survives the next scenario, that is).

If you have a large group of recallable units, loses in this scenario are not a big deal, as you're only going to be able to bring a fraction of your recall list past the next scenario, which is likely to kill off all but a few veterans. However, the steady stream of orc reinforcements can provide one last chance to level key units for ''Evacuation'', the next scenario.

=== Evacuation ===
* '''Objective''': Destroy the bridge or defeat all enemies.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 12.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.
* '''Other''':
** Every unit not on the South side of the river when the bridge is destroyed will be lost (including units in your recall list).

There are two options in this scenario: you can either defeat all enemy leaders or blow up the bridge in the South. If you finish by passing the bridge, all your units that are not on the South side of the river by the time you blow up the bridge are killed by the explosion. Cruelly, this includes your un-recalled units! Of the two options, killing all the enemy leaders is preferable if you can pull it off, so that you can keep your un-recalled troops.

This is one of those scenarios many deem "impossible" (at least on Hard) - but it is by no means impossible. You will, however, have to wrap your mind around an unpleasant truth: It may be necessary to accept significant losses of higher- level troops. You should have a large number of level 2 and 3 units to recall to start this scenario, with level 2 units with high experience and close to advancement being your best asset.

Whichever objective you choose to pursue, watch out for the very tight time limit of 12 turns. And watch out for the (Level 3) Warrior Trolls: They can defeat and kill most of your single units within a single turn at night. Best fight them with Mages or arcane-damage-dealing cavalry. Your mounted units are well resistant to impact (30% for Horsemen/Knights, 40% for Cavalry/Dragoons, respectively) and can deal with trolls, especially Paladins, or mounted units with an amulet (-10% Troll resistance instead of +20%). Also, you _will_ run out of money here - either on Turn 1 or on Turn 2, so don't let that large keep make you think all of your buddies will be joining you like in the last scenario.

Luckily, you can (versions 1.12.2, 1.13.4) lure out the Eastern and the Southern Orc Warlord leaders on Turn 1, and since their recruits can't move on that turn, they will both have opened themselves to be taken out during the next turn. Plan your Turn 1 recruiting and Turn 2 attack carefully, to have enough muscle to take out the leaders and enough brawn and speed not to expose the damaged units too much to the two keep-full's of recruits who will scream bloody murder (literally...).

The Western Troll-Warrior-lead contingent cannot reach you in full force until turn 3 and (on Medium) may not attack all-out even then, so regardless of the leader lure gambit - deal as much damage as possible during the first day, while maintaining some reserve for defense during the night.

The second option - blowing up the bridge - is quite a bit easier to pull off, especially if you're on Hard or short on gold. Run South with a sufficient amount of screening units and hopefully those units you want to try and evacuate (they shouldn't be slow ones). Focus on running the Engineer - using other units to block for him, creating a ZOC corridor. Keep in mind that almost everyone is expendable (sigh...). Engage the enemy sparingly, only at those points necessary to clear the way for the evacuee units, or where you see an opportunity to level-up and heal. With the large keep in this scenario you have no excuse to dilly-dally.

On Hard, If you finish the scenario with just the required units plus about three level 3 units, don't panic. You can indeed finish the rest of the scenarios, starting with just a few level 3's. Note that the next scenario, ''The Drowned Plains'', is good for leveling raw recruits. However, if you have a lot of level 3's, it would certainly be easier to tackle another upcoming "impossible" scenario, namely ''Weldyn Besieged'', so you may wish to replay ''Evacuation'' to get a better result.

WanderingHero: While this scenario is cruel, its not as asinine as it appears. You've already beaten the hardest scenarios of the campaign, so you don't have much to worry about taking losses. Try saving a White Mage, and maybe a Knight that's close to Paladin or a Paladin; although even this is hardly essential. Your heavily armored units and able-bodied Ogres can be used to wall the enemy. Although the situation looks grim, you're actually near the end of the campaign, and the worst is behind you. You'll see the Checkered flag soon enough...

=== The Drowned Plains ===
* '''Objective''': Defeat Khrakrahs.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 28/26/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

Khrakrahs is a level-4 Skeletal Dragon that will be found in or near the castle (located on an island in the South). In getting there, you need to proceed slowly and carefully through the swamp. That is because there are lots of fairly high level undead hidden there, waiting to ambush your troops. Don't panic. They are easy to take one at a time, and you can offer the killing blow to troops that you are eager to promote. Think twice about trying to maneuver more units around the back of the one you're trying to kill, as there may be more ambushing undead there.

The dragon wanders around near the castle but only attacks units which he can kill instantly. If only strong units come near him, he tries to flee. Because of the fog the major challenge of this scenario is finding him and then getting him surrounded so he cannot just move away again. Once you have him trapped like this, slaying him should be easy using your stronger units —preferrably using impact weapons because the dragon has a low resistance there. Magical attacks from your magi are also very effective against the dragon.

This scenario is a good opportunity for all the units with holy amulets you still have with you. Use them against the ambushers. Since there's a good early finish bonus, just recruit a keep of your best anti-undead units, find and kill the dragon and reap the reward.

=== Approaching Weldyn ===
* '''Objective''': Get Gweddry to Weldyn.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

The objective is simple enough; Gweddry has to reach the castle occupied by Konrad II. This is simply a matter of moving him there quickly. The end.

There is no challenge here, but with undead around you can pick up some XP with your fast moving arcane-enhanced troops (i.e., the ones that picked up holy amulets in earlier scenarios.) Try not to overrecruit or dilly-dally, though, as you need all the gold you can get for the next scenario, ''Weldyn Under Attack''.

=== The Council ===

Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.

=== Weldyn Under Attack ===
* '''Objective''': Survive until end of turns.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies.
* '''Turns''': 18.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer, Konrad II.
* '''Other''':
** At the end of this scenario you will have to choose whether to fight Mal-Ravanal directly in a duel, or repel his invasion with all you've got. This dictates the final scenario you'll play for this campaign.

At scenario start, you find your keep in the center of an island. Three allied leaders also have their keeps on the island around yours. There are three enemy leaders (Liches) with equal amounts of gold at their disposal. The Southwestern enemy leader is the only one that recruits Nightgaunts, the Southeastern Lich is the only one that recruits Blood Bats, and the Northern Lich is the only one that recruits Spectres.

The time of-day cycle in this scenario is 3 times slower than usual, and it starts at sunset, so the first 3 turns are Dusk, and then it's night-time (first and second watch) during another half of the entire scenario, which is painful - literally, considering the damage the Undead will deal your troops. Fearless or Neutral-alignment units are important, as is careful use of your Mages of Light's Illumination (see also below).

Your strategy should be to kill off one of the Liches and his troops, so that you can take over his defensive position. It's probably easiest to take the Northern keep.

Typically, the backbone of your army will be Heavy Infantry track units, Mages, and your Mages of Light (Dacyn and hopefully at least another one). On the first turn, recall one of each, plus 3 Cavalry units to the rear, preferably quick. Send the cavalry to rob your allies of their villages. They won't mind. Later, the cavalry can run around to distract the enemy. Send your Heavy infantry types, Mages, and Mages of light towards the target enemy stronghold. You should supplement them with any units with arcane attacks: Arch Mages, Silver Mages, White Mages, and any units that picked up amulets in previous scenarios.

However, if you managed to get your forces off the lake Vrug island in ''Evacuation'' (without blowing up the bridge), it's likely you are now able to recall a good number of Level-3 units with arcane attacks and maybe you even have a couple of Ogres. If that's the case you stand a chance (on Medium and v1.13.4 anyway) to assassinate the Northern Lich before he runs out of money. The way to do it is instruct the Northwestern allied leader to attack the Northern Lich. Your units will set up in the fortified positions near the bridge due North, and in the villages - drawing some enemy units into the water and clearing one or two for your ally - while he, brilliant tactician that he is, sends his units blindly forward, North across the bridge and the stream to tackle the Lich's recruits head-on. This will bring the Weldyn units (mostly Mages probably) within range of the Lich himself, and he may come out for an attack - and into the water. If this happens (possibly on Turn 4 or 5) - make a gambit for his life: One unit can attack him from the bridge and one or two from the water. Of course these have to be arcane attacks, otherwise you're probably not going to kill him off; and apply Illumination to the attacker and maybe the Lich itself (i.e. make a Mage of Light one of the attackers). To complete the gambit, have some high-HP units defend the wounded attackers of the Lich from the side, so they don't get picked off easily the next round. Still, an L2 unit or even a Paladin is not a terrible loss in exchange for a Lich leader and his 100-gold-or-more in unrecruited units.

... But it's more likely not to have such a convenient strike force, in which case you probably not be able to assassinate the Lich before he is out of gold. When he dashes out to attack, check his gold. If he's broke, you might wish to ignore him for a turn or two while you kill off other units.

After you take over the stronghold, you may be able to recruit some more troops, if you saved some gold and/or did a good job capturing villages with your cavalry. Note that saving gold is of no use for ''The Duel'', so spend it now if you're in a bind (saving gold is a luxury in this level which would help you in 'Weldyn Besieged'). Next, you should start preparing for the assault waves of the other two Liches. The combined assault waves may be more than your forces can survive. Therefore, while your main force braces itself, you should send out some ogres, cavalry, and/or silver Mages as distractions, mostly along the board edges. They can even get in a few kills.

For your main force, unless you have taken over the South-Western keep, you need to mind those invisible, infiltrating, backstabbing Nightgaunts that can be up to no good... they are now headed your way. Have your units form a block with their back to the board edge. Round the corners of the block towards the enemy (so that you don't have one unit face four attacks.) Keep your whole line solid and heavily wounded units buried deep inside.

In addition to Nightgaunts, you have the threat of Banebows, which can do 52 ranged damage in one turn. However, they are fairly easily killed with proper strategy. Move a mage of light adjacent to blind the Banebow (i.e., remove its +25% bonus) and provide light for your lawful unit's attack (i.e., remove its -25% adjustment.) Move a Shock Trooper (or similar, preferably arcane enhanced) adjacent to the banebow and mage of light. Move a General up to lend Leadership to the attacker. You may kill the Banebow in one attack. Otherwise, if the Banebow is quite wounded, you can use the mage of light to finish it off.

If you lose when you try to make a stand, you could instead try splitting your forces in two to attack the remaining two Liches. Some players have had success with this, killing the last leader by turn 14 or 15. Just remember that the objective is to survive until the end of turns, and Nightgaunts may be a problem. Killing all three leaders is a victory though and will earn you a early finish bonus of 54/turn, which is important if you go on to ''Weldyn Besieged''.

If you have one or two Silver Mages available, they are quite useful in this scenario. The map is rather large so have some fast-moving units like horsemen run through enemy territory and capture individual villages. Then use the teleport ability of your silver mage to perform hit-and-run (or rather: hit-and-teleport) attacks. Make sure you do not get him killed, though, by holding out too long after attacking. Make good use of Gweddry's leadership ability (he should be a Grand Marshal by now), and of Konrad's Sceptre of Fire to get rid of the most dangerous enemies coming your way.

At the end of the scenario, you must choose between challenging Mal-Ravanal to a duel (''The Duel'') or defending Weldyn against the final Undead attack (''Weldyn Besieged''). ''Weldyn Besieged'' is intended as a challenging final scenario; players without a good recall list and sizable warchest will find ''The Duel'' much more accommodating.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== The Duel ====
* '''Objective''': Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** You can only recruit for the first turn.

This is a somewhat strange scenario: you get to recall/recruit exactly five units and then have to fight Mal-Ravanal and his six chosen troops. Mal-Ravanal will recruit mostly level 3 units so this looks difficult. However, it is, in fact, quite manageable. Your goal is to attack first and hit hard—you should be able to eliminate two or three enemy units before they even get the chance to attack.

Except for Konrad II, you will have all of your units available in the recall list (including Owaec). Recall mages of light and other high-level arcane troops. Advance onto the battlefield, but stop just short of the enemies' range. After the enemies move closer, concentrate your attacks on a few of their units, particularly those with the strongest attacks. "Cowardly" Gweddry may be able to grant leadership bonuses to your troops, however he should probably refrain from actual fighting so he does not accidentally get killed.

Try to finish the fight quickly, as Mal-Ravanal plays unfair and every so often recruits another 3 units, albeit not so tough as the first batch of 6. If you position a weak unit within Mal-Ravanal's movement range the arrogant lich will gleefully charge out onto the battlefield and leave himself wide open for your counterattack.

==== Weldyn Besieged ====
* '''Objective''': Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, any enemy unit reaches your keep, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Konrad II.

This battle is intended as a substantial challenge, and is inadvisable with low gold or an inadequate recall list. You face off against seven enemy leaders, with the goal of finding and eliminating Mal-Ravanal among them. The liches' names aren't revealed until they are attacked, and Mal-Ravanal is more likely to be revealed later in the scenario (the names are randomly assigned when you attack). Attacking a lich gives it a small boost of gold, but killing the wrong lich gives every other lich extra gold.

A quick scout unit can charge past the undead hordes to attack and identify a lich. Once you've found Mal-Ravanal, send Dacyn and any mounted arcane-attack units to attack. You can draw Mal-Ravanal out of the keep by positioning a sacrificial horseman nearby. Once the lich is out in the open, your arcane damage cavalry should have no trouble finishing the battle in a single turn.

Meanwhile you'll need the rest of your troops to hold the central keep against the undead onslaught. If you can spare the funds, a few sacrificial troops can delay the incoming enemies on one side, giving you the opportunity to focus your firepower on the undead approaching from the other side(s). Note, however, that each enemy killed causes the lich to recruit another. If things turn grim, retreat to the castle and make your final stand.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheEasternInvasion

2022-09-12T20:08:41Z

Revolting peasant: Emboldened scenario parameters; title-cased map directions

:''This walkthrough is in the process of being updated for version 1.16+''

In this campaign you play the role of Gweddry, a human Sergeant who has the responsibility of dealing with a powerful Lich who wants to destroy Wesnoth. As a sargeant, Gweddry has the potential to level up into a Grand Marshal, a level 4 unit that can empower his troops significantly through Leadership. You start with the support of a White Mage named Dacyn, who will be by your side throughout the campaign.

As any other walkthrough, this document describes plot details that can be considered spoilers. This is particularly true for this campaign, since it contains quite a few surprises along the way, and at some points you will have to make choices that will have important repercussions for later scenarios. You may wish to read ahead to see what you will be facing. In particular, you might wish to read about the scenarios ''Captured'', ''Evacuation'' and ''Weldyn Under Attack'' in order to plan ahead.

You will encounter different types of enemies, mostly undead units (especially towards the beginning and the end of the campaign), as well as orcs and trolls. Mages and Heavy Infantrymen will provide the backbone of your army. You'll probably want to level up at least one extra Mage of Light (other than Dacyn), and a few Arch/Silver Mages and Iron Maulers. You can also recruit Spearman, Cavalryman and Horseman units (the latter a few scenarios into the campaign), but their importance is perhaps less pronounced in many of the scenarios.

You will encounter a few tough challenges along the way, so be prepared, and be careful assigning experience to your units, especially during the first few scenarios.

=== The Outpost ===

* '''Objectives''': Defend the outpost, then move Gweddry to the trapdoor.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 16.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.

The best approach is to recruit heavy infantry and optionally a mage. Build a line using the heavy infantry, using the castle hexes and other hexes to the Northwest. When and if you have more money available later, purchase additional heavy infantry.

Just hold out for the enemy attack during night time; only rotate wounded units if possible, but do not counter-attack. At dawn, start your counter-attack without worrying too much about keeping the original line intact. Instead, try to level 2 or 3 HI to Shock Troopers. The enemy's forces quickly will cease to be any danger to yours.

On turn 7, Dacyn will mysteriously disappear, and you'll briefly meet Mal-Ravanal, the leader of the undead. On turn 10 (easy) or 12 (hard) the white mage returns and points out a trap door to exit the level. (Note that this trap door will be near your starting fort, so you'll either need to hold the fort or be prepared to get back to it by turn 16).

Use the remaining turns to level as many units as possible and only move your leader onto the trap door in the very last turn. You may be able to finish with a couple of shock troopers, another white mage, or a level 2 Gweddry.

On challenging, ignore most the above advice. The goal is to fall back and defend the Western bank of the river up through turn 9, then counterattack across the bridge on turns 10-11 so Gweddry is in position to immediately exit on turn 12. Recruit 4 HI and 2 magi on turn one, then keep recruiting more HI as often as you can up through turn 5. Use the magi and Dacyn to hold the central villages from bats while Gweddry recruits and your HI take up their positions on the far river bank. As darkness falls, you should abandon the villages and get your final units across the river as well. Most of the undead won't be able to reach your positions until dawn, when you'll have the advantage of daylight to slaughter anything crossing the river. This should destroy most of the first wave. By dusk, start preparing your forces to mass on the bridge, where they want to punch through any undead stragglers and reoccupy the city on turn 11 for a final last stand. As soon as Dacyn reappears on turn 12, get Gweddry to the trap door before your survivors are overwhelmed.

=== Escape Tunnel ===
* '''Objectives''': Move Gweddry to the end of the tunnel.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 26/24/22 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Permanent holy amulet in the North.
** Treasure of 200 gold in Southeast (50 in 1.13).

This scenario occurs in a small cave occupied by trolls and dwarves. You start on the far West of the map, and your mission is to take Gweddry all the way to the opposite side.

Take some time to choose your supporting units, depending on which ones you want to level up the quickest. Heavy Infantry are excellent frontline units, but the downside is that they move very slowly in caves. However, since Gweddry is the only unit that ''has'' to get quickly to the far West, this might not be a big problem. You can also go for a group of mostly Mages, and a couple of Spearmen. One keep of units in total should easily be enough—there's also a convenient keep with one castle tile to recruit additional units in the middle of the map, in case you need it during the battle.

The map is quite small. A little West from your keep the path is forked into three directions: North is a small area with a holy amulet, West is the troll keep and South is the dwarven keep. These two last paths will merge again to the West, leading to the exit, where Gweddry needs to go. The dwarves are friendly and will help you fight your enemies.

Given that you will probably be using inexperienced units, it's perhaps best to avoid going directly into the troll keep, but you can hold your position near the crossroads, on the Southern path, where you can easily witness a lot of action between trolls, dwarves and undead (who are following you and show up on turn 6 from the West). The different armies will all fight each other. If you want to take a defensive stance, after having moved all your units South position one strong unit (a spearman or HI) at the end of the path leading South (so only one unit a turn can attack him) and position the White Mage right behind him to heal it every turn. These two units should easily keep of the enemies following you until the end of the scenario.

The holy amulet to the North is a very useful item, which will make all the attacks (melee and ranged) of the unit that picks it up of type ''arcane''—and, unlike in other campaigns, this holy amulet is permanent! Send a quick Spearman there or Gweddry. Giving Gweddry the holy amulet (instead of a Spearman) allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the scenario ''The Crossing'', where you can get an easy first turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle.

Move Gweddry to the Northeast escorted by other units, to help him fight individual trolls if necessary, but before moving him to the end of the cave (which ends the level) send one of your units to the cave South–West, past the funny signpost warning you of the troll hole. In the cave you will discover a chest containing a troll treasure amounting to 200 gold (or 50 in 1.13).

[Thrash: Alternately, I used predominately Heavy Infantry on this level. I found (on medium) they were tough enough to hold the central cave and pretty much beat the trolls into submission long enough for Gweddry to run North to the the amulet and then cover his retreat South, only then recruiting a mage when the troll numbers were lower. With other units, I had problems with the trolls overrunning them and getting Gweddry trapped to the North. Also a heavy infantry in the village by your starting fort will hold off the undead for a long time.]

=== An Unexpected Appearance ===
* '''Objectives''': Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20/18/16 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.
** Both Dacyn and Gweddry never miss when they attack on turn 1.

In this scenario you have to defeat one of the dark sorcerers on the edges of the map. Your next scenario will depend on the enemy you choose to kill. Killing the one to the West (Mal-Skraat) will take you to the ''Elven Alliance'' scenario, while the one to the West (Mal-Kallat) takes you to ''The Undead Border Patrol''.

Going West is more difficult, especially on hard, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a loyal Paladin and several Knights.

Firstly, expel Mal-Tar out of your keep: either shoot him with Dacyn's ranged and Gweddry's melee attacks for a 1-turn kill, or attack using melee only to wound him (Dacyn is likelier to emerge less wounded this way). If you don't kill him the first turn, Mal-Tar recruits 3 soulless then retreats to the nearby village to heal. But that gives you more easy xp to farm... so food for thought.

You will be fighting a mix of skeletons & skeleton archers, along with skeleton riders and soulless (in the West) and vampire bats and ghouls (in the West). So recruiting Heavy Infantry and Magi work well (and recall whomever you gave the amulet to in the previous scenario), plus a single spearman or cavalry to grab villages and/or act as expendable blocker if you can't afford a last HI/mage. Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village to heal ASAP, as he will be the core mobile healer of your army unless you have another white mage.

Magi can generally fend for themselves in towns vs bats, unless the bats arrive in groups.

On easy or medium difficulty the attackers should be no problem, so focus on leveling units with Dacyn positioned at the epicenter of your assault so he can heal the wounded. If you move quickly you should only need to fight the attackers from one leader. Of course you can have some of your units double back to engage the second set.

On hard difficulty going West, the bats will catch up mid-battle and try to snipe your wounded units in the night. On hard heading West, be wary of the skeleton riders catching up from behind and being caught between the two main undead forces. Luckily the mix of bats and the single-path out of the Western swamp means those forces arrive fairly dispersed. Aggressively pressing your attack Westward should take them out in small batches so when the Western forces catch up you won't have to fight too many at once.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Elven Alliance ====
* '''Objectives''': Defeat enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Volas dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24/22/20 (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.

The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure. The assassin disappears into the forest, but you won't bump into him, he'll just reappear near the elf leader on turn 6.

Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.

Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.

There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.

Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears, you may ignore it unless you have a unit close-by. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. It is possible to kill the orcish leader by turn 9 for a nice gold bonus.

==== The Undead Border Patrol ====
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. There is a Dark Sorcerer in the Northwest corner and a Lich in the South-West corner. Defeating the Lich (Mal-Telnarad) will give you the chance to go to ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'', a challenging but rewarding scenario, while defeating the sorcerer (Mal-Skraat) is easier, and takes you directly to ''The Northern Outpost''.

If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The terrain is more open and the necromancer has less gold to recruit with than the lich. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance—you may recruit a couple of suicide cavalrymen to distract bats and grab distant towns. One might even get enough XP this way to be worth recalling in later scenarios. Because of the open terrain, it is recommended to use mostly heavy infantry and your holy amulet unit on this level backed up by a few magi. As in most scenarios against undead, white magi are very useful for their arcane attack as well as mobile healers. Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand; this gives you a significant advantage.

If you go East, expect to take some time getting over the river and through the swamp, but the lich can be drawn out of his fortress to fight in the swamp as soon as you come within range. Gweddry can lure enemy units into chasing him by moving Southwest into the mountains, thereby diverting many undead from contesting the river crossing. A small force recruited to defend the fort will keep troops from the NW off of your backside and they'll pick up a good amount of experience in the process, though alternatively Gweddry can lure these too. Finishing early is quite advantageous, as you'll want as much starting gold as possible to improve your chances in the next scenario.

==== Mal-Ravanal's Capital ====
* Objective: Escape from the capital by killing one of the two dark sorcerers.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 26.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** The paladin's location is randomly chosen from among the six prison cells at the start of the scenario.

Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you may skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.

The main reason to get here is to acquire a cavalry force of one Paladin (a loyal unit) and five Knights. Focus on freeing the horsemen as quickly as possible. To do this, kill the 6 Revenants guarding the cages (they will not attack unless you stand next to them first), but note the number of Knights available is reduced by one for each of your troops that die *after you rescue the first one*. You might want to make sure any expendable troops are "expended" before this. Each rescued unit pops in with full moves.

The regular Time of Day cycle does not apply here. Instead, dusk and night are twice as long as usual. The large accumulating mob of undead will mull around in the center until turn 7 or so before swarming in Gweddry's general direction. Prior to that you can 'pull' the mob North or South by relocating Gweddry or alternatively by moving decoy units closer to the center, so adjust your tactics accordingly. Most importantly, try to finish the mission quickly.

''On easy'': This is still a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner. By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in position to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to ''The Northern Outpost''.

[Thrash] My take on just getting the paladin and 5 knights quickly is you want to send units in parallel to attack the NW enemy and free as many of the knights at the same time. The trick is you free the knights and then kill the NW leader right after before all your troops get overwhelmed by units from the East (and center). Time of day is critical - if you can get to the revenants before dusk, a white mage or shock trooper can kill them in one turn, after that it will take two turns or a little help (like a previously freed knight). Gweddry, even with an amulet, will probably take 3 turns to kill one, but with his one turn head start, that's OK. With one fort of recruits (2 white mages and 4 shock troopers), I was able to free 5 of the 6 and kill the NW enemy leader on turn 6 [?in which version?]. I sent 3 shock troopers and a white mage at the NW enemy, diverting one of those to freeing the 6th knight probably would have gotten me 6 out of the 6.

=== The Northern Outpost ===
* '''Objectives''':
** Find the outlaw leader in the villages and kill him.
** Defeat the undead leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 20.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Terraent.
* '''Other''':
** A holy amulet is located on the South-West.
** Horseman units can now be recruited.
** Owaec joins your team after the fight is over.

This scenario is reachable from the ''Elven Alliance'', ''The Undead Border Patrol'', and ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'' scenarios.

Here, there are two enemies that you must defeat: the undead and the outlaws. It is a good idea to create a separate task force for each.

The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does a good part of the work. To finish off the undead, it's useful to have a white mage, since Dacyn will be busy with his special spell to reveal the outlaws for this scenario. If you don't have a white mage, you can try recruiting a few mages or else go back one or more scenarios and promote a mage to white mage. In addition to the mages or white mage, recall whomever picked up the holy amulet in one of the previous scenarios and have them accompany Gweddry to the Southeast. If Gweddry is the one with the holy amulet and you have a white mage, then you can supplement them with a mage. You should also send a cavalryman/horseman or quick spearman to pick up the new holy amulet in the Southwest.

By contrast to the undead, the outlaws require a novel strategy. Recruit/recall fast units, e.g., cavalry and horsemen. You may supplement them by recalling quick spearmen and quick shock troopers. The challenge is that criminals will sometimes appear randomly around the villages you flag. Therefore, before flagging a village, make sure you have several healthy units around it. Note that you will get a chance to kill any newly appeared outlaws before they get a move. Outlaws will not appear in the villages that Owaec flags, so don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Send your outlaw hunting posse up the Western side of the map flagging villages and fighting the bandits. One of the villages has the assassin that is the outlaw leader, and there are a lot of villages, so speed is of the essence.

Once your undead task force has finished the undead, form them into a second outlaw hunting posse, transferring units as needed from the first posse. When you come across the village where the bandit leader hides, divert any available units to the battle, as the bandits have a bite.

Note: A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the bandits, especially at night.

Also note, that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assassination).

[Thrash] When I played, Oweac only recruited a couple mages, so he needed significant help as they get slaughtered quickly - I'd say 3-4 units. Also you don't really need to surround a village before flagging it, just have units in range to sweep in and attack if bandits pop out; this can save you some turns as move around as you can send one unit in to flag a village and move the rest on if nothing appears. Finally, the outlaw leader ran away when I played, so be prepared to chase him down.

=== Two Paths ===
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 18/17/16 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

You must choose between going North to attack the orc leader or going Northwest to attack the undead leader.

One option is going North on the very West side of the map trying to fight your enemies from solid ground and mountains while they stand on sand ground with weak defense. As your troops move very slowly on this terrain, you will likely take some heavy losses however, as your enemies keep surrounding you. Also this will presumably take too many turns to reach the orc leader in time.

Thus the preferred choice is to recall a couple of shock troopers and white mages and move them on the path to the Northwest in a tight formation towards the undead leader. Once you survived the first enemy onslaught without loosing units, the rest of this scenario becomes rather easy as the remaining enemies come one by one. Make sure to keep on moving fast to the Northwest to reach the undead leader before turns run out.

On hard (and version 1.8.3), what will probably work better is an all-out suicidal cavalry charge to assassinate the undead leader as quickly as possible.

It's worth noting that killing the orc leader results in what appears to be an easier and more rewarding subsequent scenario (The Crossing) than killing the undead leader (Undead Crossing).

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Undead Crossing ====
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 18.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.

You need to cross the river, but not without first defeating a necromancer who is occupying a small island to the North.

A good general strategy can be something like the following: recall a couple of quick swordsmen (or about-to-level quick spearmen), two white mages, a red mage or multiple regular mages, and any units with holy amulets. Shock troopers are too slow. Send these units as quickly as possible Northwest through the swamp towards the Western crossing. Meanwhile, recruit/recall cavalry. The cavalry should run as fast as possible along the Southern board edge (so as to not attract undue attention from bats and swimming undead) and then up the Western crossing. You can divert a couple of cavalry and Owaec to snatch up villages and then those units can join the Western assault.

Now, this scenario has a nasty surprise... Once you have fought off the bats and skeletons, you will find this was not all, as the undead leader summons a number of cuttlefish monsters (1, 2 or 4 according to the difficulty level: easy, medium or hard respectively), which appear in the water between the two crossings. These always appear on turn number 10. Be very careful where to position your troops as the cuttlefish have a very nasty melee attack.

You have at least three options for the crossing. Option 1 is to just try to get a couple of your cavalry across each of the two crossings, while the rest of your units run like hell away from the water and swamp. Option 2 is to send across more units while tossing a spearman into the water as bait. Option 3 is to fight the cuttlefish, which is extremely hazardous. For a fight, maneuver your units to encourage the cuttlefish to separate, then use good melee troops backed by Gweddry (for leadership) and a white mage to kill them one at a time. Good luck. Make sure you leave your units enough time to cross the river and kill the undead leader before turns run out.

==== The Crossing ====
* Objective: Get Gweddry and Owaec across the river.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** Special bonuses if the objective is completed while the Ogre leader is still alive:
*** Ogre leader joins you as recallable a loyal unit
*** You get two additional recallable Ogre units

Looking at the level, one might imagine the challenge in this scenario is crossing the wide river - where units are very vulnerable, and have very restricted mobility (particularly horses). However, this will likely prove to be the lesser of your concern: The Orcish force on the Northern bank is preoccupied with the Ogres for a good several turns, and the opponents going after you will be the Undead from the South.

On Turn 2, the first contingent of Undead will appear to the South-East of your keep: A weaker leader (Revenant on Medium) "unpacks" a keep and recruits it full of units (on Medium these are L1 recruits). If Gweddry and Owaec are already in the water, you may find yourself pretty bloodied by the encounter; and the Revenant has Gold to spare for more recruiting.

On Turn 8, the Undead are reinforced by a powerful Lich (on Medium) and a few leveled units (on Medium - two Revenants and a Bone Shooter) - and they get initiative, i.e. they get a round of action before you can attack them. Do you have units ready to take the blow? They might not be numerous, but they're quite deadly when ganging up on a unit of their choice. If, however, your units remain at a distance, the Lich will enter the keep and recruit...

On the North bank, the Orcs and the Ogres are exchanging blows. Within a couple of turns it becomes apparent the Ogres are going to lose - but you want their leader alive. That means you either have to draw much of the Orcish forces to chase you into the river, or alternatively get Gweddry and Owaec across fast enough so that the Orcs aren't completely done with the Ogres (the Leader will most probably be the last one to die).

So, when can you afford to send Gweddry and Owaec, and/or other units, up into the water? A slight tactical error in judgement can mean either numerous casualties by the undead, or alternatively loss of your potential Ogre ally.

If you ''do'' manage to cross before the Ogre leader is dead, he will agrees to help you; you'll get the bonuses listed above and will skip the ''Training the Ogres'' scenario, proceeding directly to ''Xenophobia''.

[Allefant]: I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight North from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the North. The Undead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the North side.

[Thrash] Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the Undead can move more quickly through the water than your units. Alternately, if you kill the first wave of Undead quickly enough (by turn 3), you can make it across the river before the second wave catches you from behind.

Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first Undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to Seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the Orcs enough to get across while the Undead behind you are not an issue.

I had problems with the Ogre leader dying before I could get to him with this strategy, but sending Oweac into the river on turn 1 seemed to draw enough of the Orcs South to solve this problem.

[Hipparchos] Agreed this is the only way to save the ogre leader (all others are too slow). I played this several ways before deciding the easiest is to recruit/recall only units with 6+ movement (Horsemen, Cavalrymen, quick Mages and quick Spearmen) which move 2 hexes through the water. Send them immediately South to the Undead leader's keep and defeat the units there within the first few turns. Then occupy the keep and wait for the reinforcements while one Horseman rides West to take villages. With no keep, the reinforcements are small and easy to defeat. Then you have no problems to your rear as your fast units catch up to Oweac and cross the river. You'll take some hits on the far bank but should get through in time to keep the Ogres alive.

=== Training the Ogres ===
* Objective: Capture the ogres.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* '''Other''':
** To add ogres to your army, "capture" them by ZoC-locking them.

This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, your three units just have to survive. However, if you want to be able to recall ogres later, you need to "capture" them by surrounding them. Any ogre which cannot move more than one hex in every direction will be added to your recall list. Ogres which reach the rocky borders will "escape".

Ogres are especially mobile on mountains (such as in the scenario ''Lake Vrug'') and in caves (in the scenario ''Captured''). Being of neutral alignment, ogres can be helpful at night (especially in the scenario ''Weldyn Under Attack''). It's best to capture at least two.

=== Xenophobia ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec die or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 40/36/32 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* '''Other''':
** A holy amulet near the orcs' keep.

This is a fun and silly level as all parties in the scenario (i.e. elves, orcs, drawves, and yourself) decide to fight each other instead of forming alliances. The scenario is not very difficult, so you can use this time to gain some experience for your units and pick up another permanent holy amulet (in the North, roughly in the middle between the dwarf and the orc keep).

You have two obvious options: attack the elves first or the dwarves first. Don't worry, they will be distracted by the orcs. After you kill the first leader, proceed to the orcs and then finish off the remaining leader.

Attacking the elves first has the advantage that they have the richest lands, i.e., the most villages, so it means more gold for you by the end of the scenario. It has the side effect that you're more likely to face a live orc leader relative to if you had attacked the dwarves first, as the elves are pretty good at killing him.

Attacking the dwarves first has the advantage that it's probably easier, since the orc leader is more likely to die at the hands of the elves. It has the disadvantage that you have to spend time getting out of the dwarven mountains and then you will ultimately fight a lot of elves, though most of them will have come out of their forests by then.

In either case, you have a lot of ground to cover, so try to do without any non-quick shock troopers. Cavalry, white mages, red mages and spearman track units (preferably quick) are all good.

By the end of this scenario, it's very useful to have Gweddry at least on level 3, allowing you to use his leadership ability on other units like ogres (who reach their maximum at level 2). Leveling up a group of key units will also be very important for the upcoming scenario ''Captured'', where you won't be able to recruit, but a group of your most experienced veterans will have to fight their way out of a cave. You may want to prepare several mages and knights.

=== Lake Vrug ===
* Objective: Defeat the Trolls and Gryphons (Drakes in 1.13), and move Dacyn to the stronghold
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 30.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* '''Other''':
** The stronghold provides 100 gold.

This is a very confusing hide and seek scenario that could take you several pointless restarts until you have finally discover the enemy leaders.

There are three keeps, all North of the river. The troll leader has his keep on the Northeast (go to the right into the mountains directly after crossing the bridge). To find the other two keeps, go West right after crossing the river; if you stay close to the Southern line of mountains, you'll find the Gryphon keep pretty easily. Finally, there is a stronghold straight North from the Gryphons, and Dacyn must reach this fortress to complete the level.

Gryphons are vulnerable to the impact damage of heavy infantry and shock troopers, so recall two or three, preferably quick ones. Also recall another white mage to supplement Dacyn and as many ogres as possible, because they are probably the most useful unit for this scenario. The reason is simple: the enemy keeps are surrounded by high mountains which some of your troops cannot pass, but which the ogres handle quite easily. You might also want to recruit a horseman to scout ahead, although using that money for another mage or ogre may be a better investment.

The action for this scenario can be divided into two phases. The first phase will be surviving the first onslaught of Gryphons and trolls coming your way. This will start around turn 4 with quite a number of Gryphons appearing from the Northwest. On hard, the onslaught will be especially difficult to handle. When you see the first Gryphon swoop out of the fog, watch out! This means many others are coming behind. So, fall back away from the fog and form a defensive line that will eventually become a circle. Keep in mind that you can grab good terrain, i.e., the mountains, as Gryphons are only too happy to attack you wherever you are, and your ogres will hold up well there. Once you have wounded units, position your heavy units such as shock troopers and ogres very tighly around them, as the Gryphons really have quite a large moving range and thus mercilessly slay unprotected injured units.

Just when you thought you had the Gryphons wrapped up, here come the trolls across the bridge. They may be only a minor nuisance on medium or easy, but on hard it's a strain facing a large number of trolls with troops bloodied by the swarm of Gryphons. Trolls are really no match for your shock troopers, however, who happily troll-crack away. Place these troopers on the grassland tiles on the edge of the river, so the trolls coming from the bridge will be forced to attack from unfavorable terrain for them (ice).

Once you have dealt with this first wave of enemies, the remaining phase consists in crossing the river, finding the enemy leaders and finishing them off, which will be much easier in comparison. Unfortunately, the shock troopers won't do you much good in this end phase. When taking the enemy keeps, use the ogres, who can move well on the high mountains, unlike most of your other units.

[revolting_peasent] Starting with version 1.13, the Gryphon leader recruits Drakes: First Glider Drakes (for the onslaught), then Sky Drakes. The former can be pretty safely defeated by a half-HP Ogre, the latter - not really, even individually. So even one of these can be very troublesome. This is especially true if they somehow gets near Dacyn, which they seem to have an inclination to do.

=== Captured ===
* Objective: Rescue Gweddry, Dacyn, and Owaec, then escape through the South-West tunnel.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited, then 16.
* '''Starting units''': Rescue leader and two sidekicks.
* '''Other''':
** No recruiting, but a group of your veterans will be available.
** A holy amulet to the South.

Three of your recall troops will escape from a cell and plot a rescue operation. The scenario tries to select a level 3, level 2, and level 1 unit, but it is possible to end up with many variations. This group only needs to fight an orcish grunt and a few bats as they travel West, then South. Shortly after they encounter the orcish trash heap, one of your rescuers will don a disguise to sneak past the troll guards.

The disguised unit can open a cell door to release the prisoners within. Try to select a cell containing ogres; a quick ogre has the best chance of reaching and opening another cell in the same turn. Your three heroes will also be freed, and either Dacyn or Gweddry can reach the final cell to release the last of your troops. You'll be surrounded by Troll Warriors, and unlikely to do enough damage to kill them in the first turn. Sacrifice some of your less experienced troops to block the trolls from reaching any important units.

Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the Southwest corner. There is a holy necklace in the Southeast. Preferably grab the holy amulet with a horseman or something similar. He will come in very hand in later scenarios (if he survives the next scenario, that is).

If you have a large group of recallable units, loses in this scenario are not a big deal, as you're only going to be able to bring a fraction of your recall list past the next scenario, which is likely to kill off all but a few veterans. However, the steady stream of orc reinforcements can provide one last chance to level key units for ''Evacuation'', the next scenario.

=== Evacuation ===
* Objective: Destroy the bridge or defeat all enemies.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 12.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.
* '''Other''':
** Every unit not on the South side of the river when the bridge is destroyed will be lost (including units in your recall list).

There are two options in this scenario: you can either defeat all enemy leaders or blow up the bridge in the South. If you finish by passing the bridge, all your units that are not on the South side of the river by the time you blow up the bridge are killed by the explosion. Cruelly, this includes your un-recalled units! Of the two options, killing all the enemy leaders is preferable if you can pull it off, so that you can keep your un-recalled troops.

This is one of those scenarios many deem "impossible" (at least on Hard) - but it is by no means impossible. You will, however, have to wrap your mind around an unpleasant truth: It may be necessary to accept significant losses of higher- level troops. You should have a large number of level 2 and 3 units to recall to start this scenario, with level 2 units with high experience and close to advancement being your best asset.

Whichever objective you choose to pursue, watch out for the very tight time limit of 12 turns. And watch out for the (Level 3) Warrior Trolls: They can defeat and kill most of your single units within a single turn at night. Best fight them with Mages or arcane-damage-dealing cavalry. Your mounted units are well resistant to impact (30% for Horsemen/Knights, 40% for Cavalry/Dragoons, respectively) and can deal with trolls, especially Paladins, or mounted units with an amulet (-10% Troll resistance instead of +20%). Also, you _will_ run out of money here - either on Turn 1 or on Turn 2, so don't let that large keep make you think all of your buddies will be joining you like in the last scenario.

Luckily, you can (versions 1.12.2, 1.13.4) lure out the Eastern and the Southern Orc Warlord leaders on Turn 1, and since their recruits can't move on that turn, they will both have opened themselves to be taken out during the next turn. Plan your Turn 1 recruiting and Turn 2 attack carefully, to have enough muscle to take out the leaders and enough brawn and speed not to expose the damaged units too much to the two keep-full's of recruits who will scream bloody murder (literally...).

The Western Troll-Warrior-lead contingent cannot reach you in full force until turn 3 and (on Medium) may not attack all-out even then, so regardless of the leader lure gambit - deal as much damage as possible during the first day, while maintaining some reserve for defense during the night.

The second option - blowing up the bridge - is quite a bit easier to pull off, especially if you're on Hard or short on gold. Run South with a sufficient amount of screening units and hopefully those units you want to try and evacuate (they shouldn't be slow ones). Focus on running the Engineer - using other units to block for him, creating a ZOC corridor. Keep in mind that almost everyone is expendable (sigh...). Engage the enemy sparingly, only at those points necessary to clear the way for the evacuee units, or where you see an opportunity to level-up and heal. With the large keep in this scenario you have no excuse to dilly-dally.

On Hard, If you finish the scenario with just the required units plus about three level 3 units, don't panic. You can indeed finish the rest of the scenarios, starting with just a few level 3's. Note that the next scenario, ''The Drowned Plains'', is good for leveling raw recruits. However, if you have a lot of level 3's, it would certainly be easier to tackle another upcoming "impossible" scenario, namely ''Weldyn Besieged'', so you may wish to replay ''Evacuation'' to get a better result.

WanderingHero: While this scenario is cruel, its not as asinine as it appears. You've already beaten the hardest scenarios of the campaign, so you don't have much to worry about taking losses. Try saving a White Mage, and maybe a Knight that's close to Paladin or a Paladin; although even this is hardly essential. Your heavily armored units and able-bodied Ogres can be used to wall the enemy. Although the situation looks grim, you're actually near the end of the campaign, and the worst is behind you. You'll see the Checkered flag soon enough...

=== The Drowned Plains ===
* Objective: Defeat Khrakrahs.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 28/26/24 (Easy/Medium/Hard).
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

Khrakrahs is a level-4 Skeletal Dragon that will be found in or near the castle (located on an island in the South). In getting there, you need to proceed slowly and carefully through the swamp. That is because there are lots of fairly high level undead hidden there, waiting to ambush your troops. Don't panic. They are easy to take one at a time, and you can offer the killing blow to troops that you are eager to promote. Think twice about trying to maneuver more units around the back of the one you're trying to kill, as there may be more ambushing undead there.

The dragon wanders around near the castle but only attacks units which he can kill instantly. If only strong units come near him, he tries to flee. Because of the fog the major challenge of this scenario is finding him and then getting him surrounded so he cannot just move away again. Once you have him trapped like this, slaying him should be easy using your stronger units —preferrably using impact weapons because the dragon has a low resistance there. Magical attacks from your magi are also very effective against the dragon.

This scenario is a good opportunity for all the units with holy amulets you still have with you. Use them against the ambushers. Since there's a good early finish bonus, just recruit a keep of your best anti-undead units, find and kill the dragon and reap the reward.

=== Approaching Weldyn ===
* Objective: Get Gweddry to Weldyn.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 24.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

The objective is simple enough; Gweddry has to reach the castle occupied by Konrad II. This is simply a matter of moving him there quickly. The end.

There is no challenge here, but with undead around you can pick up some XP with your fast moving arcane-enhanced troops (i.e., the ones that picked up holy amulets in earlier scenarios.) Try not to overrecruit or dilly-dally, though, as you need all the gold you can get for the next scenario, ''Weldyn Under Attack''.

=== The Council ===

Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.

=== Weldyn Under Attack ===
* Objective: Survive until end of turns.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies.
* '''Turns''': 18.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer, Konrad II.
* '''Other''':
** At the end of this scenario you will have to choose whether to fight Mal-Ravanal directly in a duel, or repel his invasion with all you've got. This dictates the final scenario you'll play for this campaign.

At scenario start, you find your keep in the center of an island. Three allied leaders also have their keeps on the island around yours. There are three enemy leaders (Liches) with equal amounts of gold at their disposal. The Southwestern enemy leader is the only one that recruits Nightgaunts, the Southeastern Lich is the only one that recruits Blood Bats, and the Northern Lich is the only one that recruits Spectres.

The time of-day cycle in this scenario is 3 times slower than usual, and it starts at sunset, so the first 3 turns are Dusk, and then it's night-time (first and second watch) during another half of the entire scenario, which is painful - literally, considering the damage the Undead will deal your troops. Fearless or Neutral-alignment units are important, as is careful use of your Mages of Light's Illumination (see also below).

Your strategy should be to kill off one of the Liches and his troops, so that you can take over his defensive position. It's probably easiest to take the Northern keep.

Typically, the backbone of your army will be Heavy Infantry track units, Mages, and your Mages of Light (Dacyn and hopefully at least another one). On the first turn, recall one of each, plus 3 Cavalry units to the rear, preferably quick. Send the cavalry to rob your allies of their villages. They won't mind. Later, the cavalry can run around to distract the enemy. Send your Heavy infantry types, Mages, and Mages of light towards the target enemy stronghold. You should supplement them with any units with arcane attacks: Arch Mages, Silver Mages, White Mages, and any units that picked up amulets in previous scenarios.

However, if you managed to get your forces off the lake Vrug island in ''Evacuation'' (without blowing up the bridge), it's likely you are now able to recall a good number of Level-3 units with arcane attacks and maybe you even have a couple of Ogres. If that's the case you stand a chance (on Medium and v1.13.4 anyway) to assassinate the Northern Lich before he runs out of money. The way to do it is instruct the Northwestern allied leader to attack the Northern Lich. Your units will set up in the fortified positions near the bridge due North, and in the villages - drawing some enemy units into the water and clearing one or two for your ally - while he, brilliant tactician that he is, sends his units blindly forward, North across the bridge and the stream to tackle the Lich's recruits head-on. This will bring the Weldyn units (mostly Mages probably) within range of the Lich himself, and he may come out for an attack - and into the water. If this happens (possibly on Turn 4 or 5) - make a gambit for his life: One unit can attack him from the bridge and one or two from the water. Of course these have to be arcane attacks, otherwise you're probably not going to kill him off; and apply Illumination to the attacker and maybe the Lich itself (i.e. make a Mage of Light one of the attackers). To complete the gambit, have some high-HP units defend the wounded attackers of the Lich from the side, so they don't get picked off easily the next round. Still, an L2 unit or even a Paladin is not a terrible loss in exchange for a Lich leader and his 100-gold-or-more in unrecruited units.

... But it's more likely not to have such a convenient strike force, in which case you probably not be able to assassinate the Lich before he is out of gold. When he dashes out to attack, check his gold. If he's broke, you might wish to ignore him for a turn or two while you kill off other units.

After you take over the stronghold, you may be able to recruit some more troops, if you saved some gold and/or did a good job capturing villages with your cavalry. Note that saving gold is of no use for ''The Duel'', so spend it now if you're in a bind (saving gold is a luxury in this level which would help you in 'Weldyn Besieged'). Next, you should start preparing for the assault waves of the other two Liches. The combined assault waves may be more than your forces can survive. Therefore, while your main force braces itself, you should send out some ogres, cavalry, and/or silver Mages as distractions, mostly along the board edges. They can even get in a few kills.

For your main force, unless you have taken over the South-Western keep, you need to mind those invisible, infiltrating, backstabbing Nightgaunts that can be up to no good... they are now headed your way. Have your units form a block with their back to the board edge. Round the corners of the block towards the enemy (so that you don't have one unit face four attacks.) Keep your whole line solid and heavily wounded units buried deep inside.

In addition to Nightgaunts, you have the threat of Banebows, which can do 52 ranged damage in one turn. However, they are fairly easily killed with proper strategy. Move a mage of light adjacent to blind the Banebow (i.e., remove its +25% bonus) and provide light for your lawful unit's attack (i.e., remove its -25% adjustment.) Move a Shock Trooper (or similar, preferably arcane enhanced) adjacent to the banebow and mage of light. Move a General up to lend Leadership to the attacker. You may kill the Banebow in one attack. Otherwise, if the Banebow is quite wounded, you can use the mage of light to finish it off.

If you lose when you try to make a stand, you could instead try splitting your forces in two to attack the remaining two Liches. Some players have had success with this, killing the last leader by turn 14 or 15. Just remember that the objective is to survive until the end of turns, and Nightgaunts may be a problem. Killing all three leaders is a victory though and will earn you a early finish bonus of 54/turn, which is important if you go on to ''Weldyn Besieged''.

If you have one or two Silver Mages available, they are quite useful in this scenario. The map is rather large so have some fast-moving units like horsemen run through enemy territory and capture individual villages. Then use the teleport ability of your silver mage to perform hit-and-run (or rather: hit-and-teleport) attacks. Make sure you do not get him killed, though, by holding out too long after attacking. Make good use of Gweddry's leadership ability (he should be a Grand Marshal by now), and of Konrad's Sceptre of Fire to get rid of the most dangerous enemies coming your way.

At the end of the scenario, you must choose between challenging Mal-Ravanal to a duel (''The Duel'') or defending Weldyn against the final Undead attack (''Weldyn Besieged''). ''Weldyn Besieged'' is intended as a challenging final scenario; players without a good recall list and sizable warchest will find ''The Duel'' much more accommodating.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== The Duel ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.
* '''Other''':
** You can only recruit for the first turn.

This is a somewhat strange scenario: you get to recall/recruit exactly five units and then have to fight Mal-Ravanal and his six chosen troops. Mal-Ravanal will recruit mostly level 3 units so this looks difficult. However, it is, in fact, quite manageable. Your goal is to attack first and hit hard—you should be able to eliminate two or three enemy units before they even get the chance to attack.

Except for Konrad II, you will have all of your units available in the recall list (including Owaec). Recall mages of light and other high-level arcane troops. Advance onto the battlefield, but stop just short of the enemies' range. After the enemies move closer, concentrate your attacks on a few of their units, particularly those with the strongest attacks. "Cowardly" Gweddry may be able to grant leadership bonuses to your troops, however he should probably refrain from actual fighting so he does not accidentally get killed.

Try to finish the fight quickly, as Mal-Ravanal plays unfair and every so often recruits another 3 units, albeit not so tough as the first batch of 6. If you position a weak unit within Mal-Ravanal's movement range the arrogant lich will gleefully charge out onto the battlefield and leave himself wide open for your counterattack.

==== Weldyn Besieged ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, any enemy unit reaches your keep, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* '''Turns''': Unlimited.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Konrad II.

This battle is intended as a substantial challenge, and is inadvisable with low gold or an inadequate recall list. You face off against seven enemy leaders, with the goal of finding and eliminating Mal-Ravanal among them. The liches' names aren't revealed until they are attacked, and Mal-Ravanal is more likely to be revealed later in the scenario (the names are randomly assigned when you attack). Attacking a lich gives it a small boost of gold, but killing the wrong lich gives every other lich extra gold.

A quick scout unit can charge past the undead hordes to attack and identify a lich. Once you've found Mal-Ravanal, send Dacyn and any mounted arcane-attack units to attack. You can draw Mal-Ravanal out of the keep by positioning a sacrificial horseman nearby. Once the lich is out in the open, your arcane damage cavalry should have no trouble finishing the battle in a single turn.

Meanwhile you'll need the rest of your troops to hold the central keep against the undead onslaught. If you can spare the funds, a few sacrificial troops can delay the incoming enemies on one side, giving you the opportunity to focus your firepower on the undead approaching from the other side(s). Note, however, that each enemy killed causes the lich to recruit another. If things turn grim, retreat to the castle and make your final stand.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheEasternInvasion

2022-09-12T19:55:33Z

Revolting peasant: /* The Outpost */

:''This walkthrough is in the process of being updated for version 1.16+''

In this campaign you play the role of Gweddry, a human Sergeant who has the responsibility of dealing with a powerful Lich who wants to destroy Wesnoth. As a sargeant, Gweddry has the potential to level up into a Grand Marshal, a level 4 unit that can empower his troops significantly through Leadership. You start with the support of a White Mage named Dacyn, who will be by your side throughout the campaign.

As any other walkthrough, this document describes plot details that can be considered spoilers. This is particularly true for this campaign, since it contains quite a few surprises along the way, and at some points you will have to make choices that will have important repercussions for later scenarios. You may wish to read ahead to see what you will be facing. In particular, you might wish to read about the scenarios ''Captured'', ''Evacuation'' and ''Weldyn Under Attack'' in order to plan ahead.

You will encounter different types of enemies, mostly undead units (especially towards the beginning and the end of the campaign), as well as orcs and trolls. Mages and Heavy Infantrymen will provide the backbone of your army. You'll probably want to level up at least one extra Mage of Light (other than Dacyn), and a few Arch/Silver Mages and Iron Maulers. You can also recruit Spearman, Cavalryman and Horseman units (the latter a few scenarios into the campaign), but their importance is perhaps less pronounced in many of the scenarios.

You will encounter a few tough challenges along the way, so be prepared, and be careful assigning experience to your units, especially during the first few scenarios.

=== The Outpost ===

* '''Objectives''': Defend the outpost, then move Gweddry to the trapdoor.
* '''Lose if''': Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* '''Turns''': 16.
* '''Starting units''': Gweddry, Dacyn.

The best approach is to recruit heavy infantry and optionally a mage. Build a line using the heavy infantry, using the castle hexes and other hexes to the northwest. When and if you have more money available later, purchase additional heavy infantry.

Just hold out for the enemy attack during night time; only rotate wounded units if possible, but do not counter-attack. At dawn, start your counter-attack without worrying too much about keeping the original line intact. Instead, try to level 2 or 3 HI to Shock Troopers. The enemy's forces quickly will cease to be any danger to yours.

On turn 7, Dacyn will mysteriously disappear, and you'll briefly meet Mal-Ravanal, the leader of the undead. On turn 10 (easy) or 12 (hard) the white mage returns and points out a trap door to exit the level. (Note that this trap door will be near your starting fort, so you'll either need to hold the fort or be prepared to get back to it by turn 16).

Use the remaining turns to level as many units as possible and only move your leader onto the trap door in the very last turn. You may be able to finish with a couple of shock troopers, another white mage, or a level 2 Gweddry.

On challenging, ignore most the above advice. The goal is to fall back and defend the western bank of the river up through turn 9, then counterattack across the bridge on turns 10-11 so Gweddry is in position to immediately exit on turn 12. Recruit 4 HI and 2 magi on turn one, then keep recruiting more HI as often as you can up through turn 5. Use the magi and Dacyn to hold the central villages from bats while Gweddry recruits and your HI take up their positions on the far river bank. As darkness falls, you should abandon the villages and get your final units across the river as well. Most of the undead won't be able to reach your positions until dawn, when you'll have the advantage of daylight to slaughter anything crossing the river. This should destroy most of the first wave. By dusk, start preparing your forces to mass on the bridge, where they want to punch through any undead stragglers and reoccupy the city on turn 11 for a final last stand. As soon as Dacyn reappears on turn 12, get Gweddry to the trap door before your survivors are overwhelmed.

=== Escape Tunnel ===
* Objectives: Move Gweddry to the end of the tunnel.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 26/24/22 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Permanent holy amulet in north.
** Treasure of 200 gold in southeast (50 in 1.13).

This scenario occurs in a small cave occupied by trolls and dwarves. You start on the far west of the map, and your mission is to take Gweddry all the way to the opposite side.

Take some time to choose your supporting units, depending on which ones you want to level up the quickest. Heavy Infantry are excellent frontline units, but the downside is that they move very slowly in caves. However, since Gweddry is the only unit that ''has'' to get quickly to the far east, this might not be a big problem. You can also go for a group of mostly Mages, and a couple of Spearmen. One keep of units in total should easily be enough—there's also a convenient keep with one castle tile to recruit additional units in the middle of the map, in case you need it during the battle.

The map is quite small. A little east from your keep the path is forked into three directions: north is a small area with a holy amulet, east is the troll keep and south is the dwarven keep. These two last paths will merge again to the east, leading to the exit, where Gweddry needs to go. The dwarves are friendly and will help you fight your enemies.

Given that you will probably be using inexperienced units, it's perhaps best to avoid going directly into the troll keep, but you can hold your position near the crossroads, on the southern path, where you can easily witness a lot of action between trolls, dwarves and undead (who are following you and show up on turn 6 from the west). The different armies will all fight each other. If you want to take a defensive stance, after having moved all your units south position one strong unit (a spearman or HI) at the end of the path leading south (so only one unit a turn can attack him) and position the White Mage right behind him to heal it every turn. These two units should easily keep of the enemies following you until the end of the scenario.

The holy amulet to the north is a very useful item, which will make all the attacks (melee and ranged) of the unit that picks it up of type ''arcane''—and, unlike in other campaigns, this holy amulet is permanent! Send a quick Spearman there or Gweddry. Giving Gweddry the holy amulet (instead of a Spearman) allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the scenario ''The Crossing'', where you can get an easy first turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle.

Move Gweddry to the northeast escorted by other units, to help him fight individual trolls if necessary, but before moving him to the end of the cave (which ends the level) send one of your units to the cave south–east, past the funny signpost warning you of the troll hole. In the cave you will discover a chest containing a troll treasure amounting to 200 gold (or 50 in 1.13).

[Thrash: Alternately, I used predominately Heavy Infantry on this level. I found (on medium) they were tough enough to hold the central cave and pretty much beat the trolls into submission long enough for Gweddry to run north to the the amulet and then cover his retreat south, only then recruiting a mage when the troll numbers were lower. With other units, I had problems with the trolls overrunning them and getting Gweddry trapped to the north. Also a heavy infantry in the village by your starting fort will hold off the undead for a long time.]

=== An Unexpected Appearance ===
* Objectives: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/18/16 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.
** Both Dacyn and Gweddry never miss when they attack on turn 1.

In this scenario you have to defeat one of the dark sorcerers on the edges of the map. Your next scenario will depend on the enemy you choose to kill. Killing the one to the west (Mal-Skraat) will take you to the ''Elven Alliance'' scenario, while the one to the east (Mal-Kallat) takes you to ''The Undead Border Patrol''.

Going east is more difficult, especially on hard, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a loyal Paladin and several Knights.

Firstly, expel Mal-Tar out of your keep: either shoot him with Dacyn's ranged and Gweddry's melee attacks for a 1-turn kill, or attack using melee only to wound him (Dacyn is likelier to emerge less wounded this way). If you don't kill him the first turn, Mal-Tar recruits 3 soulless then retreats to the nearby village to heal. But that gives you more easy xp to farm... so food for thought.

You will be fighting a mix of skeletons & skeleton archers, along with skeleton riders and soulless (in the west) and vampire bats and ghouls (in the east). So recruiting Heavy Infantry and Magi work well (and recall whomever you gave the amulet to in the previous scenario), plus a single spearman or cavalry to grab villages and/or act as expendable blocker if you can't afford a last HI/mage. Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village to heal ASAP, as he will be the core mobile healer of your army unless you have another white mage.

Magi can generally fend for themselves in towns vs bats, unless the bats arrive in groups.

On easy or medium difficulty the attackers should be no problem, so focus on leveling units with Dacyn positioned at the epicenter of your assault so he can heal the wounded. If you move quickly you should only need to fight the attackers from one leader. Of course you can have some of your units double back to engage the second set.

On hard difficulty going west, the bats will catch up mid-battle and try to snipe your wounded units in the night. On hard heading east, be wary of the skeleton riders catching up from behind and being caught between the two main undead forces. Luckily the mix of bats and the single-path out of the eastern swamp means those forces arrive fairly dispersed. Aggressively pressing your attack eastward should take them out in small batches so when the western forces catch up you won't have to fight too many at once.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Elven Alliance ====
* Objectives: Defeat enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Volas dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.

The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure. The assassin disappears into the forest, but you won't bump into him, he'll just reappear near the elf leader on turn 6.

Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.

Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.

There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.

Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears, you may ignore it unless you have a unit close-by. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. It is possible to kill the orcish leader by turn 9 for a nice gold bonus.

==== The Undead Border Patrol ====
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. There is a Dark Sorcerer in the north-west corner and a Lich in the south-east corner. Defeating the Lich (Mal-Telnarad) will give you the chance to go to ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'', a challenging but rewarding scenario, while defeating the sorcerer (Mal-Skraat) is easier, and takes you directly to ''The Northern Outpost''.

If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The terrain is more open and the necromancer has less gold to recruit with than the lich. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance—you may recruit a couple of suicide cavalrymen to distract bats and grab distant towns. One might even get enough XP this way to be worth recalling in later scenarios. Because of the open terrain, it is recommended to use mostly heavy infantry and your holy amulet unit on this level backed up by a few magi. As in most scenarios against undead, white magi are very useful for their arcane attack as well as mobile healers. Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand; this gives you a significant advantage.

If you go East, expect to take some time getting over the river and through the swamp, but the lich can be drawn out of his fortress to fight in the swamp as soon as you come within range. Gweddry can lure enemy units into chasing him by moving southwest into the mountains, thereby diverting many undead from contesting the river crossing. A small force recruited to defend the fort will keep troops from the NW off of your backside and they'll pick up a good amount of experience in the process, though alternatively Gweddry can lure these too. Finishing early is quite advantageous, as you'll want as much starting gold as possible to improve your chances in the next scenario.

==== Mal-Ravanal's Capital ====
* Objective: Escape from the capital by killing one of the two dark sorcerers.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 26.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** The paladin's location is randomly chosen from among the six prison cells at the start of the scenario.

Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you may skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.

The main reason to get here is to acquire a cavalry force of one Paladin (a loyal unit) and five Knights. Focus on freeing the horsemen as quickly as possible. To do this, kill the 6 Revenants guarding the cages (they will not attack unless you stand next to them first), but note the number of Knights available is reduced by one for each of your troops that die *after you rescue the first one*. You might want to make sure any expendable troops are "expended" before this. Each rescued unit pops in with full moves.

The regular Time of Day cycle does not apply here. Instead, dusk and night are twice as long as usual. The large accumulating mob of undead will mull around in the center until turn 7 or so before swarming in Gweddry's general direction. Prior to that you can 'pull' the mob north or south by relocating Gweddry or alternatively by moving decoy units closer to the center, so adjust your tactics accordingly. Most importantly, try to finish the mission quickly.

''On easy'': This is still a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner. By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in position to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to ''The Northern Outpost''.

[Thrash] My take on just getting the paladin and 5 knights quickly is you want to send units in parallel to attack the NW enemy and free as many of the knights at the same time. The trick is you free the knights and then kill the NW leader right after before all your troops get overwhelmed by units from the East (and center). Time of day is critical - if you can get to the revenants before dusk, a white mage or shock trooper can kill them in one turn, after that it will take two turns or a little help (like a previously freed knight). Gweddry, even with an amulet, will probably take 3 turns to kill one, but with his one turn head start, that's OK. With one fort of recruits (2 white mages and 4 shock troopers), I was able to free 5 of the 6 and kill the NW enemy leader on turn 6 [?in which version?]. I sent 3 shock troopers and a white mage at the NW enemy, diverting one of those to freeing the 6th knight probably would have gotten me 6 out of the 6.

=== The Northern Outpost ===
* Objectives:
** Find the outlaw leader in the villages and kill him.
** Defeat the undead leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Terraent.
* Other:
** A holy amulet is located on the south-west.
** Horseman units can now be recruited.
** Owaec joins your team after the fight is over.

This scenario is reachable from the ''Elven Alliance'', ''The Undead Border Patrol'', and ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'' scenarios.

Here, there are two enemies that you must defeat: the undead and the outlaws. It is a good idea to create a separate task force for each.

The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does a good part of the work. To finish off the undead, it's useful to have a white mage, since Dacyn will be busy with his special spell to reveal the outlaws for this scenario. If you don't have a white mage, you can try recruiting a few mages or else go back one or more scenarios and promote a mage to white mage. In addition to the mages or white mage, recall whomever picked up the holy amulet in one of the previous scenarios and have them accompany Gweddry to the southeast. If Gweddry is the one with the holy amulet and you have a white mage, then you can supplement them with a mage. You should also send a cavalryman/horseman or quick spearman to pick up the new holy amulet in the southwest.

By contrast to the undead, the outlaws require a novel strategy. Recruit/recall fast units, e.g., cavalry and horsemen. You may supplement them by recalling quick spearmen and quick shock troopers. The challenge is that criminals will sometimes appear randomly around the villages you flag. Therefore, before flagging a village, make sure you have several healthy units around it. Note that you will get a chance to kill any newly appeared outlaws before they get a move. Outlaws will not appear in the villages that Owaec flags, so don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Send your outlaw hunting posse up the eastern side of the map flagging villages and fighting the bandits. One of the villages has the assassin that is the outlaw leader, and there are a lot of villages, so speed is of the essence.

Once your undead task force has finished the undead, form them into a second outlaw hunting posse, transferring units as needed from the first posse. When you come across the village where the bandit leader hides, divert any available units to the battle, as the bandits have a bite.

Note: A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the bandits, especially at night.

Also note, that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assassination).

[Thrash] When I played, Oweac only recruited a couple mages, so he needed significant help as they get slaughtered quickly - I'd say 3-4 units. Also you don't really need to surround a village before flagging it, just have units in range to sweep in and attack if bandits pop out; this can save you some turns as move around as you can send one unit in to flag a village and move the rest on if nothing appears. Finally, the outlaw leader ran away when I played, so be prepared to chase him down.

=== Two Paths ===
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

You must choose between going north to attack the orc leader or going north-west to attack the undead leader.

One option is going north on the very east side of the map trying to fight your enemies from solid ground and mountains while they stand on sand ground with weak defense. As your troops move very slowly on this terrain, you will likely take some heavy losses however, as your enemies keep surrounding you. Also this will presumably take too many turns to reach the orc leader in time.

Thus the preferred choice is to recall a couple of shock troopers and white mages and move them on the path to the north-west in a tight formation towards the undead leader. Once you survived the first enemy onslaught without loosing units, the rest of this scenario becomes rather easy as the remaining enemies come one by one. Make sure to keep on moving fast to the north-west to reach the undead leader before turns run out.

On hard (and version 1.8.3), what will probably work better is an all-out suicidal cavalry charge to assassinate the undead leader as quickly as possible.

It's worth noting that killing the orc leader results in what appears to be an easier and more rewarding subsequent scenario (The Crossing) than killing the undead leader (Undead Crossing).

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Undead Crossing ====
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.

You need to cross the river, but not without first defeating a necromancer who is occupying a small island to the north.

A good general strategy can be something like the following: recall a couple of quick swordsmen (or about-to-level quick spearmen), two white mages, a red mage or multiple regular mages, and any units with holy amulets. Shock troopers are too slow. Send these units as quickly as possible northwest through the swamp towards the eastern crossing. Meanwhile, recruit/recall cavalry. The cavalry should run as fast as possible along the southern board edge (so as to not attract undue attention from bats and swimming undead) and then up the western crossing. You can divert a couple of cavalry and Owaec to snatch up villages and then those units can join the eastern assault.

Now, this scenario has a nasty surprise... Once you have fought off the bats and skeletons, you will find this was not all, as the undead leader summons a number of cuttlefish monsters (1, 2 or 4 according to the difficulty level: easy, medium or hard respectively), which appear in the water between the two crossings. These always appear on turn number 10. Be very careful where to position your troops as the cuttlefish have a very nasty melee attack.

You have at least three options for the crossing. Option 1 is to just try to get a couple of your cavalry across each of the two crossings, while the rest of your units run like hell away from the water and swamp. Option 2 is to send across more units while tossing a spearman into the water as bait. Option 3 is to fight the cuttlefish, which is extremely hazardous. For a fight, maneuver your units to encourage the cuttlefish to separate, then use good melee troops backed by Gweddry (for leadership) and a white mage to kill them one at a time. Good luck. Make sure you leave your units enough time to cross the river and kill the undead leader before turns run out.

==== The Crossing ====
* Objective: Get Gweddry and Owaec across the river.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** Special bonuses if the objective is completed while the Ogre leader is still alive:
*** Ogre leader joins you as recallable a loyal unit
*** You get two additional recallable Ogre units

Looking at the level, one might imagine the challenge in this scenario is crossing the wide river - where units are very vulnerable, and have very restricted mobility (particularly horses). However, this will likely prove to be the lesser of your concern: The Orcish force on the Northern bank is preoccupied with the Ogres for a good several turns, and the opponents going after you will be the Undead from the South.

On Turn 2, the first contingent of Undead will appear to the South-East of your keep: A weaker leader (Revenant on Medium) "unpacks" a keep and recruits it full of units (on Medium these are L1 recruits). If Gweddry and Owaec are already in the water, you may find yourself pretty bloodied by the encounter; and the Revenant has Gold to spare for more recruiting.

On Turn 8, the Undead are reinforced by a powerful Lich (on Medium) and a few leveled units (on Medium - two Revenants and a Bone Shooter) - and they get initiative, i.e. they get a round of action before you can attack them. Do you have units ready to take the blow? They might not be numerous, but they're quite deadly when ganging up on a unit of their choice. If, however, your units remain at a distance, the Lich will enter the keep and recruit...

On the North bank, the Orcs and the Ogres are exchanging blows. Within a couple of turns it becomes apparent the Ogres are going to lose - but you want their leader alive. That means you either have to draw much of the Orcish forces to chase you into the river, or alternatively get Gweddry and Owaec across fast enough so that the Orcs aren't completely done with the Ogres (the Leader will most probably be the last one to die).

So, when can you afford to send Gweddry and Owaec, and/or other units, up into the water? A slight tactical error in judgement can mean either numerous casualties by the undead, or alternatively loss of your potential Ogre ally.

If you ''do'' manage to cross before the Ogre leader is dead, he will agrees to help you; you'll get the bonuses listed above and will skip the ''Training the Ogres'' scenario, proceeding directly to ''Xenophobia''.

[Allefant]: I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight North from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the north. The Undead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the north side.

[Thrash] Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the Undead can move more quickly through the water than your units. Alternately, if you kill the first wave of Undead quickly enough (by turn 3), you can make it across the river before the second wave catches you from behind.

Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first Undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to Seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the Orcs enough to get across while the Undead behind you are not an issue.

I had problems with the Ogre leader dying before I could get to him with this strategy, but sending Oweac into the river on turn 1 seemed to draw enough of the Orcs south to solve this problem.

[Hipparchos] Agreed this is the only way to save the ogre leader (all others are too slow). I played this several ways before deciding the easiest is to recruit/recall only units with 6+ movement (Horsemen, Cavalrymen, quick Mages and quick Spearmen) which move 2 hexes through the water. Send them immediately South to the Undead leader's keep and defeat the units there within the first few turns. Then occupy the keep and wait for the reinforcements while one Horseman rides West to take villages. With no keep, the reinforcements are small and easy to defeat. Then you have no problems to your rear as your fast units catch up to Oweac and cross the river. You'll take some hits on the far bank but should get through in time to keep the Ogres alive.

=== Training the Ogres ===
* Objective: Capture the ogres.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** To add ogres to your army, "capture" them by ZoC-locking them.

This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, your three units just have to survive. However, if you want to be able to recall ogres later, you need to "capture" them by surrounding them. Any ogre which cannot move more than one hex in every direction will be added to your recall list. Ogres which reach the rocky borders will "escape".

Ogres are especially mobile on mountains (such as in the scenario ''Lake Vrug'') and in caves (in the scenario ''Captured''). Being of neutral alignment, ogres can be helpful at night (especially in the scenario ''Weldyn Under Attack''). It's best to capture at least two.

=== Xenophobia ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec die or turns run out.
* Turns: 40/36/32 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* Other:
** A holy amulet near the orcs' keep.

This is a fun and silly level as all parties in the scenario (i.e. elves, orcs, drawves, and yourself) decide to fight each other instead of forming alliances. The scenario is not very difficult, so you can use this time to gain some experience for your units and pick up another permanent holy amulet (in the north, roughly in the middle between the dwarf and the orc keep).

You have two obvious options: attack the elves first or the dwarves first. Don't worry, they will be distracted by the orcs. After you kill the first leader, proceed to the orcs and then finish off the remaining leader.

Attacking the elves first has the advantage that they have the richest lands, i.e., the most villages, so it means more gold for you by the end of the scenario. It has the side effect that you're more likely to face a live orc leader relative to if you had attacked the dwarves first, as the elves are pretty good at killing him.

Attacking the dwarves first has the advantage that it's probably easier, since the orc leader is more likely to die at the hands of the elves. It has the disadvantage that you have to spend time getting out of the dwarven mountains and then you will ultimately fight a lot of elves, though most of them will have come out of their forests by then.

In either case, you have a lot of ground to cover, so try to do without any non-quick shock troopers. Cavalry, white mages, red mages and spearman track units (preferably quick) are all good.

By the end of this scenario, it's very useful to have Gweddry at least on level 3, allowing you to use his leadership ability on other units like ogres (who reach their maximum at level 2). Leveling up a group of key units will also be very important for the upcoming scenario ''Captured'', where you won't be able to recruit, but a group of your most experienced veterans will have to fight their way out of a cave. You may want to prepare several mages and knights.

=== Lake Vrug ===
* Objective: Defeat the Trolls and Gryphons (Drakes in 1.13), and move Dacyn to the stronghold
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 30.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* Other:
** The stronghold provides 100 gold.

This is a very confusing hide and seek scenario that could take you several pointless restarts until you have finally discover the enemy leaders.

There are three keeps, all north of the river. The troll leader has his keep on the northeast (go to the right into the mountains directly after crossing the bridge). To find the other two keeps, go west right after crossing the river; if you stay close to the southern line of mountains, you'll find the Gryphon keep pretty easily. Finally, there is a stronghold straight north from the Gryphons, and Dacyn must reach this fortress to complete the level.

Gryphons are vulnerable to the impact damage of heavy infantry and shock troopers, so recall two or three, preferably quick ones. Also recall another white mage to supplement Dacyn and as many ogres as possible, because they are probably the most useful unit for this scenario. The reason is simple: the enemy keeps are surrounded by high mountains which some of your troops cannot pass, but which the ogres handle quite easily. You might also want to recruit a horseman to scout ahead, although using that money for another mage or ogre may be a better investment.

The action for this scenario can be divided into two phases. The first phase will be surviving the first onslaught of Gryphons and trolls coming your way. This will start around turn 4 with quite a number of Gryphons appearing from the northwest. On hard, the onslaught will be especially difficult to handle. When you see the first Gryphon swoop out of the fog, watch out! This means many others are coming behind. So, fall back away from the fog and form a defensive line that will eventually become a circle. Keep in mind that you can grab good terrain, i.e., the mountains, as Gryphons are only too happy to attack you wherever you are, and your ogres will hold up well there. Once you have wounded units, position your heavy units such as shock troopers and ogres very tighly around them, as the Gryphons really have quite a large moving range and thus mercilessly slay unprotected injured units.

Just when you thought you had the Gryphons wrapped up, here come the trolls across the bridge. They may be only a minor nuisance on medium or easy, but on hard it's a strain facing a large number of trolls with troops bloodied by the swarm of Gryphons. Trolls are really no match for your shock troopers, however, who happily troll-crack away. Place these troopers on the grassland tiles on the edge of the river, so the trolls coming from the bridge will be forced to attack from unfavorable terrain for them (ice).

Once you have dealt with this first wave of enemies, the remaining phase consists in crossing the river, finding the enemy leaders and finishing them off, which will be much easier in comparison. Unfortunately, the shock troopers won't do you much good in this end phase. When taking the enemy keeps, use the ogres, who can move well on the high mountains, unlike most of your other units.

[revolting_peasent] Starting with version 1.13, the Gryphon leader recruits Drakes: First Glider Drakes (for the onslaught), then Sky Drakes. The former can be pretty safely defeated by a half-HP Ogre, the latter - not really, even individually. So even one of these can be very troublesome. This is especially true if they somehow gets near Dacyn, which they seem to have an inclination to do.

=== Captured ===
* Objective: Rescue Gweddry, Dacyn, and Owaec, then escape through the south-west tunnel.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: Unlimited, then 16.
* Starting units: Rescue leader and two sidekicks.
* Other:
** No recruiting, but a group of your veterans will be available.
** A holy amulet to the south.

Three of your recall troops will escape from a cell and plot a rescue operation. The scenario tries to select a level 3, level 2, and level 1 unit, but it is possible to end up with many variations. This group only needs to fight an orcish grunt and a few bats as they travel west, then south. Shortly after they encounter the orcish trash heap, one of your rescuers will don a disguise to sneak past the troll guards.

The disguised unit can open a cell door to release the prisoners within. Try to select a cell containing ogres; a quick ogre has the best chance of reaching and opening another cell in the same turn. Your three heroes will also be freed, and either Dacyn or Gweddry can reach the final cell to release the last of your troops. You'll be surrounded by Troll Warriors, and unlikely to do enough damage to kill them in the first turn. Sacrifice some of your less experienced troops to block the trolls from reaching any important units.

Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the southwest corner. There is a holy necklace in the southeast. Preferably grab the holy amulet with a horseman or something similar. He will come in very hand in later scenarios (if he survives the next scenario, that is).

If you have a large group of recallable units, loses in this scenario are not a big deal, as you're only going to be able to bring a fraction of your recall list past the next scenario, which is likely to kill off all but a few veterans. However, the steady stream of orc reinforcements can provide one last chance to level key units for ''Evacuation'', the next scenario.

=== Evacuation ===
* Objective: Destroy the bridge or defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.
* Other:
** Every unit not on the south side of the river when the bridge is destroyed will be lost (including units in your recall list).

There are two options in this scenario: you can either defeat all enemy leaders or blow up the bridge in the south. If you finish by passing the bridge, all your units that are not on the south side of the river by the time you blow up the bridge are killed by the explosion. Cruelly, this includes your un-recalled units! Of the two options, killing all the enemy leaders is preferable if you can pull it off, so that you can keep your un-recalled troops.

This is one of those scenarios many deem "impossible" (at least on Hard) - but it is by no means impossible. You will, however, have to wrap your mind around an unpleasant truth: It may be necessary to accept significant losses of higher- level troops. You should have a large number of level 2 and 3 units to recall to start this scenario, with level 2 units with high experience and close to advancement being your best asset.

Whichever objective you choose to pursue, watch out for the very tight time limit of 12 turns. And watch out for the (Level 3) Warrior Trolls: They can defeat and kill most of your single units within a single turn at night. Best fight them with Mages or arcane-damage-dealing cavalry. Your mounted units are well resistant to impact (30% for Horsemen/Knights, 40% for Cavalry/Dragoons, respectively) and can deal with trolls, especially Paladins, or mounted units with an amulet (-10% Troll resistance instead of +20%). Also, you _will_ run out of money here - either on Turn 1 or on Turn 2, so don't let that large keep make you think all of your buddies will be joining you like in the last scenario.

Luckily, you can (versions 1.12.2, 1.13.4) lure out the Eastern and the Southern Orc Warlord leaders on Turn 1, and since their recruits can't move on that turn, they will both have opened themselves to be taken out during the next turn. Plan your Turn 1 recruiting and Turn 2 attack carefully, to have enough muscle to take out the leaders and enough brawn and speed not to expose the damaged units too much to the two keep-full's of recruits who will scream bloody murder (literally...).

The Western Troll-Warrior-lead contingent cannot reach you in full force until turn 3 and (on Medium) may not attack all-out even then, so regardless of the leader lure gambit - deal as much damage as possible during the first day, while maintaining some reserve for defense during the night.

The second option - blowing up the bridge - is quite a bit easier to pull off, especially if you're on Hard or short on gold. Run South with a sufficient amount of screening units and hopefully those units you want to try and evacuate (they shouldn't be slow ones). Focus on running the Engineer - using other units to block for him, creating a ZOC corridor. Keep in mind that almost everyone is expendable (sigh...). Engage the enemy sparingly, only at those points necessary to clear the way for the evacuee units, or where you see an opportunity to level-up and heal. With the large keep in this scenario you have no excuse to dilly-dally.

On Hard, If you finish the scenario with just the required units plus about three level 3 units, don't panic. You can indeed finish the rest of the scenarios, starting with just a few level 3's. Note that the next scenario, ''The Drowned Plains'', is good for leveling raw recruits. However, if you have a lot of level 3's, it would certainly be easier to tackle another upcoming "impossible" scenario, namely ''Weldyn Besieged'', so you may wish to replay ''Evacuation'' to get a better result.

WanderingHero: While this scenario is cruel, its not as asinine as it appears. You've already beaten the hardest scenarios of the campaign, so you don't have much to worry about taking losses. Try saving a White Mage, and maybe a Knight that's close to Paladin or a Paladin; although even this is hardly essential. Your heavily armored units and able-bodied Ogres can be used to wall the enemy. Although the situation looks grim, you're actually near the end of the campaign, and the worst is behind you. You'll see the Checkered flag soon enough...

=== The Drowned Plains ===
* Objective: Defeat Khrakrahs.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 28/26/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

Khrakrahs is a level-4 Skeletal Dragon that will be found in or near the castle (located on an island in the south). In getting there, you need to proceed slowly and carefully through the swamp. That is because there are lots of fairly high level undead hidden there, waiting to ambush your troops. Don't panic. They are easy to take one at a time, and you can offer the killing blow to troops that you are eager to promote. Think twice about trying to maneuver more units around the back of the one you're trying to kill, as there may be more ambushing undead there.

The dragon wanders around near the castle but only attacks units which he can kill instantly. If only strong units come near him, he tries to flee. Because of the fog the major challenge of this scenario is finding him and then getting him surrounded so he cannot just move away again. Once you have him trapped like this, slaying him should be easy using your stronger units —preferrably using impact weapons because the dragon has a low resistance there. Magical attacks from your magi are also very effective against the dragon.

This scenario is a good opportunity for all the units with holy amulets you still have with you. Use them against the ambushers. Since there's a good early finish bonus, just recruit a keep of your best anti-undead units, find and kill the dragon and reap the reward.

=== Approaching Weldyn ===
* Objective: Get Gweddry to Weldyn.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

The objective is simple enough; Gweddry has to reach the castle occupied by Konrad II. This is simply a matter of moving him there quickly. The end.

There is no challenge here, but with undead around you can pick up some XP with your fast moving arcane-enhanced troops (i.e., the ones that picked up holy amulets in earlier scenarios.) Try not to overrecruit or dilly-dally, though, as you need all the gold you can get for the next scenario, ''Weldyn Under Attack''.

=== The Council ===

Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.

=== Weldyn Under Attack ===
* Objective: Survive until end of turns.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer, Konrad II.
* Other:
** At the end of this scenario you will have to choose whether to fight Mal-Ravanal directly in a duel, or repel his invasion with all you've got. This dictates the final scenario you'll play for this campaign.

At scenario start, you find your keep in the center of an island. Three allied leaders also have their keeps on the island around yours. There are three enemy leaders (Liches) with equal amounts of gold at their disposal. The southwestern enemy leader is the only one that recruits Nightgaunts, the Southeastern Lich is the only one that recruits Blood Bats, and the Northern Lich is the only one that recruits Spectres.

The time of-day cycle in this scenario is 3 times slower than usual, and it starts at sunset, so the first 3 turns are Dusk, and then it's night-time (first and second watch) during another half of the entire scenario, which is painful - literally, considering the damage the Undead will deal your troops. Fearless or Neutral-alignment units are important, as is careful use of your Mages of Light's Illumination (see also below).

Your strategy should be to kill off one of the Liches and his troops, so that you can take over his defensive position. It's probably easiest to take the Northern keep.

Typically, the backbone of your army will be Heavy Infantry track units, Mages, and your Mages of Light (Dacyn and hopefully at least another one). On the first turn, recall one of each, plus 3 Cavalry units to the rear, preferably quick. Send the cavalry to rob your allies of their villages. They won't mind. Later, the cavalry can run around to distract the enemy. Send your Heavy infantry types, Mages, and Mages of light towards the target enemy stronghold. You should supplement them with any units with arcane attacks: Arch Mages, Silver Mages, White Mages, and any units that picked up amulets in previous scenarios.

However, if you managed to get your forces off the lake Vrug island in ''Evacuation'' (without blowing up the bridge), it's likely you are now able to recall a good number of Level-3 units with arcane attacks and maybe you even have a couple of Ogres. If that's the case you stand a chance (on Medium and v1.13.4 anyway) to assassinate the Northern Lich before he runs out of money. The way to do it is instruct the North-Western allied leader to attack the Northern Lich. Your units will set up in the fortified positions near the bridge due North, and in the villages - drawing some enemy units into the water and clearing one or two for your ally - while he, brilliant tactician that he is, sends his units blindly forward, North across the bridge and the stream to tackle the Lich's recruits head-on. This will bring the Weldyn units (mostly Mages probably) within range of the Lich himself, and he may come out for an attack - and into the water. If this happens (possibly on Turn 4 or 5) - make a gambit for his life: One unit can attack him from the bridge and one or two from the water. Of course these have to be arcane attacks, otherwise you're probably not going to kill him off; and apply Illumination to the attacker and maybe the Lich itself (i.e. make a Mage of Light one of the attackers). To complete the gambit, have some high-HP units defend the wounded attackers of the Lich from the side, so they don't get picked off easily the next round. Still, an L2 unit or even a Paladin is not a terrible loss in exchange for a Lich leader and his 100-gold-or-more in unrecruited units.

... But it's more likely not to have such a convenient strike force, in which case you probably not be able to assassinate the Lich before he is out of gold. When he dashes out to attack, check his gold. If he's broke, you might wish to ignore him for a turn or two while you kill off other units.

After you take over the stronghold, you may be able to recruit some more troops, if you saved some gold and/or did a good job capturing villages with your cavalry. Note that saving gold is of no use for ''The Duel'', so spend it now if you're in a bind (saving gold is a luxury in this level which would help you in 'Weldyn Besieged'). Next, you should start preparing for the assault waves of the other two Liches. The combined assault waves may be more than your forces can survive. Therefore, while your main force braces itself, you should send out some ogres, cavalry, and/or silver Mages as distractions, mostly along the board edges. They can even get in a few kills.

For your main force, unless you have taken over the South-Western keep, you need to mind those invisible, infiltrating, backstabbing Nightgaunts that can be up to no good... they are now headed your way. Have your units form a block with their back to the board edge. Round the corners of the block towards the enemy (so that you don't have one unit face four attacks.) Keep your whole line solid and heavily wounded units buried deep inside.

In addition to Nightgaunts, you have the threat of Banebows, which can do 52 ranged damage in one turn. However, they are fairly easily killed with proper strategy. Move a mage of light adjacent to blind the Banebow (i.e., remove its +25% bonus) and provide light for your lawful unit's attack (i.e., remove its -25% adjustment.) Move a Shock Trooper (or similar, preferably arcane enhanced) adjacent to the banebow and mage of light. Move a General up to lend Leadership to the attacker. You may kill the Banebow in one attack. Otherwise, if the Banebow is quite wounded, you can use the mage of light to finish it off.

If you lose when you try to make a stand, you could instead try splitting your forces in two to attack the remaining two Liches. Some players have had success with this, killing the last leader by turn 14 or 15. Just remember that the objective is to survive until the end of turns, and Nightgaunts may be a problem. Killing all three leaders is a victory though and will earn you a early finish bonus of 54/turn, which is important if you go on to ''Weldyn Besieged''.

If you have one or two Silver Mages available, they are quite useful in this scenario. The map is rather large so have some fast-moving units like horsemen run through enemy territory and capture individual villages. Then use the teleport ability of your silver mage to perform hit-and-run (or rather: hit-and-teleport) attacks. Make sure you do not get him killed, though, by holding out too long after attacking. Make good use of Gweddry's leadership ability (he should be a Grand Marshal by now), and of Konrad's Sceptre of Fire to get rid of the most dangerous enemies coming your way.

At the end of the scenario, you must choose between challenging Mal-Ravanal to a duel (''The Duel'') or defending Weldyn against the final Undead attack (''Weldyn Besieged''). ''Weldyn Besieged'' is intended as a challenging final scenario; players without a good recall list and sizable warchest will find ''The Duel'' much more accommodating.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== The Duel ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** You can only recruit for the first turn.

This is a somewhat strange scenario: you get to recall/recruit exactly five units and then have to fight Mal-Ravanal and his six chosen troops. Mal-Ravanal will recruit mostly level 3 units so this looks difficult. However, it is, in fact, quite manageable. Your goal is to attack first and hit hard—you should be able to eliminate two or three enemy units before they even get the chance to attack.

Except for Konrad II, you will have all of your units available in the recall list (including Owaec). Recall mages of light and other high-level arcane troops. Advance onto the battlefield, but stop just short of the enemies' range. After the enemies move closer, concentrate your attacks on a few of their units, particularly those with the strongest attacks. "Cowardly" Gweddry may be able to grant leadership bonuses to your troops, however he should probably refrain from actual fighting so he does not accidentally get killed.

Try to finish the fight quickly, as Mal-Ravanal plays unfair and every so often recruits another 3 units, albeit not so tough as the first batch of 6. If you position a weak unit within Mal-Ravanal's movement range the arrogant lich will gleefully charge out onto the battlefield and leave himself wide open for your counterattack.

==== Weldyn Besieged ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, any enemy unit reaches your keep, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Konrad II.

This battle is intended as a substantial challenge, and is inadvisable with low gold or an inadequate recall list. You face off against seven enemy leaders, with the goal of finding and eliminating Mal-Ravanal among them. The liches' names aren't revealed until they are attacked, and Mal-Ravanal is more likely to be revealed later in the scenario (the names are randomly assigned when you attack). Attacking a lich gives it a small boost of gold, but killing the wrong lich gives every other lich extra gold.

A quick scout unit can charge past the undead hordes to attack and identify a lich. Once you've found Mal-Ravanal, send Dacyn and any mounted arcane-attack units to attack. You can draw Mal-Ravanal out of the keep by positioning a sacrificial horseman nearby. Once the lich is out in the open, your arcane damage cavalry should have no trouble finishing the battle in a single turn.

Meanwhile you'll need the rest of your troops to hold the central keep against the undead onslaught. If you can spare the funds, a few sacrificial troops can delay the incoming enemies on one side, giving you the opportunity to focus your firepower on the undead approaching from the other side(s). Note, however, that each enemy killed causes the lich to recruit another. If things turn grim, retreat to the castle and make your final stand.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheEasternInvasion

2022-09-12T19:55:13Z

Revolting peasant: /* The Outpost */

:''This walkthrough is in the process of being updated for version 1.16+''

In this campaign you play the role of Gweddry, a human Sergeant who has the responsibility of dealing with a powerful Lich who wants to destroy Wesnoth. As a sargeant, Gweddry has the potential to level up into a Grand Marshal, a level 4 unit that can empower his troops significantly through Leadership. You start with the support of a White Mage named Dacyn, who will be by your side throughout the campaign.

As any other walkthrough, this document describes plot details that can be considered spoilers. This is particularly true for this campaign, since it contains quite a few surprises along the way, and at some points you will have to make choices that will have important repercussions for later scenarios. You may wish to read ahead to see what you will be facing. In particular, you might wish to read about the scenarios ''Captured'', ''Evacuation'' and ''Weldyn Under Attack'' in order to plan ahead.

You will encounter different types of enemies, mostly undead units (especially towards the beginning and the end of the campaign), as well as orcs and trolls. Mages and Heavy Infantrymen will provide the backbone of your army. You'll probably want to level up at least one extra Mage of Light (other than Dacyn), and a few Arch/Silver Mages and Iron Maulers. You can also recruit Spearman, Cavalryman and Horseman units (the latter a few scenarios into the campaign), but their importance is perhaps less pronounced in many of the scenarios.

You will encounter a few tough challenges along the way, so be prepared, and be careful assigning experience to your units, especially during the first few scenarios.

=== The Outpost ===

* **Objectives**: Defend the outpost, then move Gweddry to the trapdoor.
* **Lose if**: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* **Turns**: 16.
* **Starting units**: Gweddry, Dacyn.

The best approach is to recruit heavy infantry and optionally a mage. Build a line using the heavy infantry, using the castle hexes and other hexes to the northwest. When and if you have more money available later, purchase additional heavy infantry.

Just hold out for the enemy attack during night time; only rotate wounded units if possible, but do not counter-attack. At dawn, start your counter-attack without worrying too much about keeping the original line intact. Instead, try to level 2 or 3 HI to Shock Troopers. The enemy's forces quickly will cease to be any danger to yours.

On turn 7, Dacyn will mysteriously disappear, and you'll briefly meet Mal-Ravanal, the leader of the undead. On turn 10 (easy) or 12 (hard) the white mage returns and points out a trap door to exit the level. (Note that this trap door will be near your starting fort, so you'll either need to hold the fort or be prepared to get back to it by turn 16).

Use the remaining turns to level as many units as possible and only move your leader onto the trap door in the very last turn. You may be able to finish with a couple of shock troopers, another white mage, or a level 2 Gweddry.

On challenging, ignore most the above advice. The goal is to fall back and defend the western bank of the river up through turn 9, then counterattack across the bridge on turns 10-11 so Gweddry is in position to immediately exit on turn 12. Recruit 4 HI and 2 magi on turn one, then keep recruiting more HI as often as you can up through turn 5. Use the magi and Dacyn to hold the central villages from bats while Gweddry recruits and your HI take up their positions on the far river bank. As darkness falls, you should abandon the villages and get your final units across the river as well. Most of the undead won't be able to reach your positions until dawn, when you'll have the advantage of daylight to slaughter anything crossing the river. This should destroy most of the first wave. By dusk, start preparing your forces to mass on the bridge, where they want to punch through any undead stragglers and reoccupy the city on turn 11 for a final last stand. As soon as Dacyn reappears on turn 12, get Gweddry to the trap door before your survivors are overwhelmed.

=== Escape Tunnel ===
* Objectives: Move Gweddry to the end of the tunnel.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 26/24/22 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Permanent holy amulet in north.
** Treasure of 200 gold in southeast (50 in 1.13).

This scenario occurs in a small cave occupied by trolls and dwarves. You start on the far west of the map, and your mission is to take Gweddry all the way to the opposite side.

Take some time to choose your supporting units, depending on which ones you want to level up the quickest. Heavy Infantry are excellent frontline units, but the downside is that they move very slowly in caves. However, since Gweddry is the only unit that ''has'' to get quickly to the far east, this might not be a big problem. You can also go for a group of mostly Mages, and a couple of Spearmen. One keep of units in total should easily be enough—there's also a convenient keep with one castle tile to recruit additional units in the middle of the map, in case you need it during the battle.

The map is quite small. A little east from your keep the path is forked into three directions: north is a small area with a holy amulet, east is the troll keep and south is the dwarven keep. These two last paths will merge again to the east, leading to the exit, where Gweddry needs to go. The dwarves are friendly and will help you fight your enemies.

Given that you will probably be using inexperienced units, it's perhaps best to avoid going directly into the troll keep, but you can hold your position near the crossroads, on the southern path, where you can easily witness a lot of action between trolls, dwarves and undead (who are following you and show up on turn 6 from the west). The different armies will all fight each other. If you want to take a defensive stance, after having moved all your units south position one strong unit (a spearman or HI) at the end of the path leading south (so only one unit a turn can attack him) and position the White Mage right behind him to heal it every turn. These two units should easily keep of the enemies following you until the end of the scenario.

The holy amulet to the north is a very useful item, which will make all the attacks (melee and ranged) of the unit that picks it up of type ''arcane''—and, unlike in other campaigns, this holy amulet is permanent! Send a quick Spearman there or Gweddry. Giving Gweddry the holy amulet (instead of a Spearman) allows him to level very quickly, which is important, since he can advance to Grand Marshal. This gives benefits in other ways on a number of later scenarios as well, such as the scenario ''The Crossing'', where you can get an easy first turn kill against the undead leader and take his castle.

Move Gweddry to the northeast escorted by other units, to help him fight individual trolls if necessary, but before moving him to the end of the cave (which ends the level) send one of your units to the cave south–east, past the funny signpost warning you of the troll hole. In the cave you will discover a chest containing a troll treasure amounting to 200 gold (or 50 in 1.13).

[Thrash: Alternately, I used predominately Heavy Infantry on this level. I found (on medium) they were tough enough to hold the central cave and pretty much beat the trolls into submission long enough for Gweddry to run north to the the amulet and then cover his retreat south, only then recruiting a mage when the troll numbers were lower. With other units, I had problems with the trolls overrunning them and getting Gweddry trapped to the north. Also a heavy infantry in the village by your starting fort will hold off the undead for a long time.]

=== An Unexpected Appearance ===
* Objectives: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 20/18/16 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.
** Both Dacyn and Gweddry never miss when they attack on turn 1.

In this scenario you have to defeat one of the dark sorcerers on the edges of the map. Your next scenario will depend on the enemy you choose to kill. Killing the one to the west (Mal-Skraat) will take you to the ''Elven Alliance'' scenario, while the one to the east (Mal-Kallat) takes you to ''The Undead Border Patrol''.

Going east is more difficult, especially on hard, but brings you more reward, such as the chance to go to Mal-Ravanal's Capital, which gives you the opportunity to get extra experience (a lot for whoever survives) and a loyal Paladin and several Knights.

Firstly, expel Mal-Tar out of your keep: either shoot him with Dacyn's ranged and Gweddry's melee attacks for a 1-turn kill, or attack using melee only to wound him (Dacyn is likelier to emerge less wounded this way). If you don't kill him the first turn, Mal-Tar recruits 3 soulless then retreats to the nearby village to heal. But that gives you more easy xp to farm... so food for thought.

You will be fighting a mix of skeletons & skeleton archers, along with skeleton riders and soulless (in the west) and vampire bats and ghouls (in the east). So recruiting Heavy Infantry and Magi work well (and recall whomever you gave the amulet to in the previous scenario), plus a single spearman or cavalry to grab villages and/or act as expendable blocker if you can't afford a last HI/mage. Dacyn might be wounded, so send him to a village to heal ASAP, as he will be the core mobile healer of your army unless you have another white mage.

Magi can generally fend for themselves in towns vs bats, unless the bats arrive in groups.

On easy or medium difficulty the attackers should be no problem, so focus on leveling units with Dacyn positioned at the epicenter of your assault so he can heal the wounded. If you move quickly you should only need to fight the attackers from one leader. Of course you can have some of your units double back to engage the second set.

On hard difficulty going west, the bats will catch up mid-battle and try to snipe your wounded units in the night. On hard heading east, be wary of the skeleton riders catching up from behind and being caught between the two main undead forces. Luckily the mix of bats and the single-path out of the eastern swamp means those forces arrive fairly dispersed. Aggressively pressing your attack eastward should take them out in small batches so when the western forces catch up you won't have to fight too many at once.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Elven Alliance ====
* Objectives: Defeat enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Volas dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.

The Orc's warning about the assassin is overrated; Volas can probably take care of it himself, although you might want to leave ONE unit near him to make sure. The assassin disappears into the forest, but you won't bump into him, he'll just reappear near the elf leader on turn 6.

Recruit / recall a wide assortment of units, mostly mages, spearmen and cavalry. Send mages and spearmen up to fight the opponent, send cavalry down as scouts. Any heavy infantry should go up to fight also; they will probably arrive late, and be good for reinforcements when the first troops are wounded.

Align the troops in the forest, so that the enemy will be on grass; this gives you a tactical advantage. Use Dacyn to heal those who need it most - those on the corners, and any mages who are on the front lines.

There is a village at {20,8} that can prove tactically very useful, because the elves usually fight somewhere near it.
The elves are defeated most of the time, and the orcs claim this village; it is crucial to kill the orc on this village and take it over with a resilient spearman, or a HI.

Once you have gotten past turn 6, it will be day, and the orcs will be very easy to defeat. When the assassin appears, you may ignore it unless you have a unit close-by. In that case, use it to fight the assassin. Keep pressing up. It is possible to kill the orcish leader by turn 9 for a nice gold bonus.

==== The Undead Border Patrol ====
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

This scenario also depends on which way you want to go. There is a Dark Sorcerer in the north-west corner and a Lich in the south-east corner. Defeating the Lich (Mal-Telnarad) will give you the chance to go to ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'', a challenging but rewarding scenario, while defeating the sorcerer (Mal-Skraat) is easier, and takes you directly to ''The Northern Outpost''.

If going NW, it is fairly straightforward. The terrain is more open and the necromancer has less gold to recruit with than the lich. Do the same as in Unexpected Appearance—you may recruit a couple of suicide cavalrymen to distract bats and grab distant towns. One might even get enough XP this way to be worth recalling in later scenarios. Because of the open terrain, it is recommended to use mostly heavy infantry and your holy amulet unit on this level backed up by a few magi. As in most scenarios against undead, white magi are very useful for their arcane attack as well as mobile healers. Try to get the opponent to fight you from the sand; this gives you a significant advantage.

If you go East, expect to take some time getting over the river and through the swamp, but the lich can be drawn out of his fortress to fight in the swamp as soon as you come within range. Gweddry can lure enemy units into chasing him by moving southwest into the mountains, thereby diverting many undead from contesting the river crossing. A small force recruited to defend the fort will keep troops from the NW off of your backside and they'll pick up a good amount of experience in the process, though alternatively Gweddry can lure these too. Finishing early is quite advantageous, as you'll want as much starting gold as possible to improve your chances in the next scenario.

==== Mal-Ravanal's Capital ====
* Objective: Escape from the capital by killing one of the two dark sorcerers.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 26.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** The paladin's location is randomly chosen from among the six prison cells at the start of the scenario.

Only reachable from ''The Undead Border Patrol'' scenario, but you may skip it and go directly to ''Northern Outpost''.

The main reason to get here is to acquire a cavalry force of one Paladin (a loyal unit) and five Knights. Focus on freeing the horsemen as quickly as possible. To do this, kill the 6 Revenants guarding the cages (they will not attack unless you stand next to them first), but note the number of Knights available is reduced by one for each of your troops that die *after you rescue the first one*. You might want to make sure any expendable troops are "expended" before this. Each rescued unit pops in with full moves.

The regular Time of Day cycle does not apply here. Instead, dusk and night are twice as long as usual. The large accumulating mob of undead will mull around in the center until turn 7 or so before swarming in Gweddry's general direction. Prior to that you can 'pull' the mob north or south by relocating Gweddry or alternatively by moving decoy units closer to the center, so adjust your tactics accordingly. Most importantly, try to finish the mission quickly.

''On easy'': This is still a very challenging scenario. I started with only 100 gold, so I recalled one Mage, two Shock Troopers, one Heavy Infantry, and my holy Halberdier. I defended the starting castle for about 10 turns until the Revenants had made their way over to me. Upon killing several of them, I freed some imprisoned Knights and a Paladin. I moved my forces to kill the Death Knight, and then split my forces. I sent one group to attack Mal-Ravanal and the other to kill the Necromancer in the NW corner. By turn 30, my Eastern assault force was in position to attack Mal-Ravanal. However, when I attacked him I wasn't able to defeat him. When I was ready, I killed the NW Necromancer and progressed to ''The Northern Outpost''.

[Thrash] My take on just getting the paladin and 5 knights quickly is you want to send units in parallel to attack the NW enemy and free as many of the knights at the same time. The trick is you free the knights and then kill the NW leader right after before all your troops get overwhelmed by units from the East (and center). Time of day is critical - if you can get to the revenants before dusk, a white mage or shock trooper can kill them in one turn, after that it will take two turns or a little help (like a previously freed knight). Gweddry, even with an amulet, will probably take 3 turns to kill one, but with his one turn head start, that's OK. With one fort of recruits (2 white mages and 4 shock troopers), I was able to free 5 of the 6 and kill the NW enemy leader on turn 6 [?in which version?]. I sent 3 shock troopers and a white mage at the NW enemy, diverting one of those to freeing the 6th knight probably would have gotten me 6 out of the 6.

=== The Northern Outpost ===
* Objectives:
** Find the outlaw leader in the villages and kill him.
** Defeat the undead leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Terraent.
* Other:
** A holy amulet is located on the south-west.
** Horseman units can now be recruited.
** Owaec joins your team after the fight is over.

This scenario is reachable from the ''Elven Alliance'', ''The Undead Border Patrol'', and ''Mal-Ravanal's Capital'' scenarios.

Here, there are two enemies that you must defeat: the undead and the outlaws. It is a good idea to create a separate task force for each.

The undead are fairly straightforward to defeat, and in any case Owaec usually does a good part of the work. To finish off the undead, it's useful to have a white mage, since Dacyn will be busy with his special spell to reveal the outlaws for this scenario. If you don't have a white mage, you can try recruiting a few mages or else go back one or more scenarios and promote a mage to white mage. In addition to the mages or white mage, recall whomever picked up the holy amulet in one of the previous scenarios and have them accompany Gweddry to the southeast. If Gweddry is the one with the holy amulet and you have a white mage, then you can supplement them with a mage. You should also send a cavalryman/horseman or quick spearman to pick up the new holy amulet in the southwest.

By contrast to the undead, the outlaws require a novel strategy. Recruit/recall fast units, e.g., cavalry and horsemen. You may supplement them by recalling quick spearmen and quick shock troopers. The challenge is that criminals will sometimes appear randomly around the villages you flag. Therefore, before flagging a village, make sure you have several healthy units around it. Note that you will get a chance to kill any newly appeared outlaws before they get a move. Outlaws will not appear in the villages that Owaec flags, so don't worry about him uncovering enemies for you. Send your outlaw hunting posse up the eastern side of the map flagging villages and fighting the bandits. One of the villages has the assassin that is the outlaw leader, and there are a lot of villages, so speed is of the essence.

Once your undead task force has finished the undead, form them into a second outlaw hunting posse, transferring units as needed from the first posse. When you come across the village where the bandit leader hides, divert any available units to the battle, as the bandits have a bite.

Note: A Cavalry force (such as the one acquired in Mal-Ravanal's Capital) makes short work of the bandits. Lower level units have trouble against the bandits, especially at night.

Also note, that from this scenario on you can recruit horsemen. You might want to level up a paladin or two, for fast mobile undead removal services (and quick leader assassination).

[Thrash] When I played, Oweac only recruited a couple mages, so he needed significant help as they get slaughtered quickly - I'd say 3-4 units. Also you don't really need to surround a village before flagging it, just have units in range to sweep in and attack if bandits pop out; this can save you some turns as move around as you can send one unit in to flag a village and move the rest on if nothing appears. Finally, the outlaw leader ran away when I played, so be prepared to chase him down.

=== Two Paths ===
* Objective: Defeat either enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** Your next scenario depends on which leader you defeat.

You must choose between going north to attack the orc leader or going north-west to attack the undead leader.

One option is going north on the very east side of the map trying to fight your enemies from solid ground and mountains while they stand on sand ground with weak defense. As your troops move very slowly on this terrain, you will likely take some heavy losses however, as your enemies keep surrounding you. Also this will presumably take too many turns to reach the orc leader in time.

Thus the preferred choice is to recall a couple of shock troopers and white mages and move them on the path to the north-west in a tight formation towards the undead leader. Once you survived the first enemy onslaught without loosing units, the rest of this scenario becomes rather easy as the remaining enemies come one by one. Make sure to keep on moving fast to the north-west to reach the undead leader before turns run out.

On hard (and version 1.8.3), what will probably work better is an all-out suicidal cavalry charge to assassinate the undead leader as quickly as possible.

It's worth noting that killing the orc leader results in what appears to be an easier and more rewarding subsequent scenario (The Crossing) than killing the undead leader (Undead Crossing).

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== Undead Crossing ====
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.

You need to cross the river, but not without first defeating a necromancer who is occupying a small island to the north.

A good general strategy can be something like the following: recall a couple of quick swordsmen (or about-to-level quick spearmen), two white mages, a red mage or multiple regular mages, and any units with holy amulets. Shock troopers are too slow. Send these units as quickly as possible northwest through the swamp towards the eastern crossing. Meanwhile, recruit/recall cavalry. The cavalry should run as fast as possible along the southern board edge (so as to not attract undue attention from bats and swimming undead) and then up the western crossing. You can divert a couple of cavalry and Owaec to snatch up villages and then those units can join the eastern assault.

Now, this scenario has a nasty surprise... Once you have fought off the bats and skeletons, you will find this was not all, as the undead leader summons a number of cuttlefish monsters (1, 2 or 4 according to the difficulty level: easy, medium or hard respectively), which appear in the water between the two crossings. These always appear on turn number 10. Be very careful where to position your troops as the cuttlefish have a very nasty melee attack.

You have at least three options for the crossing. Option 1 is to just try to get a couple of your cavalry across each of the two crossings, while the rest of your units run like hell away from the water and swamp. Option 2 is to send across more units while tossing a spearman into the water as bait. Option 3 is to fight the cuttlefish, which is extremely hazardous. For a fight, maneuver your units to encourage the cuttlefish to separate, then use good melee troops backed by Gweddry (for leadership) and a white mage to kill them one at a time. Good luck. Make sure you leave your units enough time to cross the river and kill the undead leader before turns run out.

==== The Crossing ====
* Objective: Get Gweddry and Owaec across the river.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** Special bonuses if the objective is completed while the Ogre leader is still alive:
*** Ogre leader joins you as recallable a loyal unit
*** You get two additional recallable Ogre units

Looking at the level, one might imagine the challenge in this scenario is crossing the wide river - where units are very vulnerable, and have very restricted mobility (particularly horses). However, this will likely prove to be the lesser of your concern: The Orcish force on the Northern bank is preoccupied with the Ogres for a good several turns, and the opponents going after you will be the Undead from the South.

On Turn 2, the first contingent of Undead will appear to the South-East of your keep: A weaker leader (Revenant on Medium) "unpacks" a keep and recruits it full of units (on Medium these are L1 recruits). If Gweddry and Owaec are already in the water, you may find yourself pretty bloodied by the encounter; and the Revenant has Gold to spare for more recruiting.

On Turn 8, the Undead are reinforced by a powerful Lich (on Medium) and a few leveled units (on Medium - two Revenants and a Bone Shooter) - and they get initiative, i.e. they get a round of action before you can attack them. Do you have units ready to take the blow? They might not be numerous, but they're quite deadly when ganging up on a unit of their choice. If, however, your units remain at a distance, the Lich will enter the keep and recruit...

On the North bank, the Orcs and the Ogres are exchanging blows. Within a couple of turns it becomes apparent the Ogres are going to lose - but you want their leader alive. That means you either have to draw much of the Orcish forces to chase you into the river, or alternatively get Gweddry and Owaec across fast enough so that the Orcs aren't completely done with the Ogres (the Leader will most probably be the last one to die).

So, when can you afford to send Gweddry and Owaec, and/or other units, up into the water? A slight tactical error in judgement can mean either numerous casualties by the undead, or alternatively loss of your potential Ogre ally.

If you ''do'' manage to cross before the Ogre leader is dead, he will agrees to help you; you'll get the bonuses listed above and will skip the ''Training the Ogres'' scenario, proceeding directly to ''Xenophobia''.

[Allefant]: I had only 100 gold, so recruited some units and went straight North from turn one on. The fighting in the water was quite hard, with some orcs coming down from the north. The Undead only appeared when I was in the middle of the river, so no encounter with them, and the ogre's helped get rid of the orcs on the north side.

[Thrash] Make sure to cover your rear flank with some expendable troops (such as Heavy Infantry) as the Undead can move more quickly through the water than your units. Alternately, if you kill the first wave of Undead quickly enough (by turn 3), you can make it across the river before the second wave catches you from behind.

Another strategy is to go straight into the water after killing the first Undead leader using the deep water in the middle of the path to Seperate the orc forces. You go to the right with Gweddry and Owaec and some support troops while letting the ogres kill many of the orcs in your way. Knights and a Paladin can hold off the Orcs enough to get across while the Undead behind you are not an issue.

I had problems with the Ogre leader dying before I could get to him with this strategy, but sending Oweac into the river on turn 1 seemed to draw enough of the Orcs south to solve this problem.

[Hipparchos] Agreed this is the only way to save the ogre leader (all others are too slow). I played this several ways before deciding the easiest is to recruit/recall only units with 6+ movement (Horsemen, Cavalrymen, quick Mages and quick Spearmen) which move 2 hexes through the water. Send them immediately South to the Undead leader's keep and defeat the units there within the first few turns. Then occupy the keep and wait for the reinforcements while one Horseman rides West to take villages. With no keep, the reinforcements are small and easy to defeat. Then you have no problems to your rear as your fast units catch up to Oweac and cross the river. You'll take some hits on the far bank but should get through in time to keep the Ogres alive.

=== Training the Ogres ===
* Objective: Capture the ogres.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec.
* Other:
** To add ogres to your army, "capture" them by ZoC-locking them.

This can be a confusing scenario to understand. Basically, your three units just have to survive. However, if you want to be able to recall ogres later, you need to "capture" them by surrounding them. Any ogre which cannot move more than one hex in every direction will be added to your recall list. Ogres which reach the rocky borders will "escape".

Ogres are especially mobile on mountains (such as in the scenario ''Lake Vrug'') and in caves (in the scenario ''Captured''). Being of neutral alignment, ogres can be helpful at night (especially in the scenario ''Weldyn Under Attack''). It's best to capture at least two.

=== Xenophobia ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec die or turns run out.
* Turns: 40/36/32 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* Other:
** A holy amulet near the orcs' keep.

This is a fun and silly level as all parties in the scenario (i.e. elves, orcs, drawves, and yourself) decide to fight each other instead of forming alliances. The scenario is not very difficult, so you can use this time to gain some experience for your units and pick up another permanent holy amulet (in the north, roughly in the middle between the dwarf and the orc keep).

You have two obvious options: attack the elves first or the dwarves first. Don't worry, they will be distracted by the orcs. After you kill the first leader, proceed to the orcs and then finish off the remaining leader.

Attacking the elves first has the advantage that they have the richest lands, i.e., the most villages, so it means more gold for you by the end of the scenario. It has the side effect that you're more likely to face a live orc leader relative to if you had attacked the dwarves first, as the elves are pretty good at killing him.

Attacking the dwarves first has the advantage that it's probably easier, since the orc leader is more likely to die at the hands of the elves. It has the disadvantage that you have to spend time getting out of the dwarven mountains and then you will ultimately fight a lot of elves, though most of them will have come out of their forests by then.

In either case, you have a lot of ground to cover, so try to do without any non-quick shock troopers. Cavalry, white mages, red mages and spearman track units (preferably quick) are all good.

By the end of this scenario, it's very useful to have Gweddry at least on level 3, allowing you to use his leadership ability on other units like ogres (who reach their maximum at level 2). Leveling up a group of key units will also be very important for the upcoming scenario ''Captured'', where you won't be able to recruit, but a group of your most experienced veterans will have to fight their way out of a cave. You may want to prepare several mages and knights.

=== Lake Vrug ===
* Objective: Defeat the Trolls and Gryphons (Drakes in 1.13), and move Dacyn to the stronghold
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 30.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug.
* Other:
** The stronghold provides 100 gold.

This is a very confusing hide and seek scenario that could take you several pointless restarts until you have finally discover the enemy leaders.

There are three keeps, all north of the river. The troll leader has his keep on the northeast (go to the right into the mountains directly after crossing the bridge). To find the other two keeps, go west right after crossing the river; if you stay close to the southern line of mountains, you'll find the Gryphon keep pretty easily. Finally, there is a stronghold straight north from the Gryphons, and Dacyn must reach this fortress to complete the level.

Gryphons are vulnerable to the impact damage of heavy infantry and shock troopers, so recall two or three, preferably quick ones. Also recall another white mage to supplement Dacyn and as many ogres as possible, because they are probably the most useful unit for this scenario. The reason is simple: the enemy keeps are surrounded by high mountains which some of your troops cannot pass, but which the ogres handle quite easily. You might also want to recruit a horseman to scout ahead, although using that money for another mage or ogre may be a better investment.

The action for this scenario can be divided into two phases. The first phase will be surviving the first onslaught of Gryphons and trolls coming your way. This will start around turn 4 with quite a number of Gryphons appearing from the northwest. On hard, the onslaught will be especially difficult to handle. When you see the first Gryphon swoop out of the fog, watch out! This means many others are coming behind. So, fall back away from the fog and form a defensive line that will eventually become a circle. Keep in mind that you can grab good terrain, i.e., the mountains, as Gryphons are only too happy to attack you wherever you are, and your ogres will hold up well there. Once you have wounded units, position your heavy units such as shock troopers and ogres very tighly around them, as the Gryphons really have quite a large moving range and thus mercilessly slay unprotected injured units.

Just when you thought you had the Gryphons wrapped up, here come the trolls across the bridge. They may be only a minor nuisance on medium or easy, but on hard it's a strain facing a large number of trolls with troops bloodied by the swarm of Gryphons. Trolls are really no match for your shock troopers, however, who happily troll-crack away. Place these troopers on the grassland tiles on the edge of the river, so the trolls coming from the bridge will be forced to attack from unfavorable terrain for them (ice).

Once you have dealt with this first wave of enemies, the remaining phase consists in crossing the river, finding the enemy leaders and finishing them off, which will be much easier in comparison. Unfortunately, the shock troopers won't do you much good in this end phase. When taking the enemy keeps, use the ogres, who can move well on the high mountains, unlike most of your other units.

[revolting_peasent] Starting with version 1.13, the Gryphon leader recruits Drakes: First Glider Drakes (for the onslaught), then Sky Drakes. The former can be pretty safely defeated by a half-HP Ogre, the latter - not really, even individually. So even one of these can be very troublesome. This is especially true if they somehow gets near Dacyn, which they seem to have an inclination to do.

=== Captured ===
* Objective: Rescue Gweddry, Dacyn, and Owaec, then escape through the south-west tunnel.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: Unlimited, then 16.
* Starting units: Rescue leader and two sidekicks.
* Other:
** No recruiting, but a group of your veterans will be available.
** A holy amulet to the south.

Three of your recall troops will escape from a cell and plot a rescue operation. The scenario tries to select a level 3, level 2, and level 1 unit, but it is possible to end up with many variations. This group only needs to fight an orcish grunt and a few bats as they travel west, then south. Shortly after they encounter the orcish trash heap, one of your rescuers will don a disguise to sneak past the troll guards.

The disguised unit can open a cell door to release the prisoners within. Try to select a cell containing ogres; a quick ogre has the best chance of reaching and opening another cell in the same turn. Your three heroes will also be freed, and either Dacyn or Gweddry can reach the final cell to release the last of your troops. You'll be surrounded by Troll Warriors, and unlikely to do enough damage to kill them in the first turn. Sacrifice some of your less experienced troops to block the trolls from reaching any important units.

Victory occurs when Gweddry moves through the exit in the southwest corner. There is a holy necklace in the southeast. Preferably grab the holy amulet with a horseman or something similar. He will come in very hand in later scenarios (if he survives the next scenario, that is).

If you have a large group of recallable units, loses in this scenario are not a big deal, as you're only going to be able to bring a fraction of your recall list past the next scenario, which is likely to kill off all but a few veterans. However, the steady stream of orc reinforcements can provide one last chance to level key units for ''Evacuation'', the next scenario.

=== Evacuation ===
* Objective: Destroy the bridge or defeat all enemies.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.
* Other:
** Every unit not on the south side of the river when the bridge is destroyed will be lost (including units in your recall list).

There are two options in this scenario: you can either defeat all enemy leaders or blow up the bridge in the south. If you finish by passing the bridge, all your units that are not on the south side of the river by the time you blow up the bridge are killed by the explosion. Cruelly, this includes your un-recalled units! Of the two options, killing all the enemy leaders is preferable if you can pull it off, so that you can keep your un-recalled troops.

This is one of those scenarios many deem "impossible" (at least on Hard) - but it is by no means impossible. You will, however, have to wrap your mind around an unpleasant truth: It may be necessary to accept significant losses of higher- level troops. You should have a large number of level 2 and 3 units to recall to start this scenario, with level 2 units with high experience and close to advancement being your best asset.

Whichever objective you choose to pursue, watch out for the very tight time limit of 12 turns. And watch out for the (Level 3) Warrior Trolls: They can defeat and kill most of your single units within a single turn at night. Best fight them with Mages or arcane-damage-dealing cavalry. Your mounted units are well resistant to impact (30% for Horsemen/Knights, 40% for Cavalry/Dragoons, respectively) and can deal with trolls, especially Paladins, or mounted units with an amulet (-10% Troll resistance instead of +20%). Also, you _will_ run out of money here - either on Turn 1 or on Turn 2, so don't let that large keep make you think all of your buddies will be joining you like in the last scenario.

Luckily, you can (versions 1.12.2, 1.13.4) lure out the Eastern and the Southern Orc Warlord leaders on Turn 1, and since their recruits can't move on that turn, they will both have opened themselves to be taken out during the next turn. Plan your Turn 1 recruiting and Turn 2 attack carefully, to have enough muscle to take out the leaders and enough brawn and speed not to expose the damaged units too much to the two keep-full's of recruits who will scream bloody murder (literally...).

The Western Troll-Warrior-lead contingent cannot reach you in full force until turn 3 and (on Medium) may not attack all-out even then, so regardless of the leader lure gambit - deal as much damage as possible during the first day, while maintaining some reserve for defense during the night.

The second option - blowing up the bridge - is quite a bit easier to pull off, especially if you're on Hard or short on gold. Run South with a sufficient amount of screening units and hopefully those units you want to try and evacuate (they shouldn't be slow ones). Focus on running the Engineer - using other units to block for him, creating a ZOC corridor. Keep in mind that almost everyone is expendable (sigh...). Engage the enemy sparingly, only at those points necessary to clear the way for the evacuee units, or where you see an opportunity to level-up and heal. With the large keep in this scenario you have no excuse to dilly-dally.

On Hard, If you finish the scenario with just the required units plus about three level 3 units, don't panic. You can indeed finish the rest of the scenarios, starting with just a few level 3's. Note that the next scenario, ''The Drowned Plains'', is good for leveling raw recruits. However, if you have a lot of level 3's, it would certainly be easier to tackle another upcoming "impossible" scenario, namely ''Weldyn Besieged'', so you may wish to replay ''Evacuation'' to get a better result.

WanderingHero: While this scenario is cruel, its not as asinine as it appears. You've already beaten the hardest scenarios of the campaign, so you don't have much to worry about taking losses. Try saving a White Mage, and maybe a Knight that's close to Paladin or a Paladin; although even this is hardly essential. Your heavily armored units and able-bodied Ogres can be used to wall the enemy. Although the situation looks grim, you're actually near the end of the campaign, and the worst is behind you. You'll see the Checkered flag soon enough...

=== The Drowned Plains ===
* Objective: Defeat Khrakrahs.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn or Owaec dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 28/26/24 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

Khrakrahs is a level-4 Skeletal Dragon that will be found in or near the castle (located on an island in the south). In getting there, you need to proceed slowly and carefully through the swamp. That is because there are lots of fairly high level undead hidden there, waiting to ambush your troops. Don't panic. They are easy to take one at a time, and you can offer the killing blow to troops that you are eager to promote. Think twice about trying to maneuver more units around the back of the one you're trying to kill, as there may be more ambushing undead there.

The dragon wanders around near the castle but only attacks units which he can kill instantly. If only strong units come near him, he tries to flee. Because of the fog the major challenge of this scenario is finding him and then getting him surrounded so he cannot just move away again. Once you have him trapped like this, slaying him should be easy using your stronger units —preferrably using impact weapons because the dragon has a low resistance there. Magical attacks from your magi are also very effective against the dragon.

This scenario is a good opportunity for all the units with holy amulets you still have with you. Use them against the ambushers. Since there's a good early finish bonus, just recruit a keep of your best anti-undead units, find and kill the dragon and reap the reward.

=== Approaching Weldyn ===
* Objective: Get Gweddry to Weldyn.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, or turns run out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer.

The objective is simple enough; Gweddry has to reach the castle occupied by Konrad II. This is simply a matter of moving him there quickly. The end.

There is no challenge here, but with undead around you can pick up some XP with your fast moving arcane-enhanced troops (i.e., the ones that picked up holy amulets in earlier scenarios.) Try not to overrecruit or dilly-dally, though, as you need all the gold you can get for the next scenario, ''Weldyn Under Attack''.

=== The Council ===

Only plot in this. You see the inside of the castle.

=== Weldyn Under Attack ===
* Objective: Survive until end of turns.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies.
* Turns: 18.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Engineer, Konrad II.
* Other:
** At the end of this scenario you will have to choose whether to fight Mal-Ravanal directly in a duel, or repel his invasion with all you've got. This dictates the final scenario you'll play for this campaign.

At scenario start, you find your keep in the center of an island. Three allied leaders also have their keeps on the island around yours. There are three enemy leaders (Liches) with equal amounts of gold at their disposal. The southwestern enemy leader is the only one that recruits Nightgaunts, the Southeastern Lich is the only one that recruits Blood Bats, and the Northern Lich is the only one that recruits Spectres.

The time of-day cycle in this scenario is 3 times slower than usual, and it starts at sunset, so the first 3 turns are Dusk, and then it's night-time (first and second watch) during another half of the entire scenario, which is painful - literally, considering the damage the Undead will deal your troops. Fearless or Neutral-alignment units are important, as is careful use of your Mages of Light's Illumination (see also below).

Your strategy should be to kill off one of the Liches and his troops, so that you can take over his defensive position. It's probably easiest to take the Northern keep.

Typically, the backbone of your army will be Heavy Infantry track units, Mages, and your Mages of Light (Dacyn and hopefully at least another one). On the first turn, recall one of each, plus 3 Cavalry units to the rear, preferably quick. Send the cavalry to rob your allies of their villages. They won't mind. Later, the cavalry can run around to distract the enemy. Send your Heavy infantry types, Mages, and Mages of light towards the target enemy stronghold. You should supplement them with any units with arcane attacks: Arch Mages, Silver Mages, White Mages, and any units that picked up amulets in previous scenarios.

However, if you managed to get your forces off the lake Vrug island in ''Evacuation'' (without blowing up the bridge), it's likely you are now able to recall a good number of Level-3 units with arcane attacks and maybe you even have a couple of Ogres. If that's the case you stand a chance (on Medium and v1.13.4 anyway) to assassinate the Northern Lich before he runs out of money. The way to do it is instruct the North-Western allied leader to attack the Northern Lich. Your units will set up in the fortified positions near the bridge due North, and in the villages - drawing some enemy units into the water and clearing one or two for your ally - while he, brilliant tactician that he is, sends his units blindly forward, North across the bridge and the stream to tackle the Lich's recruits head-on. This will bring the Weldyn units (mostly Mages probably) within range of the Lich himself, and he may come out for an attack - and into the water. If this happens (possibly on Turn 4 or 5) - make a gambit for his life: One unit can attack him from the bridge and one or two from the water. Of course these have to be arcane attacks, otherwise you're probably not going to kill him off; and apply Illumination to the attacker and maybe the Lich itself (i.e. make a Mage of Light one of the attackers). To complete the gambit, have some high-HP units defend the wounded attackers of the Lich from the side, so they don't get picked off easily the next round. Still, an L2 unit or even a Paladin is not a terrible loss in exchange for a Lich leader and his 100-gold-or-more in unrecruited units.

... But it's more likely not to have such a convenient strike force, in which case you probably not be able to assassinate the Lich before he is out of gold. When he dashes out to attack, check his gold. If he's broke, you might wish to ignore him for a turn or two while you kill off other units.

After you take over the stronghold, you may be able to recruit some more troops, if you saved some gold and/or did a good job capturing villages with your cavalry. Note that saving gold is of no use for ''The Duel'', so spend it now if you're in a bind (saving gold is a luxury in this level which would help you in 'Weldyn Besieged'). Next, you should start preparing for the assault waves of the other two Liches. The combined assault waves may be more than your forces can survive. Therefore, while your main force braces itself, you should send out some ogres, cavalry, and/or silver Mages as distractions, mostly along the board edges. They can even get in a few kills.

For your main force, unless you have taken over the South-Western keep, you need to mind those invisible, infiltrating, backstabbing Nightgaunts that can be up to no good... they are now headed your way. Have your units form a block with their back to the board edge. Round the corners of the block towards the enemy (so that you don't have one unit face four attacks.) Keep your whole line solid and heavily wounded units buried deep inside.

In addition to Nightgaunts, you have the threat of Banebows, which can do 52 ranged damage in one turn. However, they are fairly easily killed with proper strategy. Move a mage of light adjacent to blind the Banebow (i.e., remove its +25% bonus) and provide light for your lawful unit's attack (i.e., remove its -25% adjustment.) Move a Shock Trooper (or similar, preferably arcane enhanced) adjacent to the banebow and mage of light. Move a General up to lend Leadership to the attacker. You may kill the Banebow in one attack. Otherwise, if the Banebow is quite wounded, you can use the mage of light to finish it off.

If you lose when you try to make a stand, you could instead try splitting your forces in two to attack the remaining two Liches. Some players have had success with this, killing the last leader by turn 14 or 15. Just remember that the objective is to survive until the end of turns, and Nightgaunts may be a problem. Killing all three leaders is a victory though and will earn you a early finish bonus of 54/turn, which is important if you go on to ''Weldyn Besieged''.

If you have one or two Silver Mages available, they are quite useful in this scenario. The map is rather large so have some fast-moving units like horsemen run through enemy territory and capture individual villages. Then use the teleport ability of your silver mage to perform hit-and-run (or rather: hit-and-teleport) attacks. Make sure you do not get him killed, though, by holding out too long after attacking. Make good use of Gweddry's leadership ability (he should be a Grand Marshal by now), and of Konrad's Sceptre of Fire to get rid of the most dangerous enemies coming your way.

At the end of the scenario, you must choose between challenging Mal-Ravanal to a duel (''The Duel'') or defending Weldyn against the final Undead attack (''Weldyn Besieged''). ''Weldyn Besieged'' is intended as a challenging final scenario; players without a good recall list and sizable warchest will find ''The Duel'' much more accommodating.

=== Diverging Campaign Path ===

==== The Duel ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* Lose if: Gweddry or Dacyn dies, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn.
* Other:
** You can only recruit for the first turn.

This is a somewhat strange scenario: you get to recall/recruit exactly five units and then have to fight Mal-Ravanal and his six chosen troops. Mal-Ravanal will recruit mostly level 3 units so this looks difficult. However, it is, in fact, quite manageable. Your goal is to attack first and hit hard—you should be able to eliminate two or three enemy units before they even get the chance to attack.

Except for Konrad II, you will have all of your units available in the recall list (including Owaec). Recall mages of light and other high-level arcane troops. Advance onto the battlefield, but stop just short of the enemies' range. After the enemies move closer, concentrate your attacks on a few of their units, particularly those with the strongest attacks. "Cowardly" Gweddry may be able to grant leadership bonuses to your troops, however he should probably refrain from actual fighting so he does not accidentally get killed.

Try to finish the fight quickly, as Mal-Ravanal plays unfair and every so often recruits another 3 units, albeit not so tough as the first batch of 6. If you position a weak unit within Mal-Ravanal's movement range the arrogant lich will gleefully charge out onto the battlefield and leave himself wide open for your counterattack.

==== Weldyn Besieged ====
* Objective: Defeat Mal-Ravanal while Dacyn is nearby.
* Lose if: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec or Konrad II dies, any enemy unit reaches your keep, or Dacyn is not nearby when Mal-Ravanal is defeated.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Gweddry, Dacyn, Owaec, Terraent, Grug, Konrad II.

This battle is intended as a substantial challenge, and is inadvisable with low gold or an inadequate recall list. You face off against seven enemy leaders, with the goal of finding and eliminating Mal-Ravanal among them. The liches' names aren't revealed until they are attacked, and Mal-Ravanal is more likely to be revealed later in the scenario (the names are randomly assigned when you attack). Attacking a lich gives it a small boost of gold, but killing the wrong lich gives every other lich extra gold.

A quick scout unit can charge past the undead hordes to attack and identify a lich. Once you've found Mal-Ravanal, send Dacyn and any mounted arcane-attack units to attack. You can draw Mal-Ravanal out of the keep by positioning a sacrificial horseman nearby. Once the lich is out in the open, your arcane damage cavalry should have no trouble finishing the battle in a single turn.

Meanwhile you'll need the rest of your troops to hold the central keep against the undead onslaught. If you can spare the funds, a few sacrificial troops can delay the incoming enemies on one side, giving you the opportunity to focus your firepower on the undead approaching from the other side(s). Note, however, that each enemy killed causes the lich to recruit another. If things turn grim, retreat to the castle and make your final stand.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheHammerOfThursagan

2022-08-25T22:09:29Z

Revolting peasant: Umm, this is the right position.

The walkthrough is based on medium difficulty, and there are comments covering hard difficulty too.

==Campaign Strategy==

This is quite a balanced campaign - basically all the unit types available to you are useful. Here are some overall hints:

* Angarthing is perhaps the best support unit ever invented. He has two magical impact attacks, one of which slows, he’s very fast and, most importantly, he can give a Leadership-like 25% attack boost to units on the same level (so, once you have him at L3, he gives even your L3 units a boost). As he levels up he becomes able to cure, and then heal +4. As he is your only healer for a while (until scenario 8), make it a priority to level him up all the way. Angarthing makes fighting much easier.
* You gain the ability to recruit mages from mid-campaign. Don't let all your mages die as you then lose the recruit ability. You want to level up at least two white mages as soon as practical after that - you need two +8 healers by the final level.
* But red mages are useful too; you get a free arch mage at Medium, but at hard (Lord) you want to level up a red mage instead. A red mage/arch mage, backed by Angarthing, is excellent at dealing large amounts of damage against enemies in good defensive spots on the final level.
* Dwarf Lords are the backbone of any dwarven army; you will want ~4 by the final level, and more is better.
* It is very useful to level up one or two scouts all the way to an explorers, as their ranged attack is excellent against woses. 2-3 thunderguards are useful too, for the scenarios against dwarves.
* Preserve the Gryphon Rider - you are not able to recruit more. He can only reach L2 but that is worth having, as then it can beat any enemy scouts that it runs into.

==Scenarios==

=== At The East Gate ===
* Objectives: Defeat Orcish leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur dies or turns run out
* Turns: 32/30/28 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Gryphon Rider

This is pretty simple. Send a mixed force of Thunderers, Fighters, and Guardsmen along the road, and a few units south into the hills if the orcs go that way. That path through the forest can be deadly – they will surround you if they can, and can heal at the base of the path. Any Dwarf in forest is weak, while Wolf Riders are at a defensive advantage. Send the Gryphon Rider off village gathering to the north. The enemy recruited some combination of Wolf Riders, Archers and Grunts.

Try and keep your units alive (this can be tricky to achieve while moving forward – his units are dangerous, and some are very fast – make sure hurt units stay out of reach, rather than failing to notice that an almost dead Wolf Rider being chased by a Gryphon is still a threat), and try to level at least one dwarf – your leader is an excellent choice. Play according to the basics, and you’ll have no trouble.

[Mal Shubertal: At Lord, what worked for me was to send the Gryphon rider around to villages, but wait to recruit until the first wave was almost at my keep. That allowed me to use my castle and mountains during the heaviest fighting.]

=== Reclaiming The Past ===

Plot only - here you gain Angarthing.

=== Strange Allies ===

* Objectives: Defeat Bandit leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing or Marth-Tak (Orcish leader) die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/28/24 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing

In this scenario, you are allies with the orcs, and must defeat the bandits, who start at the east end of the map, and with quite a fair bit of gold. The bandits recruited mostly footpads and outlaws, but a few thugs, and a poacher or two near the end. I recalled only one turns worth of dwarves and the Gryphon, and sent them straight east, through the river at the ford. Your allies are an incredible help in this level; once you reach the bandit's side of the river, the orcs should already have engaged most of their troops to the south. One good way to go about the rest of this battle is to keep your units off to one side, and grab the finishing blows, especially to those level 2 outlaws. You should have 3 or 4 people (hopefully including Aiglondur and Angarthing) leveled by the end of this battle.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - at Lord, the ally isn't strong enough to survive unaided (1.8.1). Turn 1 you should recruit a small strike force to go east to take out the enemy boss (just a couple of recruits should do to go with your leaders, or ideally a couple of quick recalls) plus recall the gryphon rider to take the more scattered villages and snipe enemies for XP; turn 2, recruit some dwarvish fighters (5 should be enough) to go and block up the plain '''in front of''' the ally's keep (they can grab all his villages on the way). Mainly you want to hold the ford near his keep as this is the most direct route and so is where the first enemy units would reach him from. Your aim isn't to defend, it is to stop or save the ally boss from suicidally attacking the enemy around turn 8. You just need to buy the turn or two that your strike force needs to finish sneaking around the north of the map and take out the enemy boss.]

=== High Pass ===

* Objectives: Move Aiglondur to signpost at end of pass
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing or Ratheln die or turns run out
* Turns: 24/18/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing
* Other: Friendly Arch Mage, Ratheln, available in a village near the middle of the path

This is a small level with the eponymous pass running through its middle, West to East. When you start scouting (with your Gryphon Master, which you really must recall here) you'll notice the level is almost empty! It must be a walk in the park... where's the catch?

Well, you see those enemies close-by? The only ones on the level? Another bunch of them spawns every 2 turns, further East along the path (about where you would have arrived). With each respawn, and from each side of the pass, you will encounter (on Medium):

* One Ogre (L2)
* One Troll (L2)
* Three Wolves (L1); their damage is the same as a Goblin rider (which is essentially a wolf with a Goblin tagging along on its back)

Also, there's a Gryphon leader at the center-North part of the map. He'll have a few friends to send at you (mostly one-after-the-other). That's quite a lot on your plate, so you should be decisively on the attack to avoid facing an increasing pile-up of foes. Rule of thumb: by the third respawn, You should be able to kill the newly-spawned enemies within the 2 turns after they've respawned. In terms of recruitment/recall, this probably means two keeps, or 8 units (on Medium); don't be stingy with your gold. If you've leveled a lot of units, and maybe even have an L3 Angarthing, you might make do a bit less.

Make sure your Gryphon Master stays alive.

'''NOTE: In earlier versions (1.14 and earlier) there was an Arch Mage named Ratheln holed up in a village near the center of the pass (just North of it); this unit no longer exists.

=== Troll Bridge ===
* Objectives: Defeat Troll leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 20/16/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing
* Other: You loot 200 gold from the troll

This one was a piece of cake. Recall a castle-full of troops, and set camp at the first line of trees and mountains, to the north side of the road. Your opponent can only recruit Level 1 Troll Whelps, so he doesn't have much attack strength. After the first onslaught, the remaining Whelps either retreat, or throw themselves at your weakest unit. Try and kill the enemies with weaker units, as it's a great chance to gain some experience. Also, after you kill the Troll leader, you find that he was sitting on a pile of 200 gold.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - at Lord, the trolls can recruit Trolls. They are still no real problem though - recall a steelclad, a couple of thunderers close to leveling, and fill the rest of the keep with recruited thunderers; just the 1 round of recruit/recall is fine. Push a couple of strong melee units forward to take the shock of the first attack (there are a few hill tiles conveniently placed, and you must not allow any trolls onto these), then swarm them with thunderers. Angarthing 'slow' attack is useful. ]

=== Invaders ===
* Objectives: Defeat all Three enemy leaders
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 40/40/40 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and another dwarf
* Other: Hostile villagers come out of some villages when first flagged

At first glance, this seems like really tough battle: Each of the three Orc Leaders is a Warlord, and has about as much money as you; so in a user-to-user combat your strength would comparable to just _one_ of them; and considering AI shortcomings - you're comparable to, say, two of them.

But note the dialog about this being outlaw country... when you flag your first village, you will likely discover a number of these outlaws hiding in it. This can be your undoing, but it can also work to your advantage: Try not to flag too many villages and avoid attracting Orc attention. That way, your opponents will be quite preoccupied fighting the outlaws and you won't have to fight them simultaneously. Move in a tight pack along the southern border of the map and take out your enemies one by one. When you finally reach the Northern Orc leader, his troops will most likely still be brawling happily with the Northern outlaws in the North or Northwestern villages...

Your keep is larger than usual; you should not need much more than a single keep-full of recruiting/recalling; recruiting more would allow you to secure villages faster and go on the attack faster.

Note that outlaw assignments to villages is randomized, and some villages have no outlaws at all. Also, the villages the Orc flag seem to harbor about 2 more outlaw units per village than those you flag - so the Orcs get a lot more resistance than you do. Still, don't be complacent about the ruffians in these hovels; they can often luck out of an attack or two by your side and gang up on you the next turn in a very painful way (think backstabbing).

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - A simple defensive strategy can work too. There is a convenient line of hills and woods just east of the start; form a defensive line there, but you can afford to take and hold all the villages in the south-west and deal with the ambushes there first, as the enemy won't get to you fast. Just don't get tempted to take any villages further east, as you won't want to deploy units further east to extricate your ambushed unit. Your army should be a mix of fighters and thunderers, including some recalls near leveling and a few already at L2.

Once the enemy's weakened units (from fighting outlaws) hit your defensive line, you get lots of XP from finishing them off; with care you can attack and roll forward, killing lots of enemy units each turn. Once you have crushed the first wave of enemies you can start clearing up. ]

[ [[User:revolting_peasent|revolting_peasent]]: I made two recruited a Scout and a Fighter, and recalled a keepful of mostly L2 units; and felt I had over-recalled, being able to finish the scenario by turn 17/40. Perhaps a single full keep is enough if you play careful.]

=== Mages and Drakes ===
* Objectives: Defeat Drake leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/25/20 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, and Ratheln

Guardsmen and Thunderers are your units of choice in this scenario since they have piercing attacks that are quite deadly to drakes. Do not try to sweep the map of all opposition; your mobility disadvantage is too huge for that. Just recruit one keepfull of seasoned troops (on Medium; perhaps less will do). Then rush quickly to the Drakes' nest, trying to stay in the mountains and hills as much as possible - otherwise the Fire Drakes could really hurt your Dwarves. Crossing the river at the mountains is going to be safer than crossing at the ford.

Ratheln, the Arch Mage, does not travel well through the mountains and so is difficult to protect with your Dwarves. Run him down the waterfront (together with Perrin's mages), then through the forest, and have him crossover to the backside of the mountains, where he can continue to run. Remember that he's not really that powerful against the Fire-resistant Drakes.

=== Fear ===
* Objectives: Find the villagers then defeat Masked Dwarf leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24/18 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and 1 or 2 Mages and Ratheln (depending on difficulty)

The worst mistake you can make in this scenario is to recall too many troops. Those Ulfserkers look dangerous (and they probably are, if you let them get at one of your Thunderers or Magi), but otherwise your enemy is weak and you will need your gold. Just make sure, the Dwarvish Ulfserkers hit only a Dwarvish Lord or Sentinel, preferably while he's standing on a village, and everything will be fine.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] at Hard, it's different. The problem at hard is that the enemy recruits lots of units and keeps recruiting all the way through - you will barely finish inside the turn limit. So recruit a decent size army; fight in a solid formation against the first wave of enemies, while using your gryphon rider to take and hold the villages to the north; then push forward once the main body of resistance is broken, even though there will still be a steady stream of reinforcements - watch the clock and don't leave it to chance on the last turn. ]

You get an experienced Mage (or two, on easy) at the start of this scenario, and can recruit more. If all of your Magi die (and you have none available for recall) you will lose the ability to recruit them - don't let that happen. Aim for white mages first, see [[#Campaign Strategy]].

=== Forbidden Forest ===
* Objectives: Move '''both''' Aiglondur and Angarthing to the eastern signpost
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 40/34/28 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and any surviving Mages from Scenario 8
* Other: Staff of Righteous Flame

This is a tricky one. You are fighting elves. You are fighting them in a forest. And you are fighting them under fog of war. So, once again, your Gryphon Rider (preferably leveled into a Gryphon Master) is a must. Trouble is, Elvish Riders are as fast or faster than he is, and, he won't be able to spot Elvish Rangers or Woses because of their Ambush ability. A human playing the elves could take on almost any number of Dwarves; only the stupidity of the AI saves you from a grim defeat.

Proper recruitment is critical for this scenario - if you want to conserve gold and only recruit about one keep-full. Explorers are the key to success. Recall up to four Explorers and Pathfinders. Their blade-type ranged attack is awesome against Woses - like scissors cutting into paper. Make it your #1 priority to promote any Pathfinders to Explorers. If you're lacking in the Pathfinder/Explorer department, Mages can substitute, as Woses are vulnerable to both arcane and fire attacks. Another reason Mages are nice here is that they always have a high chance to hit elves in the forest. However, Mages are slow in forest, especially non-quick ones. And they are themselves vulnerable. If you recall/recruit a Mage, your second priority becomes trying to promote him to a Red Mage. You also hopefully started with a free White Mage or else can recall one. Then add a couple of Dwarf Lords or high XP Steelclads plus the Gryphon and you should be set.

Because of all the ambushing, do not lead with low hit point units like Mages. And because of all the Riders, keep any critically-injured units well protected.

For your initial strategy, you have two options:

# You can go for a lightening fast knock-out against the Southwestern leader (an Enchantress, which has mostly weak units including Sorcerers).
# You can park in the wooded hills just Southeast of your keep. You will need to finish off the assault from the Southwest very quickly, because Woses will cross the river and Elvish Riders will come swooping in from the Northeast - and you do not want to fight all three at once. You don't need to fight here to the bitter end, especially if there are multiple Woses approaching: When you see an opening, head South and across the river to finish off the Southwestern leader.

After knocking off the evil Enchantress of the (South)West - Wizard of Oz reference there - there's not much reason to knock off the Elder Wose in the Southeast, nor the High Lord in the Northeast. So just head for the signpost - but be extremely cautious: Along the way you'll be hit upon by several ambushing Woses, Scouts/Riders and Elvish Archers. If you choose to follow the road, you'll pass by a temple on an small island, and can send a mage there to pick up the Staff of Righteous Flame. In addition to acting like a suicide bomber upon death, the bearer of the Staff gets the Steadfast ability, doubling resistances, which is nice for Red Mages and their advancements, with their 20% arcane resistance being doubled to 40%.

Be careful with your Gryphon, as he is susceptible to getting ambushed, trapped and killed by the hiding Woses, Rangers and Scouts/Riders. However, most of enemy army will head South (drawn to your leaders) so it is usually safe flying around between villages in the Northwest to keep your income high. Use the enemy moves view (Ctrl+V) and steer clear of where you could get trapped. Once the Gryphon has flagged the Northwestern villages send it to join your main force.

If you are struggling with this level, take note that you have quite a few turns; you do not need to sprint to the signpost.

If you're trying to win on the last turn, be warned that you need to move Aiglondur or Angarthing onto the signpost <i>and then off again</i>, and then move the other onto the signpost. You can't undo if you used up all your movement getting onto the signpost. (In 1.14.4 the behavior will change https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/pull/3331. To win you will need to have Aiglondor on the signpost and Angarthing next to him, or the other way around.)

[Mal Shubertal: When I played this scenario at Lord, I automatically started with one of my Mages. This made it impossible to run straight through the level, since mages are actually slower than Dwarves in forest! So I recruited all Dwarves and ran for the signpost, through the middle island. But to keep my Mage safe, I sent him to the patch of mountains at 19,1.]

=== The Siege of Kal Kartha ===
* Objectives: Defeat Orcish leaders (3)
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos (allied leader) die or turns run out
* Turns: 35/35/35 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and any surviving Mages from Scenario 8

It is quite easy to grab the patch of hills in front of you, wait for the northern enemies to come to you and chew them up. But you also need to make sure that you put enough pressure on the central enemy. If left alone, he gangs up with the southern one and you may be too late to rescue your ally.

More often than not, the Orcs will ignore you completely and focus all their firepower on your weak ally. If this happens, create three strike teams and rush the enemy leaders (who will be completely unguarded), as your ally will not be able to hold off their collective might for very long.

[Mal Shubertal: Another option is to send all your troops east as quickly as possible, having the first wave go straight past the central enemy leader in order to save your ally, who will be surrounded by the time you arrive. Then turn and form strike teams for the enemy leaders. This option gives less bonus gold, but more xp.]

=== The Court of Karrag ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die or turns run out
* Turns: 12/12/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln
* Other: Neither side can recruit units

Almost story only. Once again, those Berserkers are your most dangerous opponents, so take them out with your Dwarvish Lords. Don't let the Lich slip past you (he tries to run NW), as that would slow down killing him - there's a lot of bonus gold to be had here if you can kill him fast. Just ZOC his route for those early turns and then close in for the kill once you've dealt with his henchmen.

=== The Underlevels (Wesnoth 1.14.6 and later) ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die
* Turns: 65
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln

You start in a entry room that has no enemies, with some gates in the east which will be opened by the first character to reach them. If that doesn't match what you're seeing in the game, you're playing [[#The_Underlevels_(Wesnoth_1.14.5_and_earlier)|the earlier version]].

The first three bosses in this scenario recruit dwarves, while Karrag recruits undead.

To avoid getting bottlenecked in the first room, as soon as the gates are open push through with Lords and Sentinels who can easily withstand a wave of attacks by the enemy's L1 and L2 thunderers. Don't open the gate with a scout before your Lords and Sentinels are near.

==== The Central Room ====

The first enemy dwarf's room is the center of the map. More dwarves are coming from the north-east and south-east.

Directly east there's a wall with two runes next to it, sending a unit there will give a hint that you need to find two other runes. These are behind the north-east and south-east bosses, split your forces and take them out.

South-west there's a lot of rails and gates, but none of these gates open. There are some villages to grab, but your gold will be negative anyway, so only send a unit if it needs to use the villages for healing. There is nothing to fight there.

North-west there's an area that has two rewards for exploring (each gives the unit +3 max hp), but again it doesn't have any fighting.

==== The North-East and South-East ====

Both areas have a dwarvish boss, a rune (behind a gate that's behind the boss) and some villages.

Both the north-east and south-east areas also have dead-end tunnels with nothing in them. Once you've killed the boss, found the rune and taken the villages, there's nothing else in those areas.

The runes can be used to teleport back to the central area. Once both runes have been activated, the wall to the east of the central room disappears.

==== Karrag ====

Once the door is open, Karrag starts recruiting L2 undead units. Form a wall of dwarves with healers behind, and slowly take over the room. Karrag will get some extra gold when you get close.

=== The Underlevels (Wesnoth 1.14.5 and earlier) ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die
* Turns: no limit
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln
* Other:
** Two alcoves with 150 gold in the first gallery
** 4 caves with friendly prisoners in the north (just before the spiders)
** Teleportation runes
** Secret passage down to the first Lich

Don't start playing this scenario, if you don't have a lot of time to spare. It's not so much of a scenario, it's actually a small campaign in itself. This is even more extreme than the missions in "Under the Burning Suns". In short, you will have to fight a gallery full of Masked Dwarves, 4 different Masked Dwarf leaders and their armies, a cavern full of Giant Spiders, 2 Liches and their Undead armies, and finally, once you're done with all that, have a final showdown with Karrag. But there is no time limit, so you can take as long as you wish to complete this mission. The map in 1.14.6 was completely redesigned, mainly because the original was considered to be too long, the redesign has a turn limit of 65 turns, whereas you should not be surprised to reach turn 200 on this original version.

It's going to be a long brawl, so you need to be prepared. You will have few villages for a long time, and need a big army from the start, so you will be in massive negative gold quite soon: so just recall and recruit as much as you can and move off. As this is the last fighting scenario, you can recall shamelessly.

(If you come in short of gold - less than 300 say - it may be worth recalling a smaller force and rushing an attack on one of the two side galleries in the start area - there is bonus gold behind a secret door in each gallery. If you have plenty of gold, you can just recall and you will be so negative by the time you get that gold that it won't help you.)

Two White Mages, your loyal Arch Mage and another Red Mage are really useful here. You would like 2-4 thunderguards or dragonguards, and a couple of sentinels would be handy for holding low-defence tiles. Most of your army should be Dwarvish Lords - you want at least 4 lords to start I would say, and in total 10 units that are either lords or will level into lords. Recall everything and recruit more with your leftover gold.

==== The Gallery ====

A hall with a line of dwarves on either side in extremely good defensive position. Try to take them out as fast as you can, as there is a treasure behind each line of defenders, which provides a little extra cash should you need it for more recruits. Establish a defensive line across the room on one of the north-south lines of cave tiles that cut into the room - before long, masked dwarves will start to pour into the gallery from the other side, and you can sit your dwarves on the cave tiles and have a terrain advantage.

==== The First Enemy ====

He sits right at the other end of the gallery, again in a good defensive position. But with enough aggression, he should not be a problem.

Once you've taken his castle, you will need to split your forces. Split them as evenly as you can. (Did I mention, that two White Mages are a real asset? Each group will need a healer!) There are more enemies to the north, so send more units requiring XP to level up in that direction.

==== The Fight in the Corridors ====

You are fighting a steady stream of tough enemies. But you are fighting underground in passages only three hexes wide. This is your advantage. Keep a solid defensive line, let their units come to you, and keep killing and advancing as opportunity permits. Don't worry if this takes some time, there is no turn limit anyway.

When you reach the main enemy at the end of each passage, as you enter the chamber with the keep, the enemy gives a speech and gets a big gold bonus to recruit a horde of L2 units. So don't rush in - step in, form a short solid line in the entrance, let them attack, keep cycling injured units for fresh ones and keep doing damage where you can. Their force will soon be spent and you can then advance again.

Once you defeat the southern enemy, you will find a locked door. Just leave your troops there, your other group can easily take care of getting the key in the north east corner.

When you have defeated the last enemy in the north, make sure to free the prisoners in the cells near his castle.

==== The Spiders and the First Lich ====

Before you move your norther force east to find the key, you should make a decision. There is a Lich on the eastern side of the map. You can enter his cellar from behind the locked door in the south, or through a long windy passage from the north. He's rather weak, but you need to take him out first, if you don't want him attacking your back while you face your real enemy.

The first possibility is to use the transportation runes to get your forces down to the locked door and fight him from there. In that case, go east with only a few well leveled dwarves, Angarthing and a White Mage, for there is quite a number of Spiders defending the key. Once your read the spell, go back to the runes, reunite your forces and take out the Lich in the east. The lich recruits a big army to start with, but then recruits hardly any more; so once you defeat his main force, you only need to send 4 dwarf lords and Angarthing through the tunnels to take out the lich (moving your white mages through the narrow tunnels is very slow and they won't be needed).

But if you want to get to the Lich through the back door, you need to take your whole northern force east. Defeat the Spiders, run down that narrow passage until your reach the end of the tunnel. It's just caved in, you can open it by moving a unit there. Before you do, open the locked door and advance with your southern force south east until you meet the undead forces. Be careful, they recruit quite a number of Shadows, nasty skirmishing, nightstalking Ghosts. Once the battle is raging you can open the backdoor to the Lich's castle and take him out.

Either way, you will have to do some boring running here.

==== The Second Lich ====

He sits in a big cavern behind the doors in the south west. Only take him on with your entire army (if you don't want to do a slow chokepoint fight at the door). He too makes heavy use of shadows, so make sure to form solid lines (including along the edge of the side chasms - the shadows can fly over them of course).

His forces are likely to be at a fair distance when you open the door, so, if you don't mind save-loading if it doesn't work, you could rush him - but there seems little point as you have to fight his army to progress anyway. So instead form up a solid formation just inside the door to his cavern - advance as far in as you can cover with dwarf lords, with plenty to spare - and then crush his forces when they come to attack you.

-- Or, just *outside* the door, where the passage narrows to one hex. Advance far enough into the cavern to provoke a response, then retreat to that point where you can play 2-on-1 for turn after turn until he's done for. Put your healer right behind your 2-unit front line and it's a snap.

==== Karrag ====

Karrag is waiting for you in a... how surprising, a medium-size cavern with lots of castle hexes, some villages and strong units as sentries. This one will be more challenging, though, since aside from Karrag's recruits, the pre-existing sentinels are Draugs (L3 Skeletons): A couple of these may well be able to take out a fully-healed Dwarven Lord within a single turn, so be very careful. On the other hand, this _is_ the last encounter in the last scenario in this campaign...

The cavern has two entrances (from the Northeastern access point, you go either East along a 2-hex-wide corridor with a path, or South inside a short winding tunnel). If you do want to play it safe, set up a choke points in both of them, each headed by Dwarven Lords with a healer (preferably Mage of Light at this point) behind them, and some backup Lords/Sentinels for rotation further behind. If you have a Arch/Grand Mage, consider letting him replace the Lord once in a while in the tunnel, when faced with a Draug, Deathblade or other no-Ranged-defense unit. He can take the heat for one turn before falling back. You'll be hit by the recruits first, but it won't be nearly as bad as the second Lich's huge army.

After a while, practically nobody will come at you any more. At that point you could either advance slowly to trigger attacks from more Draugs, or just rush some faster units forward - you should be able to take out Karrag very easily now. Perhaps if instead of raising the body of the dead he had raised the brains of the dead he might not have lost so miserably against an inferior force.

But the most disappointing part is not Karrag's relative weakness, but the fact that nothing actually happens with the Hammer of Thursagan - which will now be officially dubbed: The McGuffin of Thursagan.

[elvish_sovereign] The easiest way for me to kill Karrag was to suicide my Mage with the Staff of Righteous Flame on him. It took on shot, my Mage and Karrag died. Almost no blood shed!

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheHammerOfThursagan

2022-08-25T22:08:47Z

Revolting peasant: Placed High Pass in its now-correct scenario position + no more Ratheln

The walkthrough is based on medium difficulty, and there are comments covering hard difficulty too.

==Campaign Strategy==

This is quite a balanced campaign - basically all the unit types available to you are useful. Here are some overall hints:

* Angarthing is perhaps the best support unit ever invented. He has two magical impact attacks, one of which slows, he’s very fast and, most importantly, he can give a Leadership-like 25% attack boost to units on the same level (so, once you have him at L3, he gives even your L3 units a boost). As he levels up he becomes able to cure, and then heal +4. As he is your only healer for a while (until scenario 8), make it a priority to level him up all the way. Angarthing makes fighting much easier.
* You gain the ability to recruit mages from mid-campaign. Don't let all your mages die as you then lose the recruit ability. You want to level up at least two white mages as soon as practical after that - you need two +8 healers by the final level.
* But red mages are useful too; you get a free arch mage at Medium, but at hard (Lord) you want to level up a red mage instead. A red mage/arch mage, backed by Angarthing, is excellent at dealing large amounts of damage against enemies in good defensive spots on the final level.
* Dwarf Lords are the backbone of any dwarven army; you will want ~4 by the final level, and more is better.
* It is very useful to level up one or two scouts all the way to an explorers, as their ranged attack is excellent against woses. 2-3 thunderguards are useful too, for the scenarios against dwarves.
* Preserve the Gryphon Rider - you are not able to recruit more. He can only reach L2 but that is worth having, as then it can beat any enemy scouts that it runs into.

==Scenarios==

=== At The East Gate ===
* Objectives: Defeat Orcish leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur dies or turns run out
* Turns: 32/30/28 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Gryphon Rider

This is pretty simple. Send a mixed force of Thunderers, Fighters, and Guardsmen along the road, and a few units south into the hills if the orcs go that way. That path through the forest can be deadly – they will surround you if they can, and can heal at the base of the path. Any Dwarf in forest is weak, while Wolf Riders are at a defensive advantage. Send the Gryphon Rider off village gathering to the north. The enemy recruited some combination of Wolf Riders, Archers and Grunts.

Try and keep your units alive (this can be tricky to achieve while moving forward – his units are dangerous, and some are very fast – make sure hurt units stay out of reach, rather than failing to notice that an almost dead Wolf Rider being chased by a Gryphon is still a threat), and try to level at least one dwarf – your leader is an excellent choice. Play according to the basics, and you’ll have no trouble.

[Mal Shubertal: At Lord, what worked for me was to send the Gryphon rider around to villages, but wait to recruit until the first wave was almost at my keep. That allowed me to use my castle and mountains during the heaviest fighting.]

=== Reclaiming The Past ===

Plot only - here you gain Angarthing.

=== Strange Allies ===

* Objectives: Defeat Bandit leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing or Marth-Tak (Orcish leader) die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/28/24 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing

In this scenario, you are allies with the orcs, and must defeat the bandits, who start at the east end of the map, and with quite a fair bit of gold. The bandits recruited mostly footpads and outlaws, but a few thugs, and a poacher or two near the end. I recalled only one turns worth of dwarves and the Gryphon, and sent them straight east, through the river at the ford. Your allies are an incredible help in this level; once you reach the bandit's side of the river, the orcs should already have engaged most of their troops to the south. One good way to go about the rest of this battle is to keep your units off to one side, and grab the finishing blows, especially to those level 2 outlaws. You should have 3 or 4 people (hopefully including Aiglondur and Angarthing) leveled by the end of this battle.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - at Lord, the ally isn't strong enough to survive unaided (1.8.1). Turn 1 you should recruit a small strike force to go east to take out the enemy boss (just a couple of recruits should do to go with your leaders, or ideally a couple of quick recalls) plus recall the gryphon rider to take the more scattered villages and snipe enemies for XP; turn 2, recruit some dwarvish fighters (5 should be enough) to go and block up the plain '''in front of''' the ally's keep (they can grab all his villages on the way). Mainly you want to hold the ford near his keep as this is the most direct route and so is where the first enemy units would reach him from. Your aim isn't to defend, it is to stop or save the ally boss from suicidally attacking the enemy around turn 8. You just need to buy the turn or two that your strike force needs to finish sneaking around the north of the map and take out the enemy boss.]

=== Troll Bridge ===
* Objectives: Defeat Troll leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 20/16/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing
* Other: You loot 200 gold from the troll

This one was a piece of cake. Recall a castle-full of troops, and set camp at the first line of trees and mountains, to the north side of the road. Your opponent can only recruit Level 1 Troll Whelps, so he doesn't have much attack strength. After the first onslaught, the remaining Whelps either retreat, or throw themselves at your weakest unit. Try and kill the enemies with weaker units, as it's a great chance to gain some experience. Also, after you kill the Troll leader, you find that he was sitting on a pile of 200 gold.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - at Lord, the trolls can recruit Trolls. They are still no real problem though - recall a steelclad, a couple of thunderers close to leveling, and fill the rest of the keep with recruited thunderers; just the 1 round of recruit/recall is fine. Push a couple of strong melee units forward to take the shock of the first attack (there are a few hill tiles conveniently placed, and you must not allow any trolls onto these), then swarm them with thunderers. Angarthing 'slow' attack is useful. ]

=== High Pass ===

* Objectives: Move Aiglondur to signpost at end of pass
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing or Ratheln die or turns run out
* Turns: 24/18/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur and Angarthing
* Other: Friendly Arch Mage, Ratheln, available in a village near the middle of the path

This is a small level with the eponymous pass running through its middle, West to East. When you start scouting (with your Gryphon Master, which you really must recall here) you'll notice the level is almost empty! It must be a walk in the park... where's the catch?

Well, you see those enemies close-by? The only ones on the level? Another bunch of them spawns every 2 turns, further East along the path (about where you would have arrived). With each respawn, and from each side of the pass, you will encounter (on Medium):

* One Ogre (L2)
* One Troll (L2)
* Three Wolves (L1); their damage is the same as a Goblin rider (which is essentially a wolf with a Goblin tagging along on its back)

Also, there's a Gryphon leader at the center-North part of the map. He'll have a few friends to send at you (mostly one-after-the-other). That's quite a lot on your plate, so you should be decisively on the attack to avoid facing an increasing pile-up of foes. Rule of thumb: by the third respawn, You should be able to kill the newly-spawned enemies within the 2 turns after they've respawned. In terms of recruitment/recall, this probably means two keeps, or 8 units (on Medium); don't be stingy with your gold. If you've leveled a lot of units, and maybe even have an L3 Angarthing, you might make do a bit less.

Make sure your Gryphon Master stays alive.

'''NOTE: In earlier versions (1.14 and earlier) there was an Arch Mage named Ratheln holed up in a village near the center of the pass (just North of it); this unit no longer exists.

=== Invaders ===
* Objectives: Defeat all Three enemy leaders
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 40/40/40 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and another dwarf
* Other: Hostile villagers come out of some villages when first flagged

At first glance, this seems like really tough battle: Each of the three Orc Leaders is a Warlord, and has about as much money as you; so in a user-to-user combat your strength would comparable to just _one_ of them; and considering AI shortcomings - you're comparable to, say, two of them.

But note the dialog about this being outlaw country... when you flag your first village, you will likely discover a number of these outlaws hiding in it. This can be your undoing, but it can also work to your advantage: Try not to flag too many villages and avoid attracting Orc attention. That way, your opponents will be quite preoccupied fighting the outlaws and you won't have to fight them simultaneously. Move in a tight pack along the southern border of the map and take out your enemies one by one. When you finally reach the Northern Orc leader, his troops will most likely still be brawling happily with the Northern outlaws in the North or Northwestern villages...

Your keep is larger than usual; you should not need much more than a single keep-full of recruiting/recalling; recruiting more would allow you to secure villages faster and go on the attack faster.

Note that outlaw assignments to villages is randomized, and some villages have no outlaws at all. Also, the villages the Orc flag seem to harbor about 2 more outlaw units per village than those you flag - so the Orcs get a lot more resistance than you do. Still, don't be complacent about the ruffians in these hovels; they can often luck out of an attack or two by your side and gang up on you the next turn in a very painful way (think backstabbing).

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] - A simple defensive strategy can work too. There is a convenient line of hills and woods just east of the start; form a defensive line there, but you can afford to take and hold all the villages in the south-west and deal with the ambushes there first, as the enemy won't get to you fast. Just don't get tempted to take any villages further east, as you won't want to deploy units further east to extricate your ambushed unit. Your army should be a mix of fighters and thunderers, including some recalls near leveling and a few already at L2.

Once the enemy's weakened units (from fighting outlaws) hit your defensive line, you get lots of XP from finishing them off; with care you can attack and roll forward, killing lots of enemy units each turn. Once you have crushed the first wave of enemies you can start clearing up. ]

[ [[User:revolting_peasent|revolting_peasent]]: I made two recruited a Scout and a Fighter, and recalled a keepful of mostly L2 units; and felt I had over-recalled, being able to finish the scenario by turn 17/40. Perhaps a single full keep is enough if you play careful.]

=== Mages and Drakes ===
* Objectives: Defeat Drake leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/25/20 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, and Ratheln

Guardsmen and Thunderers are your units of choice in this scenario since they have piercing attacks that are quite deadly to drakes. Do not try to sweep the map of all opposition; your mobility disadvantage is too huge for that. Just recruit one keepfull of seasoned troops (on Medium; perhaps less will do). Then rush quickly to the Drakes' nest, trying to stay in the mountains and hills as much as possible - otherwise the Fire Drakes could really hurt your Dwarves. Crossing the river at the mountains is going to be safer than crossing at the ford.

Ratheln, the Arch Mage, does not travel well through the mountains and so is difficult to protect with your Dwarves. Run him down the waterfront (together with Perrin's mages), then through the forest, and have him crossover to the backside of the mountains, where he can continue to run. Remember that he's not really that powerful against the Fire-resistant Drakes.

=== Fear ===
* Objectives: Find the villagers then defeat Masked Dwarf leader
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24/18 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and 1 or 2 Mages and Ratheln (depending on difficulty)

The worst mistake you can make in this scenario is to recall too many troops. Those Ulfserkers look dangerous (and they probably are, if you let them get at one of your Thunderers or Magi), but otherwise your enemy is weak and you will need your gold. Just make sure, the Dwarvish Ulfserkers hit only a Dwarvish Lord or Sentinel, preferably while he's standing on a village, and everything will be fine.

[ [[User:Cph|Cph]] at Hard, it's different. The problem at hard is that the enemy recruits lots of units and keeps recruiting all the way through - you will barely finish inside the turn limit. So recruit a decent size army; fight in a solid formation against the first wave of enemies, while using your gryphon rider to take and hold the villages to the north; then push forward once the main body of resistance is broken, even though there will still be a steady stream of reinforcements - watch the clock and don't leave it to chance on the last turn. ]

You get an experienced Mage (or two, on easy) at the start of this scenario, and can recruit more. If all of your Magi die (and you have none available for recall) you will lose the ability to recruit them - don't let that happen. Aim for white mages first, see [[#Campaign Strategy]].

=== Forbidden Forest ===
* Objectives: Move '''both''' Aiglondur and Angarthing to the eastern signpost
* Lose if: Aiglondur or Angarthing die or turns run out
* Turns: 40/34/28 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and any surviving Mages from Scenario 8
* Other: Staff of Righteous Flame

This is a tricky one. You are fighting elves. You are fighting them in a forest. And you are fighting them under fog of war. So, once again, your Gryphon Rider (preferably leveled into a Gryphon Master) is a must. Trouble is, Elvish Riders are as fast or faster than he is, and, he won't be able to spot Elvish Rangers or Woses because of their Ambush ability. A human playing the elves could take on almost any number of Dwarves; only the stupidity of the AI saves you from a grim defeat.

Proper recruitment is critical for this scenario - if you want to conserve gold and only recruit about one keep-full. Explorers are the key to success. Recall up to four Explorers and Pathfinders. Their blade-type ranged attack is awesome against Woses - like scissors cutting into paper. Make it your #1 priority to promote any Pathfinders to Explorers. If you're lacking in the Pathfinder/Explorer department, Mages can substitute, as Woses are vulnerable to both arcane and fire attacks. Another reason Mages are nice here is that they always have a high chance to hit elves in the forest. However, Mages are slow in forest, especially non-quick ones. And they are themselves vulnerable. If you recall/recruit a Mage, your second priority becomes trying to promote him to a Red Mage. You also hopefully started with a free White Mage or else can recall one. Then add a couple of Dwarf Lords or high XP Steelclads plus the Gryphon and you should be set.

Because of all the ambushing, do not lead with low hit point units like Mages. And because of all the Riders, keep any critically-injured units well protected.

For your initial strategy, you have two options:

# You can go for a lightening fast knock-out against the Southwestern leader (an Enchantress, which has mostly weak units including Sorcerers).
# You can park in the wooded hills just Southeast of your keep. You will need to finish off the assault from the Southwest very quickly, because Woses will cross the river and Elvish Riders will come swooping in from the Northeast - and you do not want to fight all three at once. You don't need to fight here to the bitter end, especially if there are multiple Woses approaching: When you see an opening, head South and across the river to finish off the Southwestern leader.

After knocking off the evil Enchantress of the (South)West - Wizard of Oz reference there - there's not much reason to knock off the Elder Wose in the Southeast, nor the High Lord in the Northeast. So just head for the signpost - but be extremely cautious: Along the way you'll be hit upon by several ambushing Woses, Scouts/Riders and Elvish Archers. If you choose to follow the road, you'll pass by a temple on an small island, and can send a mage there to pick up the Staff of Righteous Flame. In addition to acting like a suicide bomber upon death, the bearer of the Staff gets the Steadfast ability, doubling resistances, which is nice for Red Mages and their advancements, with their 20% arcane resistance being doubled to 40%.

Be careful with your Gryphon, as he is susceptible to getting ambushed, trapped and killed by the hiding Woses, Rangers and Scouts/Riders. However, most of enemy army will head South (drawn to your leaders) so it is usually safe flying around between villages in the Northwest to keep your income high. Use the enemy moves view (Ctrl+V) and steer clear of where you could get trapped. Once the Gryphon has flagged the Northwestern villages send it to join your main force.

If you are struggling with this level, take note that you have quite a few turns; you do not need to sprint to the signpost.

If you're trying to win on the last turn, be warned that you need to move Aiglondur or Angarthing onto the signpost <i>and then off again</i>, and then move the other onto the signpost. You can't undo if you used up all your movement getting onto the signpost. (In 1.14.4 the behavior will change https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/pull/3331. To win you will need to have Aiglondor on the signpost and Angarthing next to him, or the other way around.)

[Mal Shubertal: When I played this scenario at Lord, I automatically started with one of my Mages. This made it impossible to run straight through the level, since mages are actually slower than Dwarves in forest! So I recruited all Dwarves and ran for the signpost, through the middle island. But to keep my Mage safe, I sent him to the patch of mountains at 19,1.]

=== The Siege of Kal Kartha ===
* Objectives: Defeat Orcish leaders (3)
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos (allied leader) die or turns run out
* Turns: 35/35/35 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing and any surviving Mages from Scenario 8

It is quite easy to grab the patch of hills in front of you, wait for the northern enemies to come to you and chew them up. But you also need to make sure that you put enough pressure on the central enemy. If left alone, he gangs up with the southern one and you may be too late to rescue your ally.

More often than not, the Orcs will ignore you completely and focus all their firepower on your weak ally. If this happens, create three strike teams and rush the enemy leaders (who will be completely unguarded), as your ally will not be able to hold off their collective might for very long.

[Mal Shubertal: Another option is to send all your troops east as quickly as possible, having the first wave go straight past the central enemy leader in order to save your ally, who will be surrounded by the time you arrive. Then turn and form strike teams for the enemy leaders. This option gives less bonus gold, but more xp.]

=== The Court of Karrag ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die or turns run out
* Turns: 12/12/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln
* Other: Neither side can recruit units

Almost story only. Once again, those Berserkers are your most dangerous opponents, so take them out with your Dwarvish Lords. Don't let the Lich slip past you (he tries to run NW), as that would slow down killing him - there's a lot of bonus gold to be had here if you can kill him fast. Just ZOC his route for those early turns and then close in for the kill once you've dealt with his henchmen.

=== The Underlevels (Wesnoth 1.14.6 and later) ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die
* Turns: 65
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln

You start in a entry room that has no enemies, with some gates in the east which will be opened by the first character to reach them. If that doesn't match what you're seeing in the game, you're playing [[#The_Underlevels_(Wesnoth_1.14.5_and_earlier)|the earlier version]].

The first three bosses in this scenario recruit dwarves, while Karrag recruits undead.

To avoid getting bottlenecked in the first room, as soon as the gates are open push through with Lords and Sentinels who can easily withstand a wave of attacks by the enemy's L1 and L2 thunderers. Don't open the gate with a scout before your Lords and Sentinels are near.

==== The Central Room ====

The first enemy dwarf's room is the center of the map. More dwarves are coming from the north-east and south-east.

Directly east there's a wall with two runes next to it, sending a unit there will give a hint that you need to find two other runes. These are behind the north-east and south-east bosses, split your forces and take them out.

South-west there's a lot of rails and gates, but none of these gates open. There are some villages to grab, but your gold will be negative anyway, so only send a unit if it needs to use the villages for healing. There is nothing to fight there.

North-west there's an area that has two rewards for exploring (each gives the unit +3 max hp), but again it doesn't have any fighting.

==== The North-East and South-East ====

Both areas have a dwarvish boss, a rune (behind a gate that's behind the boss) and some villages.

Both the north-east and south-east areas also have dead-end tunnels with nothing in them. Once you've killed the boss, found the rune and taken the villages, there's nothing else in those areas.

The runes can be used to teleport back to the central area. Once both runes have been activated, the wall to the east of the central room disappears.

==== Karrag ====

Once the door is open, Karrag starts recruiting L2 undead units. Form a wall of dwarves with healers behind, and slowly take over the room. Karrag will get some extra gold when you get close.

=== The Underlevels (Wesnoth 1.14.5 and earlier) ===
* Objectives: Defeat Karrag
* Lose if: Aiglondur, Angarthing, or Dulcatulos die
* Turns: no limit
* Starting units: Aiglondur, Angarthing, Dulcatulos and Ratheln
* Other:
** Two alcoves with 150 gold in the first gallery
** 4 caves with friendly prisoners in the north (just before the spiders)
** Teleportation runes
** Secret passage down to the first Lich

Don't start playing this scenario, if you don't have a lot of time to spare. It's not so much of a scenario, it's actually a small campaign in itself. This is even more extreme than the missions in "Under the Burning Suns". In short, you will have to fight a gallery full of Masked Dwarves, 4 different Masked Dwarf leaders and their armies, a cavern full of Giant Spiders, 2 Liches and their Undead armies, and finally, once you're done with all that, have a final showdown with Karrag. But there is no time limit, so you can take as long as you wish to complete this mission. The map in 1.14.6 was completely redesigned, mainly because the original was considered to be too long, the redesign has a turn limit of 65 turns, whereas you should not be surprised to reach turn 200 on this original version.

It's going to be a long brawl, so you need to be prepared. You will have few villages for a long time, and need a big army from the start, so you will be in massive negative gold quite soon: so just recall and recruit as much as you can and move off. As this is the last fighting scenario, you can recall shamelessly.

(If you come in short of gold - less than 300 say - it may be worth recalling a smaller force and rushing an attack on one of the two side galleries in the start area - there is bonus gold behind a secret door in each gallery. If you have plenty of gold, you can just recall and you will be so negative by the time you get that gold that it won't help you.)

Two White Mages, your loyal Arch Mage and another Red Mage are really useful here. You would like 2-4 thunderguards or dragonguards, and a couple of sentinels would be handy for holding low-defence tiles. Most of your army should be Dwarvish Lords - you want at least 4 lords to start I would say, and in total 10 units that are either lords or will level into lords. Recall everything and recruit more with your leftover gold.

==== The Gallery ====

A hall with a line of dwarves on either side in extremely good defensive position. Try to take them out as fast as you can, as there is a treasure behind each line of defenders, which provides a little extra cash should you need it for more recruits. Establish a defensive line across the room on one of the north-south lines of cave tiles that cut into the room - before long, masked dwarves will start to pour into the gallery from the other side, and you can sit your dwarves on the cave tiles and have a terrain advantage.

==== The First Enemy ====

He sits right at the other end of the gallery, again in a good defensive position. But with enough aggression, he should not be a problem.

Once you've taken his castle, you will need to split your forces. Split them as evenly as you can. (Did I mention, that two White Mages are a real asset? Each group will need a healer!) There are more enemies to the north, so send more units requiring XP to level up in that direction.

==== The Fight in the Corridors ====

You are fighting a steady stream of tough enemies. But you are fighting underground in passages only three hexes wide. This is your advantage. Keep a solid defensive line, let their units come to you, and keep killing and advancing as opportunity permits. Don't worry if this takes some time, there is no turn limit anyway.

When you reach the main enemy at the end of each passage, as you enter the chamber with the keep, the enemy gives a speech and gets a big gold bonus to recruit a horde of L2 units. So don't rush in - step in, form a short solid line in the entrance, let them attack, keep cycling injured units for fresh ones and keep doing damage where you can. Their force will soon be spent and you can then advance again.

Once you defeat the southern enemy, you will find a locked door. Just leave your troops there, your other group can easily take care of getting the key in the north east corner.

When you have defeated the last enemy in the north, make sure to free the prisoners in the cells near his castle.

==== The Spiders and the First Lich ====

Before you move your norther force east to find the key, you should make a decision. There is a Lich on the eastern side of the map. You can enter his cellar from behind the locked door in the south, or through a long windy passage from the north. He's rather weak, but you need to take him out first, if you don't want him attacking your back while you face your real enemy.

The first possibility is to use the transportation runes to get your forces down to the locked door and fight him from there. In that case, go east with only a few well leveled dwarves, Angarthing and a White Mage, for there is quite a number of Spiders defending the key. Once your read the spell, go back to the runes, reunite your forces and take out the Lich in the east. The lich recruits a big army to start with, but then recruits hardly any more; so once you defeat his main force, you only need to send 4 dwarf lords and Angarthing through the tunnels to take out the lich (moving your white mages through the narrow tunnels is very slow and they won't be needed).

But if you want to get to the Lich through the back door, you need to take your whole northern force east. Defeat the Spiders, run down that narrow passage until your reach the end of the tunnel. It's just caved in, you can open it by moving a unit there. Before you do, open the locked door and advance with your southern force south east until you meet the undead forces. Be careful, they recruit quite a number of Shadows, nasty skirmishing, nightstalking Ghosts. Once the battle is raging you can open the backdoor to the Lich's castle and take him out.

Either way, you will have to do some boring running here.

==== The Second Lich ====

He sits in a big cavern behind the doors in the south west. Only take him on with your entire army (if you don't want to do a slow chokepoint fight at the door). He too makes heavy use of shadows, so make sure to form solid lines (including along the edge of the side chasms - the shadows can fly over them of course).

His forces are likely to be at a fair distance when you open the door, so, if you don't mind save-loading if it doesn't work, you could rush him - but there seems little point as you have to fight his army to progress anyway. So instead form up a solid formation just inside the door to his cavern - advance as far in as you can cover with dwarf lords, with plenty to spare - and then crush his forces when they come to attack you.

-- Or, just *outside* the door, where the passage narrows to one hex. Advance far enough into the cavern to provoke a response, then retreat to that point where you can play 2-on-1 for turn after turn until he's done for. Put your healer right behind your 2-unit front line and it's a snap.

==== Karrag ====

Karrag is waiting for you in a... how surprising, a medium-size cavern with lots of castle hexes, some villages and strong units as sentries. This one will be more challenging, though, since aside from Karrag's recruits, the pre-existing sentinels are Draugs (L3 Skeletons): A couple of these may well be able to take out a fully-healed Dwarven Lord within a single turn, so be very careful. On the other hand, this _is_ the last encounter in the last scenario in this campaign...

The cavern has two entrances (from the Northeastern access point, you go either East along a 2-hex-wide corridor with a path, or South inside a short winding tunnel). If you do want to play it safe, set up a choke points in both of them, each headed by Dwarven Lords with a healer (preferably Mage of Light at this point) behind them, and some backup Lords/Sentinels for rotation further behind. If you have a Arch/Grand Mage, consider letting him replace the Lord once in a while in the tunnel, when faced with a Draug, Deathblade or other no-Ranged-defense unit. He can take the heat for one turn before falling back. You'll be hit by the recruits first, but it won't be nearly as bad as the second Lich's huge army.

After a while, practically nobody will come at you any more. At that point you could either advance slowly to trigger attacks from more Draugs, or just rush some faster units forward - you should be able to take out Karrag very easily now. Perhaps if instead of raising the body of the dead he had raised the brains of the dead he might not have lost so miserably against an inferior force.

But the most disappointing part is not Karrag's relative weakness, but the fact that nothing actually happens with the Hammer of Thursagan - which will now be officially dubbed: The McGuffin of Thursagan.

[elvish_sovereign] The easiest way for me to kill Karrag was to suicide my Mage with the Staff of Righteous Flame on him. It took on shot, my Mage and Karrag died. Almost no blood shed!

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Sceptre of Fire

2022-08-21T08:23:49Z

Revolting peasant: Caverns of Flame is a very different scenario these days than what it used to be, so rewriting this section

==Campaign Strategy==

You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.

In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains.

In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.

The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in "The Dragon". However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.

[AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]

==Scenarios==

=== A Bargain Is Struck ===
* Objectives:
** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..
** Defeat the elvish leader.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur and Alanin.
* Other: It is probably easier and quicker to defeat the elvish leader.

On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).

You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.

The Elves are hostile to the Humans and the Dwarves alike and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans - Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the elves.

The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:

* If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.
* If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.

On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the Elvish forces attack before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face an odd Elvish unit which is sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve this with Scouts only.

Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.

=== Closing The Gates ===
* Objectives: Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.
* Lose if: Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 15.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').
* Other
** If there are any elves in the caves after you shut the gates, you must kill them.
** Any units outside the caves when the gates close will die; pull your units back.

This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the elves. Firstly, recall and recruit a substantial amount of thunderers and fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of thunderers down that way as well.

You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing fighters, thunderers and perhaps scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your army so the challenge should not be too complicated.

Once the trolls are dead, place dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning "on" the glyphs closest to those openings will seal them. You might even shut one or two trolls outside this way.

Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnor at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place soldiers on the two remaining glyphs.

[Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (v.1.11.6 - medium difficulty).

=== Reaching the Runecrafter ===
* '''Objective''': Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.
* '''Lose if''': Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': 16 (on Medium difficulty).
* '''Starting units''': Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.

The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.

The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force.

Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.

=== Searching for the Runecrafter ===
* Objectives:
*# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.
*# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).

The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.

The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.

It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.

=== Gathering Materials ===
* Objective: Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).
* Lose if: Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.
* Other
** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.
** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.

The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.

The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.

The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.

Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:

* Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.
* Kill the goblins and their leader.
* Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.
* Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.
* Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.

The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.

[Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]

=== Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===
* Objectives: Defeat the dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.

Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.

You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.

The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.

[Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]

=== Towards the Caves ===
* Objectives:
** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.
** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.

It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).

This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.

[Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]

[Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]

=== Outriding the Outriders ===
* Objectives: Reach the outpost in the south.
* Lose if: Alanin dies or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Alanin.

Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.

Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.

To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.

Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).

Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.

On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.

Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.

=== The Dragon ===
* Objectives: Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.

The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats.

What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows.

You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.

Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.

The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.

After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.

Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.

Notes:

* Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by).
* Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.

'''Alternative Strategies'''

* Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.
* Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.
* Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.

Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.

=== Caverns of Flame ===
* Objectives: Locate the runic tablet of the guardian trolls, and destroy them
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting Gold: ???/160/??? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* Starting units: Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, Baglur and 3 other units

(The extra starting units may be two Runesmiths and an Explorer; but this may change depending on what your army has; strangely, you may well have additional recallable loyal units but without all units in the starting being loyal.)

This is the final scenario, but - you cannot really win it; or rather, you complete it by drowning all enemies, and yourself, in lava: You face three strong enemy forces - Elves, Orcs and Trolls (plus some monsters, see below), and even if you did manage to withstand all of those you are still stuck with nowhere to go.

This is a cave level, but with some areas actually being polished stone. There are some side-caverns and a few 2-to-3-hex-wide choke points, which you might need to hold at different points. There are not many villages, and they are mostly far from each other - and far from most of the choke points. Interestingly, there are more than 7 different castles with keeps on this level - not counting Orcs'!

To the right, on the North-East end of the level, you'll find the Orc encampment, led by a Warlord. Luckily for you, there's a chasm separating you from them, and the bridge crossing it has collapsed. It will take them 8 turns or so to rebuild it. Their leader has a massive base income (27 gold/turn on Medium) - and when they break out they'll be incredibly strong; but... you'll see that will actually be a boon for you.

There's a castle just South of where your units spawned, with a keep and 3 extra hexes. Ignore it.

As you explore due West, you'll be met by low-level dragon-like monster units: Wyrmlets (L0), green Cave Wyrms (L1) and Red Wyrms (L1). The greens have more claw attacks; the reds have more breath attacks - and they all have 60% defense on every terrain, with the L1's being marksmen. So despite the low HP of these units, they're quite a nuisance. They also spawn fast. Do _not_ try to stamp them out - that will keep you from advancing; and you _must_ advance South.

On turn 6, your old frenemies are back to chase you: It's those pesky elves, with their dwarven allies. Glildur, their Marshal leader, will be accompanied by a major force of L3 units - dwarves and elves. On Medium, those will be: 4 Elvish Outriders, 4 Elvish Champions, 3 Avengers, 4 Dwarven Lords, 3 Thunderguards. And - they will spare no time coming after you. Luckily, Glildur's elves are slowed down by the unfriendly cave terrain; unluckily, the Outriders will catch up with you pretty quick. Hopefully, you've gotten your units past the choke-point, Rugnur is getting to another keep, and you can mount a defense of sorts: If you can hold the Elves and Dwarves for a few turns, the Orcs will smash into their rear.

... but actually, thing are about to go from bad to worse. On turn 9, the corridor to the left and just below your choke-point will start filling up with Trolls; the first bunch of them will reach your position after your turn 10 - and they will all be Warriors and Rocklobbers, not Whelps. There's a two-hex choke point of two hexes you could try to hold against them as well, but that will already be rather tricky, with not many options to heal your wounded units and few backups to rotate with.

What this means is, that while all of the above is going down, you have to send forward some units to pursue the scenario goals. These units will explore the surroundings of the main cavern, located to the South-East of the two choke-points. This cavern has a cistern, or lake, of lava, with a hexagonal platform with six connecting bridges to all sides; and at three points surrounding the lave you'll find quick Troll Shaman guardians. These will not move except to attack you when you're within range; and while they're not terrible to overcome, their magical attack is quite effective - especially against Gryphons and their riders, who lack ranged defense.

Note, however, that the island-platform is mostly a distraction. It doesn't help you complete the scenario as well.

While you send out units to seek out the tablets, you may want to fall back from the two choke points and hole up in the Southwestern cavern. It connect to the Troll forces' castle, but only via a 1-hex bridge; and there's a 2 or3 hex choke-point at the entrance, and a village nearby. That's more reasonably defensible - plus, the three other forces will mostly focus on each other.

One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors ''behind'' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.

'''The runic tablets'''

There are 3 runic tablets to destroy, held by...:

# The Orcs, and it should get destroyed as they battle the elves, perhaps with the death of some of their unit. So it's likely you won't need to worry about it.
# An L3 Troll Hero, in a keep on the eastern wall of the large cavern. Kill it, and tablet is found and broken.
# The floor of an isolated hex within a chasm at the South of the level. Only a Gryphon or Gryphon Rider can reach it.

'''Other notes:'''

* There's nothing interesting in the South-Eastern cavern except for a book, which is not critical.
* Keep Krawg out of trouble, as you need him (or another Gryphon) for the last tablet. So, make sure he's out of the reach of the Shamans - perhaps on one of the Lava hexes - until he can make his way to the Southern chasm.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Sceptre of Fire

2022-06-12T22:59:37Z

Revolting peasant: /* Reaching the Runecrafter */

==Campaign Strategy==

You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.

In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains.

In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.

The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in "The Dragon". However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.

[AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]

==Scenarios==

=== A Bargain Is Struck ===
* Objectives:
** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..
** Defeat the elvish leader.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur and Alanin.
* Other: It is probably easier and quicker to defeat the elvish leader.

On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).

You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.

The Elves are hostile to the Humans and the Dwarves alike and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans - Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the elves.

The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:

* If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.
* If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.

On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the Elvish forces attack before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face an odd Elvish unit which is sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve this with Scouts only.

Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.

=== Closing The Gates ===
* Objectives: Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.
* Lose if: Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 15.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').
* Other
** If there are any elves in the caves after you shut the gates, you must kill them.
** Any units outside the caves when the gates close will die; pull your units back.

This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the elves. Firstly, recall and recruit a substantial amount of thunderers and fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of thunderers down that way as well.

You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing fighters, thunderers and perhaps scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your army so the challenge should not be too complicated.

Once the trolls are dead, place dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning "on" the glyphs closest to those openings will seal them. You might even shut one or two trolls outside this way.

Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnor at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place soldiers on the two remaining glyphs.

[Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (v.1.11.6 - medium difficulty).

=== Reaching the Runecrafter ===
* '''Objective''': Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.
* '''Lose if''': Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': 16 (on Medium difficulty).
* '''Starting units''': Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.

The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.

The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force.

Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.

=== Searching for the Runecrafter ===
* Objectives:
*# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.
*# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).

The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.

The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.

It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.

=== Gathering Materials ===
* Objective: Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).
* Lose if: Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.
* Other
** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.
** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.

The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.

The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.

The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.

Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:

* Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.
* Kill the goblins and their leader.
* Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.
* Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.
* Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.

The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.

[Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]

=== Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===
* Objectives: Defeat the dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.

Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.

You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.

The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.

[Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]

=== Towards the Caves ===
* Objectives:
** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.
** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.

It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).

This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.

[Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]

[Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]

=== Outriding the Outriders ===
* Objectives: Reach the outpost in the south.
* Lose if: Alanin dies or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Alanin.

Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.

Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.

To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.

Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).

Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.

On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.

Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.

=== The Dragon ===
* Objectives: Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.

The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats.

What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows.

You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.

Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.

The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.

After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.

Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.

Notes:

* Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by).
* Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.

'''Alternative Strategies'''

* Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.
* Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.
* Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.

Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.

=== Caverns of Flame ===
* Objectives: Move onto the glyph that makes the volcano erupt; then kill all the elves
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: All of your available units, including your entire recall list.

You start with your entire army and won't have any real chance to recruit any new units. What you start with is all you get. The cave is populated by Trolls and a few Orcish Warriors guarding the glyph. Your job is to get onto the glyph and then kill all the elves.

After a turn or two a bunch of dwarves and elves appear at the mouth of the cave (so get your units moving). Just like in the last scenario the elves move very slowly so you'll fight the dwarves separately from the elves. Keep your force together. You face a lot of strong enemies and will need to rotate all your troops to prevent too much attrition. Take advantage of the fact that you are fighting so many level 2 and 3 units to level any of your troops that still can improve.

One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors '''behind''' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.

To keep Krawg out of trouble you can move him onto one of the lava squares. There are several which are only accessible/attackable by flying units. There are no flying enemies so Krawg will be safe.

Don't worry about the Troll Warriors. They cannot get out until you step on the glyph. By that time it probably doesn't matter.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

A much more direct approach is to simply ignore the trolls coming from the internal caves. Use a few units to slow them down (guardsmen are very effective) and move your heavy hitters south directly into the glyph chamber. Kill the guards as quickly as possible and take defensive positions around the glyph while watching the elves and trolls fight each other. When you're ready, step on the glyph and unleash the Troll Warriors on the elves. Then it's only a matter of surviving until the elves are slaughtered. You might suffer some losses, but as long as the heroes survive it doesn't matter. If the elves don't get entirely wiped out in a few turns, the cave will end up entirely covered in lava, killing everyone. Either way, you win and proceed to the campaign's Epilogue.

-shadowblack

[AS: I found Shadowblack’s alternative strategy to be a better one—with the first strategy you end up fighting a slow battle getting through the trolls in the west, while more trolls and the dwarves & elves are coming up the east and north. This puts you in a bad position made worse by the fact that you have to send Thursagan south to kill the guards and activate the rune.]

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Sceptre of Fire

2022-06-12T22:59:13Z

Revolting peasant: /* Reaching the Runecrafter */

==Campaign Strategy==

You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.

In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains.

In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.

The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in "The Dragon". However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.

[AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]

==Scenarios==

=== A Bargain Is Struck ===
* Objectives:
** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..
** Defeat the elvish leader.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur and Alanin.
* Other: It is probably easier and quicker to defeat the elvish leader.

On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).

You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.

The Elves are hostile to the Humans and the Dwarves alike and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans - Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the elves.

The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:

* If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.
* If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.

On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the Elvish forces attack before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face an odd Elvish unit which is sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve this with Scouts only.

Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.

=== Closing The Gates ===
* Objectives: Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.
* Lose if: Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 15.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').
* Other
** If there are any elves in the caves after you shut the gates, you must kill them.
** Any units outside the caves when the gates close will die; pull your units back.

This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the elves. Firstly, recall and recruit a substantial amount of thunderers and fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of thunderers down that way as well.

You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing fighters, thunderers and perhaps scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your army so the challenge should not be too complicated.

Once the trolls are dead, place dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning "on" the glyphs closest to those openings will seal them. You might even shut one or two trolls outside this way.

Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnor at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place soldiers on the two remaining glyphs.

[Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (v.1.11.6 - medium difficulty).

=== Reaching the Runecrafter ===
* **Objective**: Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.
* **Lose if**: Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.
* **Turns**: 16 (on Medium difficulty).
* **Starting units**: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.

The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.

The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force.

Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.

=== Searching for the Runecrafter ===
* Objectives:
*# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.
*# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).

The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.

The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.

It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.

=== Gathering Materials ===
* Objective: Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).
* Lose if: Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.
* Other
** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.
** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.

The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.

The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.

The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.

Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:

* Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.
* Kill the goblins and their leader.
* Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.
* Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.
* Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.

The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.

[Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]

=== Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===
* Objectives: Defeat the dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.

Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.

You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.

The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.

[Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]

=== Towards the Caves ===
* Objectives:
** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.
** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.

It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).

This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.

[Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]

[Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]

=== Outriding the Outriders ===
* Objectives: Reach the outpost in the south.
* Lose if: Alanin dies or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Alanin.

Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.

Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.

To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.

Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).

Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.

On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.

Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.

=== The Dragon ===
* Objectives: Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.

The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats.

What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows.

You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.

Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.

The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.

After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.

Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.

Notes:

* Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by).
* Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.

'''Alternative Strategies'''

* Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.
* Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.
* Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.

Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.

=== Caverns of Flame ===
* Objectives: Move onto the glyph that makes the volcano erupt; then kill all the elves
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: All of your available units, including your entire recall list.

You start with your entire army and won't have any real chance to recruit any new units. What you start with is all you get. The cave is populated by Trolls and a few Orcish Warriors guarding the glyph. Your job is to get onto the glyph and then kill all the elves.

After a turn or two a bunch of dwarves and elves appear at the mouth of the cave (so get your units moving). Just like in the last scenario the elves move very slowly so you'll fight the dwarves separately from the elves. Keep your force together. You face a lot of strong enemies and will need to rotate all your troops to prevent too much attrition. Take advantage of the fact that you are fighting so many level 2 and 3 units to level any of your troops that still can improve.

One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors '''behind''' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.

To keep Krawg out of trouble you can move him onto one of the lava squares. There are several which are only accessible/attackable by flying units. There are no flying enemies so Krawg will be safe.

Don't worry about the Troll Warriors. They cannot get out until you step on the glyph. By that time it probably doesn't matter.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

A much more direct approach is to simply ignore the trolls coming from the internal caves. Use a few units to slow them down (guardsmen are very effective) and move your heavy hitters south directly into the glyph chamber. Kill the guards as quickly as possible and take defensive positions around the glyph while watching the elves and trolls fight each other. When you're ready, step on the glyph and unleash the Troll Warriors on the elves. Then it's only a matter of surviving until the elves are slaughtered. You might suffer some losses, but as long as the heroes survive it doesn't matter. If the elves don't get entirely wiped out in a few turns, the cave will end up entirely covered in lava, killing everyone. Either way, you win and proceed to the campaign's Epilogue.

-shadowblack

[AS: I found Shadowblack’s alternative strategy to be a better one—with the first strategy you end up fighting a slow battle getting through the trolls in the west, while more trolls and the dwarves & elves are coming up the east and north. This puts you in a bad position made worse by the fact that you have to send Thursagan south to kill the guards and activate the rune.]

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Sceptre of Fire

2022-06-12T22:58:32Z

Revolting peasant: Adding a missing scenario!

==Campaign Strategy==

You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.

In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains.

In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.

The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in "The Dragon". However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.

[AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]

==Scenarios==

=== A Bargain Is Struck ===
* Objectives:
** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..
** Defeat the elvish leader.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur and Alanin.
* Other: It is probably easier and quicker to defeat the elvish leader.

On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).

You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.

The Elves are hostile to the Humans and the Dwarves alike and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans - Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the elves.

The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:

* If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.
* If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.

On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the Elvish forces attack before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face an odd Elvish unit which is sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve this with Scouts only.

Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.

=== Closing The Gates ===
* Objectives: Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.
* Lose if: Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 15.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').
* Other
** If there are any elves in the caves after you shut the gates, you must kill them.
** Any units outside the caves when the gates close will die; pull your units back.

This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the elves. Firstly, recall and recruit a substantial amount of thunderers and fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of thunderers down that way as well.

You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing fighters, thunderers and perhaps scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your army so the challenge should not be too complicated.

Once the trolls are dead, place dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning "on" the glyphs closest to those openings will seal them. You might even shut one or two trolls outside this way.

Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnor at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place soldiers on the two remaining glyphs.

[Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (v.1.11.6 - medium difficulty).

=== Reaching the Runecrafter ===
* Objectives:
*# Reach other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 16 (on Medium difficulty).
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.

The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.

The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force.

Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.

=== Searching for the Runecrafter ===
* Objectives:
*# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.
*# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.
* Turns: 20.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.

Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).

The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.

The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.

It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.

=== Gathering Materials ===
* Objective: Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).
* Lose if: Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.
* Other
** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.
** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.

The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.

The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.

The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.

Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:

* Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.
* Kill the goblins and their leader.
* Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.
* Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.
* Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.

The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.

[Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]

=== Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===
* Objectives: Defeat the dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.
* Turns: 24.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.

Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.

You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.

The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.

[Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]

=== Towards the Caves ===
* Objectives:
** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.
** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.
* Lose if: Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.

It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).

This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.

[Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]

[Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]

=== Outriding the Outriders ===
* Objectives: Reach the outpost in the south.
* Lose if: Alanin dies or time runs out.
* Turns: 12.
* Starting units: Alanin.

Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.

Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.

To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.

Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).

Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.

On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.

Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.

=== The Dragon ===
* Objectives: Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.

The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats.

What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows.

You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.

Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.

The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.

After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.

Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.

Notes:

* Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by).
* Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.

'''Alternative Strategies'''

* Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.
* Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.
* Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.

Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.

=== Caverns of Flame ===
* Objectives: Move onto the glyph that makes the volcano erupt; then kill all the elves
* Lose if: Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: All of your available units, including your entire recall list.

You start with your entire army and won't have any real chance to recruit any new units. What you start with is all you get. The cave is populated by Trolls and a few Orcish Warriors guarding the glyph. Your job is to get onto the glyph and then kill all the elves.

After a turn or two a bunch of dwarves and elves appear at the mouth of the cave (so get your units moving). Just like in the last scenario the elves move very slowly so you'll fight the dwarves separately from the elves. Keep your force together. You face a lot of strong enemies and will need to rotate all your troops to prevent too much attrition. Take advantage of the fact that you are fighting so many level 2 and 3 units to level any of your troops that still can improve.

One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors '''behind''' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.

To keep Krawg out of trouble you can move him onto one of the lava squares. There are several which are only accessible/attackable by flying units. There are no flying enemies so Krawg will be safe.

Don't worry about the Troll Warriors. They cannot get out until you step on the glyph. By that time it probably doesn't matter.

'''Alternative Strategy'''

A much more direct approach is to simply ignore the trolls coming from the internal caves. Use a few units to slow them down (guardsmen are very effective) and move your heavy hitters south directly into the glyph chamber. Kill the guards as quickly as possible and take defensive positions around the glyph while watching the elves and trolls fight each other. When you're ready, step on the glyph and unleash the Troll Warriors on the elves. Then it's only a matter of surviving until the elves are slaughtered. You might suffer some losses, but as long as the heroes survive it doesn't matter. If the elves don't get entirely wiped out in a few turns, the cave will end up entirely covered in lava, killing everyone. Either way, you win and proceed to the campaign's Epilogue.

-shadowblack

[AS: I found Shadowblack’s alternative strategy to be a better one—with the first strategy you end up fighting a slow battle getting through the trolls in the west, while more trolls and the dwarves & elves are coming up the east and north. This puts you in a bad position made worse by the fact that you have to send Thursagan south to kill the guards and activate the rune.]

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Northern Rebirth

2022-02-11T20:04:18Z

Revolting peasant: Formatting

===Breaking the Chains===
* '''Objective:''' Defeat the orc leaders.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 41/31/26 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin and Zlex, a loyal peasant.

All you can recruit in this scenario are level 0 Peasants and Woodsmen, so it calls for unusual tactics. Initially you can't overpower the orcs by brute force. Fortunately though, the orcs are fighting amongst themselves, so guerilla tactics will work. Keep your head down, and let the orcs weaken each other while you slip around the edges and grab as many villages as you can - even if you have to sacrifice a few units. The southern edge especially is a good place to grab villages. Once the orcs are done fighting (one side will be mostly out of units), march your Woodsmen in a line and finish them off.

The next scenario can be ''expensive'', so try to finish as early as you can. Don't worry too much about levelling troops (except for Tallin and Zlex), because you'll get better troops next scenario anyway. When you do level units, keep in mind that you'll mostly be fighting skeletons for the next four scenarios; Bowmen will be okay late-game but not so good in the near future.

Also, beware of the tunnel entrance to the north-east. When you move there you will unleash a squad of trolls. Sometimes they attack the orcs (good for you) but other times they attack you. Since they are resistant to your pierce attacks, they can give you a bit of trouble should the latter happen.

===Infested Caves===
* '''Objectives:'''
** Find the dwarves and move Tallin to their castle; or..
** Clear the caves by defeating all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin or Hamel dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 55/50/45 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin and a supporter (typically Zlex, unless you lose him).
* '''Other:''' Find Camerin the Arch Mage in the northernmost village.

This will be a long write-up, because this is a difficult scenario that stumps many players.

First, here is the big picture. If you play just a few turns into this scenario, you will readily notice the green and blue Troll Whelps, the orange and white Skeletons, and you'll probably soon see the brown level 2 trolls coming from the far side of the large chamber. All of these have a cache of villages behind some sort of choke-point, which means that they won't run out of money and fresh recruits. Once you make it past the brown trolls, you'll come across another castle of skeletons, then finally, the home of the dwarves. Trolls, skeletons, and dwarves will all fight the others, given the chance. Depending on much randomness and the difficulty level, the dwarves may kill their adjacent undead leader and show up in the main hall as early as turn 15, or they may be stalemated by the skeletons until the end of time.

Now, let's have a look at the troops at your disposal:

*Footpads' don't have many HP, but also tend to take little damage due to their dodge rating. They're also quite fast. However, their damage output is (barely) sufficient against skeletons and totally inadequate against trolls—they won't get pushed back, but won't push forward either. Still, footpads should make up the bulk of your army: As you lack healers, your troops need to run back back to a village when they get beat up. Footpads run faster and take less damage than your other units.
*Thugs, with their powerful impact attack, will do more damage than anyone else. However, being melee-only means they get beat up in the process, not to mention shot to pieces by the Skeleton Archers. Pulling them back for healing takes a lot of time. Having a thug in the right place at the right time can make quite a difference... but you don't need them to finish this level and probably won't ever recall them later.
*Poachers are virtually useless against skeletons, but the best ranged attackers against trolls. Later (much later) you will need a few good archers, and now is the time to train them. Something like four or six will probably be enough, though.

Next, let's examine your opponents. The area in the east around the brown trolls is the key to winning this scenario. But let's start with the minor opponents, the four teams of level-1 trolls and skeletons closest to your initial keep. Sealing them at their choke-points is easy. Generally, you should immediately send off some footpads towards each of the four, occupy a favorable line of defense, then reinforce them over the next couple of turns. If and when you defeat any of the four, you'll discover a secret passage to their neighbour. Meanwhile, additional troops should assemble in the main hall for the fight against the brown trolls. All told, you will need like 40 men and could use many more—if you don't have at least 500 gold to begin with, revert and replay the previous level, shooting for more like 800 gold.

There are six opponents in all:

1) The blue trolls (north). There's village on a small patch of meadows where you'll discover a level-3 mage who will join you. Get there quickly or you won't make it until much much later. If you want to stalemate the blue trolls, put a Footpad on the mushroom patch and another unit on the cave hex. There are other possible stalemate lines if you need to fall back. You can kill this leader by an assault up this tunnel, but it will take some time unless you get lucky.

2) The green trolls (south). There are two excellent stalemate lines here. In the 2-hex wide area, the village close to your keep and one adjacent hex behind are great for quick Footpads, which can dart off to another village to heal if necessary. The other stalemate line is in the 3-hex wide area, where there is a village and a mushroom patch opposite. Putting a third unit in the middle and behind for a U-shaped line allows you to get three attacks on one, whereas the enemy can only muster two attacks on one. If you want to kill the green troll leader instead of just stalemating him, you'll need to be more aggressive, moving as far forward as quickly as possible. With your troops closing in on his keep, the leader will occasionally take part in the fight—eventually this will be his downfall.

3) The orange skeletons (east then south) can be totally contained with a couple of Footpads initially. The trolls will come to help. On harder difficulty levels, you may want to widen the containment area so that a few orange skeletons enter the main chamber; this will attract more trolls to bash on the skeletons, which means less trolls bashing on your troops.

4) The white skeletons' exit (east then north) is extremely easy to guard—just see to it that you get there in time. But hey: there's a second hole further down the hall, pretty close to the brown trolls. For now, that's in your favor. After the brown trolls have been defeated, you can loosen your grip on the first gap—his skeletons will prefer that outlet and leave the second corridor unguarded. You can then march a whole army up there and occupy about ten white villages. Deprived of his income, destroying the white leader will be standard procedure.

5) The brown trolls (east). Occupy the castle ruins and rugged terrain in the center of the large cave, but not before most of the trolls have moved off to fight the orange and white skeletons. You may try to lure out the troll leader and pin him down, or just rush in and occupy his castle. Just make sure that he can't recruit any more. Killing him may take several turns and will certainly cost you some units, but as long as you keep him from recruiting, things will work out. Also remember that there's another set of skeletons behind the trolls. On the harder difficulty levels, the undead will be ready to burst out of the south-east tunnel by turn 13; you will want to arrive before, so that you can contain them.

6) The final skeletons (south-east) you'll find past the trolls are in a battle with the dwarves. On the easier difficulty levels, it's is even possible they no longer exist, as they may have succumbed to the dwarves. On the harder difficulty levels, these skeletons have probably stalemated the dwarves and have turned their attention to an assault on the trolls and you. Once these undead are gone, the dwarves will pour out and "help" you with the remaining opponents, stealing kills and standing in the way. You should maybe fill up the corridor just south of the brown trolls' fortress with units of your own, just to keep the dwarves away. Peasants will do. Also don't forget to seize the dwarven villages - there's quite a few.

Finally, here are strategies players have used with success...

* "Total victory" strategy — Technically speaking, it would suffice to win if you somehow manage to move Tallin into the dwarves' home without killing any enemy leaders. However, this requires that you somehow get past the brown trolls; if you can do that, you can just as well rub them out. On the easier difficulty levels, killing all the other enemy leaders on top of the brown troll leader isn't difficult but takes some patience. On easy, you've got 60 turns, and even if you need 40 in order to clear the map, you're still in for a <i>huge</i> early finish bonus, which you'll really need later on. Advance with all haste on the blue trolls, green trolls, brown trolls, and/or white skeletons (using the eastern entrance or the secret passage from the blue trolls); use their villages to build a massive army for the rest.

* "Migration" strategy (as per [http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?p=476131#p476131 HomerJ's forum post]) — On the harder difficulty levels, a total victory might not be possible and even just getting Tallin to the dwarves will require a carefully choreographed ballet, playing off the trolls against the skeletons. First things first: rescue the Arch Mage and send him to join your main army. Using Footpads, set up containment lines against the blue trolls, green trolls, white skeletons, and orange skeletons. In the main chamber, the trolls there will be more interested in fighting the skeletons than your troops, if you keep them healthy and on good terrain. Around turn 8, after most of the brown trolls have joined your Footpads against the skeletons, move the bulk of your army into the main chamber. Fan your Footpads out, grabbing fortress hexes and other good terrain, creating a pocket for your more vulnerable units inside. By turn 12, you need to be in the brown trolls' keep so that you can block the undead that are about to burst out of the south-east passage. Meanwhile, you should "release the hounds" - remove the stalemate lines against Troll Whelps in the west, allowing them to pour into the main chamber. This will entertain the orange and white skeletons for quite some time, preventing the skeletons from endangering your new home in the east. The brown trolls have a cache of villages just north-east of their keep, so grab those, start generating income again, and recruit units as needed. Set up a defensive line along the western edge of your new keep, while advancing through the south-east tunnel and killing the undead leader there. Raid the dwarven villages for income and wait until the last turn to move Tallin to a dwarven castle hex.

===To The Mines===
* '''Objectives:'''
** Go to the mines (with Tallin); or..
** Defeat the wolves.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin or Hamel dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 36/30/24 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Hamel, Camerin and a supporter.

This is designed to be more of a breather scenario, letting you get a bit of fresh air and level a few units before you plunge back into the caves. However, stay on your guard because if you get sloppy, you could experience a lot of grief.

The basic strategy is to recruit lots of dwarves and sweep north in a line. You'll lose a few but level up more, which will be your most reliable heavy infantry in later scenarios. Beware Wolf Riders nipping around your flanks and don't leave any units isolated. Recalling Poachers/Trappers will make quicker work of the Wolf Riders but the experience may be appreciated more if it is doled out to dwarves.

Alternatively, recruit a keep full of level 0 "targets" and make a point of leaving one or two of them isolated (but with support troops nearby). The AI loves to attack these "soft" targets, leaving his units vulnerable to your full counterattack. With a bit of luck, you can even lure out the enemy leader for an easy (and early) finish.

===Clearing The Mines===
* '''Objective:''' Clear the mines by defeating all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin or Hamel dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 65/55/45 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Hamel, Camerin, a supporter and a couple of veteran dwarves.
* '''Other:''' LOTS of ghouls show up on turn 21.

This is a large scenario, and a tough one, but it's very important to do well here. There are two key secrets which will dictate your strategy.

The first secret: this is the last scenario on which you can recruit dwarfs. Dwarfs are probably the best units in your army, *especially* against skeletons; you want to recruit lots of them now, so that you can recall them later and level them into Dwarven Lords. Recruit, recruit, recruit, until you run out of gold. You should have a continuous stream of of dwarfs going both north and east.

I didn't recruit any of the Dwarvish Thunderers—they're not much good against skeletons, and I don't like the element of randomness where half the time they deal no damage. You might feel differently.

When fighting the guard skeletons, try to lure them off their platforms before attacking. They'll cheerfully leave their posts to attack your low-level units, especially if they think there's a chance to kill something.

The second secret: see all that water on the level? On turn 21, most of that water turns into swamp, and every swamp hex will have a Ghoul on it. You need to have most of the Draugs dead before this happens, so don't dawdle.

There are two ways to deal with the Ghouls. The first option is to kill the Lich before turn 22. This is tricky, but very doable. The Lich is very frisky about leaving his keep to attack you; lure him away and hit him with whatever Dwarven Lords you have.

The second option is to farm the Ghouls for experience. You've got lots and lots of dwarves, right? Why not have fun with them? Surround the water with dwarfs on all sides, and wait for turn 21. You'll lose a few dwarfs, but you'll gain a lot of experience, too. Be careful of the Lich, who will attack when you get close. You don't want to kill him until most of the Ghouls are dead, so it's best to just put up with him (and try not to move any high-level units where he can get at them).

Comment (Wesnoth 1.14 or later): The map has been redrawn, with chokepoints in the entrance passageways; in each direction there are two chokepoints with some villages between them, the undead will occupy these village areas in turn 3 (northwards) and turns 3-4 (eastwards). The passage northwards has bridges on your side of that area, which aren't a chokepoint for bats and where your dwarves have only 30% def; the chokepoints eastwards are wider with solid rock terrain underfoot, but in both cases you want to get control as quick as possible. Camerin (and some backup) should move north of the bridges during turn 2, and to the east Hamel should be in the village area in turn 4.

Comment (Nightmare): Finishing before turn 21 or even surrounding all the water by that time looks very much impossible, however even if you only took out the two leaders on the western edge of the map until turn 21 it is very well possible to kill all those Ghouls and still receive a handy gold bonus. Ghouls are scared of levelled thugs and dwarf fighters, which makes "controlling" them pretty easy.

===The Pursuit===
* '''Objectives:''' Find Malifor and destroy him.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin dies.
* '''Turns:''' Unlimited.
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, a supporter and a veteran dwarf.
* '''Other:'''
** Get the Rod of Justice in the northern chamber.
** Raid the treasury.
** You'll find many loyal units in this scenario, including an Elvish Druid, two White Mages, a Drake Burner, a group of 3 Dwarves and a Wraith.

(Updated for 1.14 by LandofMordor)

This level opens with an 6-way junction of passages (one of which is where you enter). Don't get involved in fights in all 5 passages at once; you can only use Camerin in one place at a time, and initially you have a serious problem with healing (namely, you don't have any means to heal units, so they just have to go and stand in the entrance passage and regain 2hp per turn).

If you have luck with the initial guards, by turn 2 you should have Tallin on the camp, recruiting/recalling bandits and dwarves. This scenario doesn't have a time limit, and although it has many enemy leaders, most of them won't actively recruit until you get close to them, so you won't be too pressured to rush your actions. However, don't waste too much time -- the faster you finish this long scenario, the more money (from treasure chests you find here) you'll get to keep.

The bad news is that bottlenecks in all the passages make it difficult to get to the enemy leaders (it's almost impossible on the highest difficulty levels). The good news is there's not really any immediate need to kill the enemy leaders to the northwest, northeast, or due north-—put some dwarfs or thugs in the bottleneck and kill the skeletons as they come out. If you don't trigger line-of-sight from the posted Revenant/Draug gaurds, then the flow of enemies will be pretty manageable. Fairly quickly, though, you'll need to heal your defenders, which is why your first priority should be rescuing your healers (see below).

As for the rest of the leaders (and surprises) of this scenario, you can approach them more or less sequentially and patiently. In general, when you see some enemy shout some type of exclamation, it means one or two leaders will start recruiting the next turn, so you will be basically committed to clear the path you're exploring. Don't trigger line-of-sight, and you won't trigger the tidal wave of skeletons and Revenants.

You should start by handling the dungeon, guarded by a Death Knight to the south-west. Hit the dungeon hard and fast with your hardiest fighting force. There, you will find the first group of loyal units who will join you. The druid you get is pretty awesome, but the real prize here is the two invincible white mages. Whenever one white mage gets killed, the other one resurrects it, with no penalty! (After the 1.14.7 update, the mages retain their experience points, and resurrect next to Tallin, which is different than previous versions.) You will also free Krash, a loyal Drake, and discover a passageway leading north (see below).

During your first round of recruiting, earmark some troops to send down the south-east tunnel, the one with the "water monsters" warning. This party should definitely include at least one White Mage (once you've freed them -- another reason to clear the dungeon quickly), multiple Steelclads, and an Outlaw or two. Camerin, your Drake, and your Druid are less useful in this passage, so reserve them for other passages. Pretty quickly you'll encounter a bottleneck where a Death Knight has holed up with Revenants and plenty of villages, so it's time to let your forces slog through the bottleneck and focus elsewhere.

Remember that long tunnel behind Krash (Wesnoth 1.14: behind Sister Thera)? Despite the warning that the tunnel "doesn't seem to lead anywhere", it's actually a shortcut to the Death Knight guarding the northmost passageway. It's possible, if you send some healthy dwarves down that passage, to assassinate the leader once he has sent his army down the northmost passageway to fight. It's not absolutely necessary, but it can speed things up if your troops in the main chamber haven't thinned out the skeleton armies yet. Two benefits of this strategy include the fastest way to gain the group of 3 loyal Dwarves that will appear on the Death Knight's demise, and a shortcut into the Treasury, which is the terminus of the north-west passage. However, don't attack the Treasury unless you're good and ready; it's guarded by a Death Knight and a big group of Draugs.

Speaking of the Treasury passage to the north-west of Tallin's camp, you don't ever want to attack the guards on their platforms; instead, put an expendable unit (newly recruited Thug or Footpad) where they can reach it, and they'll leave their platform every time. You can force your way through the passage in this method, probably gaining some Dwarvish Lords or Fugitives along the way. Once you free the Druid, send her this way to heal up these units, as they're invaluable to storm the Death Knight's keep, kill him, and lure the Draugs from their posts. Zlex or another Spearman/Thug should also go up this passageway, because once you clear the Treasury, you can move them onto the northmost chest and gain the Rod of Justice, an item that grants stat boosts and a powerful ranged magic attack. Paired with the unrivaled melee damage of a Highwayman, Royal Guard, or Halberdier, you will have Frankensteined together the most powerful unit in your army. The other chests in the Treasury are a letdown compared to the Rod of Justice, since they ''only'' contain thousands of gold pieces, but you should still pick them up!

Finish the Treasury? Both the north and north-east tunnels eventually lead to the final boss, but more importantly, there's other benefits to going up the two tunnels.

The north tunnel leads, as mentioned, to a Death Knight's chamber, where you can earn the loyalty of three dwarves. There's also an opening to the "Grand Chamber", which contains a secret passageway to Malifor's study. However, you should avoid this chamber at all costs -- when the first unit crosses its threshold, the tunnel behind them seals, and a brood of level 3 spiders attacks. (Hilariously, if you send a full-health Fugitive onto a castle tile, the Spiders will just mill around, too afraid to attack, but they'll swarm the Fugitive the instant he/she steps onto flat ground!) It's a deathtrap with very little reward.

The north-east tunnel, despite lacking rewards besides EXP, is instrumental to eventually defeating Malifor. Again, you can avoid triggering the onslaught of skeletons for as long as you need by staying out of view of the two Draugs guarding the passage. Just station a couple Footpads to kill the occasional scout for as long as you need to clear the south-east tunnel, and have Tallin ready to rush up this passageway once you're ready for the final assault.

Speaking of the south-east tunnel, you should have defeated the Death Knight by this point, unlocking a chamber behind his keep to reveal six bottles of holy water. Give these to some of your Dwarf Lords or Bandits, and send them back around to lead the charge in the north-east passage. Your White Mage and the Outlaws should press on northwards, where they'll have to do battle with several Tentacles of the Deep around a lake. The village in the southwest corner of the lake unlocks a loyal Wraith. Further on, you'll reach a keep where three nagas will ambush you (go hex-by-hex so you don't find yourself on unfavorable terrain). You should be able to defeat them by sending Abhai the Wraith to your vanguard. Past the nagas' keep is a hidden passageway to Malifor's chamber.

Storm Malifor's chamber simultaneously from the north-east and south-east passages. He'll spawn a keep's worth of Liches and Revenants, which you can slog through until a path to Malifor is clear. At this point, run up to him with your White Mages and ZOC-lock him while you mop up the rest of his troops. Malifor will probably kill them, but surprise! they regenerate next to Tallin, which is why it's important to have Tallin in your vanguard. Don't try to kill Malifor with any other unit, because he's immune to any damage save the mage's light attack. And because your mages can't die, Malifor will eventually go out in a blaze of holy light.

===Old Friend===
* '''Objectives:'''
** Defeat Rakshas (almost impossible); or..
** Resist until the end of turns.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 18/18/18 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Krash, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia and a supporter.

This is meant to be an easy mission if your objective is to simply survive. You don't have to defeat the Orcs to win this one, so you can just lurk just inside the two-hex-wide aperture of the cave only two orcs at a time will be able to get at you; it's not hard to fend them off until time runs out. Spend as little gold as possible and skip turn 18 times; the AI will not attack unless they have a non-zero probability to kill in a single hit.

Alternatively, you can go ahead and sally. It is supposed to be impossible to actually defeat them entirely, but if you stick to defensive terrain and keep recycling fresh units to the front, you should soon pile up stacks of orcish corpses as well as experience, which always comes in handy. It may even be possible to beat the nearer two orcs on the easiest difficulty, but it is not advisable. When you move far enough from your keep towards the south-west, Rakshas triggers the appearance of Goblin Knights on all the mountain tiles in the centre of the map, and all enemy leaders receive a huge gold injection. You may get away with defeating Poul (the enemy leader on the south-east), but getting too close to Drung is more likely trigger the Goblin Knight trap.

[landofMordor] Rather than trying to sally aggressively, you can hole up around the mountains, villages, and two encampment hexes near the mouth of the cave. Recall a keep's worth of loyal dwarves, especially Steelclads, then hightail it to defensive positions. Present a single, unified front along the mountain path using Dwarvish Steelclads and Pathfinders, and send your Rod-bearer to the flat hex between the two encampment hexes. Your two White Magi can also occupy villages to continuously heal themselves and their neighbors. In this manner, it's fairly simple to turtle through 18 turns, probably turning Tallin into a level 4 Grand Marshal along the way.

===Settling Disputes===
* '''Objectives:''' Capture the liches and save Stalrag.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin or Stalrag dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 25/20/15 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Krash, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia and a supporter

Your two White Mages and Camerin will be teleported into the middle of a battle between some ogres, trolls and a Lich and some dwarves. Your first job is to kill the Lich and not let the dwarf leader die. This is straightforward but Stalrag, the dwarvish leader, is quite cavalier with his life. You need to kill the Lich and then help the Ulfserkers to the south with the ogre and troll. Otherwise Stalrag will run to the village and likely be killed by the troll.

You have 100 gold, so recall 5 good units. Your Poachers/Trappers can be used since you'll be fighting trolls and ogres with a few mages and gryphons thrown in. Assault in two places: down the east side of the map with your three mages (and any leftover dwarves) and across the river ford in the middle. Your White Mages are still immortal so you can be quite aggressive, but if they die, they'll regenerate next to Tallin and might leave Camerin in the lurch. For the river ford, you'll get across at night so be defensive (the level 2 Ogres are hard hitters) until day. The initial wave will probably be blunted by then, too. Then sweep down and subdue the Lich.

===Elvish Princess===
* '''Objectives:'''
** Survive until the end of turns; or..
** Rescue the princess (special bonus).
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian or Ro'Sothian dies.
* '''Turns:''' 21/18/15 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Krash, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag and a supporter.

In this one it may be best to go straight at Bitterhold with a small group of hardened veterans—you need to be in there fast, especially on high difficulty levels where the turn limit is tight. Camerin and the Rod of Justice will be particularly helpful here. Your objective, getting a unit onto the cage at the center of the castle, may be best accomplished with a flyer (a Gryphon recruited specifically for this purpose can be useful) once you've chewed a few holes in the inner ring of defenders.

Send your White Magi, your Liches, and Tallin south-east to assault the fortress and distract the troops. Then, send another force with your Druid due west to sneak around the west side of the camp. This pincer movement should siphon off most of the defenders from the fortress. When you're ready to make a move for the princess, punch through to an inner village with a Lich and flank him with the Magi, which will distract a ton of the fortress' guards and provide an opportunity to grab Eryssa.

Either way, you also have to send a segment of your army to the south-east, to handle the enemy leader. Abhai (the Spectre) and your Rod-bearer can usually pin down the Blue Orc leader to the East and kill him as early as Turn 2 (if Zlex is your Rod-bearer). This is useful as it prevents him harrying your flank, and with a little support from your main force, gives you a second attack point, which helps clear the defenders quickly. Abhai can potentially even sneak in and nab the princess once you've mopped up the Blue team's recruits.

You should be making an effort to keep your loyal units alive, but just in case, if you plan to rescue Eryssa (the kidnapped Elvish Sorceress) you should still have Elenia with you, otherwise she (Eryssa) won't stay with you, and the story for the rest of the campaign accommodates to this. If you don't rescue her, you just skip the next scenario (''Introductions'').

===Introductions===
* '''Objective:''' Move Tallin to the northern signpost.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian or Ro'Sothian dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 21/18/15 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Krash, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag, Eryssa and a supporter.

This is a small level with just a bunch of trolls. Nothing too complicated. Standard dungeon-crawling tactics should work fine in this one—minimize your exposed front, and cycle wounded units back to the healers before they get killed. The destination signpost is in the north-west corner. Try and level any non-max-level units you still have. Send your wraith up the right-hand passage and he can attack/distract some of the trolls. There is nothing interesting in any of the side passages.

===Stolen Gold===
* '''Objectives:'''
** Defeat the enemy leaders; or..
** Resist until time runs out.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian or Ro'Sothian dies.
* '''Turns:''' 36/36/36 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Krash, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag, Eryssa and a supporter.

You'll have two problems in this scenario. One is lots and lots and lots of trolls. The other is that Krash is going to fly off and recruit level-one drakes to help you, but if they get swarmed by all the level-two trolls they're not going to live long. Krash's camp will materialize in the mountains near the map-edge west of your camp; the house at edge of board will be one hex NW of his tent square. Don't do anything in the beginning with Krash except grab villages. He leaves on turn 2, only to return on turn 7.

The first thing you could do is kill the north-west troll. Move the Sorceress, the Ancient Lich and the Spectre towards the Blue troll on your first turn. Recall a castle of level 3s or high XP level 2s, mostly Dwarf Lords and Dragonguards, though the occasional Fugitive or Huntsman can be useful. Then move rod-bearer (hopefully Zlex) towards the blue leader as well. The Blue leader will take the village to the SE of his camp on turn 1. With the rod bearers high movement and the power of the Lich, it's possible to ZoC him on turn 2 and kill him (it helps to use the Sorceress, she needs the XP). Then, mopping up the blue trolls is not much of a problem with the units available - apart from the sorceress, they can usually kill between one and 2 trolls per turn. Recruit a couple more troops on the Blue base if you've still got the money and attend to the rest.

Using your first turn recalls, establish a defensive line on the line of hills in the middle of the map at the top, putting the Shyde in the forest. Wait out the Green trolls' charge, then counterattack, bringing the Spectre and possibly the Sorceress round to help. The green troll should be on the way out around the time Krash arrives. One of the White Mages provides healing up here (if you aren't sending them on a kamikaze mission to the south).

The Lich and 2 or 3 other dwarves (healthy/resilient if possible) should hold the edge of the hills on the west side of the map, keeping them clear for Krash's arrival. They shouldn't kill any Whelps that oppose them, but take out Rocklobbers and Grunts for as little return damage as possible. Use ranged attacks in preference to melee, apart from if the Lich needs some health back. Tallin should take and hold the village in the middle when he's finished with the Blue trolls, and provide leadership. The second White Mage stays near the base, and will resurrect there when killed, providing a wonderful distraction to up to 8 trolls per turn. Krash's arrival should happen around the time that the troops from the Green troll attack are freed up - sweep all of the remaining trolls southwards. Krash and company should kill the Black leader, and the Elves and Spectre will take care of Purple around the time the Brown Elf team arrives. Good for a huge gold bonus, but requires a very aggressive start and risks losing a couple of high level units.

'''Alternate strategy:''' Recall nine or ten veterans and linger up around where his camp
will appear. Hold off the troll swarm until the drakes show up, then bust out of the encirclement and clean up.

The Spectre can be extremely effective against the trolls; place him in the village on the northern tip of the eastern island, and he should be able to safely defend against one to three trolls each turn. The Elvish Shyde and Sorceress, as well as the two liches, can be put to
better use if you move them into the forest on the eastern island in the beginning of the scenario. Stay within the forest and lure in trolls one or two at a time to level up the Sorceress and create a distraction. Once the troll leaders in the NE and SE have finished recruiting and their forces have moved over to attack in the west, the liches and the shyde can jump in and kill the leaders, and seize as many villages as possible.

After Krash's camp is set up, you will be controlling both Tallin's and Krash's troops. Krash's team will take its turn after all the trolls, and before Tallin. The trolls will probably be still swarming in front of Tallin's defense, but you can create opportunities for the drakes to level
up by withdrawing one of Tallin's units and defeating the two trolls next to that opening, so that the trolls will be zone-locked and unable to get into the opening. The drakes will have the advantage that after they attack they can be healed by Tallin's healers, before the trolls retaliate.

Although you will be in deep negative gold during this one, don't succumb to the temptation to give all the villages to Krash. He can make use of them immediately, but that isn't important, as he starts with enough gold to recruit enough drakes for what you need. You will get a big early finish bonus, so seize villages with your forces in the east, and with your main force once you break out. It's essential to get more than 140 gold going into the next level. (Krash won't go negative, so he'll end up with 400-500 gold with the early finish bonus anyway.)

===Eastern Flank===
* '''Objective:''' Defeat the enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian or Ro'Sothian dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 53/50/47 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag, Eryssa, a Gryphon, a supporter and Krash (as a team leader).

'''Strategy 1:''' The only good thing about drakes in mountains is that you can rush them away to heal once they get trashed. They have a much lower defense on mountains relative to non-drake units. So it's better for Tallin to recall L2 and L3 dwarves (maybe one L1 dwarf), and spread these along the line in the mountains - you probably can't get enough to avoid having quite a number of drakes here, but it limits the number of drakes that the enemy can trash per turn; and the limited mobility in the mountains means they can't always attack the drakes with the units that they want.

Use drakes first to finish off weakened enemies, and drake burners to soften up the higher level enemy melee units (try to avoid having many L1 drake units in the line at night, when they are extremely vulnerable). Tallin's higher level units are better used for attacks on fresh enemy units. Don't extend your drake line to the map edge any faster than needed - the AI won't deliberately try to outflank, he'll just try to wrap around the last unit in line. You want to minimise the number of drakes he can maul each turn. Get the two human healers up into the mountains, and wounded drakes should congregate behind the lines around these. The two liches are good front-line units here, as the high defense means the enemy melee troops can't batter them too much (their drain attacks tend to compensate for any health loss), and their magic attacks are perhaps the most potent on this terrain.

Meanwhile, the east side of your line starts in the village just E of the mountains, where Tallin should be - the enemy are generally afraid to attack him due to the Rod. The line east of here consists of the spectre, the shyde & sorceress, and a mix of drakes and any high-level human units in your auto-recall. (The drakes have only a 10% difference in defense on these terrains, and have better mobility over the river.) Use the shyde and sorceress to entangle the best enemy melee units each turn, and drakes to soften up and kill them.

You hold this line for 2 days, wearing through the enemy. Once they run low on units, the drakes become valuable for encircling isolated units, rolling up the flanks, and darting behind their lines to seize villages. Push south through the mountains, and use the wizards to blast the orc leaders.

'''Strategy 2:''' I use the same technique as Strategy 1 in the mountains, but a radically different strategy otherwise. I recalled all my veterans, sent the dwarves north, and almost everyone else directly west. I recruited as many Gryphons as I could with my money, and sent them, as well as Abhai, south to take the island. I also made sure to move Tallin and Krash near to the front lines. The sheer number of high-level units attacking the main front was too much for the orcs, and by turn 11 the dwarf/drake force had defeated the northern flank. I moved Krash into one of the leader castle squares in the fortress, and recruited a Drake Burner in every free square in the fortress. (If you still somehow have positive gold with Tallin, you can use a similar technique with him) By turn 12, the orcs' main front had also collapsed due to the Drake Burners, and I defeated the last orc leader on turn 16.

The gryphons in the south basically were slaughtered by turn 10. I only had two remaining with low health; I retreated these in case they would be useful for recall (20 gold vs. recruiting 40 gold). By then, however, the island was free from orcs and there was only a small band (~5-6) of one Orcish Warrior and several Wolf Riders left. Abhai easily slaughtered most of them in the water, and the healed surviving Gryphons killed the rest by turn 14.

The only problem with this strategy is that it puts you in deep negative gold, but the early finish bonus more than makes up for that.

'''Strategy 3:''' I managed to win this scenario (on Easy) only by sending the White mages / Mages of Light to the mountains to the west of Krash, along with every dwarf lord I could recall, while the elves, Abhai, and Camerin went south of the river. I put the liches on the mountain-peninsula so that they could attack many units. Krash recruited Burners and Clashers, with the occasional Fighter, and they planted themselves in the forest and grassland west of Tallin's keep. They died easily but did not fail completely, they held the line west and I did manage to level several drakes (of each line) up to at least Level 2. This is the only way I could win without getting veterans slaughtered, and even when they weren't slaughtered, the orcs were bold enough to walk up to Tallin's keep, attack him, and steal the villages. My "advisor" was a Huntsman, who died easily, so I just kept him back. The drakes that needed healing in the field or forest took advantages of nearby villages (there were some on an island south of Tallin's keep, some in the mountains, and some in the forest). The dwarves in the mountains went into nearby villages or the White Mages if they needed healing. Abhai as a Spectre did well in the far south against Wolf Riders, and the elves and the Great Mage did well in the forest on the edge of the island against the occasional Assassin or Wolf Rider. Later, I sent a drake or two that way. Once the front line of the orcs was eliminated, Krash and Tallin moved forward with all the troops, and sat in the keeps. Because of the unique way that the castle is designed, the orcs recruited units right next to my units, while I recruited units right next to theirs. I lost a good drake or two but otherwise did not suffer many problems.

Comment (Nightmare): I would recommend taking up a very forward position (which leaves you with only one flat hex to defend and a shorter way to the castle when you decide to push through). As the distance to the keep, where Tallin is busy recruiting, becomes quite large, I would recommend giving the rod to Zlex (Royal Guard by now) in Pursuit. That way it will see more action and he even can receive leadership by Tallin later. If you treat your drakes well, i.e. always retreat at dusk, they can do a lot of work, gain experience and most of all kill scores of bathing assassins. Instead of wasting gold and blood on recruiting many L1 in the enemy castle, recalling some resilient units (i.e. dwarf lords + a few shielding L1) to prevent any further recruiting (instead of attempting to directly kill the leaders with them) is much more efficient.

===Get the Gold===
* '''Objectives:''' Defeat the orcs.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian or Ro'Sothian dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' 35/30/25 (Challenging / Difficult / Nightmare).
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag, a supporter, Krash (as team leader) and Eryssa (as team leader).
* '''Other:''' Save Sisal if at all possible. If you do, you get your gold from "The Pursuit" back.

The primary challenge in this scenario is trying to save Sisal, and though it is not stated that Sisal's survival is essential, you do not get back the gold that you earned in "The Pursuit" if she dies. You really, really want that gold. Setting her side's behavior (with right-click) to "defensive" is usually enough to make her stall the orcs successfully until you can either get quick reinforcements to her, or defeat the enemy leader.

The enemy is pretty strong so recruit with the drakes, elves and Tallin's crew. Level what units you can and focus on killing enemy units. Other than keeping Sisal alive this is a simple assault against strong enemies.

''Note'': In versions previous to 1.10.x, this scenario was slightly different and keeping Sisal alive was much more challenging because you couldn't give here commands, and she had a high propensity to jump into the water and get killed. The following paragraphs apply to those older versions.

The AI controlling Sisal may behave strangely and she jumps into the river to be slaughtered easily. If you are desperate, an option is using the [[CommandMode|droid command]] to change Sisal to a human controller - that way, you control her and prevent her from dying within 3 turns.

'''Alternative Strategy 1:''' On turn one, mass produce gliders with the drakes and gryphons with the humans. Send the gryphons along the eastern edge of the map, and send the gliders immediately due south. The gryphons will need to punch a small hole to proceed (when forces try and stop them in the mountains), but they're then easily able to wrap around to the south-east of the enemy's forces. Send the gliders to the south-west of the enemy's forces on turn three.

Throw in a few scouts from the elvish army for good measure, and you can effectively, quickly create a wall of units to shield Sisal—at which point she returns to her keep.

This strategy also causes the AI to heavily attack your southern units, giving you a weak enemy line in the north you can quickly punch through with your massive army. I was able to defeat their leader on turn six without a problem.

'''Alternative Strategy 2:''' Recruit 4 lvl2 elvish rangers. Use their ambush ability to hide them directly west of the enemy leader. Evade stray units to remain hidden. Once the enemy stops recruiting there is a 1-2 window of opportunity to take out the leader. While the rangers patiently wait for their moment, maintain a strong defensive in the N and shield Sisal as described above.

===Showdown===
* '''Objectives:''' Defeat all enemies.
* '''Lose if:''' Tallin, Ro'Arthian, Ro'Sothian or Hamel dies or turns run out.
* '''Turns:''' Unlimited.
* '''Starting units:''' Tallin, Camerin, Abhai, Father Morvin, Sister Thera, Elenia, Stalrag, a supporter, Krash (as team leader) and Eryssa (as team leader).
* '''Other:''' If you have recovered your gold on the previous scenario, it gets split into three equal parts, and assigned to your three leaders (Tallin, Krash and Eryssa).

Pull out all the stops, because this is it. The wall is defended by level 3 orcs (Warlords and Slurbows). You'll want to draw them off the walls before engaging them, they're dangerous enough as it is without the fortification bonus; hanging a unit or two just within their engagement range will do it. Because there are so many orcs, you need to be especially careful about neither leaving units isolated nor presenting unanchored flanks for them to swarm around (the drakes, in particular, should fort up in the northern camp until they've thinned out their attackers considerably). Get to the edge of the moat and then cycle in fresh units and expand along the edge of the moat. The enemy will probably swarm towards Tallin's units. Don't try and breakthrough. Just be content to kill the units that enter the moat.

Recruit lots of druids with the elves and send them to help out Tallin and the drakes. Other than that the same strategy applies: kill the units in the moat. If there is an opening, move in.

Same thing with the drakes. If you level a Burner, turn it into a Flare. Since you have lots of level 1's the leadership will be useful.

Hamel will tear up the western edge of the fort pretty well. Aid him with elves if you can and then follow his lead to attack from within the castle walls.

Recruit, recruit, recruit, especially with the drakes. Take out the level 3 wall defenders, wear down the attackers in the moat and punch through where you can. Somewhat tedious but inevitable with your massive gold reserves.

[[Category:Campaigns]]
[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Liberty

2022-01-04T23:20:52Z

Revolting peasant: /* Glory */

Footpads are the core unit for this campaign. High defense, mixed attacks, and low cost makes them handy in all events. You get Harper, a loyal Footpad in all scenarios, and assume the role of Baldras, a Bandit; level these up, plus any others you recruit with good traits.

Notice that, during the first two scenarios of this campaign, your units will not be exactly Footpads, Thugs and Poachers. They will be instead ''Peasant Youths'', ''Villagers'' and ''Peasant Hunters''. The main difference of these counterparts is that they have a neutral alignment, so you need to adjust your strategies accordingly in case you're accustomed to the Time of Day cycle for chaotic units. From the third scenario onwards, your army will become regular (chaotic) units.

The main problem in this campaign is finding units to deal damage; Footpads are great for swarming and pinning enemies, but even swarming an enemy from all sides they might take less than half its HP off in one turn. None of your L1 units cause much damage. It's important to level up a couple each of Thugs and Poachers; you then use these as first strike against an enemy unit, followed by the Footpad swarm to finish them off or at least pin them so you can finish them next turn. In particular, you want a Huntsman by scenario 7 so you have decent marksman damage for busting enemy commanders.

=== The Raid ===
* Objectives: Defeat the goblins
* Lose if: The goblins reach the village or Baldras or Harper die or time runs out
* Turns: 24/18/14 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras, Harper and other bandits

You have enough troops to beat the goblins in a straight-up fight; your problem is luring the leader to attack you rather than running straight up the board and into the town of Dallben (if this happens you lose!). This means you need to dangle some units in his engagement range. Using Footpads for this purpose is a good idea, given their high defense.

Running Harper and one other Footpad north works well. Provided the other draws the goblin leader off of his run north, Harper can then either join in fighting him, or complete the run north, where you get a couple of thugs for free (3 on ''Easy'') and return with them, depending on how far north you get before he breaks his run. These guards will show up if the enemy gets too close to Dallben anyway, but since the goblins will try very aggressively to get into town, it's better to support them with extra footpads to keep them out.

=== Civil Disobedience ===
* Objectives: Defeat the army captain
* Lose if: Baldras or Harper die or time runs out
* Turns: 14/13/12 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper
Bunch up all your fighters and use them to swarm single or paired cavalry units. Use houses for cover. Remember to keep recruiting in those early turns, even if you have to forgo attacking enemies from good cover to make the space for the recruit to stand.

Poachers are useful for getting damage into the enemy cavalry and have decent defense when in your castle or in villages, and then use footpads to take positions in the open (they have good defense in the open) to wrap around enemy units. Ideally you want the enemy to wrap cavalry around units in your keep, and you then wrap around the ones behind your keep with Poachers and Footpads. The enemy commander is a tough fight, since he often meets you in daylight and has good melee and ranged attacks; ideally get him next to your keep so you can have your commander and two Poachers hitting him from relative safety, and then put a Footpad or Thug on the other side to pin him there.

=== A Strategy of Hope ===
* Objectives: Defeat the enemy leaders
* Lose if: Baldras, Harper or Relana die or time runs out
* Turns: 35/30/25 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper

The orcs don't make a lot of archers, so swarm them with Footpads and Outlaws firing slingstones. Detach one or two Footpads to go on an extended village-stealing run in the north of the board while you're doing this. The saurians are much weaker than the orcs so concentrate your forces against the orcs. Your allies are a little better than evenly matched against the saurians, so by the time you finish the orcs you should be able to run northwest and take the leader without too much trouble.

Notice that, after the stark realization reached by Baldras at the end of the previous scenario, your army has turned now into standard chaotic units (Footpads, Thugs, etc.).

[Mal Shubertal: In version 1.12.2 on hard, your allies are very weak, almost no help at all, and Relana will often put herself in danger by jumping out at whatever unit comes within her range. The strategy that worked for me was to recruit several footpads to run in every direction flagging villages, then split my forces into a group of poachers filling the woods just to the east of the starting keep, and a group of thugs and footpads to guard Relana from the saurians, who are weak to impact attacks.]

=== Unlawful Orders ===
* Objectives: Defeat Asheviere's general
* Lose if: Baldras, Harper or Lord Maddock die or time runs out
* Turns: 30/22/16 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper
Detach two Footpads to grab villages, one in the town (Lord Maddock isn't going to use them all
anyway) and one to the north. Move your commander onto Lord Maddock's keep at the first chance you get, so you can recruit more and closer to the action.

Lord Maddock's throws his troops away early. Your force should be a few Thugs, a couple of Footpads and perhaps 2 Poachers to hold the south bank of the island; let the enemy come to you here and fight from in the water. Then send an Outlaw and Footpad strike force out the east gate and down, which will swarm enemy stragglers and late recruits and then hit the enemy commander.

=== Hide and Seek ===
* Objectives: Get Baldras to the signpost (preferably without being seen)
* Lose if: Baldras or Harper die or time runs out
* Turns: 34/30/26 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper
* Other: You will be seen if you end your turn within visual range of an enemy unit
The moment you get within visual range of an enemy it will attack and all the other enemies wake up also. What saves you is that Harper can see farther than they can. Don't run ahead with him, you need Baldras to the exit point; Harper scouts the way, he follows.

The safe route is south-east, using Harper to eye a way between the soldiers. Head between some others through some mountains and head all the way across to the east edge of the map. Then head south through a lake and then southeast until above the exit and down. Also avoid the temptation to grab a village. This will trigger an attack even when not in range of a soldier.

If you still need to level either Harper or Baldras, go ahead and kill one or two of the soldiers when you are right near the signpost.

=== The Grey Woods ===
* Objectives: Defeat the Lich and the other two enemy leaders
* Lose if: Baldras or Harper die or time runs out
* Turns: 50/44/42 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper

This is a fairly straightforward search-and destroy, with lots of relatively weak undead so lots of leveling-up opportunities. Grab Helicrom's villages, he starts with a ton of gold anyway. The bad guys are at the southeast, southwest and northeast corners.

Helicrom's troops will help you soaking much of the damage from the enemies, and then you can move on your troops to take the final blows. The first enemy your joined army will encounter is probably the Necromancer at the southwest. You may send a couple of Footpads/Outlaws there to maybe sneak some XP, and to scout and grab villages below, on the southwest corner. Your main force, Footpads plus a few Thugs/Bandits should head northeast and have a quick fight with the second Necromancer and its troops. After you're finished with him, head south to the final enemy, a Lich.

This map is an excellent place to level up some Footpads to L2 or even L3. Just keep in mind that your allies will have no problem stealing away some of your XP, so try to finish off your enemies as quick as possible.

At the end, you will be asked to choose between three different "prizes" from Helicrom:

# 500 gold
# The ability to recruit Thieves, Rogue Mages and Shadow Mages (the last two being specific to this campaign)
# Have Helicrom's army as an ally for the final battle

Of these, the gold is probably the least favorable one (unless you're ''really'' tight on money by this point, which is not very likely). The better choice between the new recruits, or the reinforcements for the final battle depends on your playing style. On ''easy'', the choice is probably not very important, but on harder difficulties, the third choice will make the final battle much more manageable. On the other hand, the new units provide an interesting tactical challenge: Shadow Mages (level 2) and Shadow Lords (level 3) have ranged-cold, magical attacks, and the ''leadership'' trait.

If you want the challenge, the second option may provide you with the most fun. Otherwise, the third option will make the final scenario significantly easier.

=== The Hunters ===
* Objectives: Defeat all the enemy forces
* Lose if: Baldras or Harper die or time runs out
* Turns: 36/31/26 (easy/medium/hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper
The trick in this one is that your Outlaws fight better in mountains than Heavy Infantry do. So bean them with missile weapons from the mountains at the north edge of the road, then clump your guys and go west towards the keep. Swarm the cavalry units as they hit you; they probably won't concentrate enough to be more than a nuisance to L2 and L3 characters.

[Comments by Bumblebee] Another trick is that Outlaws are good in the forest, and enemies from the castle have a long way to go before they reach it, so they don't reach the forest together. After Heavy Infantry platoon is taken care of, prepare to meat the first wave of attackers in the forest (some Trappers or Poachers with pierce attack are helpful, Shadow Mages are surprisingly effective too). Send few quick units to the north to take villages. In my game at medium, two Footpads and a watchman were enough to draw two riders to the north, trap them on the narrow forest road for several turns and finally kill them (there are villages to heal in and plenty of space to retreat). As soon as enemies of the first wave have found their eternal home in the forest, counterattack. Take villages, protect wounded, swarm in the dark. Don't recruit too many units in this mission because you will need money for the next one.

=== Glory ===
* Objectives: Destroy all four towers
* Lose if: Baldras or Harper die, or time runs out
* Turns: ??/34/?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* Starting units: Baldras and Harper, possibly Helicrom
* Other: Move a unit onto each of the trap door to destroy a tower

The Wesnothian army is tough to beat if you have to try to take them on inside their fortress - and they get reinforcements every afternoon. You have to lure as many as possible out of the fortress -- dangle bait just within their engagement range. It's the final scenario, so don't worry about money, just recall all your L2 and L3 recalls and recruit until you are out of gold.

If you chose to have Helicrom join you in battle, he will be auto-recalled for you, and you will be able to recall and recruit his Shadow Mages. (In earlier versions they would be a separate, allied faction.)

March your troops straight North and hang out around the first village there. It will be a nice pitched battle for a few turns, but eventually your numbers will overwhelm them. Then you can split your forces a bit to the west and south entrances. Remember that your Outlaws and above fight a lot better in the mountains than your opponents (offsetting the garrison bonus).

On Turn 8 (on Medium difficulty) , Lord Maddock's son, Gwydion, will appear in a Northwestern castle. He will send in 8-9 mounted units, Lancers or Knights on Medium difficulty, which will proceed to attack. Unfortunately, equestrian tactics don't seem to be one of Elensfar's strong points, and their riders will just make a headstrong charge, which will fail to defeat the defenders. They will shake things up a lot, kill a bunch of units, and create openings for you to sneak in your quick units.

Remember: It's the trap doors that matter, not defeating enemy units.

Once you've reached all 4 trap doors (not necessarily at once), you have two more turns to survive before the fortress collapses and the scenario is won; make sure to keep Baldras and Harper alive and make sure they're out of the fortress' perimeter when it collapses.

---

[Comments by cph] At hard, I played it a bit differently. Helicrom's units throw themselves at the south gate and clog it for a day or so; the riders attack the west gate and tie up the enemy there. So I marched my entire force into the woods southwest of the fortress; once both gates were clogged by the allies, I moved my forces closer to both gates, and then lunged into the fortress with all the Footpads, Outlaws and Fugitives I could fit in. Fugitives on good defensive tiles are great for holding the flanks of the thrust, and Footpads are expendable. Bash away throughout the night on all the enemies you can, moving as much as you can into the fortress; seize the central fort with outlaws, and rush Footpads to the 4 towers as soon as you get an opening. The orcs went down the east side of the level, so they ran straight into the reinforcements, and I didn't have to fight either.

[Comments by Bumblebee] A different strategy is to avoid direct fight as much as possible and remember you lead guerilla fighters. Recall all quick L2 and L3 units (with at least 6 or 7 moves per turn), recall all ''quick'' L1 Footpads, some poachers and a couple of Thieves or Rogues are helpful too. Spend the first day taking villages and moving your forces, let riders and orcs kill some defenders. Don't send too many units on eastern flank, or they will lure orcs, and orcs will fight mostly you instead of garrison. When army reinforces arrive, retreat if they notice you. Kill pursuers one by one. Let reinforces meet orcs.

Meanwhile, put quick units near every tower. Southern, western and northern sides of the fortress are relatively safe for that. Don't put units too close to bridges and entrances, or they will draw defenders' attention. Let riders and orcs fight and lure enemy forces away from the towers. When a tower is empty for a moment, sneak into it. Quick Footpads can reach entrance to catacombs from outside in one turn if way is free. When riders and orcs are dead, simulate night attacks on the bridge opposite to the towers you want to take. I had to sacrifice some units at the southern bridge before guards left one of the northern towers. I finished at turn 16 at medium.

[Comments by KingElk] Similar to bumblebee, but more specific. This worked on normal difficulty, I'm not sure if it would work on hard. First, recall any Outlaws/Fugitives, or Rangers (I had one ranger (L3 Poacher) and it came in handy fending some of the enemies off, and it is fast.) As the above states, any units with 6/7 moves per turn. Do NOT recall anything else, even if its L3. After, with any leftover gold, recruit Outlaws until you are out of money. Move your entire army (and leader) along the dead west part of the map, until you reach the west entrance. Do NOT fight the army coming from the south gate. They might get a few shots at you but you will beat the scenario before they swing around their main army to trap you in the west (your northwest ally will fend them off for 3+ turns). Split your Outlaws and send 3-5 to the north gate, and the remaining shoved into the west gate. You will probably meet resistance in the west, but the only entrance you need to reach from the west gate is the southwest one. From the north, split again and attempt to reach the northwest and northeast objectives in one turn if possible. As a bonus, if your Outlaw has one extra movement point when it takes an objective, it still has that after and can move onto a castle for 70% defense. The southwest objective can be taken by pushing through the west gate. After those three are down, squeeze some Outlaws from the north or west to the southeast, at any cost. In all likelihood, the northeast Outlaw will have little resistance because of the orc/human fighting. Your leader can head northwest to the corner of the map for safety, don't use him for fighting. NOTE: You don't need the extra ally that was offered earlier in the campaign, or the extra gold. I made the mistake of getting Rogue Mages, but it didn't matter.

[Comments by Hipparchos] Similar to KingElk, but even faster in my experience: recall/recruit all quick troops then it's "student body left" as you march north along the west side of the map. Hugging the edge isn't necessary (and slows you down a bit), just stay about 4 hexes away from the city walls and you won't attract any defenders (which is what you want). Avoid all enemy contact and combat, and ignore villages, as your goal is the NORTH gate! You must accept Helicrom's help, then fall in behind his lines as his horsemen attack the city and attract the guards away from the western walls while the orcs attract the guards away from the eastern walls. I also send a single sacrificial unit east to distract and delay the Wesnoth reinforcements. And sometimes the west gate is left unguarded for a turn, so it's a good idea to drop off an outlaw nearby to exploit that. By the time you're at the north gate, it should be unguarded. The city is fast-moving pavement, so you should be able to rush enough units in through the north gate to take all four towers in one or two turns. The game's AI makes the enemy seek out weaker units to attack, which means they will mostly leave you alone as you take their rear. The entire scenario takes me 12 turns this way at normal difficulty.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - Liberty]]

Mainline Campaigns

2021-09-27T21:57:25Z

Revolting peasant: Reordered campaigns according to their default order in the game campaign selection dialog; some capitalization.

{{Translations}}

These scenarios are included in the Wesnoth distribution. Most were written by fans of the game.
See [[ReferenceWML]] for information on how to make your own scenarios using the Wesnoth Markup Language. The following links are very likely to contain spoilers regarding the storyline.

== A Tale of Two Brothers ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Two_Brothers/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Two_Brothers/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

* by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=93 Circon]

A village is being terrorized by a black Mage. He is defeated, but the local Mage, Baran, is kidnapped. His brother, Arvith, must go rescue him. It has 4 scenarios, and is aimed at first-time players on Easy.

* [[ATaleOfTwoBrothers|Walkthrough]]
* [[A Tale Of Two Brothers Story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#A_Tale_Of_Two_Brothers|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:TB1.9|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10339 Discussion thread]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#A_Tale_of_Two_Brothers|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#363_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== The South Guard ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_South_Guard/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_South_Guard/images/campaign_image.png]
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* by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=872 aelius]

A young Knight, Deoran is dispatched to take command of the South Guard. This campaign has 9 or 10 scenarios, depending on the branch you take, and is aimed at beginners on the easiest difficulty.

* [[TheSouthGuard|Walkthrough]]
* [[South Guard story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_South_Guard|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:TSG|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10323 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_South_Guard.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_South_Guard|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#607_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Liberty ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Liberty/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Liberty/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by scott

The chronicles of how a certain group of Wesnothians were betrayed by their ruler and decided to fight back. This made them outlaws in the crown's eyes, but hopefully heroes in ours.

There are 9 scenarios and some goodies to boot. The main focus is to provide the experience of recruiting and recalling higher level outlaw characters, which you don't normally get to do. While there is a range of difficulty in the scenarios, the overall intent is for them to be straightforward and not too difficult.

* [[Liberty|Walkthrough]]
* [[Liberty story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Liberty|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:L|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20252 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Liberty.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Liberty|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#501_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Heir to the Throne ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Heir_To_The_Throne/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Heir_To_The_Throne/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=3 Dave]

This is the original campaign, and probably the most played. It features Konrad, fighting to overturn the rule of the dark queen Asheviere. It is 25 scenarios, no more are planned, and is considered complete.

* [[HeirToTheThrone|Walkthrough]]
* [[HtttStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Heir_to_the_Throne|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Heir_to_the_Throne|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:HttT|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10322 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Heir_To_The_Throne.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Heir_To_The_Throne|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#517_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== The Hammer of Thursagan ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by ESR (Eric S. Raymond)

In the first years of the Northern Alliance, the dwarves of Knalga attempt to re-establish contact with their kin in the east at Kal Kartha. Many perils beset the expedition, but none so dire as the dark secret they will discover at their destination.

* [[TheHammerOfThursagan|Walkthrough]]
* [[TheHammerOfThursagan story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_Hammer_of_Thursagan|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#The_Hammer_Of_Thursagan|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:THOT|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20258 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Hammer_of_Thursagan|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#550_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Descent into Darkness ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Descent_Into_Darkness/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Descent_Into_Darkness/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by esci

Malin Keshar, a young mage from the town of Parthyn, attempts to defend his home from marauding orcs by enlisting the help of a necromancer named Darken Volk. He learns the forbidden art of raising and controlling the deceased and the true power of the undead, and is gradually drawn further into the secrets of necromancy.

* [[DescentIntoDarkness|Walkthrough]]
* [[Descent Into Darkness story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Descent_into_Darkness|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:DID|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20251 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Descent_into_Darkness.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Descent_Into_Darkness|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#389_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Eastern Invasion ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Eastern_Invasion/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Eastern_Invasion/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=176 Turin]

This campaign follows Gweddry, a Wesnothian Army Officer, battling against Undead invaders. It has 18 scenarios.

* [[TheEasternInvasion|Walkthrough]]
* [[EiStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Eastern_Invasion|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:EI|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10325 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Eastern_Invasion.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Eastern_Invasion|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#625_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Dead Water ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Dead_Water/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Dead_Water/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

By [//forums.wesnoth.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=107794 beetlenaut]

''You are Kai Krellis, a merman king, but only a child. A necromancer has arrived and is turning your subjects into undead slaves! Lead your people on a mission to convince a powerful mermaid to help you repel the invasion. The oceans near the Northern Lands are perilous, so you will need cunning and bravery to survive, but first you need to gain the respect of your troops!''
(Intermediate Level, 10 scenarios)

*[[Dead_Water|Walkthrough]]
*[[CharactersStorys#Dead_Water|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Dead_Water|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:DW|Dialogue]]
*[//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=31304 Discussion Thread]
*[//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Dead_Water.html Custom units]
*[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Dead_Water|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#626_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Delfador's Memoirs ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Delfadors_Memoirs/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Delfadors_Memoirs/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

''Wesnoth seems to be slipping inexorably into chaos, as marauding orcs pour south across the Great River, and mysterious and deadly creatures roam the night. Who is the shadowy Iliah-Malal? Can you defeat him before he destroys all life in Wesnoth?''

* [[DelfadorsMemoirs|Walkthrough]]
* [[DelfadorsMemoirsStory|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Delfador.27s_Memoirs|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:DM|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=25554 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Delfadors_Memoirs.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Delfador.27s_Memoirs|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#468_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Secrets of the Ancients ==
<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/images/portraits/campaign-image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/images/portraits/campaign-image.png]
</div>

By [//forums.wesnoth.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=107794 beetlenaut]

''Rediscover the secrets known by the lich lords of the Green Isle. They knew how to live forever, so why can't you?''
(Intermediate level, 21 scenarios.)

*[[Secrets_of_the_Ancients_Walkthrough|Walkthrough]]
*[[CharactersStorys#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOTA|Dialogue]]
*[//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40545 Discussion Thread], [//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43116 Feedback Thread]
*[//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Secrets%20of%20the%20Ancients.html Custom units]
*[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#22-23_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== The Rise of Wesnoth ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=388 Shade]

This campaign revolves around the events that brought Haldric I to the 'Great Continent' to found the Kingdom of
Wesnoth. It has 25 scenarios, and is considered complete.

* [[TheRiseOfWesnoth|Walkthrough]]
* [[TrowStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_Rise_of_Wesnoth|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:TROW|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10613 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_Rise_of_Wesnoth.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Rise_of_Wesnoth|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#5-2_BW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== The Sceptre of Fire ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Sceptre_of_Fire/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Sceptre_of_Fire/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by turin

King Haldric of the humans strikes a deal with the young dwarf Rugnor. In exchange for ten thousand in silver, the dwarves will create a sceptre of fire for the human king.

* [[Sceptre of Fire|Walkthrough]]
* [[Sceptre of Fire story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Sceptre_of_Fire|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOF|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20255 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Sceptre_of_Fire.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Scepter_of_Fire|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#25-40_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Legend of Wesmere ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Legend_of_Wesmere/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Legend_of_Wesmere/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by Santi; adapted for mainline by esr and fendrin

''The tale of Kalenz, the High Lord who rallied his people after the second orcish invasion of the Great Continent and became the most renowned hero in the recorded history of the Elves.''

* [[LegendofWesmere|Walkthrough]]
* [[LegendofWesmereStory|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Legend_of_Wesmere|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Legend_of_Wesmere|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:LOW|Dialogue]]
* [//forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=51 Discussion threads]
*[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Legend_of_Wesmere|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#20_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Son of the Black-Eye ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

started by Benj, completed by Taurus

You are the orcish chieftain Kapou'e, son of the famed Black-Eye Karun who was treacherously murdered by the human-worms twenty-seven years ago. You must expel the human invaders from orcish lands and avenge your father's death. It has 18 scenarios.

* [[SonOfThe_BlackEye|Walkthrough]]
* [[Black Eye story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Son_of_the_Black_Eye|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Son_Of_The_Black_Eye|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOTBE|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20257 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Son_of_the_Black-Eye.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Son_Of_The_Black_Eye|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#842_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Under the Burning Suns ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Under_the_Burning_Suns/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Under_the_Burning_Suns/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=149 quartex]

Set in the distant future, where elves live in the desert. It has 11 scenarios, and is not recommended for beginners because it changes some parts of Wesnoth, including the elves stats and the day/night cycle.

* [[UnderTheBurningSuns|Walkthrough]]
* [[UtBSStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Under_the_Burning_Sun|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:UTBS|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10491 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Under_the_Burning_Suns.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Under_The_Burning_Suns|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#After_the_Fall|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== Northern Rebirth ==

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Northern_Rebirth/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Northern_Rebirth/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=100782 Taurus]

The people of Dwarven Doors rise up against their Orcish oppressors in a struggle that will shape the fate of the Northlands. 14 scenarios.

* [[Northern Rebirth|Walkthrough]]
* [[Northern Rebirth story|Story outline]] , [[CharactersStorys#Northern_Rebirth|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:NR|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20253 Discussion thread]
* [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Northern_Rebirth.html Custom units]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Northern_Rebirth|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#534_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== (An Orcish Incursion) ==
Note: This campaign was removed in version 1.15.3 of the game.

<div class="thumb tright">
[https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/1.14/data/campaigns/An_Orcish_Incursion/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/1.14/data/campaigns/An_Orcish_Incursion/images/campaign_image.png]
</div>

by Josh Parsons; adapted for mainline by ESR.

Erlornas is an Elven noble of Wesmere during the first years after the arrival of humans and orcs on the western shore of the Great Continent. It is his fate to be the first of his people to be directly confronted by the invading orcs.

* [[AnOrcishIncursion|Walkthrough]]
* [[An_Orcish_Incursion story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#An_Orcish_Incursion|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:AOI|Dialogue]]
* [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20249 Discussion thread]
* [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#An_Orcish_Incursion|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#8_YW|Position in timeline]]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

== See also ==
* [[Guide_to_UMC_Campaigns]]

[[Category:Review on Release]]
[[Category:Campaigns|*]]
[[Category:World_of_Wesnoth]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-27T19:16:49Z

Revolting peasant: Emboldened basic info categories

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* '''Objectives:''' Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* '''Lose if:''' Arvith dies or turns run out
* '''Turns:''' 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* '''Starting Gold:''' 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* '''Starting units:''' Arvith and lots of loyal units

This is a plain vanilla scenario, with no surprise occurrences: Just you and the enemy leader and both your recruits. You start with a sizable advantage, though, in the form of a good number of loyal units: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, a Footpad and a Bowman (in addition to Arvith). They will be will be helpful as you progress through the campaign, so try not to get them all slaughtered.

A fundamental rule of any scenario is to pay attention to the time-of-day. It is of special importance when Lawful units, like most of yours, are fighting Chaotic units. In other words: The Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consider attacking the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, Footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* '''Objectives:''' Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* '''Lose if:''' Arvith dies or turns run out
* '''Turns:''' 28/24 (easy/hard)
* '''Starting units:''' Arvith and a horseman
* '''Other:''' Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* '''Objectives:''' Defeat the L2 Dark Sorcerer to get the key, then have Arvith unlock Baran's cell
* '''Lose if:''' Arvith dies or turns run out
* '''Turns:''' 30/24 (Easy/Hard)
* '''Starting Gold:''' 170/120 (Easy/Hard)
* '''Starting units:''' Arvith

You start outside an enlarged castle - not 7 hexes, but half the map.

'''Castle exterior'''

The outside is just countryside with villages and nothing of interest... except for stealthy patrols. Those will accost you on two occasions, demanding a password. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. On Hard, these are:

* First patrol: Assassin (L3), 3 Bandits (L2).
* Second patrol: Rogue (L2), 2 Bandits, 1 Thug.

If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3. Also, these fights will afford the enemy leader enough gold for a few additional recruits.

The outcroppings just below the castle entrance don't themselves have any enemies, but - they are partially within the castle guards' single-turn movement, and some of them may venture out and greet you. The single village in that area is particularly attractive to them.

'''Castle interior'''

Inside the castle inside you have Orcish guard at the entrance: 2 Orc Warriors, 3 Orcish Grunts (on Hard), and Mordak's mournful brother, an L2 Dark Sorcerer, is deeper inside, with 100 gold to recruit Undead. Nothing you can't handle!

The castle inside is Dark, so your lawful units will be at a disadvantage. Fortunately, though, the position of most of the guards is still lit, and so are the castle hexes just below from which you will be attacking.

At the Northeastern edge you have a chamber with a treasure chest (50 gold); at the Northwestern edge is the cell holding Baran.

'''Strategy'''

On _Easy difficulty_, one castleful of recruits should be enough to complete the scenario. Experiment with Heavy Infantry - they do well against both Orcs and Undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the Orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the Orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On _Hard difficulty_, you don't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. Footpads / Outlaws, are somewhat of a replacement - dealing impact damage, positively effected by the dim castle atmosphere, and even with high defense. However - they have a knack for succumbing to a sequence of several hits, dying faster than you would expect. So - if you're recruiting mostly, you'll need some cannon fodder.

If you've tended to your loyal troops, especially leveled Knights, Swordsman, and Outlaws, you can use them instead of some or all of the fodder. Careful timing of your attacks, and blocking of paths, at the entrance should allow you to dispatch the guards without getting chewed up too badly - and likely with some units completely fresh. At this point whatever Undead come forth will be made quick work of by your units' blade attacks.

Whether you've recruited or recalled - better have a Footpad or Outlaw. You can send it as a feint to one side of the castle, keeping some Undead busy chasing it, while moving Knights up along the other side (the Sorcerer's chamber has two entrances); and if you manage to level your Footpad up, you will enjoy its defensive capabilities in the final scenario.

_Note:_ Don't forget to send a unit off at some point to grab that treasure chest!

== Return to the Village ==
* '''Objectives:''' Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* '''Lose if:''' Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* '''Turns:''' 26/24 (easy/hard)
* '''Starting units:''' Arvith and Baran

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-23T17:24:46Z

Revolting peasant: The previous version was focused on a supposed host of skeletons - but there really aren't that many undead considering the enemy gold.

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

This is a plain vanilla scenario, with no surprise occurrences: Just you and the enemy leader and both your recruits. You start with a sizable advantage, though, in the form of a good number of loyal units: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, a Footpad and a Bowman (in addition to Arvith). They will be will be helpful as you progress through the campaign, so try not to get them all slaughtered.

A fundamental rule of any scenario is to pay attention to the time-of-day. It is of special importance when Lawful units, like most of yours, are fighting Chaotic units. In other words: The Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consider attacking the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, Footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Defeat the L2 Dark Sorcerer to get the key, then have Arvith unlock Baran's cell
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting gold: ??/120 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith

You start outside an enlarged castle - not 7 hexes, but half the map.

'''Castle exterior'''

The outside is just countryside with villages and nothing of interest... except for stealthy patrols. Those will accost you on two occasions, demanding a password. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. On Hard, these are:

* First patrol: Assassin (L3), 3 Bandits (L2).
* Second patrol: Rogue (L2), 2 Bandits, 1 Thug.

If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3. Also, these fights will afford the enemy leader enough gold for a few additional recruits.

The outcroppings just below the castle entrance don't themselves have any enemies, but - they are partially within the castle guards' single-turn movement, and some of them may venture out and greet you. The single village in that area is particularly attractive to them.

'''Castle interior'''

Inside the castle inside you have Orcish guard at the entrance: 2 Orc Warriors, 3 Orcish Grunts (on Hard), and Mordak's mournful brother, an L2 Dark Sorcerer, is deeper inside, with 100 gold to recruit Undead. Nothing you can't handle!

The castle inside is Dark, so your lawful units will be at a disadvantage. Fortunately, though, the position of most of the guards is still lit, and so are the castle hexes just below from which you will be attacking.

At the Northeastern edge you have a chamber with a treasure chest (50 gold); at the Northwestern edge is the cell holding Baran.

'''Strategy'''

On _Easy difficulty_, one castleful of recruits should be enough to complete the scenario. Experiment with Heavy Infantry - they do well against both Orcs and Undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the Orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the Orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On _Hard difficulty_, you don't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. Footpads / Outlaws, are somewhat of a replacement - dealing impact damage, positively effected by the dim castle atmosphere, and even with high defense. However - they have a knack for succumbing to a sequence of several hits, dying faster than you would expect. So - if you're recruiting mostly, you'll need some cannon fodder.

If you've tended to your loyal troops, especially leveled Knights, Swordsman, and Outlaws, you can use them instead of some or all of the fodder. Careful timing of your attacks, and blocking of paths, at the entrance should allow you to dispatch the guards without getting chewed up too badly - and likely with some units completely fresh. At this point whatever Undead come forth will be made quick work of by your units' blade attacks.

Whether you've recruited or recalled - better have a Footpad or Outlaw. You can send it as a feint to one side of the castle, keeping some Undead busy chasing it, while moving Knights up along the other side (the Sorcerer's chamber has two entrances); and if you manage to level your Footpad up, you will enjoy its defensive capabilities in the final scenario.

_Note:_ Don't forget to send a unit off at some point to grab that treasure chest!

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-22T19:09:24Z

Revolting peasant:

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

This is a plain vanilla scenario, with no surprise occurrences: Just you and the enemy leader and both your recruits. You start with a sizable advantage, though, in the form of a good number of loyal units: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, a Footpad and a Bowman (in addition to Arvith). They will be will be helpful as you progress through the campaign, so try not to get them all slaughtered.

A fundamental rule of any scenario is to pay attention to the time-of-day. It is of special importance when Lawful units, like most of yours, are fighting Chaotic units. In other words: The Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consider attacking the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, Footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Rescue Baran (defeat the sorcerer to get the key, then unlock Baran's cell)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith
* Other:
** Use the passwords from the previous scenario
** Chest with gold in northeast of castle

Early on in this scenario you will be asked for a password on two occasions. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3, in case you want to use this information for planning your strategy a little better.

One castleful of recruits should be enough to win. Experiment with Heavy Infantry, they do well against orcs and undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On hard you won't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. The only impact damage available are Footpads, and while their high defense can survive a number of attacks, they always seem to get unlucky and die to three or four hits in a row. I guess I'm saying you'll want to bring extra, along with a Paladin and a few level 2 troops. If you can manage to keep a Footpad alive long enough to level up he'll prove quite helpful in dispatching the skeletons, and a good defensive unit to hide behind at night in the final scenario.

While you're wearing down the defenses at the gate, if you send a Footpad or two off to one side inside the castle you can draw most of the skeletons over to that side. This leaves a opening on the other side for your faster units (Footpads and cavalry) to break for the sorcerer's chamber. Once you've dealt with the sorcerer, you should have time to mop up the enemies skeletons (and grab the treasure chest) while Arvith rescues his brother.

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-21T18:08:22Z

Revolting peasant: /* Rooting Out a Mage */

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

You start with a sizable contigent of loyal units: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, a Footpad and a Bowman (in addition to Arvith). They will be will be helpful as you progress through the campaign, so try not to get them all slaughtered.

A fundamental rule of any scenario is to pay attention to the time-of-day. It is of special importance when Lawful units, like most of yours, are fighting Chaotic units. In other words: The Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consider attacking the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, Footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Rescue Baran (defeat the sorcerer to get the key, then unlock Baran's cell)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith
* Other:
** Use the passwords from the previous scenario
** Chest with gold in northeast of castle

Early on in this scenario you will be asked for a password on two occasions. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3, in case you want to use this information for planning your strategy a little better.

One castleful of recruits should be enough to win. Experiment with Heavy Infantry, they do well against orcs and undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On hard you won't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. The only impact damage available are Footpads, and while their high defense can survive a number of attacks, they always seem to get unlucky and die to three or four hits in a row. I guess I'm saying you'll want to bring extra, along with a Paladin and a few level 2 troops. If you can manage to keep a Footpad alive long enough to level up he'll prove quite helpful in dispatching the skeletons, and a good defensive unit to hide behind at night in the final scenario.

While you're wearing down the defenses at the gate, if you send a Footpad or two off to one side inside the castle you can draw most of the skeletons over to that side. This leaves a opening on the other side for your faster units (Footpads and cavalry) to break for the sorcerer's chamber. Once you've dealt with the sorcerer, you should have time to mop up the enemies skeletons (and grab the treasure chest) while Arvith rescues his brother.

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-21T17:05:06Z

Revolting peasant:

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

You start with a lot of units and they are all Loyal; on Hard, these could be: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, 1 Footpad and 1 Bowman. This contingent will be helpful later, so try not to get them all slaughtered. With any strategy - pay attention to the time of day: the Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consider attacking the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, Footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Rescue Baran (defeat the sorcerer to get the key, then unlock Baran's cell)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith
* Other:
** Use the passwords from the previous scenario
** Chest with gold in northeast of castle

Early on in this scenario you will be asked for a password on two occasions. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3, in case you want to use this information for planning your strategy a little better.

One castleful of recruits should be enough to win. Experiment with Heavy Infantry, they do well against orcs and undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On hard you won't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. The only impact damage available are Footpads, and while their high defense can survive a number of attacks, they always seem to get unlucky and die to three or four hits in a row. I guess I'm saying you'll want to bring extra, along with a Paladin and a few level 2 troops. If you can manage to keep a Footpad alive long enough to level up he'll prove quite helpful in dispatching the skeletons, and a good defensive unit to hide behind at night in the final scenario.

While you're wearing down the defenses at the gate, if you send a Footpad or two off to one side inside the castle you can draw most of the skeletons over to that side. This leaves a opening on the other side for your faster units (Footpads and cavalry) to break for the sorcerer's chamber. Once you've dealt with the sorcerer, you should have time to mop up the enemies skeletons (and grab the treasure chest) while Arvith rescues his brother.

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-21T17:04:12Z

Revolting peasant: Rewrite of "Rooting Out a Mage"; making the walkthrough more newbie-player-friendly - as this is the first non-training campaign in the new 1.15.x order

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak (L2 Dark Sorcerer)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: 40/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

You start with a lot of units and they are all Loyal; on Hard, these could be: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, 1 Footpad and 1 Bowman. This contingent will be helpful later, so try not to get them all slaughtered. With any strategy - pay attention to the time of day: the Undead will chew you up at night.

On Easy difficulty, you should be able to win this first scenario with just your initial loyal contingent and no recruiting. Hang back enough that the Undead can't reach you the first night, then attack at dawn:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Attack the... !! Mostly with...
|-
| Dark Adepts || Spearmen
|-
| Bats || Bowmen, footpads
|-
| Skeletons || Footpads
|}

... and you can use your Horsemen on already-wounded units, when a single hit can finish them off.

Alternatively, if you send 3 Horsemen North to lure the Undead, and the rest of your force Northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush Mordak in his castle.

On Hard difficulty, you're probably going to need reinforcements: A few expendable Spearmen to place in harm's way, protecting the loyal troops you start out with; their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. Don't recruit more than a few units, however: You can let loyal Spearmen soak up a few attacks, as long as you've assured a safe retreat for them one their HP dips a little low.

You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through the scenario - if the Undead focus on a certain path of attack. But it is probably wiser to spend the extra turns gather XP towards leveling-up units with blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights, Spearmen to Swordsmen). A leveled-up Footpad or two by the [[#Guarded_Castle| third scenario]] would also prove useful.

Mal Shubertal says: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against Skeletons, and a Charge attack that is useful against Necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Rescue Baran (defeat the sorcerer to get the key, then unlock Baran's cell)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith
* Other:
** Use the passwords from the previous scenario
** Chest with gold in northeast of castle

Early on in this scenario you will be asked for a password on two occasions. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3, in case you want to use this information for planning your strategy a little better.

One castleful of recruits should be enough to win. Experiment with Heavy Infantry, they do well against orcs and undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On hard you won't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. The only impact damage available are Footpads, and while their high defense can survive a number of attacks, they always seem to get unlucky and die to three or four hits in a row. I guess I'm saying you'll want to bring extra, along with a Paladin and a few level 2 troops. If you can manage to keep a Footpad alive long enough to level up he'll prove quite helpful in dispatching the skeletons, and a good defensive unit to hide behind at night in the final scenario.

While you're wearing down the defenses at the gate, if you send a Footpad or two off to one side inside the castle you can draw most of the skeletons over to that side. This leaves a opening on the other side for your faster units (Footpads and cavalry) to break for the sorcerer's chamber. Once you've dealt with the sorcerer, you should have time to mop up the enemies skeletons (and grab the treasure chest) while Arvith rescues his brother.

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

ATaleOfTwoBrothers

2021-09-20T17:11:42Z

Revolting peasant: /* Rooting Out a Mage */

This is an easy campaign that is mainly intended to introduce new players to the mechanics of the game.

== Rooting Out a Mage ==
* Objectives: Defeat Mordak, the evil mage
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 18/18 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting Gold: ??/25 (Easy/Hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and lots of loyal units

You start with a lot of units and they are all Loyal; on Hard, these could be: 4 Spearmen, 3 Horsemen, 1 Footpad and 1 Bowman. This contigent will be helpful later, so try not to get them all slaughtered. If you send 3 horsemen north and the rest of your force northwest along the river, you may be able to ambush the mage. Pay attention to the time of day; the undead will chew you up at night.

On easy level you should be able to win this first scenario with the troops you get at start, without recruiting. Hang back enough that the undead can't reach you at night, then attack at dawn. Attack the Dark Adepts with Spearmen and the Bats with Bowmen; attack the Skeletons with Footpads; use your Horsemen on already-wounded units to finish them off.

On hard, you're probably going to need some reinforcements. It's best to recruit some expendable troops to place in harm's way to protect the loyal troops that you start with--their loyalty will prove helpful later, especially when they level up. You might have an opportunity to send in your Horsemen and take out Mordak around halfway through, but I'd recommend you spend the extra turns leveling up a couple units to get blade attacks (Horsemen to Knights or Spearmen to Swordsmen). A second level Footpad or two will also prove helpful in the third scenario.

Mal Shubertal: I found leveling up Knights early on to be more valuable than Swordsmen in this campaign. Their Paladin advancement has an arcane attack that is useful against skeletons, and a charge attack that is useful against necromancers.

== The Chase ==
* Objectives: Get through the woods to the kidnappers, then defeat the Dark Adept
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 28/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and a horseman
* Other: Remember the passwords

The elves are too aggressive for their own good. Keep your units in line- or V-shaped formations with one or both ends anchored on a village; Elvish Scouts/Riders will charge in by ones or twos and you should be able to swarm them with foot units.

Again, avoid fighting the undead at the north map edge at night. Let your main body catch up with your cavalry and surround them. When you prevail, make a note of the passwords.

On hard, a good strategy is to recruit lots of Spearmen to wound the Elvish Riders, and finish them off with your leader or another Knight. Ideally, you'll have a Paladin by the time you hit the undead in the next scenario.

It might be a good idea to sacrifice some units as a distraction, but make sure you move enough troops north to take out the undead leader, which will be guarded by two skeletons (''easy mode'') or two revenants (''hard mode'').

While attacking undead at night is often foolhardy, in this case you only need to take out the Dark Adept leader, and he's a sucker for blasting units at night. If you march a couple expendable units to the edge of his range, he'll probably oblige, leaving himself open to your retaliation. Even at night cavalry make quick work of a Dark Adept. {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The AI for the Dark Adept leader will be changed in 1.15.0. He will then be much more careful and use the skeletons/revenants as shields. Luring him out will not work any more. Once this is implemented, we will update this walkthrough accordingly.

On ''easy'', an Iron Mauler named Brena will show up at the end of the scenario and ask to join your party. Iron Maulers are powerful level-3 units with a very strong melee attack and good physical defense, but they lack a ranged attack, and are slow (base movement of 4). Whether it's best to accept him or not depends on your playing style, but if you think you can live with his very limited speed, letting Brena join up is probably for the best. If you do accept him, he will be available in the next scenario as a loyal unit. If you refuse his offer, he will give you 70 pieces of gold. Regardless of the choice you make, you will be given the ability to recruit Heavy Infantryman units.

== Guarded Castle ==

* Objectives: Rescue Baran (defeat the sorcerer to get the key, then unlock Baran's cell)
* Lose if: Arvith dies or turns run out
* Turns: 30/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith
* Other:
** Use the passwords from the previous scenario
** Chest with gold in northeast of castle

Early on in this scenario you will be asked for a password on two occasions. If you give the correct passwords, you will be left alone to prepare your troops undisturbed. However, if you're up to the challenge, and want to earn some extra experience for your units, you can deliberately give the wrong passwords, and then you'll fight the guards that asked you for them. If you decide to fight the first group of guards, you will be visited by the second group on turn 6, otherwise the second group will come at turn 3, in case you want to use this information for planning your strategy a little better.

One castleful of recruits should be enough to win. Experiment with Heavy Infantry, they do well against orcs and undead. Resist the temptation to grab the village nearest the castle gate before you've brought your main mass of troops to it; the orcs like attacking any unit isolated there, especially at night. If you put forward a strong battle line on the hills before the gate during the day, you can bluff the orcs into not attacking, leaving you free to march up and take the defensible castle squares and gain a significant advantage.

Once inside the castle, split your troops into two large groups; take one west and the other east. Arvith should be in the westward group, as his brother is imprisoned in that direction. But don't miss the chest of gold to the northeast. You'll need to kill the sorcerer before Arvith can free his brother. Also note that the scenario is nice enough to give you several more turns after you defeat the sorcerer.

On hard you won't have any Heavy Infantry to hide behind. The only impact damage available are Footpads, and while their high defense can survive a number of attacks, they always seem to get unlucky and die to three or four hits in a row. I guess I'm saying you'll want to bring extra, along with a Paladin and a few level 2 troops. If you can manage to keep a Footpad alive long enough to level up he'll prove quite helpful in dispatching the skeletons, and a good defensive unit to hide behind at night in the final scenario.

While you're wearing down the defenses at the gate, if you send a Footpad or two off to one side inside the castle you can draw most of the skeletons over to that side. This leaves a opening on the other side for your faster units (Footpads and cavalry) to break for the sorcerer's chamber. Once you've dealt with the sorcerer, you should have time to mop up the enemies skeletons (and grab the treasure chest) while Arvith rescues his brother.

== Return to the Village ==
* Objectives: Find out what is happening in the village then defeat the Orcish Warlord
* Lose if: Arvith or Baran die or turns run out
* Turns: 26/24 (easy/hard)
* Starting units: Arvith and BjArvith

There is no need to conserve gold in the last scenario, so recall all of your veterans. Run a small group northeastward over the mountains where two houses cluster; this will distract the orcs while you take most of your forces straight north up the road to the village, circle eastward, and then hit their from the north.

Pick off as many stragglers as you can before the main assault. Goblin riders, which have more movement than the grunts, can often be lured into attacking a forward unit of yours in such a way that your Spearmen and cavalry can swarm them.

On hard, you're faced with a small map, an endless stream of enemies, and a mostly worthless ally. As it's the last scenario, bring out your best units and as many expendable troops as you can afford (Spearmen work well, as do Bowmen if you can protect them) then head north in tight formation. Don't worry too much about holding the villages; your troops are better utilized fighting through to the enemy leader than chasing Wolf Riders across the map. You should easily overwhelm the enemy's scouts and join up with your ally.

Break a wave or two of enemy troops by concentrating your attacks and maintaining a defensive formation (and relying on your ally to send random units out to die distracting the enemy). Once the enemy is only able to field two units a turn, take the offensive. Forge south in the daytime, defend overnight outside the fort, then attack the enemy leader at daybreak. You might lose some units in an all-out assault so it's wise to keep your "key" units at the edge of the fray until victory is assured.

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]
[[Category:Campaigns - A Tale of Two Brothers]]

Dead Water

2021-03-03T20:10:59Z

Revolting peasant: /* Revenge */

'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.

==Campaign Strategy==

====Recruitment and promotion====
You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do?

Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of "roadblocks", or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)

Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses.

Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).

A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Pierce to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth "investing" experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups "Inspecting the troops" from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.

Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, "just in case". Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.

====Other advice====

* You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.
* Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.

==Scenarios==

=== Invasion! ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.

This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.

Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success:

# '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.
# '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.

You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.

You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.

You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.

Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.

If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.

Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.

=== Flight ===
* Objective: Either
** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.
** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).

Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.

You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.

''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.

''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.

Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.

Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.

=== Wolf Coast ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful.

In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.

You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -> Shallow Water -> Ford -> Sand -> various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.

Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:

* Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).
* Land-based units actually *like* fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.
* There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of Wild Wolves who will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.

You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your loyal units). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.

You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.

When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make "piercer-only" unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.

Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.

What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).

'''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).

'''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.

=== Slavers ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.

There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess...

Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.

There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:

* A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...
* A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.
* 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.

With this in mind, let's get to it...

Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.

Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water.

As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever "tank" unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.

During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on "your" side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.

For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.
It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.

There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:

* Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign
* Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).

When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).

After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.

After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.

=== Tirigaz ===
* Objective: Destroy all the undead.
* Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.

... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.

The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.

Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.

As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).

When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards).

If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).

On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.

=== Uncharted Islands ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.

Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.

Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.

Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use "slows" to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.

If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.

When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.

=== BilHeld ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This scenario should be rated "R" for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.

In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.

This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).

On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.

Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.

When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.

=== Talking to Tyegea ===

You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.

There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.

Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.

=== The Mage ===
* Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.

Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have any other objectives in this level later on. It is just about getting a single unit to Caladon's position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.

'''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions are ''very'' resistant to impact attacks (70%) and have decent HP - but they're also sensitive to arcane damage, extremely susceptible to fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, the holy-water-equipped unit and Priestesses/Diviners work well. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot. You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.

'''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.

Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.

If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.

=== The Flaming Sword ===
* Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.

This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.

When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.

After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.

Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.

When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.

=== Getting Help ===

Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.

There's no fighting in this scenario.

=== Revenge ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).

It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.

Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.

You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.

Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.

Use your halo effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a staunch defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - his leadership bonus will be useful.

A few final tips:

* The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.

* If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which "increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points." Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.

* On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.

[Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Dead Water

2021-03-03T20:06:40Z

Revolting peasant: /* The Mage */

'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.

==Campaign Strategy==

====Recruitment and promotion====
You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do?

Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of "roadblocks", or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)

Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses.

Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).

A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Pierce to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth "investing" experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups "Inspecting the troops" from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.

Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, "just in case". Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.

====Other advice====

* You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.
* Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.

==Scenarios==

=== Invasion! ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.

This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.

Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success:

# '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.
# '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.

You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.

You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.

You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.

Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.

If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.

Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.

=== Flight ===
* Objective: Either
** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.
** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).

Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.

You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.

''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.

''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.

Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.

Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.

=== Wolf Coast ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful.

In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.

You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -> Shallow Water -> Ford -> Sand -> various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.

Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:

* Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).
* Land-based units actually *like* fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.
* There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of Wild Wolves who will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.

You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your loyal units). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.

You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.

When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make "piercer-only" unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.

Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.

What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).

'''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).

'''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.

=== Slavers ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.

There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess...

Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.

There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:

* A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...
* A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.
* 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.

With this in mind, let's get to it...

Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.

Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water.

As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever "tank" unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.

During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on "your" side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.

For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.
It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.

There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:

* Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign
* Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).

When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).

After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.

After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.

=== Tirigaz ===
* Objective: Destroy all the undead.
* Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.

... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.

The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.

Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.

As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).

When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards).

If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).

On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.

=== Uncharted Islands ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.

Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.

Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.

Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use "slows" to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.

If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.

When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.

=== BilHeld ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This scenario should be rated "R" for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.

In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.

This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).

On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.

Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.

When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.

=== Talking to Tyegea ===

You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.

There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.

Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.

=== The Mage ===
* Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.

Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have any other objectives in this level later on. It is just about getting a single unit to Caladon's position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.

'''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions are ''very'' resistant to impact attacks (70%) and have decent HP - but they're also sensitive to arcane damage, extremely susceptible to fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, the holy-water-equipped unit and Priestesses/Diviners work well. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot. You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.

'''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.

Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.

If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.

=== The Flaming Sword ===
* Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.

This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.

When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.

After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.

Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.

When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.

=== Getting Help ===

Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.

There's no fighting in this scenario.

=== Revenge ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).

It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.

Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.

You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.

Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.

Use your halos effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a inescapable defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - its leadership bonus will be useful.

A few final tips:

* The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.

* If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which "increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points." Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.

* On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.

[Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Dead Water

2021-03-03T19:57:56Z

Revolting peasant: /* Wolf Coast */

'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.

==Campaign Strategy==

====Recruitment and promotion====
You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do?

Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of "roadblocks", or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)

Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses.

Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).

A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Pierce to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth "investing" experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups "Inspecting the troops" from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.

Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, "just in case". Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.

====Other advice====

* You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.
* Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.

==Scenarios==

=== Invasion! ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.

This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.

Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success:

# '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.
# '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.

You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.

You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.

You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.

Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.

If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.

Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.

=== Flight ===
* Objective: Either
** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.
** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).

Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.

You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.

''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.

''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.

Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.

Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.

=== Wolf Coast ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful.

In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.

You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -> Shallow Water -> Ford -> Sand -> various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.

Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:

* Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).
* Land-based units actually *like* fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.
* There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of Wild Wolves who will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.

You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your loyal units). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.

You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.

When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make "piercer-only" unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.

Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.

What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).

'''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).

'''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.

=== Slavers ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.

There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess...

Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.

There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:

* A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...
* A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.
* 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.

With this in mind, let's get to it...

Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.

Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water.

As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever "tank" unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.

During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on "your" side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.

For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.
It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.

There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:

* Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign
* Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).

When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).

After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.

After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.

=== Tirigaz ===
* Objective: Destroy all the undead.
* Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.

... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.

The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.

Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.

As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).

When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards).

If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).

On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.

=== Uncharted Islands ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.

Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.

Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.

Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use "slows" to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.

If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.

When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.

=== BilHeld ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This scenario should be rated "R" for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.

In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.

This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).

On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.

Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.

When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.

=== Talking to Tyegea ===

You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.

There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.

Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.

=== The Mage ===
* Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.

Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have anything else to do on the level, so it's just about getting to a single unit to his position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.

'''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions are ''very'' resistant to impact attacks (70%) and have decent HP - but they're also sensitive to arcane damage, extremely susceptible to fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, the holy-water-equipped unit and Priestesses/Diviners work well. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot. You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem

Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.

'''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.

Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.

If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.

=== The Flaming Sword ===
* Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.

This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.

When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.

After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.

Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.

When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.

=== Getting Help ===

Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.

There's no fighting in this scenario.

=== Revenge ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).

It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.

Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.

You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.

Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.

Use your halos effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a inescapable defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - its leadership bonus will be useful.

A few final tips:

* The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.

* If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which "increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points." Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.

* On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.

[Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

Dead Water

2021-03-03T19:56:17Z

Revolting peasant: /* Wolf Coast */

'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.

==Campaign Strategy==

====Recruitment and promotion====
You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do?

Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of "roadblocks", or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)

Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses.

Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).

A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Pierce to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth "investing" experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups "Inspecting the troops" from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.

Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, "just in case". Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.

====Other advice====

* You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.
* Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.

==Scenarios==

=== Invasion! ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.

This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.

Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success:

# '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.
# '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.

You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.

You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.

You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.

Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.

If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.

Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.

=== Flight ===
* Objective: Either
** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.
** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).

Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.

You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.

''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.

''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.

Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.

Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.

=== Wolf Coast ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful.

In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.

You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -> Shallow Water -> Ford -> Sand -> various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.

Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:

* Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).
* Land-based units actually *like* fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.
* There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of wild Wolves which will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.

You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your Loyals). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.

You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.

When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make "piercer-only" unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.

Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.

What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).

'''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).

'''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.

=== Slavers ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.

There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess...

Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.

There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:

* A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...
* A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.
* 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.

With this in mind, let's get to it...

Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.

Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water.

As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever "tank" unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.

During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on "your" side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.

For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.
It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.

There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:

* Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign
* Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).

When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).

After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.

After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.

=== Tirigaz ===
* Objective: Destroy all the undead.
* Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.

... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.

The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.

Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.

As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).

When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards).

If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).

On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.

=== Uncharted Islands ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.

Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.

Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.

Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use "slows" to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.

If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.

When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.

=== BilHeld ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This scenario should be rated "R" for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.

In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.

This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).

On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.

Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.

When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.

=== Talking to Tyegea ===

You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.

There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.

Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.

=== The Mage ===
* Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.

Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have anything else to do on the level, so it's just about getting to a single unit to his position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.

'''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions are ''very'' resistant to impact attacks (70%) and have decent HP - but they're also sensitive to arcane damage, extremely susceptible to fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, the holy-water-equipped unit and Priestesses/Diviners work well. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot. You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem

Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.

'''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.

Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.

If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.

=== The Flaming Sword ===
* Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.

This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.

When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.

After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.

Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.

When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.

=== Getting Help ===

Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.

There's no fighting in this scenario.

=== Revenge ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).

It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.

Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.

You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.

Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.

Use your halos effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a inescapable defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - its leadership bonus will be useful.

A few final tips:

* The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.

* If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which "increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points." Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.

* On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.

[Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

TheRiseOfWesnoth

2020-06-15T21:02:08Z

Revolting peasant: /* Fallen Lich Point */

==Overall Campaign Strategy==

(At the moment, most of the walkthrough takes the perspective of the Lord (Challenging) difficult setting.)

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

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead vanquishers: 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 level-up at least two Paladins and two-or-more 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 not as useful against the 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 leveled up - preferably the quick ones, which will be more useful in underground levels. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which - upon reaching Level 3 - gain the marksmanship trait (or Rangers are good too, for swamps and forest.) These, plus Lady Outlaw, provide a better range of tactics in 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<br>
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops<br>
4a. The Midlands - avoid this Scenario, prefer The Swamp of Eden instead<br>
4b. The Swamp of Eden - Level-2 Haldric, Level-2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers<br>
6. Temple of the Deep - Level-3 Haldric, Level-3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits<br>
8. Clearwater Port - Level-3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers<br>
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages<br>
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''<br>
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light<br>
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin<br>
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights)<br>
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, Level-3 Commander Aethyr desirable<br>
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.

[Mal Shubertal]: Some scenarios, such as Swamp of Esten, are nearly impossible on Lord difficulty with just the base starting gold, so you need to focus on not just winning the earlier scenarios, but beating them FAST for maximum early finish bonus, otherwise you will find yourself stuck later on. This means you can't always "play it safe", for example by waiting for the wesfolk to attack you across the river in the first scenario, because this wastes precious turns of your units just sitting around. On the plus side, this creates a positive feedback loop: starting a scenario with a lot of gold lets you pursue more aggressive strategies, finish faster, start the next scenario with even more gold, etc.

== Scenarios ==

=== A Summer of Storms ===

* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader - a Wesfolk Outcast (Level-2)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric or King Eldaric die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/28/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric (who can't recruit)
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

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

'''Recruitment:'''

* Your faction is Loyalists, but you can't recruit the heavier units (Heavy Infantry, Cavalryman).
* 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 recruit 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:'''

The Wesfolk are an Outlaw faction, recruiting Poachers, Thugs and Footpads.

On Medium or Easy difficulty, you can barely fail. Your initial keep-full of recruits (5 units) and another 2 at most are all you need. Just make sure not to advance head-on onto the initial attack, since if you do, you'll meet the majority of the enemy units during the first night, which can get hairy. Stay your advance a bit, and they'll come rushing down - without even ganging up on you properly. If you recruited 3 Horsemen, send one to tag villages; and send one of your later recruits (a Spearman/Bowman, preferably a quick one) to tag villages in the mountains. However - don't get too much in the way of enemy tagging, since you want their leader to have money for recruiting your "sparring partners" for gathering XP. If you recruited a Mage, s/he will drink up a lot the enemy XP, otherwise there'll be plenty for the Bowmen and some for the Horsemen and Haldric himself.

Don't forget to send Haldric out after making your last recruit.

On Hard, you'll need to put in a bit of thought. Players have used at least three strategies with success...

* '''Over the bridge''': 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.
* '''Hide in the swamp''': 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''': 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "over the bridge" strategy on Hard, spearmen are key, purely because they are cheap, have high hp, and are not vulnerable to pierce like horsemen. Your first engagement with the enemy will be at night, so the main goal is to just survive: hold the 2 villages just west of the river, pick off weak units like foot pads if possible, prevent any of your units getting surrounded, rotate out your wounded units, and hold out until morning. Sometimes the right choice will be to just position a spearman to block a hole in your line, but not attack, to preserve hp and increase the chance to survive. Also recruit a horseman to tag all the villages in the southwest for income, then rush back to reinforce your front. By morning, that income will have added up, with Haldric sending an increasing stream of reinforcements, and you'll be ready to counterattack. Also recruit one or 2 mages, and start carefully feeding one xp to build your first healer. Instead of diverting resources sending units to the north, you can just ignore it at first to focus on the heavy fighting to the west. Eventually the units the opponent sent to the northern villages will come down to attack haldric in his keep, but by that time you will be able to recruit him plenty of body guards and get him some xp while your main force with the king takes out the wesfolk leader.

===The Fall===

* Objective: Defeat the Wesfolk Outcast Leader (same one from the last level)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric or Wesfolk Leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/24/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

You are back in the same valley you were fighting in last scenario; it's fall, so the Northern parts have some snow, and King Eldaric has placed some one-hex fort pairs on the road due North-West. He also manned the upper pair of hexes with his personal guard - a troupe of three Heavy Infantrymen (Shock Troopers on Easy).

... but the more menacing change is three enemy leaders: Two Orcs, a Warlord (L3) and a Warrior (L2), in the Northwest and Northeast respectively, and your old friend the Wesfolk Leader woman in the Southwest: You (Haldric and Eldaric) are planning to evacuate South to avoid an Orcish overrun - and she's conveniently just in the way. Each Orc is about as rich as you, on Medium, and possibly richer on Hard; and Ms. roadblock has quite a bit of gold as well.

'''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:'''

This scenario may seem a little scary at first: Not a lot of money, only a few veterans, and an attack from three fronts without a lot of barriers. Not like the walk in park we had in Summer... but - it's not actually as hard as it looks: You're not trying to stand your ground and defeat all of your assailants - you're just clearing a path for retreat; that is, your only real enemy for this scenario is highway girl. And remember: The Orcs and the Wesfolk are not ganging up on you; the NW Orc Leader's forces will attack engage the Wesfolk on contact, and will, in fact, direct some units in the SW leader's direction (more, if you're not in the way).

There are three basic approaches to take out our Checkpoint Charlotte:

# '''Brute force''': Raise a large army and march West. Use part of your force to hold off the NW Orc leader's forces coming South through the pass; use the rest to break through the Wesfolk defense 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; but on Hard, it might be beyond your reach (or the reach of your funds).
# '''Leave the dirty work to the Orcs''': Wait around your keep, defending your bank of the river so the Orcs coming down from the Northwest don't get any ideas (and escorting Eldaric's private guard of HI to safety). The NW Orcs will fight the Wesfolk; when the outlaws forces are nearly spent, seize a moment of opportunity when the road to the Wesfolk leader is mostly clear. Then, take a strike force of a Knight and a few more units across the two bridges. Your timing should allow for quick dispatching of the odd enemy unit along the way (hopefully, these should be wounded or separated from their comrades), clearing a path for a Knight of yours to arrive at the SW keep and attack the Wesfolk leader. This strategy is risky, because Orcs will be present by this time around the Wesfolk leader, and might kill the leader before you do - you don't want that happening.
# '''Assassination''': Send a squad through the southern mountains to the Outlaw leader's keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen might be enough. If not, add a Knight, Horseman, or the King - but be careful with these supporting units, as they cannot traverse mountains, and may get pinned down on the narrow passage by the Wesfolk. The stretch of road from the pass due South to the keep should be clear, and the recruits fighting the Orcs.

Even if you manage to fend off the Orcs, you shouldn't delay your victory to collect more XP. Unlike the first level, here you are unlikely to have control of most of the villages, and the following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is quite a handful (at least on Hard difficulty). On Hard, aim for a carryover of almost 150 gold (i.e. finish the level with close to 375 gold). It is also important you have a Mage leveled up to a White Mage, or almost at the point of leveling. Near-leveling L1 units will also come in handy for their low initial upkeep (relative to L2 recalls), so that you'll squeeze a little more oomph from less starting gold. Steer XP collection accordingly.

Once you've brought the Wesfolk leader's HP reaches zero, she will beg for mercy again, offering to aid you going forward. If you accept, she comes back as a loyal unit already in the next scenario, also enabling recruitment of outlaw units; and - 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 will find she gets away anyway - but you will get 200 gold that she leaves behind. If you're not finishing early enough to have enough gold for the next level, you might have no choice but to decline her offer and take the gold... alas, such is the brutal reality of forward-thinking leadership!

Note: Try and keep Eldaric's personal guard alive. These HI/Shock Troopers are loyal, and quite useful in some future scenarios (not the next one). To save them from certain Orcish death, don't let them delay the Orcish advance and move them South right away.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "brute force" strategy, spearmen are again key for cheap cost and durability. So is having a big gold carryover from last scenario. The goals are a big early finish bonus and leveling up at least 1 healer if not 2, as well as haldric and whoever else. Recruit a huge swarm of spearmen to overwhelm the wesfolk. Recruit just the one or 2 mages you are crafting into healers, and maybe a horseman that you want to level up. Send the HI running south immediately. Use the spearmen like the fodder they are to press toward the wesfolk keep at any cost. Attack thugs at night, stand in bad terrain to attack enemies on good terrain, send spearmen into positions where they will be surrounded, etc. Use the king's leadership to maximize damage and expect huge casualties. Grab some xp for your "real" units when you can during the carnage. Engage the orcs as little as possible and give them space to engage with the wesfolk around your western flank. You should finish early enough that you can show mercy to the wesfolk leader, as her units will be invaluable later.

===A Harrowing Escape===

* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (two Orcish Warlords in the SE)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric dies or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/45/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Outlaw Lady
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

'''Layout:'''

A narrow(ish) level, mostly mountains with a pass of decent width (3-abreast at the narrowest, usually 5, sometimes a bit more). The pass is strewn with villages - pretty close together. There's also a creek a mysterious cavern-style dwelling to the west of your starting point (wink wink, nudge nudge). No fog of war.

The enemy leaders have 140 starting gold (on medium), each with a 3-recruit keep on both sides of the Southwest of the level.

This scenario plays quite differently on the lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

'''Medium (& Easy?) Difficulty:'''

''Recruitment:''

Two rounds of recruitment (5 units each) will be quite sufficient, especially with the Outlaw Lady and the extra Steelclad (see below) - two new loyal units you get for free. Speaking of Loyals, consider recalling Eldaric's Loyal Heavy Infantry in the first turn: No upkeep!. Don't skew your recruitment too much for fighting on the mountains - Wolf Riders will zero in on your units on the pass soon enough, anyway; but a Footpad+Mage, or a Footpad+the Steelclad make a decent combination for chasing the odd wounded enemy. Definitely recall a White Mage, or an L1 Mage about to level-up, for this level - despite the villages along your way. You can manage without one, but - healing on the battlefield without the need to recycle troops is a great benefit when you're low on units and not recruiting again; especially if you've recalled the super-slow HI units. The White Mage will also deal with Orcish Assassins' poison. Don't get tempted to get more than one or two Horsemen/Knights - their mobility is not that useful. An interesting use they do have is as bait for units with ranged attacks: They are tempted to attack them despite a low chance for a kill, since they can't retaliate.

''Strategy:''

The timing of initial recruitment is meaningful: Recruit or recall your loyals and L1 units earlier, and your L2 units on turn 2 - even if they're slower. That means less of a gold penality on the first turn. Also, it means you can recruit a Footpad on turn 1 to go get the Steelclad (see below). Speaking of turn 2, by this time you'll have an initial notion of the Orcs' recruitment slant (mainly, more Grunts or more Wolf Riders), guiding your final choice of recruitment/recall.

Your enemies will recruit a typical mixed Orcish L1 force: Wolf riders, Grunts, Orcish Archers, Orcish Assassins, and a few Goblins. The proportions may vary, and so may their course of attack: Some units may or may not go up the stream; some Wolf Riders may or may not go over the mountains.

At any rate, Wolf Riders will reach the middle of the level by turn 6 - which as when you might reach the same area. So, don't push forward as fast as possible, except with your mounted units for village capture, and taking care not to over-expose them. Even with support nearby and with a Knight holed up in a village, you don't want to get into a night battle.

A little below the halfway point there's a choke point with two fortified hexes. That is a great spot for your Heavy Infantrymen; and they can be supported from behind by your leader(s), if they've leveled. Others like the Steelclad or even Lady Outlaw to man those posts.

At this point, if it seems the more Eastern enemy is coming up the river, consider sending some units over the mountains to deter that effort.

Once the initial Orcish attack is broken, you can leisurely proceed along the path, dispatching the occasional nuisance (but watching for the daily cycle, so as not to put yourself in the range of two Grunts at night etc.) Remember to let your leaders support your L1 units.

'''Hard Difficulty:'''

''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 decent starting gold. It has been beaten on hard with as little as 158 starting gold, 200 is still difficult, and 250+ makes it relatively easy. 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) <i>tout de suite</i>, 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. If you can recruit outlaws, a couple of Footpads are nice for village grabbing. Thieves are also good because they are cheap, the Grunts are fond of attacking them, and they often survive on 70% defense.

'' Strategy:''

Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill the first waves quickly: the wolves and assassins. 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. It's easier to make a stand at the keep and northern river bank, but this approach can be too costly in terms of time.

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.

'''Surprises and secrets:'''

* There is Dwarf Steelclad (L2) in the village at 8,5. It's not far from your camp, so send either a Footpad or Lady Outlaw there (a Footpad takes less time - if you want to invest in recruiting one). The Dwarf recluse will 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 - at the South patch of woods, just to the left of the river. 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.

'''Notes:'''

* If you haven't leveled Haldric from L1 up to L2, try to get that done.

* Lady Outlaw has a rare and somewhat odd ability, "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore enemy ZOCs. You're not likely to find yourself surrounded in this scenario, but that could happen later. Another feature of this sneaky lady is that she cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

* 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.

* It helps that there are two enemy sides as opposed to a twice as strong single enemy side. If one of your units could be attacked by three enemies, but one of these hexes is currently blocked by the other side, the currently moving enemy decides to attack units which it (they) is (are) actually less likely to kill than that one. AIs don't cooperate, that is.

* If you are stuck on this scenario, you may need to replay one or both of the previous scenarios and/or choose to "kill" Lady Outlaw in the previous scenario so you get her gold.

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

[Mal Shubertal]: starting this level with a big gold bonus and the lady outlaw creates the possibility for a much more aggressive start, earlier finish, and bigger gold bonus for the next scenario. Recall your HI, and recruit some poachers, send them south and send the lady outlaw to get the dwarf. Then recruit more poachers, your white mage(s), and whoever else you can afford. The first poachers should bait out the first roadside guard warrior right around dusk. Then your other poachers can surround it, kill it, and do the same with it's partner. By this point, your slow HI and other support troops will have caught up, and you can set up a defensive line using the villages and forests in that area (poachers have 60% defense in forests!). Meanwhile, the dwarf and lady outlaw will be catching up through the mountains. This is where healers are crucial. The dwarf and HI's have great armor against blades and can chew up grunts and wolves easily, especially by day, but poison and attrition will take them down without support. Use poachers to hold the line at night and if the others need time to heal. Focus on leveling your white mages and HI's, since they will be critical against the undead in the next scenario. After the main assault is broken, march everyone south, but send a foot pad or the lady outlaw to tag all the villages behind you before catching up, to maximize your income. The orc leaders never move or attack, so you can just block all their castle tiles to stop their recruitment and beat on them with impunity. Time it so that you finish off both on the same turn, to avoid the recruitment surge and reinforcements.

===Diverging Campaign Path===

At the conclusion of [[#HarrowingEscape|A Harrowing Escape]], Haldric has made it through a pass in the Broken Mountains, and must decide whether to proceed due Southeast, along a river going into the Swamp of Esten, or Southwest towards the hilly Midlands region of the isle (see the [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/maps/green_isle.png map]). As you can probably guess, Orcs like hills, not swamps, so if you go to the Midlands you'll be seeing a lot of them up close; this will likely cost you several good units, if not worse. The swamp is much easier, plus, you'll find a Loyal White Mage in there. So, the choice is a no-brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

====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 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 or Trapper or two, 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...
# Head to the northeastern leader first. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have a chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as at night 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 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: With enough starting gold, you can divide your forces from the start and finish this level much faster for a big early finish bonus. The northern leader sends zombies, bats, and adepts, while the southern leaders send level 2 undead units, much tougher. So send your HI/shock troopers and Burin south, your knights east, one white mage with each group, one leader with each group, and some thugs/mages with both. Mages are fragile, but with leadership and illumination they are incredibly effective against undead and especially against scorpions, which have very good impact defense against your thugs and HI. Focus more of your forces south, since that is the tougher fighting. Once the northern and southwestern leaders are dead, converge on the remaining leader from both sides.

===The Oldwood===

* Objective: Defeat both enemy leaders
* Lose if: Haldric or Wose leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Outlaw, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

'''Layout:'''

In this forest-and-swamp map, the Orcish invaders are about to stumble upon a Wose castle (of sorts), and will try to dispose of the woses. You're given a chance to prove yourself as an ally to Woses by helping them defend against the Orcs. There are two Orc Warlord (L3) leaders, in NE and South castles; your keep is to the NW; and the Wose castle is at the center of the level. Narrow flat paths connect the different castles - but the South castle only connects to your NW keep; to get from it to the Woses directly, one must cross some forest, a 1-hex stream and a swampy area.

'''Recruitment:'''

The Orcs will recruit effectively against Woses: Goblin Pillagers and Crossbowmen, with fire damage; and the Wose leader is rather poor. Still, you should be able to manage this level with three rounds of recruitment on Hard; on Medium, three rounds will make this pretty easy, and two rounds will be a bit of a challenge but quite possible with L2 recalls.

* At least two White Mages/Mages of Light - since you'll be fighting on multiple fronts.
* For muscle, recall some loyal Heavy Infantry and recruit/recall some Thugs/Bandits.
* For firepower, recall Trappers and Longbowmen or recruit Poachers and Bowmen (and Red Mages if you have them). Recruiting L1 mages is probably too much of a gamble here, and XP is not very manageable with your ally around.
* Resilient Spearmen or Pikemen should do well as defenders of the Wose castle. Quick Spearmen might be less-unuseful for flanking in the swamp or forest. Alternatively, you can use HIs as defenders.
* One or two Footpad scouts will be effective scouts (unlike Horsemen).

'''Splitting of Forces:'''

Your forces will be fighting in three mostly-distinct areas:

* North of the Wose castle and due Northeast
* The path South from your keep towards the Southern Orc leader's castle.
* The Wose castle and immediately South of it.

... and your first tactical choice will be how to split your recruits among these areas. Consider making it:

* 3-5 units - to the Wose castle
* 4-8 units + Wesfolk Lady - past the Wose castle and Northeast
* Other units + Haldric - due South

'''The Wose Castle'''

On Medium, and if you don't actively avoid conflict - the NE forces will come up against your units and the Wose leader's on the path to the castle, not thec castle itself (and a good thing too, since it's only 4 hexes + the keep. On Hard they might bypass you and hit the castle from the East or SE. Beyond that - it's South leader units coming over the stream.

* If you send a White Mage or Mage of Light to the Wose castle, it will heal not just your units, but also the Woses. And - any adjacent Wose will recuperate up to 16 HP per turn: While healing effects aren't cumulative within the same turn, your healing and Woses' regeneration occur on _different_ turns: +8 your healing, +8 wose regeneration. A poisoned Wose will be cured and gain 8 HP.

'''The Northeast'''

Your task is to block the initial attack. You don't have to rush for the NE leader (there are lots of turns), nor are you strongly limited by time-of-day - since you have both Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral units (Mage, Burin). Some enemy units may be roaming far from the path; if you have a Footpad scout, you can tell where they're going, and either lure them towards the path, harass them, or perhaps send Ruddry back on the path to meet them where they're going (if you can spare him in the fighting).

'''The South'''

At least on Medium, you'll encounter limited resistance here. But exactly for this reason you _should_ try to push forward - to attract attention, and possibly divert some Pillagers or Archers away from the Wose castle. If that doesn't happen, consider sending a few units with better mobility to either attract them or at least squeeze them.

'''Looking forward'''

* The next scenario takes place in underground catacombs. 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, make sure an level up your Fearless Loyal HI into a Shock Trooper, alongside some Chaotic units. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice (as are Outlaws on Medium). Quick units of almost any type (except horse-mounted ones) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

* The temple to the SE of the Wose castle is the entrance to the catacombs; you can't go in there before next scenario, so don't bother visiting it.

[Mal Shubertal]: Poachers shine on this map. The area south of the wose keep is swampy, and poachers both move better and have better defense in swamps than any other human or orc unit. The biggest challenge on this map is the wose leader, who is suicidally aggressive. He will jump far out of his keep to attack a goblin pillager or crossbowman, only to get immediately killed by powerful fire attacks the next turn. The only reliable way that I could find to protect him was to keep the fighting entirely out of his reach as much as possible, which means basically fighting on 3 fronts: south of his keep, north of his keep, and far south at the southern orc leader. This is only possible if you have at least 3 healers (counting Minister Edren). The southern assassination squad should be the healer plus fast units like knights and outlaws and Lady Outlaw (this will let them catch back up to the main battle once they're done). The south of keep group should be a healer and mostly poachers. The northern group is whatever you have left. Once the 2 southern groups finish their jobs, they will reinforce the northern group and finish. Note that you do not need to do all your recruiting at your starting keep. If haldric stands near the wose keep, their leader will helpfully move out of the way to let haldric use it.

===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, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water.
# 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). It helps if they are chaotic (or at least neutral) and/or have ranged or 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 other high HP units. Note that horse units are too sluggish in caves and should not be recalled/recruited unless you have a compelling reason.
# 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. First thing you will see are Tentacles. You can either ignore the Tentacles for the most part or use them for XP. Your main initial objective is to find a good place to make a stand against the nasty wave of undead coming from the north. The chokepoints and southern shoreline offer good defensive locations. Watch out for the enemy's Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a Level-3 unit.
# Once the flow of baddies as tapered off, gradually progress northwards. 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: The best choice for the Holy Water is a quick Bandit, who should level quickly. A quick Highwayman could be used, but won't benefit much from the XP.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The Tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. 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 Thug can be okay, if used with great care, but mostly you need to recall leveled troops here.

===Return to Oldwood===

Plot only.

===Clearwater Port===

* '''Objective''': Wait for 1st/2nd/3d ship arrives, then have Haldric board it.
* '''Alternative Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if''': Haldric, Jessene or Town Commander Aethyr die, or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': ??/32/?? ; first ship arrives at turn ??/12/??.
* '''Starting Units''': Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* '''Initial Gold''': ???/250/???

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

'''Layout:'''

The town and port of Clearwater lies on a stretch of land extending eastwards, between the seashore going East, North-East then North (at the Eastern edge of the level), and a wide river cross the level from West to East. The middle of the river is deep; it has a bridge over it at the West of the level and 1-hex shallow-water narrowing at the western edge, as it reaches the sea. There's also a small island, due South-by-SouthWest, from the center of town, with shallow water linking it to several areas on the coastline.

The terrain is mixed flat and frozen, with some hills and forested areas outside of town. Since winter has set in, there are some (not fully continuous) ice shelves along the coast. There are also lots of village hexes in this level - 41 (!) in total.

ClearWater Port is mostly walled-off from the land side, but its West-facing wall can be flanked on an ice shelf from the South, and in shallow water from the North. Also, the middle of the wall has a one-hex gap. There are 11 villages in town.

'''Recruitment:'''

# Your loyals, two to three healers and plenty of spearmen is all you need, if you stick to the walls and play defensively.
# Recruit slowly at start to stretch your gold with initial income.
# It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so add a few other (sturdy, non-mage) units for diversity and to make your recall list more varied.

'''Strategy:'''

The enemy leaders have an enormous influx of Gold: About +40 between them all at each turn, after upkeep costs; you see, they each have a base incoming of 10 (on Medium difficult). That means they churn out lots and lots of units. They also group them together, for daily - or rather nightly - attacks. So don't be tempted to believe that because you've had a lot of quality kills some day, and have leveled up a few units, you can go on the offensive; play defensively and conservatively.

You will be defending the Western town wall, mostly, for the duration of this scenario; so:

* Man the wall hexes with Spearmen and some healthy veterans.
* Use illumination and leadership to maximum effect. Two Mages of Light should do well enough, and you have two leaders, plus Commander Aethyr who stays put in his fort (covering two wall hexes).
* Note which hexes are more exposed (number of adjacent outer hexes + terrain) and consider both their unit assignment and the aura effects on them. Rotate wounded units from the higher-exposure wall hexes quicker than from other hexes.
* On Hard difficulty, or if you've started with little money - prepare to defend against occasional breaches, i.e. don't keep vulnerable units too exposed even behind the wall lines.
* Soften opponents with your veterans, feed kills to recruits. But - don't jeopardize your defenses for a little more XP.

''Your ally:''
Commander Aethyr is an idiot. He recruits L1 Mages and sends them off on suicide attacks. He clearly doesn't need his villages; your conscience should not bother you occupying all his villages. In the first few turns of the scenario, though - when it's still day, it may makes sense to support those troops somewhat, with your veterans, before solidifying your defense line.

''Defending the Eastern crossing:''
The Northern leader will send units both down the bridge and to the wall, but also east, to cross the river at its mouth. You need a force of several units, one of which will need to be rotated every turn for a fully-healed replacement, and a healer to be surrounded by them. Which units? It'll have to be our trusted Spearmen. While Footpads might do some more damage when defending, they don't have the necessary HP. The healer can be a White Mage; a Mage of Light is not necessary here. Make sure to position your Spearmen to block the enemy at the one-hex choke point. Your attackers will likely be Slayers, with an occasional Assassin or Grunt on Medium. 4 Spearmen should probably be enough, maybe 5.

''Finishing the scenario:''
Stay in town to help the defenses, and only take the third boat (and note you won't get an early finish bonus otherwise). You could try to defeat all leaders, but - this is more difficult than it looks. You might be thinking "eh, what are another bunch of Orcish Warlords? They're a dime a dozen". But with their unit production numbers, your advance against them will be slow, and will only be able to begin late. And while the two Eastern leaders are manageable - getting troops North by the bridge will take you many turns, or many deaths, or probably both. And for a walk around the level to the Eastern river crossing, at the mouth, takes a quick Spearman 13 or 14 turns. So you can probably only get to the North leader by splitting your forces when you start the attack.

===Fallen Lich Point===

* '''Objective''': Defeat the Lich-Lord Caror, then have Haldric enter the sewer.
* '''Alternative Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders (including the Lich).
* '''Lose if''': Haldric or Jessene or die or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': ??/36/??
* '''Starting Units''': Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* '''Initial Gold''': ???/250/???

This is a high variance scenario. On Hard difficulty, it may be easy or hard, depending on events beyond your control; on Medium difficulty, it will likely be easy or manageable.

'''Layout:'''

* Almost all of the level is snowed, including the rivers. There are some flatlands, hills and forested areas, and some mountains on the North edge of the level (you won't go there).
* The level is higher than it is narrower. Your castle is to the East; two Orcish Warlords are based in the NE and NW; and there's the "Fallen Lich" himself, Lich-Lord Caror, petrified in a castle surrounded by mountains to the South.
* There are snow-free roads connecting the four leaders' keeps: You, the Orcs and the Lich. However - these roads are of width 1, and much of them is surrounded by flat frozen land, so that moving more than 1-abreast is both slow and dangerous.
* Between the two Orcs' keeps is the entrance to the Southbay sewers. And - it is where a group of Yeti arrive to harass the Orcs.
* There are lots of villages - 32 in all - scattered mostly uniformly. That means most of them are at some distance from the roads.

'''Strategy: Make a choice'''

The Yeti are fearsome creatures: 200 HP and up to 64 points of impact damage (with the Orcs having no special resistance) per attack. However, their hits are 32x2; and their choice of where to move is also not very intelligent, it seems. So their fate vs. the Orcs, or the time before they're defeated, is a matter of chance.

So, you face a choice: Go for the Lich, with fewer forces, or soldier up and go for the Orcs. On Medium difficulty, the second alternative is quite attractive and should probably be considered the default.

'''Lich first'''

The Orcs, will be busy enough with the Yetis not to send a raiding party after your forces - 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.

* Recruit fairly lightly initially, as you will likely have a chance to use the Lich's keep to recruit again.
* All advancements of Mages are good; and even L1 Mages are an option (albeit an expensive one).
* Because of the mountains around "lichland" and the frozen ground everywhere else, additional horse units are not advisable; though perhaps a single Paladin might come in handy (e.g. to go into the castle.
* Some Thugs or a Bandit or Highwayman will provide a little extra undead bashing power.
* Footpads will help with village flagging - but can also defend mountain hexes well enough against the undead, for a turn or two, until their HP drops to a dangerous level.

After defeating the Lich and his forces, it probably won't make much sense trying to defeat both Orc leaders; instead, escort Haldric up road to the sewer entrance - you only have to cut through between the two of them, not overrun anybody. Still, if they've lost enough units, and you have enough left, and some money to recruit, you could still mount an attack.

'''Note:''' 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.)

'''Orcs first'''

Recruitment and recall for this strategy choice:

* A good number of Footpads.
* Outlaws and Fugitives.
* All L2-and-higher Mage advancements are good.
* A small number of Bandits, Thugs or Highwaymen.
* Quick Pikemen.
* Huntsmen, if you have them.

On Medium, you'll want at least a half-dozen Footpads; and 2-2.5 castle-fulls of recruitment overall.

Send one or two Footpads to flag villages to the Southwest (around the Lich's castle).

A group of Footpads will move up, off the road, to flank the NE leader from the East. Send them with Jessene and your Outlaws and Fugitives - with a Silver Mage or two ready to teleport in as this party captures villages. Be flexible with this force - you can use it not just to get to the leader, but also to deny him much of his income (reducing his ability to recruit), as well as to draw his units away from the units coming up the road, and into frozen territory where you can easily gang up on individual enemy units. This is especially useful with Wolf-based units, since they can't defend against your sling attacks; but with almost any unit you can probably have a nice defensive advantage.

The rest of the recruits travel on the road. They'll actually have about the same speed as Footpads, i.e. will meet enemy units late at around Second Watch of the first night - on the road due North. Don't sacrifice anyone, but do try to lure them south - as that will get them mostly surrounded by your forces, especially if they haven't managed to stay on the road. Be careful to steer clear of the Yeti, if they're somehow still alive and near the fork in the road!

The eastern flankers don't need to move in on the leader immediately. Time it so that you can be supported by the other part of your force arriving from the fork in the road, just as you are either engaging the leader or about to do so. Try to pick off his more careless units, though.

Now, you won't need your whole force which has come up the road to support the eastern Footpads. You can have a few units cautiously proceed West. Once the NE leader is down, send reinforcements to assist them. You should not have much trouble finishing off the NW leader, so when you're nearly there you can already send units due south.

Finally, follow the same instructions as above regarding the Lich's castle. But this time - you'll have more units, and can take your time (if you've flagged all the villages) setting things up.

===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 two Royal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.
* A Rogue (or Assassin) can be very handy as a damage dealer, who is able to break through bottlenecks.

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===

Clockwise, starting at the bottom:
* the southern orcs (purple) will recruit the usual orcish units, and with a few going west between the mountains and the coast, while the bulk will come through the plains south of the swamp, arriving at the keep early in the night. This one is the most conventional enemy, once his host is defeated you can march a comparatively small strike force to his keep and finish him off.
* The waterlogged orc to the west (black) will recruit mostly Naga and a few Bats, which will harrass you from the sea and try to seize the villages on your peninsula. He only has a small keep, so he can keep recruiting, two units per turn, seemingly forever.
* The northern orcs (green) are farthest away; they also have lots of villages they can capture. Hence it will be some time until they reach you, and not in full force at first. With any luck (and strong enough units) you'll have fought down the bulk of the southern orcs by then.
* Finally, a number of level-2 skeletons (including Chocobones) will appear behind the swamp in the east on turn 4 (first dusk). Those will join the black team; starting behind the swamp and with a few villages to grab, they won't knock on your door before daybreak.

Spoiler:
On turn five, a few mermen will appear near the lighthouse and join you; you'll also be able to recruit mermen from then on. That's your ticket to fighting back the Naga, see to it that you still have some money left at the time.

Recruitment/Strategy:
# several Trappers/Rangers/Huntsmen to sally forth and occupy the hills and forest south of the town. Your ally will sally forth to meet the enemy in the usual fashion; if you can lend a hand and soften up the enemy, King Addroran's troops will finish them off easily. In doing so, they'll happily expose themselves to counterattack -- your Trappers (etc.) have a rather good melee attack and probably won't be targeted as long as there's weaker and more accessible allied units nearby. Don't fret about the missed XP, there will be plenty more before this is over. For now, you want to dispose of the bad guys ASAP before they pile up on the doorstep.
# you probably don't need dedicated undead-killers beyond the Mages you bring anyway. But if you want to employ your loyal Shock Troopers, recruit them no later than turn 2 or they won't get there in time.
# Mages: seeing as there will be fighting all over the place, three healers will be barely sufficient. A few fireball-throwers will also come in handy, if only in order to deal with the evasive Orcish Assassins / Slayers. A Silver Mage or two will be especially useful, as they can teleport all over the place and help with each of the commanders in turn (especially the one on the island, that would take forever to get to otherwise).
# by turn 3, some chaff to occupy the coastal villages so the Naga can't just waltz in. Level-1 units or even peasants will do.
# the worst fighting will be over by daybreak; you'll still want a few lawful units to carry on the battle during the day. One keep of knights and level-2 lawful infantry should suffice. Recruit these on turn 4.
# starting on turn five, you can recruit mermen. Those can not only deal with the Naga infestation, but also tackle the northern orcs as they try to cross the bay. Two keeps worth is not too many.

Strategy is broken into three fronts...
# First order is to help your ally with the first waves of attackers, as described above. You can't stop King Addroran from throwing away his troops, but you can help them to have some effect before they perish.
# Next, fending off the Naga. A few cheap units in coastal villages at first, mermen later. Mermen vs Naga at sea will be slow fighting: both have excellent terrain defense, so there will be no obvious progress for a good long while. You should use a Mage of Light to support them, this really makes a difference during the night.
# Also, the bay/river to the north. The Mermen can be very efficient here, enjoying high terrain defense while being close enough to the coast that Lady Jessene and Haldric can provide Leadership wherever needed; again, you also want a Mage of Light if available.

For the landlubbers, don't bring too many rookies: this scenario is best used to direct experience to your level-2 units, partially advancing them outright or getting them to a point where you can expect them to level up at a good point in their next battle.

For the Merfolk, try to advance all they loyal ones, and a few more besides. Directing XP to particular units will be easier for those mermen defending the bridge, but those fighting the Naga will inevitably get some XP as well. Eventually you'll have to cross the bridge with ground troops and take the fight to the enemy, though.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a potentially bloody scenario. The Drakes are barely impeded by the difficult terrain and can run circles around you, making it hard to move damaged units into a safe position. On the upside, most drakes have little terrain defense even in forest and mountains, and are positively vulnerable to spears and arrows.

Strategy...
Using Trappers (or their upgrades) and Merfolk, try to lure the enemy into the swamps or over the sea, fight down their troops, then storm their keeps. Be prepared to suffer some losses: it's better to deliberately sacrifice some units of your choosing than struggling to keep everyone alive.

Spoiler...
* There's a Storm Trident in the middle of the bay. There's no particular hurry to pick it up for using it in this battle: the trident does fire damage, which isn't very useful against drakes. Just don't forget to retrieve it for later use.

Picking it up will summon a level-3 Sea Serpent on the next turn, be sure that you're ready for it.

Lord Typhon will depart in a few scenarios, so better give the trident to another fighter. Preferably a "quick" one, who can become a Hoplite and still keep up with his mates when he gets to Level-3.

===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 an odd scenario: as soon as anyone gets killed, the elvish high council will step in an end the bloodshed. Your "early finish bonus" becomes a "late finish" bonus: you're supposed to drag this out for as long as possible without anyone being killed.

Recruitment...
* the strongest units you have, that can deal both melee and ranged damage.
* Rangers are best, followed by Javelineers and level-3 Bowmen.
* you need six of these at the very least, preferably more, plus healers to back them up. If you don't have that many elite troops on your roster, or cannot afford to recall as many, it may be better to do nothing: keep your starting money, and slay the first person to reach you.

Strategy...
Place Javelineers on the keep, Mermen in the water, and Rangers in the forest. All backed up by healers. Have a few reserves you can swap in when things get tough. Haldric also makes a good front-line unit; Javelineers should stay near him for the leadership.

Note that no enemy unit will attack you when there's even a remote risk that they might die. So having the strongest possible fighters, both melee and ranged, will deter the most attackers. If your line looks fierce enough, some level-1 units will not attack you at all. All others will cease attacking as soon as they've taken enough damage that their death becomes a possibility. At which point, they will wander of in search of a village for healing; once all nearby villages are occupied, your attackers may even stand around dumbfounded.

Place your troops where they enjoy a good terrain defense, that is, the keep and the forest. The purpose is to reduce the damage taken and last for as long as possible. After the first round of attacks, you'll always have a few near-dead opponents standing in front of your lines, allowing you to end the scenario quickly.

You need eight tough guys to fully seal off a corner of the map, plus two mermen, and four healers. However, the enemy doesn't know or understand your plan: if your front doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the map, they will not deliberately try to outflank you. To the AI, a ''small'' gap of one or two tiles will look like a trap. So six land warriors to hold the line will do for a long time. Only after the attackers start to pile up against your formation will they eventually start to flow around.

Be sure to keep the villages behind you occupied at all times, however, or wounded enemies seeking a village to heal in may actually try to get there. Sir Ruddry and Burin, having no other use, will do nicely.

Spoiler...
* this the last chance you have to recruit Mermen, as their king leaves. You've probably got plenty on your roster from the previous scenarios, which will stay with you and can be recalled later. But if you think you need more, this is your last chance.
* the late finish bonus is 50/turn, so if your upkeep is less than that, you're in the good. Even if you don't have or cannot afford enough troops for a full defense, trying to hold the keep for a few turns will be worthwhile.

===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. Pikemen and Halberdiers 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.
* Merman shine on this map once you get them into the swamp / water hexes. They are more mobile than anything but silver mages. The storm trident makes short work of even high-level saurians and the dragon is weak to the pierce damage of your tridents and javelins. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon even further.

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 west leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed. But then by turn 10, 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.

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====

Cave terrain again, but this time the cave is so riddled with holes that there's barely any sense of individual corridors. There's plenty of short narrow passages which prevent both you and your opponents from ganging up on on each other, while on the other hand the trolls can just walk around a blocked choke point and come at you through the neighboring hole. So fighting is mostly one-on-one, though may have several such fights going on at any given time.

The map is roughly symmetrical, a keep in each of the four corners. Two random keeps will be home to the trolls, the other two will be occupied by a Giant Spider each. The spiders will only attack if you get too close.

You designated opponents will be level-1 and -2 trolls, under level-3 commanders. They don't have that much starting gold, but sufficient income to keep recruiting about one Troll Cub per turn, or a level-2 every other turn, very much until you're right on their doorstep. In order to win this, you have to be able and slay the trolls quicker than they're coming.

Recruitment...
* as usual in the caves, give preference to units that can move 3 tiles on cave terrain.
* also as usual by now, this is no place for level-1 units. You can carefully level up one or two rookies, but the bulk of your host has to be tougher than that. It's more an opportunity to level up your chaotic units, and, especially, your mages.
* Spellcasters will do a lot of damage to Trolls, and in the 1-on-1 situation so common on this map, any level-2 or better mage will be certain survive the counterattack. You'll need level-3 Magi to press forward and carry the battle to the enemy's keeps, though.
* You'll want two teams of two healers each in any event. However, Trolls are susceptible to arcane damage, so your White Mages can play a very active role (and quickly level up if so desired). Mages of Light will be especially nice, with their illumination blinding the trolls and a half-decent melee attack to fight back with.
* You can arguably fight this battle on mages alone. However, you'll need at least two keeps worth of units to plug all the holes and prevent the trolls from outflanking you. The supporters' main qualification will be to have enough hitpoints to survice a troll attack; being able to fight back is very desirable. Bandits or Swordsmen will be best, depending on whether you back them by a light source. Trappers and Outlaws will make do in the dark, Pikemen are a distant third, and lawful bowmen should sit this out: Mages can play the same game much better.

The general strategy is to move into whatever direction the trolls are coming from, and fight your way, upstream so to speak, until you get to the enemy keep.

You may start doing so right away, or first await the initial onslaught in the island you're starting on. With you on the ground and the enemy in the water, the terrain is in your favor... but the spacious cavern also allows two or even three trolls to gang up against one of yours. Then again, you can make good use of your loyal mermen and possibly even Sir Ruddry. Neither of which will be any good later when you carry the fight to the enemy, but hey, they're loyal and demand no upkeep.

If you want to explore the map and steal villages, you better do so in force. The spiders will lunge at anyone who happens to get in their range; and besides, there's several unflagged villages at the beginning of the scenario, and your opponents will seize them. This means that trolls, even level-2 ones, may show up in unexpected places.

====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 three temples there is 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===

The map's most striking feature is a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. The two closest keeps are Orcs, the one in the north holds a Troll. All will be spawning mostly level-2 units. Their average recruit will cost about 20-22 gold, check their gold at the beginning of the scenario and you'll have an idea of how many units you'll have to expect.
The terrain funnels you northward, where you will encounter the northern orcs at nightfall, coming at you in full force. The orcs from the west will start showing up during the night. They are distracted by several un-occupied villages, so they'll be a bit more stretched out. The trolls won't arrive until daybreak.
Whenever one of the enemy commanders has lost half of his units, some undead will join his team: one level-3 skeleton, plus two or four Chocobones depending on difficulty. This happens three times over the course of the battle, once for every enemy commander.
This scenario will be fairly easy, regardless of difficulty level, if you can afford at least three keeps worth of troops.

Recruitment / Strategy:
* Knights recalled on the first turn can encounter the Orcs in your north still in full daylight, and possibly wreck havoc among them before nightfall. The success of this strategy largely depends on what kind of units the orc is sending your way, but in any event don't bother with half-measures: either send 4+ strong riders on turn 1, or don't worry about trying it at all. Follow up with more lawful units and Mages of Light, using only a few chaotic ones to harrass and delay the orcs coming from the west.

* Alternatively, recall your toughest chaotic units from the get-go, and prepare to fight down the first orcish host in the woods to your north, with only a Knight or two to deal with any Wolf Riders getting ahead of the main host.

* You want to bring at least one Paladin (Sir Ruddry probably qualifies) and between that and your healers, you don't need much of a dedicated undead-killing force. If you have loyal Shock Troopers, by all means bring them on -- they'd be useful in any event. Otherwise, a pair of Bandits or a second Paladin will do nicely.

* If you want to seize the villages across the mountains to your west, be prepared to encounter a Goblin Knight or Pillager trying to do the same (you will meet whatever fast unit the western orc happened to recruit on his first turn. It may only be a "quick" archer, but a level-2 wolf is quite likely).

* 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. They will also keep their distance and refuse to attack until you present them with a target the AI considers worthwhile. Effectively you have to throw them a peasant, or a strong unit that will survive badly wounded and effectively be out of the battle for several turns.

* A Silver Mage or two can come in really handy, Teleporting all over the map to dislodge wolves from the mountains or lend a hand with the undead as needed.

This scenario is an excellent opportunity to train some Knights, as well as a few other lawful fighters. But keep in mind that the campaign is coming to a close and you can only recall so many units in the last battles: if you think you already have enough quality units, it's better to use those (and maybe get an AMLA or two) than to build up an ever bigger roster of troops you can't (or won't) recall.

===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 orcs in the north deploy the usual orcish fare, but can also recruit trolls. The undead commander will only recruit bats and skeletons (quality depending on difficulty, there may be Chocobones on Hard). During the first night, the Lich-Lord will make another appearance, casting fog of war upon the battlefield and deploy a number of Chocobones on the undead island (they're under command of the orcs, though).
When you get too close to the isle in the river mouth, you'll trigger cuttlefish to the west of that isle. Getting too close to the swamps where the river starts will summon level-2 saurians. It looks dire but the effect is mostly psychological.

Wolf riders may reach you during the night, the bulk of the orc army won't arrive until daybreak (unless you push forward to meet them, which you shouldn't). The skeletons, too, will be held up by the water. So you've got a lot of time to set up positions near the beach and in the wood.

* First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. It will be morning until they even reach the sea, but they'll still arrive in time to help with any (possibly many) skeletons still in the water. Later they can deal with the Draug in his keep. A Silver Mage's assistance will help but isn't strictly necessary.
* also send a few undead-bashers to the beach. Two or three units holding the beach at any time will do nicely; Burin and the loyal Shock Troopers are best, mostly because they're armored against arrows. If you don't have those, a number of Outlaws/Fugitives will be the next best choice, though you'll need more of them due to the damage taken.
* the cuttlefish (1, 2 or 4 of them depending on difficulty) will keep your mermen occupied for several turns and in need of healing afterwards. It's probably best to trigger them very early (a rider seizing the village at 20,22 will do): the cuttlefish are so aggressive that they will get out onto dry land in order to attack an Iron Mauler in broad daylight. That way, you can have them finished off before any skeletons reach you, and long before your mermen are even in the water.
* add another two or (at most) three keeps of mixed troops. You've fought enough orcs and trolls by know that you should know what suits the purpose. You probably want a few chaotic units to hold up the assault late at night, then rush the enemy with lawfuls at daybreak. Cavalry will once more work well, just keep in mind that you'll face a task force of quality saurians later on -- you also want some units that are not quite as prone to piercing damage.
* talking about which: getting within 10 hexes or less from 34,15 will touch off the Saurians. With careful navigation the encounter can be avoided for the whole scenario, but it's probably better to trigger them at a time of your choosing and get it over with. Saurians aren't very tough, their strength comes from being hard to hit and their skirmishing ability. But on normal and easy, they're not very numerous. If you can lure them out into open terrain, you can probably overwhelm them in a single turn, even at night.

Try to finish this scenario quickly. Make use of veterans, by this point you should really have enough of them. Don't worry about running into negative funds in the mean time: there's enough villages to ensure a hefty early finish bonus. Just don't dawdle, you want to get out of this with at least 200, better 300 gold carried over.

===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 some 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.

Strategy...
* You can either send everybody west initially and then split for the two bridges or you can split initially, with mounted units racing 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.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield.
* Kill all but one of the orc leaders (not all!).
* Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. Jevyan probably won't come out to play, so march Aethyr up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack.
* Paladins, great mages, mages of light, silver mages are all suitable units to kill Jevyan himself, make sure you have them in sufficient numbers with your southern army. 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 (or a Soulless on hard.)
* 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. The lich also will receive some gold once you kill his Familiar.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

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

TheRiseOfWesnoth

2020-06-15T19:40:51Z

Revolting peasant: /* Fallen Lich Point */

==Overall Campaign Strategy==

(At the moment, most of the walkthrough takes the perspective of the Lord (Challenging) difficult setting.)

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

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead vanquishers: 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 level-up at least two Paladins and two-or-more 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 not as useful against the 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 leveled up - preferably the quick ones, which will be more useful in underground levels. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which - upon reaching Level 3 - gain the marksmanship trait (or Rangers are good too, for swamps and forest.) These, plus Lady Outlaw, provide a better range of tactics in 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<br>
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops<br>
4a. The Midlands - avoid this Scenario, prefer The Swamp of Eden instead<br>
4b. The Swamp of Eden - Level-2 Haldric, Level-2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers<br>
6. Temple of the Deep - Level-3 Haldric, Level-3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits<br>
8. Clearwater Port - Level-3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers<br>
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages<br>
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''<br>
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light<br>
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin<br>
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights)<br>
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, Level-3 Commander Aethyr desirable<br>
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.

[Mal Shubertal]: Some scenarios, such as Swamp of Esten, are nearly impossible on Lord difficulty with just the base starting gold, so you need to focus on not just winning the earlier scenarios, but beating them FAST for maximum early finish bonus, otherwise you will find yourself stuck later on. This means you can't always "play it safe", for example by waiting for the wesfolk to attack you across the river in the first scenario, because this wastes precious turns of your units just sitting around. On the plus side, this creates a positive feedback loop: starting a scenario with a lot of gold lets you pursue more aggressive strategies, finish faster, start the next scenario with even more gold, etc.

== Scenarios ==

=== A Summer of Storms ===

* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader - a Wesfolk Outcast (Level-2)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric or King Eldaric die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/28/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric (who can't recruit)
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

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

'''Recruitment:'''

* Your faction is Loyalists, but you can't recruit the heavier units (Heavy Infantry, Cavalryman).
* 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 recruit 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:'''

The Wesfolk are an Outlaw faction, recruiting Poachers, Thugs and Footpads.

On Medium or Easy difficulty, you can barely fail. Your initial keep-full of recruits (5 units) and another 2 at most are all you need. Just make sure not to advance head-on onto the initial attack, since if you do, you'll meet the majority of the enemy units during the first night, which can get hairy. Stay your advance a bit, and they'll come rushing down - without even ganging up on you properly. If you recruited 3 Horsemen, send one to tag villages; and send one of your later recruits (a Spearman/Bowman, preferably a quick one) to tag villages in the mountains. However - don't get too much in the way of enemy tagging, since you want their leader to have money for recruiting your "sparring partners" for gathering XP. If you recruited a Mage, s/he will drink up a lot the enemy XP, otherwise there'll be plenty for the Bowmen and some for the Horsemen and Haldric himself.

Don't forget to send Haldric out after making your last recruit.

On Hard, you'll need to put in a bit of thought. Players have used at least three strategies with success...

* '''Over the bridge''': 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.
* '''Hide in the swamp''': 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''': 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "over the bridge" strategy on Hard, spearmen are key, purely because they are cheap, have high hp, and are not vulnerable to pierce like horsemen. Your first engagement with the enemy will be at night, so the main goal is to just survive: hold the 2 villages just west of the river, pick off weak units like foot pads if possible, prevent any of your units getting surrounded, rotate out your wounded units, and hold out until morning. Sometimes the right choice will be to just position a spearman to block a hole in your line, but not attack, to preserve hp and increase the chance to survive. Also recruit a horseman to tag all the villages in the southwest for income, then rush back to reinforce your front. By morning, that income will have added up, with Haldric sending an increasing stream of reinforcements, and you'll be ready to counterattack. Also recruit one or 2 mages, and start carefully feeding one xp to build your first healer. Instead of diverting resources sending units to the north, you can just ignore it at first to focus on the heavy fighting to the west. Eventually the units the opponent sent to the northern villages will come down to attack haldric in his keep, but by that time you will be able to recruit him plenty of body guards and get him some xp while your main force with the king takes out the wesfolk leader.

===The Fall===

* Objective: Defeat the Wesfolk Outcast Leader (same one from the last level)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric or Wesfolk Leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/24/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

You are back in the same valley you were fighting in last scenario; it's fall, so the Northern parts have some snow, and King Eldaric has placed some one-hex fort pairs on the road due North-West. He also manned the upper pair of hexes with his personal guard - a troupe of three Heavy Infantrymen (Shock Troopers on Easy).

... but the more menacing change is three enemy leaders: Two Orcs, a Warlord (L3) and a Warrior (L2), in the Northwest and Northeast respectively, and your old friend the Wesfolk Leader woman in the Southwest: You (Haldric and Eldaric) are planning to evacuate South to avoid an Orcish overrun - and she's conveniently just in the way. Each Orc is about as rich as you, on Medium, and possibly richer on Hard; and Ms. roadblock has quite a bit of gold as well.

'''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:'''

This scenario may seem a little scary at first: Not a lot of money, only a few veterans, and an attack from three fronts without a lot of barriers. Not like the walk in park we had in Summer... but - it's not actually as hard as it looks: You're not trying to stand your ground and defeat all of your assailants - you're just clearing a path for retreat; that is, your only real enemy for this scenario is highway girl. And remember: The Orcs and the Wesfolk are not ganging up on you; the NW Orc Leader's forces will attack engage the Wesfolk on contact, and will, in fact, direct some units in the SW leader's direction (more, if you're not in the way).

There are three basic approaches to take out our Checkpoint Charlotte:

# '''Brute force''': Raise a large army and march West. Use part of your force to hold off the NW Orc leader's forces coming South through the pass; use the rest to break through the Wesfolk defense 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; but on Hard, it might be beyond your reach (or the reach of your funds).
# '''Leave the dirty work to the Orcs''': Wait around your keep, defending your bank of the river so the Orcs coming down from the Northwest don't get any ideas (and escorting Eldaric's private guard of HI to safety). The NW Orcs will fight the Wesfolk; when the outlaws forces are nearly spent, seize a moment of opportunity when the road to the Wesfolk leader is mostly clear. Then, take a strike force of a Knight and a few more units across the two bridges. Your timing should allow for quick dispatching of the odd enemy unit along the way (hopefully, these should be wounded or separated from their comrades), clearing a path for a Knight of yours to arrive at the SW keep and attack the Wesfolk leader. This strategy is risky, because Orcs will be present by this time around the Wesfolk leader, and might kill the leader before you do - you don't want that happening.
# '''Assassination''': Send a squad through the southern mountains to the Outlaw leader's keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen might be enough. If not, add a Knight, Horseman, or the King - but be careful with these supporting units, as they cannot traverse mountains, and may get pinned down on the narrow passage by the Wesfolk. The stretch of road from the pass due South to the keep should be clear, and the recruits fighting the Orcs.

Even if you manage to fend off the Orcs, you shouldn't delay your victory to collect more XP. Unlike the first level, here you are unlikely to have control of most of the villages, and the following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is quite a handful (at least on Hard difficulty). On Hard, aim for a carryover of almost 150 gold (i.e. finish the level with close to 375 gold). It is also important you have a Mage leveled up to a White Mage, or almost at the point of leveling. Near-leveling L1 units will also come in handy for their low initial upkeep (relative to L2 recalls), so that you'll squeeze a little more oomph from less starting gold. Steer XP collection accordingly.

Once you've brought the Wesfolk leader's HP reaches zero, she will beg for mercy again, offering to aid you going forward. If you accept, she comes back as a loyal unit already in the next scenario, also enabling recruitment of outlaw units; and - 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 will find she gets away anyway - but you will get 200 gold that she leaves behind. If you're not finishing early enough to have enough gold for the next level, you might have no choice but to decline her offer and take the gold... alas, such is the brutal reality of forward-thinking leadership!

Note: Try and keep Eldaric's personal guard alive. These HI/Shock Troopers are loyal, and quite useful in some future scenarios (not the next one). To save them from certain Orcish death, don't let them delay the Orcish advance and move them South right away.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "brute force" strategy, spearmen are again key for cheap cost and durability. So is having a big gold carryover from last scenario. The goals are a big early finish bonus and leveling up at least 1 healer if not 2, as well as haldric and whoever else. Recruit a huge swarm of spearmen to overwhelm the wesfolk. Recruit just the one or 2 mages you are crafting into healers, and maybe a horseman that you want to level up. Send the HI running south immediately. Use the spearmen like the fodder they are to press toward the wesfolk keep at any cost. Attack thugs at night, stand in bad terrain to attack enemies on good terrain, send spearmen into positions where they will be surrounded, etc. Use the king's leadership to maximize damage and expect huge casualties. Grab some xp for your "real" units when you can during the carnage. Engage the orcs as little as possible and give them space to engage with the wesfolk around your western flank. You should finish early enough that you can show mercy to the wesfolk leader, as her units will be invaluable later.

===A Harrowing Escape===

* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (two Orcish Warlords in the SE)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric dies or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/45/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Outlaw Lady
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

'''Layout:'''

A narrow(ish) level, mostly mountains with a pass of decent width (3-abreast at the narrowest, usually 5, sometimes a bit more). The pass is strewn with villages - pretty close together. There's also a creek a mysterious cavern-style dwelling to the west of your starting point (wink wink, nudge nudge). No fog of war.

The enemy leaders have 140 starting gold (on medium), each with a 3-recruit keep on both sides of the Southwest of the level.

This scenario plays quite differently on the lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

'''Medium (& Easy?) Difficulty:'''

''Recruitment:''

Two rounds of recruitment (5 units each) will be quite sufficient, especially with the Outlaw Lady and the extra Steelclad (see below) - two new loyal units you get for free. Speaking of Loyals, consider recalling Eldaric's Loyal Heavy Infantry in the first turn: No upkeep!. Don't skew your recruitment too much for fighting on the mountains - Wolf Riders will zero in on your units on the pass soon enough, anyway; but a Footpad+Mage, or a Footpad+the Steelclad make a decent combination for chasing the odd wounded enemy. Definitely recall a White Mage, or an L1 Mage about to level-up, for this level - despite the villages along your way. You can manage without one, but - healing on the battlefield without the need to recycle troops is a great benefit when you're low on units and not recruiting again; especially if you've recalled the super-slow HI units. The White Mage will also deal with Orcish Assassins' poison. Don't get tempted to get more than one or two Horsemen/Knights - their mobility is not that useful. An interesting use they do have is as bait for units with ranged attacks: They are tempted to attack them despite a low chance for a kill, since they can't retaliate.

''Strategy:''

The timing of initial recruitment is meaningful: Recruit or recall your loyals and L1 units earlier, and your L2 units on turn 2 - even if they're slower. That means less of a gold penality on the first turn. Also, it means you can recruit a Footpad on turn 1 to go get the Steelclad (see below). Speaking of turn 2, by this time you'll have an initial notion of the Orcs' recruitment slant (mainly, more Grunts or more Wolf Riders), guiding your final choice of recruitment/recall.

Your enemies will recruit a typical mixed Orcish L1 force: Wolf riders, Grunts, Orcish Archers, Orcish Assassins, and a few Goblins. The proportions may vary, and so may their course of attack: Some units may or may not go up the stream; some Wolf Riders may or may not go over the mountains.

At any rate, Wolf Riders will reach the middle of the level by turn 6 - which as when you might reach the same area. So, don't push forward as fast as possible, except with your mounted units for village capture, and taking care not to over-expose them. Even with support nearby and with a Knight holed up in a village, you don't want to get into a night battle.

A little below the halfway point there's a choke point with two fortified hexes. That is a great spot for your Heavy Infantrymen; and they can be supported from behind by your leader(s), if they've leveled. Others like the Steelclad or even Lady Outlaw to man those posts.

At this point, if it seems the more Eastern enemy is coming up the river, consider sending some units over the mountains to deter that effort.

Once the initial Orcish attack is broken, you can leisurely proceed along the path, dispatching the occasional nuisance (but watching for the daily cycle, so as not to put yourself in the range of two Grunts at night etc.) Remember to let your leaders support your L1 units.

'''Hard Difficulty:'''

''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 decent starting gold. It has been beaten on hard with as little as 158 starting gold, 200 is still difficult, and 250+ makes it relatively easy. 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) <i>tout de suite</i>, 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. If you can recruit outlaws, a couple of Footpads are nice for village grabbing. Thieves are also good because they are cheap, the Grunts are fond of attacking them, and they often survive on 70% defense.

'' Strategy:''

Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill the first waves quickly: the wolves and assassins. 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. It's easier to make a stand at the keep and northern river bank, but this approach can be too costly in terms of time.

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.

'''Surprises and secrets:'''

* There is Dwarf Steelclad (L2) in the village at 8,5. It's not far from your camp, so send either a Footpad or Lady Outlaw there (a Footpad takes less time - if you want to invest in recruiting one). The Dwarf recluse will 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 - at the South patch of woods, just to the left of the river. 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.

'''Notes:'''

* If you haven't leveled Haldric from L1 up to L2, try to get that done.

* Lady Outlaw has a rare and somewhat odd ability, "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore enemy ZOCs. You're not likely to find yourself surrounded in this scenario, but that could happen later. Another feature of this sneaky lady is that she cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

* 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.

* It helps that there are two enemy sides as opposed to a twice as strong single enemy side. If one of your units could be attacked by three enemies, but one of these hexes is currently blocked by the other side, the currently moving enemy decides to attack units which it (they) is (are) actually less likely to kill than that one. AIs don't cooperate, that is.

* If you are stuck on this scenario, you may need to replay one or both of the previous scenarios and/or choose to "kill" Lady Outlaw in the previous scenario so you get her gold.

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

[Mal Shubertal]: starting this level with a big gold bonus and the lady outlaw creates the possibility for a much more aggressive start, earlier finish, and bigger gold bonus for the next scenario. Recall your HI, and recruit some poachers, send them south and send the lady outlaw to get the dwarf. Then recruit more poachers, your white mage(s), and whoever else you can afford. The first poachers should bait out the first roadside guard warrior right around dusk. Then your other poachers can surround it, kill it, and do the same with it's partner. By this point, your slow HI and other support troops will have caught up, and you can set up a defensive line using the villages and forests in that area (poachers have 60% defense in forests!). Meanwhile, the dwarf and lady outlaw will be catching up through the mountains. This is where healers are crucial. The dwarf and HI's have great armor against blades and can chew up grunts and wolves easily, especially by day, but poison and attrition will take them down without support. Use poachers to hold the line at night and if the others need time to heal. Focus on leveling your white mages and HI's, since they will be critical against the undead in the next scenario. After the main assault is broken, march everyone south, but send a foot pad or the lady outlaw to tag all the villages behind you before catching up, to maximize your income. The orc leaders never move or attack, so you can just block all their castle tiles to stop their recruitment and beat on them with impunity. Time it so that you finish off both on the same turn, to avoid the recruitment surge and reinforcements.

===Diverging Campaign Path===

At the conclusion of [[#HarrowingEscape|A Harrowing Escape]], Haldric has made it through a pass in the Broken Mountains, and must decide whether to proceed due Southeast, along a river going into the Swamp of Esten, or Southwest towards the hilly Midlands region of the isle (see the [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/maps/green_isle.png map]). As you can probably guess, Orcs like hills, not swamps, so if you go to the Midlands you'll be seeing a lot of them up close; this will likely cost you several good units, if not worse. The swamp is much easier, plus, you'll find a Loyal White Mage in there. So, the choice is a no-brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

====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 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 or Trapper or two, 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...
# Head to the northeastern leader first. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have a chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as at night 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 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: With enough starting gold, you can divide your forces from the start and finish this level much faster for a big early finish bonus. The northern leader sends zombies, bats, and adepts, while the southern leaders send level 2 undead units, much tougher. So send your HI/shock troopers and Burin south, your knights east, one white mage with each group, one leader with each group, and some thugs/mages with both. Mages are fragile, but with leadership and illumination they are incredibly effective against undead and especially against scorpions, which have very good impact defense against your thugs and HI. Focus more of your forces south, since that is the tougher fighting. Once the northern and southwestern leaders are dead, converge on the remaining leader from both sides.

===The Oldwood===

* Objective: Defeat both enemy leaders
* Lose if: Haldric or Wose leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Outlaw, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

'''Layout:'''

In this forest-and-swamp map, the Orcish invaders are about to stumble upon a Wose castle (of sorts), and will try to dispose of the woses. You're given a chance to prove yourself as an ally to Woses by helping them defend against the Orcs. There are two Orc Warlord (L3) leaders, in NE and South castles; your keep is to the NW; and the Wose castle is at the center of the level. Narrow flat paths connect the different castles - but the South castle only connects to your NW keep; to get from it to the Woses directly, one must cross some forest, a 1-hex stream and a swampy area.

'''Recruitment:'''

The Orcs will recruit effectively against Woses: Goblin Pillagers and Crossbowmen, with fire damage; and the Wose leader is rather poor. Still, you should be able to manage this level with three rounds of recruitment on Hard; on Medium, three rounds will make this pretty easy, and two rounds will be a bit of a challenge but quite possible with L2 recalls.

* At least two White Mages/Mages of Light - since you'll be fighting on multiple fronts.
* For muscle, recall some loyal Heavy Infantry and recruit/recall some Thugs/Bandits.
* For firepower, recall Trappers and Longbowmen or recruit Poachers and Bowmen (and Red Mages if you have them). Recruiting L1 mages is probably too much of a gamble here, and XP is not very manageable with your ally around.
* Resilient Spearmen or Pikemen should do well as defenders of the Wose castle. Quick Spearmen might be less-unuseful for flanking in the swamp or forest. Alternatively, you can use HIs as defenders.
* One or two Footpad scouts will be effective scouts (unlike Horsemen).

'''Splitting of Forces:'''

Your forces will be fighting in three mostly-distinct areas:

* North of the Wose castle and due Northeast
* The path South from your keep towards the Southern Orc leader's castle.
* The Wose castle and immediately South of it.

... and your first tactical choice will be how to split your recruits among these areas. Consider making it:

* 3-5 units - to the Wose castle
* 4-8 units + Wesfolk Lady - past the Wose castle and Northeast
* Other units + Haldric - due South

'''The Wose Castle'''

On Medium, and if you don't actively avoid conflict - the NE forces will come up against your units and the Wose leader's on the path to the castle, not thec castle itself (and a good thing too, since it's only 4 hexes + the keep. On Hard they might bypass you and hit the castle from the East or SE. Beyond that - it's South leader units coming over the stream.

* If you send a White Mage or Mage of Light to the Wose castle, it will heal not just your units, but also the Woses. And - any adjacent Wose will recuperate up to 16 HP per turn: While healing effects aren't cumulative within the same turn, your healing and Woses' regeneration occur on _different_ turns: +8 your healing, +8 wose regeneration. A poisoned Wose will be cured and gain 8 HP.

'''The Northeast'''

Your task is to block the initial attack. You don't have to rush for the NE leader (there are lots of turns), nor are you strongly limited by time-of-day - since you have both Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral units (Mage, Burin). Some enemy units may be roaming far from the path; if you have a Footpad scout, you can tell where they're going, and either lure them towards the path, harass them, or perhaps send Ruddry back on the path to meet them where they're going (if you can spare him in the fighting).

'''The South'''

At least on Medium, you'll encounter limited resistance here. But exactly for this reason you _should_ try to push forward - to attract attention, and possibly divert some Pillagers or Archers away from the Wose castle. If that doesn't happen, consider sending a few units with better mobility to either attract them or at least squeeze them.

'''Looking forward'''

* The next scenario takes place in underground catacombs. 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, make sure an level up your Fearless Loyal HI into a Shock Trooper, alongside some Chaotic units. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice (as are Outlaws on Medium). Quick units of almost any type (except horse-mounted ones) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

* The temple to the SE of the Wose castle is the entrance to the catacombs; you can't go in there before next scenario, so don't bother visiting it.

[Mal Shubertal]: Poachers shine on this map. The area south of the wose keep is swampy, and poachers both move better and have better defense in swamps than any other human or orc unit. The biggest challenge on this map is the wose leader, who is suicidally aggressive. He will jump far out of his keep to attack a goblin pillager or crossbowman, only to get immediately killed by powerful fire attacks the next turn. The only reliable way that I could find to protect him was to keep the fighting entirely out of his reach as much as possible, which means basically fighting on 3 fronts: south of his keep, north of his keep, and far south at the southern orc leader. This is only possible if you have at least 3 healers (counting Minister Edren). The southern assassination squad should be the healer plus fast units like knights and outlaws and Lady Outlaw (this will let them catch back up to the main battle once they're done). The south of keep group should be a healer and mostly poachers. The northern group is whatever you have left. Once the 2 southern groups finish their jobs, they will reinforce the northern group and finish. Note that you do not need to do all your recruiting at your starting keep. If haldric stands near the wose keep, their leader will helpfully move out of the way to let haldric use it.

===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, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water.
# 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). It helps if they are chaotic (or at least neutral) and/or have ranged or 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 other high HP units. Note that horse units are too sluggish in caves and should not be recalled/recruited unless you have a compelling reason.
# 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. First thing you will see are Tentacles. You can either ignore the Tentacles for the most part or use them for XP. Your main initial objective is to find a good place to make a stand against the nasty wave of undead coming from the north. The chokepoints and southern shoreline offer good defensive locations. Watch out for the enemy's Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a Level-3 unit.
# Once the flow of baddies as tapered off, gradually progress northwards. 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: The best choice for the Holy Water is a quick Bandit, who should level quickly. A quick Highwayman could be used, but won't benefit much from the XP.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The Tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. 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 Thug can be okay, if used with great care, but mostly you need to recall leveled troops here.

===Return to Oldwood===

Plot only.

===Clearwater Port===

* '''Objective''': Wait for 1st/2nd/3d ship arrives, then have Haldric board it.
* '''Alternative Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if''': Haldric, Jessene or Town Commander Aethyr die, or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': ??/32/?? ; first ship arrives at turn ??/12/??.
* '''Starting Units''': Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* '''Initial Gold''': ???/250/???

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

'''Layout:'''

The town and port of Clearwater lies on a stretch of land extending eastwards, between the seashore going East, North-East then North (at the Eastern edge of the level), and a wide river cross the level from West to East. The middle of the river is deep; it has a bridge over it at the West of the level and 1-hex shallow-water narrowing at the western edge, as it reaches the sea. There's also a small island, due South-by-SouthWest, from the center of town, with shallow water linking it to several areas on the coastline.

The terrain is mixed flat and frozen, with some hills and forested areas outside of town. Since winter has set in, there are some (not fully continuous) ice shelves along the coast. There are also lots of village hexes in this level - 41 (!) in total.

ClearWater Port is mostly walled-off from the land side, but its West-facing wall can be flanked on an ice shelf from the South, and in shallow water from the North. Also, the middle of the wall has a one-hex gap. There are 11 villages in town.

'''Recruitment:'''

# Your loyals, two to three healers and plenty of spearmen is all you need, if you stick to the walls and play defensively.
# Recruit slowly at start to stretch your gold with initial income.
# It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so add a few other (sturdy, non-mage) units for diversity and to make your recall list more varied.

'''Strategy:'''

The enemy leaders have an enormous influx of Gold: About +40 between them all at each turn, after upkeep costs; you see, they each have a base incoming of 10 (on Medium difficult). That means they churn out lots and lots of units. They also group them together, for daily - or rather nightly - attacks. So don't be tempted to believe that because you've had a lot of quality kills some day, and have leveled up a few units, you can go on the offensive; play defensively and conservatively.

You will be defending the Western town wall, mostly, for the duration of this scenario; so:

* Man the wall hexes with Spearmen and some healthy veterans.
* Use illumination and leadership to maximum effect. Two Mages of Light should do well enough, and you have two leaders, plus Commander Aethyr who stays put in his fort (covering two wall hexes).
* Note which hexes are more exposed (number of adjacent outer hexes + terrain) and consider both their unit assignment and the aura effects on them. Rotate wounded units from the higher-exposure wall hexes quicker than from other hexes.
* On Hard difficulty, or if you've started with little money - prepare to defend against occasional breaches, i.e. don't keep vulnerable units too exposed even behind the wall lines.
* Soften opponents with your veterans, feed kills to recruits. But - don't jeopardize your defenses for a little more XP.

''Your ally:''
Commander Aethyr is an idiot. He recruits L1 Mages and sends them off on suicide attacks. He clearly doesn't need his villages; your conscience should not bother you occupying all his villages. In the first few turns of the scenario, though - when it's still day, it may makes sense to support those troops somewhat, with your veterans, before solidifying your defense line.

''Defending the Eastern crossing:''
The Northern leader will send units both down the bridge and to the wall, but also east, to cross the river at its mouth. You need a force of several units, one of which will need to be rotated every turn for a fully-healed replacement, and a healer to be surrounded by them. Which units? It'll have to be our trusted Spearmen. While Footpads might do some more damage when defending, they don't have the necessary HP. The healer can be a White Mage; a Mage of Light is not necessary here. Make sure to position your Spearmen to block the enemy at the one-hex choke point. Your attackers will likely be Slayers, with an occasional Assassin or Grunt on Medium. 4 Spearmen should probably be enough, maybe 5.

''Finishing the scenario:''
Stay in town to help the defenses, and only take the third boat (and note you won't get an early finish bonus otherwise). You could try to defeat all leaders, but - this is more difficult than it looks. You might be thinking "eh, what are another bunch of Orcish Warlords? They're a dime a dozen". But with their unit production numbers, your advance against them will be slow, and will only be able to begin late. And while the two Eastern leaders are manageable - getting troops North by the bridge will take you many turns, or many deaths, or probably both. And for a walk around the level to the Eastern river crossing, at the mouth, takes a quick Spearman 13 or 14 turns. So you can probably only get to the North leader by splitting your forces when you start the attack.

===Fallen Lich Point===

* '''Objective''': Defeat the Lich-Lord Caror, then have Haldric enter the sewer.
* '''Alternative Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders (including the Lich).
* '''Lose if''': Haldric or Jessene or die or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': ??/36/??
* '''Starting Units''': Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* '''Initial Gold''': ???/250/???

This is a high variance scenario. On Hard difficulty, it may be easy or hard, depending on events beyond your control; on Medium difficulty, it will likely be easy or manageable.

'''Layout:'''

* Almost all of the level is snowed, including the rivers. There are some flatlands, hills and forested areas (and mountains to the North, but nobody goes there.
* The level is higher than it is narrower. Your keep is to the East; two Orcish Warlords have keeps in the NE and NW; and there's the "Fallen Lich" himself, Lich-Lord Caror, petrified in a walled keep to the South.
* There are snow-free roads connecting the four leaders' keeps: You, the Orcs and Caror. However - these roads are of width 1, and much of them is surrounded by flat frozen land, so that moving more than 1-abreast is both slow and dangerous.
* There are lots of villages - 32 in all - scattered mostly uniformly. That means most of them are at some distance from the roads.

'''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.

'''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 village flagging 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.
* 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.)

===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 two Royal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.
* A Rogue (or Assassin) can be very handy as a damage dealer, who is able to break through bottlenecks.

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===

Clockwise, starting at the bottom:
* the southern orcs (purple) will recruit the usual orcish units, and with a few going west between the mountains and the coast, while the bulk will come through the plains south of the swamp, arriving at the keep early in the night. This one is the most conventional enemy, once his host is defeated you can march a comparatively small strike force to his keep and finish him off.
* The waterlogged orc to the west (black) will recruit mostly Naga and a few Bats, which will harrass you from the sea and try to seize the villages on your peninsula. He only has a small keep, so he can keep recruiting, two units per turn, seemingly forever.
* The northern orcs (green) are farthest away; they also have lots of villages they can capture. Hence it will be some time until they reach you, and not in full force at first. With any luck (and strong enough units) you'll have fought down the bulk of the southern orcs by then.
* Finally, a number of level-2 skeletons (including Chocobones) will appear behind the swamp in the east on turn 4 (first dusk). Those will join the black team; starting behind the swamp and with a few villages to grab, they won't knock on your door before daybreak.

Spoiler:
On turn five, a few mermen will appear near the lighthouse and join you; you'll also be able to recruit mermen from then on. That's your ticket to fighting back the Naga, see to it that you still have some money left at the time.

Recruitment/Strategy:
# several Trappers/Rangers/Huntsmen to sally forth and occupy the hills and forest south of the town. Your ally will sally forth to meet the enemy in the usual fashion; if you can lend a hand and soften up the enemy, King Addroran's troops will finish them off easily. In doing so, they'll happily expose themselves to counterattack -- your Trappers (etc.) have a rather good melee attack and probably won't be targeted as long as there's weaker and more accessible allied units nearby. Don't fret about the missed XP, there will be plenty more before this is over. For now, you want to dispose of the bad guys ASAP before they pile up on the doorstep.
# you probably don't need dedicated undead-killers beyond the Mages you bring anyway. But if you want to employ your loyal Shock Troopers, recruit them no later than turn 2 or they won't get there in time.
# Mages: seeing as there will be fighting all over the place, three healers will be barely sufficient. A few fireball-throwers will also come in handy, if only in order to deal with the evasive Orcish Assassins / Slayers. A Silver Mage or two will be especially useful, as they can teleport all over the place and help with each of the commanders in turn (especially the one on the island, that would take forever to get to otherwise).
# by turn 3, some chaff to occupy the coastal villages so the Naga can't just waltz in. Level-1 units or even peasants will do.
# the worst fighting will be over by daybreak; you'll still want a few lawful units to carry on the battle during the day. One keep of knights and level-2 lawful infantry should suffice. Recruit these on turn 4.
# starting on turn five, you can recruit mermen. Those can not only deal with the Naga infestation, but also tackle the northern orcs as they try to cross the bay. Two keeps worth is not too many.

Strategy is broken into three fronts...
# First order is to help your ally with the first waves of attackers, as described above. You can't stop King Addroran from throwing away his troops, but you can help them to have some effect before they perish.
# Next, fending off the Naga. A few cheap units in coastal villages at first, mermen later. Mermen vs Naga at sea will be slow fighting: both have excellent terrain defense, so there will be no obvious progress for a good long while. You should use a Mage of Light to support them, this really makes a difference during the night.
# Also, the bay/river to the north. The Mermen can be very efficient here, enjoying high terrain defense while being close enough to the coast that Lady Jessene and Haldric can provide Leadership wherever needed; again, you also want a Mage of Light if available.

For the landlubbers, don't bring too many rookies: this scenario is best used to direct experience to your level-2 units, partially advancing them outright or getting them to a point where you can expect them to level up at a good point in their next battle.

For the Merfolk, try to advance all they loyal ones, and a few more besides. Directing XP to particular units will be easier for those mermen defending the bridge, but those fighting the Naga will inevitably get some XP as well. Eventually you'll have to cross the bridge with ground troops and take the fight to the enemy, though.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a potentially bloody scenario. The Drakes are barely impeded by the difficult terrain and can run circles around you, making it hard to move damaged units into a safe position. On the upside, most drakes have little terrain defense even in forest and mountains, and are positively vulnerable to spears and arrows.

Strategy...
Using Trappers (or their upgrades) and Merfolk, try to lure the enemy into the swamps or over the sea, fight down their troops, then storm their keeps. Be prepared to suffer some losses: it's better to deliberately sacrifice some units of your choosing than struggling to keep everyone alive.

Spoiler...
* There's a Storm Trident in the middle of the bay. There's no particular hurry to pick it up for using it in this battle: the trident does fire damage, which isn't very useful against drakes. Just don't forget to retrieve it for later use.

Picking it up will summon a level-3 Sea Serpent on the next turn, be sure that you're ready for it.

Lord Typhon will depart in a few scenarios, so better give the trident to another fighter. Preferably a "quick" one, who can become a Hoplite and still keep up with his mates when he gets to Level-3.

===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 an odd scenario: as soon as anyone gets killed, the elvish high council will step in an end the bloodshed. Your "early finish bonus" becomes a "late finish" bonus: you're supposed to drag this out for as long as possible without anyone being killed.

Recruitment...
* the strongest units you have, that can deal both melee and ranged damage.
* Rangers are best, followed by Javelineers and level-3 Bowmen.
* you need six of these at the very least, preferably more, plus healers to back them up. If you don't have that many elite troops on your roster, or cannot afford to recall as many, it may be better to do nothing: keep your starting money, and slay the first person to reach you.

Strategy...
Place Javelineers on the keep, Mermen in the water, and Rangers in the forest. All backed up by healers. Have a few reserves you can swap in when things get tough. Haldric also makes a good front-line unit; Javelineers should stay near him for the leadership.

Note that no enemy unit will attack you when there's even a remote risk that they might die. So having the strongest possible fighters, both melee and ranged, will deter the most attackers. If your line looks fierce enough, some level-1 units will not attack you at all. All others will cease attacking as soon as they've taken enough damage that their death becomes a possibility. At which point, they will wander of in search of a village for healing; once all nearby villages are occupied, your attackers may even stand around dumbfounded.

Place your troops where they enjoy a good terrain defense, that is, the keep and the forest. The purpose is to reduce the damage taken and last for as long as possible. After the first round of attacks, you'll always have a few near-dead opponents standing in front of your lines, allowing you to end the scenario quickly.

You need eight tough guys to fully seal off a corner of the map, plus two mermen, and four healers. However, the enemy doesn't know or understand your plan: if your front doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the map, they will not deliberately try to outflank you. To the AI, a ''small'' gap of one or two tiles will look like a trap. So six land warriors to hold the line will do for a long time. Only after the attackers start to pile up against your formation will they eventually start to flow around.

Be sure to keep the villages behind you occupied at all times, however, or wounded enemies seeking a village to heal in may actually try to get there. Sir Ruddry and Burin, having no other use, will do nicely.

Spoiler...
* this the last chance you have to recruit Mermen, as their king leaves. You've probably got plenty on your roster from the previous scenarios, which will stay with you and can be recalled later. But if you think you need more, this is your last chance.
* the late finish bonus is 50/turn, so if your upkeep is less than that, you're in the good. Even if you don't have or cannot afford enough troops for a full defense, trying to hold the keep for a few turns will be worthwhile.

===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. Pikemen and Halberdiers 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.
* Merman shine on this map once you get them into the swamp / water hexes. They are more mobile than anything but silver mages. The storm trident makes short work of even high-level saurians and the dragon is weak to the pierce damage of your tridents and javelins. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon even further.

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 west leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed. But then by turn 10, 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.

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====

Cave terrain again, but this time the cave is so riddled with holes that there's barely any sense of individual corridors. There's plenty of short narrow passages which prevent both you and your opponents from ganging up on on each other, while on the other hand the trolls can just walk around a blocked choke point and come at you through the neighboring hole. So fighting is mostly one-on-one, though may have several such fights going on at any given time.

The map is roughly symmetrical, a keep in each of the four corners. Two random keeps will be home to the trolls, the other two will be occupied by a Giant Spider each. The spiders will only attack if you get too close.

You designated opponents will be level-1 and -2 trolls, under level-3 commanders. They don't have that much starting gold, but sufficient income to keep recruiting about one Troll Cub per turn, or a level-2 every other turn, very much until you're right on their doorstep. In order to win this, you have to be able and slay the trolls quicker than they're coming.

Recruitment...
* as usual in the caves, give preference to units that can move 3 tiles on cave terrain.
* also as usual by now, this is no place for level-1 units. You can carefully level up one or two rookies, but the bulk of your host has to be tougher than that. It's more an opportunity to level up your chaotic units, and, especially, your mages.
* Spellcasters will do a lot of damage to Trolls, and in the 1-on-1 situation so common on this map, any level-2 or better mage will be certain survive the counterattack. You'll need level-3 Magi to press forward and carry the battle to the enemy's keeps, though.
* You'll want two teams of two healers each in any event. However, Trolls are susceptible to arcane damage, so your White Mages can play a very active role (and quickly level up if so desired). Mages of Light will be especially nice, with their illumination blinding the trolls and a half-decent melee attack to fight back with.
* You can arguably fight this battle on mages alone. However, you'll need at least two keeps worth of units to plug all the holes and prevent the trolls from outflanking you. The supporters' main qualification will be to have enough hitpoints to survice a troll attack; being able to fight back is very desirable. Bandits or Swordsmen will be best, depending on whether you back them by a light source. Trappers and Outlaws will make do in the dark, Pikemen are a distant third, and lawful bowmen should sit this out: Mages can play the same game much better.

The general strategy is to move into whatever direction the trolls are coming from, and fight your way, upstream so to speak, until you get to the enemy keep.

You may start doing so right away, or first await the initial onslaught in the island you're starting on. With you on the ground and the enemy in the water, the terrain is in your favor... but the spacious cavern also allows two or even three trolls to gang up against one of yours. Then again, you can make good use of your loyal mermen and possibly even Sir Ruddry. Neither of which will be any good later when you carry the fight to the enemy, but hey, they're loyal and demand no upkeep.

If you want to explore the map and steal villages, you better do so in force. The spiders will lunge at anyone who happens to get in their range; and besides, there's several unflagged villages at the beginning of the scenario, and your opponents will seize them. This means that trolls, even level-2 ones, may show up in unexpected places.

====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 three temples there is 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===

The map's most striking feature is a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. The two closest keeps are Orcs, the one in the north holds a Troll. All will be spawning mostly level-2 units. Their average recruit will cost about 20-22 gold, check their gold at the beginning of the scenario and you'll have an idea of how many units you'll have to expect.
The terrain funnels you northward, where you will encounter the northern orcs at nightfall, coming at you in full force. The orcs from the west will start showing up during the night. They are distracted by several un-occupied villages, so they'll be a bit more stretched out. The trolls won't arrive until daybreak.
Whenever one of the enemy commanders has lost half of his units, some undead will join his team: one level-3 skeleton, plus two or four Chocobones depending on difficulty. This happens three times over the course of the battle, once for every enemy commander.
This scenario will be fairly easy, regardless of difficulty level, if you can afford at least three keeps worth of troops.

Recruitment / Strategy:
* Knights recalled on the first turn can encounter the Orcs in your north still in full daylight, and possibly wreck havoc among them before nightfall. The success of this strategy largely depends on what kind of units the orc is sending your way, but in any event don't bother with half-measures: either send 4+ strong riders on turn 1, or don't worry about trying it at all. Follow up with more lawful units and Mages of Light, using only a few chaotic ones to harrass and delay the orcs coming from the west.

* Alternatively, recall your toughest chaotic units from the get-go, and prepare to fight down the first orcish host in the woods to your north, with only a Knight or two to deal with any Wolf Riders getting ahead of the main host.

* You want to bring at least one Paladin (Sir Ruddry probably qualifies) and between that and your healers, you don't need much of a dedicated undead-killing force. If you have loyal Shock Troopers, by all means bring them on -- they'd be useful in any event. Otherwise, a pair of Bandits or a second Paladin will do nicely.

* If you want to seize the villages across the mountains to your west, be prepared to encounter a Goblin Knight or Pillager trying to do the same (you will meet whatever fast unit the western orc happened to recruit on his first turn. It may only be a "quick" archer, but a level-2 wolf is quite likely).

* 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. They will also keep their distance and refuse to attack until you present them with a target the AI considers worthwhile. Effectively you have to throw them a peasant, or a strong unit that will survive badly wounded and effectively be out of the battle for several turns.

* A Silver Mage or two can come in really handy, Teleporting all over the map to dislodge wolves from the mountains or lend a hand with the undead as needed.

This scenario is an excellent opportunity to train some Knights, as well as a few other lawful fighters. But keep in mind that the campaign is coming to a close and you can only recall so many units in the last battles: if you think you already have enough quality units, it's better to use those (and maybe get an AMLA or two) than to build up an ever bigger roster of troops you can't (or won't) recall.

===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 orcs in the north deploy the usual orcish fare, but can also recruit trolls. The undead commander will only recruit bats and skeletons (quality depending on difficulty, there may be Chocobones on Hard). During the first night, the Lich-Lord will make another appearance, casting fog of war upon the battlefield and deploy a number of Chocobones on the undead island (they're under command of the orcs, though).
When you get too close to the isle in the river mouth, you'll trigger cuttlefish to the west of that isle. Getting too close to the swamps where the river starts will summon level-2 saurians. It looks dire but the effect is mostly psychological.

Wolf riders may reach you during the night, the bulk of the orc army won't arrive until daybreak (unless you push forward to meet them, which you shouldn't). The skeletons, too, will be held up by the water. So you've got a lot of time to set up positions near the beach and in the wood.

* First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. It will be morning until they even reach the sea, but they'll still arrive in time to help with any (possibly many) skeletons still in the water. Later they can deal with the Draug in his keep. A Silver Mage's assistance will help but isn't strictly necessary.
* also send a few undead-bashers to the beach. Two or three units holding the beach at any time will do nicely; Burin and the loyal Shock Troopers are best, mostly because they're armored against arrows. If you don't have those, a number of Outlaws/Fugitives will be the next best choice, though you'll need more of them due to the damage taken.
* the cuttlefish (1, 2 or 4 of them depending on difficulty) will keep your mermen occupied for several turns and in need of healing afterwards. It's probably best to trigger them very early (a rider seizing the village at 20,22 will do): the cuttlefish are so aggressive that they will get out onto dry land in order to attack an Iron Mauler in broad daylight. That way, you can have them finished off before any skeletons reach you, and long before your mermen are even in the water.
* add another two or (at most) three keeps of mixed troops. You've fought enough orcs and trolls by know that you should know what suits the purpose. You probably want a few chaotic units to hold up the assault late at night, then rush the enemy with lawfuls at daybreak. Cavalry will once more work well, just keep in mind that you'll face a task force of quality saurians later on -- you also want some units that are not quite as prone to piercing damage.
* talking about which: getting within 10 hexes or less from 34,15 will touch off the Saurians. With careful navigation the encounter can be avoided for the whole scenario, but it's probably better to trigger them at a time of your choosing and get it over with. Saurians aren't very tough, their strength comes from being hard to hit and their skirmishing ability. But on normal and easy, they're not very numerous. If you can lure them out into open terrain, you can probably overwhelm them in a single turn, even at night.

Try to finish this scenario quickly. Make use of veterans, by this point you should really have enough of them. Don't worry about running into negative funds in the mean time: there's enough villages to ensure a hefty early finish bonus. Just don't dawdle, you want to get out of this with at least 200, better 300 gold carried over.

===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 some 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.

Strategy...
* You can either send everybody west initially and then split for the two bridges or you can split initially, with mounted units racing 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.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield.
* Kill all but one of the orc leaders (not all!).
* Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. Jevyan probably won't come out to play, so march Aethyr up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack.
* Paladins, great mages, mages of light, silver mages are all suitable units to kill Jevyan himself, make sure you have them in sufficient numbers with your southern army. 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 (or a Soulless on hard.)
* 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. The lich also will receive some gold once you kill his Familiar.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

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

TheRiseOfWesnoth

2020-06-15T19:30:48Z

Revolting peasant: /* Clearwater Port */

==Overall Campaign Strategy==

(At the moment, most of the walkthrough takes the perspective of the Lord (Challenging) difficult setting.)

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

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead vanquishers: 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 level-up at least two Paladins and two-or-more 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 not as useful against the 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 leveled up - preferably the quick ones, which will be more useful in underground levels. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which - upon reaching Level 3 - gain the marksmanship trait (or Rangers are good too, for swamps and forest.) These, plus Lady Outlaw, provide a better range of tactics in 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<br>
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops<br>
4a. The Midlands - avoid this Scenario, prefer The Swamp of Eden instead<br>
4b. The Swamp of Eden - Level-2 Haldric, Level-2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers<br>
6. Temple of the Deep - Level-3 Haldric, Level-3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits<br>
8. Clearwater Port - Level-3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers<br>
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages<br>
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''<br>
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light<br>
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin<br>
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights)<br>
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, Level-3 Commander Aethyr desirable<br>
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.

[Mal Shubertal]: Some scenarios, such as Swamp of Esten, are nearly impossible on Lord difficulty with just the base starting gold, so you need to focus on not just winning the earlier scenarios, but beating them FAST for maximum early finish bonus, otherwise you will find yourself stuck later on. This means you can't always "play it safe", for example by waiting for the wesfolk to attack you across the river in the first scenario, because this wastes precious turns of your units just sitting around. On the plus side, this creates a positive feedback loop: starting a scenario with a lot of gold lets you pursue more aggressive strategies, finish faster, start the next scenario with even more gold, etc.

== Scenarios ==

=== A Summer of Storms ===

* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader - a Wesfolk Outcast (Level-2)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric or King Eldaric die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/28/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric (who can't recruit)
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

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

'''Recruitment:'''

* Your faction is Loyalists, but you can't recruit the heavier units (Heavy Infantry, Cavalryman).
* 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 recruit 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:'''

The Wesfolk are an Outlaw faction, recruiting Poachers, Thugs and Footpads.

On Medium or Easy difficulty, you can barely fail. Your initial keep-full of recruits (5 units) and another 2 at most are all you need. Just make sure not to advance head-on onto the initial attack, since if you do, you'll meet the majority of the enemy units during the first night, which can get hairy. Stay your advance a bit, and they'll come rushing down - without even ganging up on you properly. If you recruited 3 Horsemen, send one to tag villages; and send one of your later recruits (a Spearman/Bowman, preferably a quick one) to tag villages in the mountains. However - don't get too much in the way of enemy tagging, since you want their leader to have money for recruiting your "sparring partners" for gathering XP. If you recruited a Mage, s/he will drink up a lot the enemy XP, otherwise there'll be plenty for the Bowmen and some for the Horsemen and Haldric himself.

Don't forget to send Haldric out after making your last recruit.

On Hard, you'll need to put in a bit of thought. Players have used at least three strategies with success...

* '''Over the bridge''': 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.
* '''Hide in the swamp''': 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''': 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "over the bridge" strategy on Hard, spearmen are key, purely because they are cheap, have high hp, and are not vulnerable to pierce like horsemen. Your first engagement with the enemy will be at night, so the main goal is to just survive: hold the 2 villages just west of the river, pick off weak units like foot pads if possible, prevent any of your units getting surrounded, rotate out your wounded units, and hold out until morning. Sometimes the right choice will be to just position a spearman to block a hole in your line, but not attack, to preserve hp and increase the chance to survive. Also recruit a horseman to tag all the villages in the southwest for income, then rush back to reinforce your front. By morning, that income will have added up, with Haldric sending an increasing stream of reinforcements, and you'll be ready to counterattack. Also recruit one or 2 mages, and start carefully feeding one xp to build your first healer. Instead of diverting resources sending units to the north, you can just ignore it at first to focus on the heavy fighting to the west. Eventually the units the opponent sent to the northern villages will come down to attack haldric in his keep, but by that time you will be able to recruit him plenty of body guards and get him some xp while your main force with the king takes out the wesfolk leader.

===The Fall===

* Objective: Defeat the Wesfolk Outcast Leader (same one from the last level)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric or Wesfolk Leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/24/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

You are back in the same valley you were fighting in last scenario; it's fall, so the Northern parts have some snow, and King Eldaric has placed some one-hex fort pairs on the road due North-West. He also manned the upper pair of hexes with his personal guard - a troupe of three Heavy Infantrymen (Shock Troopers on Easy).

... but the more menacing change is three enemy leaders: Two Orcs, a Warlord (L3) and a Warrior (L2), in the Northwest and Northeast respectively, and your old friend the Wesfolk Leader woman in the Southwest: You (Haldric and Eldaric) are planning to evacuate South to avoid an Orcish overrun - and she's conveniently just in the way. Each Orc is about as rich as you, on Medium, and possibly richer on Hard; and Ms. roadblock has quite a bit of gold as well.

'''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:'''

This scenario may seem a little scary at first: Not a lot of money, only a few veterans, and an attack from three fronts without a lot of barriers. Not like the walk in park we had in Summer... but - it's not actually as hard as it looks: You're not trying to stand your ground and defeat all of your assailants - you're just clearing a path for retreat; that is, your only real enemy for this scenario is highway girl. And remember: The Orcs and the Wesfolk are not ganging up on you; the NW Orc Leader's forces will attack engage the Wesfolk on contact, and will, in fact, direct some units in the SW leader's direction (more, if you're not in the way).

There are three basic approaches to take out our Checkpoint Charlotte:

# '''Brute force''': Raise a large army and march West. Use part of your force to hold off the NW Orc leader's forces coming South through the pass; use the rest to break through the Wesfolk defense 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; but on Hard, it might be beyond your reach (or the reach of your funds).
# '''Leave the dirty work to the Orcs''': Wait around your keep, defending your bank of the river so the Orcs coming down from the Northwest don't get any ideas (and escorting Eldaric's private guard of HI to safety). The NW Orcs will fight the Wesfolk; when the outlaws forces are nearly spent, seize a moment of opportunity when the road to the Wesfolk leader is mostly clear. Then, take a strike force of a Knight and a few more units across the two bridges. Your timing should allow for quick dispatching of the odd enemy unit along the way (hopefully, these should be wounded or separated from their comrades), clearing a path for a Knight of yours to arrive at the SW keep and attack the Wesfolk leader. This strategy is risky, because Orcs will be present by this time around the Wesfolk leader, and might kill the leader before you do - you don't want that happening.
# '''Assassination''': Send a squad through the southern mountains to the Outlaw leader's keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen might be enough. If not, add a Knight, Horseman, or the King - but be careful with these supporting units, as they cannot traverse mountains, and may get pinned down on the narrow passage by the Wesfolk. The stretch of road from the pass due South to the keep should be clear, and the recruits fighting the Orcs.

Even if you manage to fend off the Orcs, you shouldn't delay your victory to collect more XP. Unlike the first level, here you are unlikely to have control of most of the villages, and the following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is quite a handful (at least on Hard difficulty). On Hard, aim for a carryover of almost 150 gold (i.e. finish the level with close to 375 gold). It is also important you have a Mage leveled up to a White Mage, or almost at the point of leveling. Near-leveling L1 units will also come in handy for their low initial upkeep (relative to L2 recalls), so that you'll squeeze a little more oomph from less starting gold. Steer XP collection accordingly.

Once you've brought the Wesfolk leader's HP reaches zero, she will beg for mercy again, offering to aid you going forward. If you accept, she comes back as a loyal unit already in the next scenario, also enabling recruitment of outlaw units; and - 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 will find she gets away anyway - but you will get 200 gold that she leaves behind. If you're not finishing early enough to have enough gold for the next level, you might have no choice but to decline her offer and take the gold... alas, such is the brutal reality of forward-thinking leadership!

Note: Try and keep Eldaric's personal guard alive. These HI/Shock Troopers are loyal, and quite useful in some future scenarios (not the next one). To save them from certain Orcish death, don't let them delay the Orcish advance and move them South right away.

[Mal Shubertal]: For the "brute force" strategy, spearmen are again key for cheap cost and durability. So is having a big gold carryover from last scenario. The goals are a big early finish bonus and leveling up at least 1 healer if not 2, as well as haldric and whoever else. Recruit a huge swarm of spearmen to overwhelm the wesfolk. Recruit just the one or 2 mages you are crafting into healers, and maybe a horseman that you want to level up. Send the HI running south immediately. Use the spearmen like the fodder they are to press toward the wesfolk keep at any cost. Attack thugs at night, stand in bad terrain to attack enemies on good terrain, send spearmen into positions where they will be surrounded, etc. Use the king's leadership to maximize damage and expect huge casualties. Grab some xp for your "real" units when you can during the carnage. Engage the orcs as little as possible and give them space to engage with the wesfolk around your western flank. You should finish early enough that you can show mercy to the wesfolk leader, as her units will be invaluable later.

===A Harrowing Escape===

* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (two Orcish Warlords in the SE)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric dies or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/45/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Outlaw Lady
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

'''Layout:'''

A narrow(ish) level, mostly mountains with a pass of decent width (3-abreast at the narrowest, usually 5, sometimes a bit more). The pass is strewn with villages - pretty close together. There's also a creek a mysterious cavern-style dwelling to the west of your starting point (wink wink, nudge nudge). No fog of war.

The enemy leaders have 140 starting gold (on medium), each with a 3-recruit keep on both sides of the Southwest of the level.

This scenario plays quite differently on the lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

'''Medium (& Easy?) Difficulty:'''

''Recruitment:''

Two rounds of recruitment (5 units each) will be quite sufficient, especially with the Outlaw Lady and the extra Steelclad (see below) - two new loyal units you get for free. Speaking of Loyals, consider recalling Eldaric's Loyal Heavy Infantry in the first turn: No upkeep!. Don't skew your recruitment too much for fighting on the mountains - Wolf Riders will zero in on your units on the pass soon enough, anyway; but a Footpad+Mage, or a Footpad+the Steelclad make a decent combination for chasing the odd wounded enemy. Definitely recall a White Mage, or an L1 Mage about to level-up, for this level - despite the villages along your way. You can manage without one, but - healing on the battlefield without the need to recycle troops is a great benefit when you're low on units and not recruiting again; especially if you've recalled the super-slow HI units. The White Mage will also deal with Orcish Assassins' poison. Don't get tempted to get more than one or two Horsemen/Knights - their mobility is not that useful. An interesting use they do have is as bait for units with ranged attacks: They are tempted to attack them despite a low chance for a kill, since they can't retaliate.

''Strategy:''

The timing of initial recruitment is meaningful: Recruit or recall your loyals and L1 units earlier, and your L2 units on turn 2 - even if they're slower. That means less of a gold penality on the first turn. Also, it means you can recruit a Footpad on turn 1 to go get the Steelclad (see below). Speaking of turn 2, by this time you'll have an initial notion of the Orcs' recruitment slant (mainly, more Grunts or more Wolf Riders), guiding your final choice of recruitment/recall.

Your enemies will recruit a typical mixed Orcish L1 force: Wolf riders, Grunts, Orcish Archers, Orcish Assassins, and a few Goblins. The proportions may vary, and so may their course of attack: Some units may or may not go up the stream; some Wolf Riders may or may not go over the mountains.

At any rate, Wolf Riders will reach the middle of the level by turn 6 - which as when you might reach the same area. So, don't push forward as fast as possible, except with your mounted units for village capture, and taking care not to over-expose them. Even with support nearby and with a Knight holed up in a village, you don't want to get into a night battle.

A little below the halfway point there's a choke point with two fortified hexes. That is a great spot for your Heavy Infantrymen; and they can be supported from behind by your leader(s), if they've leveled. Others like the Steelclad or even Lady Outlaw to man those posts.

At this point, if it seems the more Eastern enemy is coming up the river, consider sending some units over the mountains to deter that effort.

Once the initial Orcish attack is broken, you can leisurely proceed along the path, dispatching the occasional nuisance (but watching for the daily cycle, so as not to put yourself in the range of two Grunts at night etc.) Remember to let your leaders support your L1 units.

'''Hard Difficulty:'''

''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 decent starting gold. It has been beaten on hard with as little as 158 starting gold, 200 is still difficult, and 250+ makes it relatively easy. 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) <i>tout de suite</i>, 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. If you can recruit outlaws, a couple of Footpads are nice for village grabbing. Thieves are also good because they are cheap, the Grunts are fond of attacking them, and they often survive on 70% defense.

'' Strategy:''

Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill the first waves quickly: the wolves and assassins. 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. It's easier to make a stand at the keep and northern river bank, but this approach can be too costly in terms of time.

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.

'''Surprises and secrets:'''

* There is Dwarf Steelclad (L2) in the village at 8,5. It's not far from your camp, so send either a Footpad or Lady Outlaw there (a Footpad takes less time - if you want to invest in recruiting one). The Dwarf recluse will 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 - at the South patch of woods, just to the left of the river. 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.

'''Notes:'''

* If you haven't leveled Haldric from L1 up to L2, try to get that done.

* Lady Outlaw has a rare and somewhat odd ability, "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore enemy ZOCs. You're not likely to find yourself surrounded in this scenario, but that could happen later. Another feature of this sneaky lady is that she cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

* 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.

* It helps that there are two enemy sides as opposed to a twice as strong single enemy side. If one of your units could be attacked by three enemies, but one of these hexes is currently blocked by the other side, the currently moving enemy decides to attack units which it (they) is (are) actually less likely to kill than that one. AIs don't cooperate, that is.

* If you are stuck on this scenario, you may need to replay one or both of the previous scenarios and/or choose to "kill" Lady Outlaw in the previous scenario so you get her gold.

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

[Mal Shubertal]: starting this level with a big gold bonus and the lady outlaw creates the possibility for a much more aggressive start, earlier finish, and bigger gold bonus for the next scenario. Recall your HI, and recruit some poachers, send them south and send the lady outlaw to get the dwarf. Then recruit more poachers, your white mage(s), and whoever else you can afford. The first poachers should bait out the first roadside guard warrior right around dusk. Then your other poachers can surround it, kill it, and do the same with it's partner. By this point, your slow HI and other support troops will have caught up, and you can set up a defensive line using the villages and forests in that area (poachers have 60% defense in forests!). Meanwhile, the dwarf and lady outlaw will be catching up through the mountains. This is where healers are crucial. The dwarf and HI's have great armor against blades and can chew up grunts and wolves easily, especially by day, but poison and attrition will take them down without support. Use poachers to hold the line at night and if the others need time to heal. Focus on leveling your white mages and HI's, since they will be critical against the undead in the next scenario. After the main assault is broken, march everyone south, but send a foot pad or the lady outlaw to tag all the villages behind you before catching up, to maximize your income. The orc leaders never move or attack, so you can just block all their castle tiles to stop their recruitment and beat on them with impunity. Time it so that you finish off both on the same turn, to avoid the recruitment surge and reinforcements.

===Diverging Campaign Path===

At the conclusion of [[#HarrowingEscape|A Harrowing Escape]], Haldric has made it through a pass in the Broken Mountains, and must decide whether to proceed due Southeast, along a river going into the Swamp of Esten, or Southwest towards the hilly Midlands region of the isle (see the [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/maps/green_isle.png map]). As you can probably guess, Orcs like hills, not swamps, so if you go to the Midlands you'll be seeing a lot of them up close; this will likely cost you several good units, if not worse. The swamp is much easier, plus, you'll find a Loyal White Mage in there. So, the choice is a no-brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

====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 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 or Trapper or two, 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...
# Head to the northeastern leader first. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have a chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as at night 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 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.

[Mal Shubertal]: With enough starting gold, you can divide your forces from the start and finish this level much faster for a big early finish bonus. The northern leader sends zombies, bats, and adepts, while the southern leaders send level 2 undead units, much tougher. So send your HI/shock troopers and Burin south, your knights east, one white mage with each group, one leader with each group, and some thugs/mages with both. Mages are fragile, but with leadership and illumination they are incredibly effective against undead and especially against scorpions, which have very good impact defense against your thugs and HI. Focus more of your forces south, since that is the tougher fighting. Once the northern and southwestern leaders are dead, converge on the remaining leader from both sides.

===The Oldwood===

* Objective: Defeat both enemy leaders
* Lose if: Haldric or Wose leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Outlaw, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

'''Layout:'''

In this forest-and-swamp map, the Orcish invaders are about to stumble upon a Wose castle (of sorts), and will try to dispose of the woses. You're given a chance to prove yourself as an ally to Woses by helping them defend against the Orcs. There are two Orc Warlord (L3) leaders, in NE and South castles; your keep is to the NW; and the Wose castle is at the center of the level. Narrow flat paths connect the different castles - but the South castle only connects to your NW keep; to get from it to the Woses directly, one must cross some forest, a 1-hex stream and a swampy area.

'''Recruitment:'''

The Orcs will recruit effectively against Woses: Goblin Pillagers and Crossbowmen, with fire damage; and the Wose leader is rather poor. Still, you should be able to manage this level with three rounds of recruitment on Hard; on Medium, three rounds will make this pretty easy, and two rounds will be a bit of a challenge but quite possible with L2 recalls.

* At least two White Mages/Mages of Light - since you'll be fighting on multiple fronts.
* For muscle, recall some loyal Heavy Infantry and recruit/recall some Thugs/Bandits.
* For firepower, recall Trappers and Longbowmen or recruit Poachers and Bowmen (and Red Mages if you have them). Recruiting L1 mages is probably too much of a gamble here, and XP is not very manageable with your ally around.
* Resilient Spearmen or Pikemen should do well as defenders of the Wose castle. Quick Spearmen might be less-unuseful for flanking in the swamp or forest. Alternatively, you can use HIs as defenders.
* One or two Footpad scouts will be effective scouts (unlike Horsemen).

'''Splitting of Forces:'''

Your forces will be fighting in three mostly-distinct areas:

* North of the Wose castle and due Northeast
* The path South from your keep towards the Southern Orc leader's castle.
* The Wose castle and immediately South of it.

... and your first tactical choice will be how to split your recruits among these areas. Consider making it:

* 3-5 units - to the Wose castle
* 4-8 units + Wesfolk Lady - past the Wose castle and Northeast
* Other units + Haldric - due South

'''The Wose Castle'''

On Medium, and if you don't actively avoid conflict - the NE forces will come up against your units and the Wose leader's on the path to the castle, not thec castle itself (and a good thing too, since it's only 4 hexes + the keep. On Hard they might bypass you and hit the castle from the East or SE. Beyond that - it's South leader units coming over the stream.

* If you send a White Mage or Mage of Light to the Wose castle, it will heal not just your units, but also the Woses. And - any adjacent Wose will recuperate up to 16 HP per turn: While healing effects aren't cumulative within the same turn, your healing and Woses' regeneration occur on _different_ turns: +8 your healing, +8 wose regeneration. A poisoned Wose will be cured and gain 8 HP.

'''The Northeast'''

Your task is to block the initial attack. You don't have to rush for the NE leader (there are lots of turns), nor are you strongly limited by time-of-day - since you have both Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral units (Mage, Burin). Some enemy units may be roaming far from the path; if you have a Footpad scout, you can tell where they're going, and either lure them towards the path, harass them, or perhaps send Ruddry back on the path to meet them where they're going (if you can spare him in the fighting).

'''The South'''

At least on Medium, you'll encounter limited resistance here. But exactly for this reason you _should_ try to push forward - to attract attention, and possibly divert some Pillagers or Archers away from the Wose castle. If that doesn't happen, consider sending a few units with better mobility to either attract them or at least squeeze them.

'''Looking forward'''

* The next scenario takes place in underground catacombs. 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, make sure an level up your Fearless Loyal HI into a Shock Trooper, alongside some Chaotic units. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice (as are Outlaws on Medium). Quick units of almost any type (except horse-mounted ones) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

* The temple to the SE of the Wose castle is the entrance to the catacombs; you can't go in there before next scenario, so don't bother visiting it.

[Mal Shubertal]: Poachers shine on this map. The area south of the wose keep is swampy, and poachers both move better and have better defense in swamps than any other human or orc unit. The biggest challenge on this map is the wose leader, who is suicidally aggressive. He will jump far out of his keep to attack a goblin pillager or crossbowman, only to get immediately killed by powerful fire attacks the next turn. The only reliable way that I could find to protect him was to keep the fighting entirely out of his reach as much as possible, which means basically fighting on 3 fronts: south of his keep, north of his keep, and far south at the southern orc leader. This is only possible if you have at least 3 healers (counting Minister Edren). The southern assassination squad should be the healer plus fast units like knights and outlaws and Lady Outlaw (this will let them catch back up to the main battle once they're done). The south of keep group should be a healer and mostly poachers. The northern group is whatever you have left. Once the 2 southern groups finish their jobs, they will reinforce the northern group and finish. Note that you do not need to do all your recruiting at your starting keep. If haldric stands near the wose keep, their leader will helpfully move out of the way to let haldric use it.

===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, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water.
# 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). It helps if they are chaotic (or at least neutral) and/or have ranged or 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 other high HP units. Note that horse units are too sluggish in caves and should not be recalled/recruited unless you have a compelling reason.
# 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. First thing you will see are Tentacles. You can either ignore the Tentacles for the most part or use them for XP. Your main initial objective is to find a good place to make a stand against the nasty wave of undead coming from the north. The chokepoints and southern shoreline offer good defensive locations. Watch out for the enemy's Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a Level-3 unit.
# Once the flow of baddies as tapered off, gradually progress northwards. 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: The best choice for the Holy Water is a quick Bandit, who should level quickly. A quick Highwayman could be used, but won't benefit much from the XP.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The Tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. 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 Thug can be okay, if used with great care, but mostly you need to recall leveled troops here.

===Return to Oldwood===

Plot only.

===Clearwater Port===

* '''Objective''': Wait for 1st/2nd/3d ship arrives, then have Haldric board it.
* '''Alternative Objective''': Defeat all enemy leaders.
* '''Lose if''': Haldric, Jessene or Town Commander Aethyr die, or time runs out.
* '''Turns''': ??/32/?? ; first ship arrives at turn ??/12/??.
* '''Starting Units''': Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* '''Initial Gold''': ???/250/???

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

'''Layout:'''

The town and port of Clearwater lies on a stretch of land extending eastwards, between the seashore going East, North-East then North (at the Eastern edge of the level), and a wide river cross the level from West to East. The middle of the river is deep; it has a bridge over it at the West of the level and 1-hex shallow-water narrowing at the western edge, as it reaches the sea. There's also a small island, due South-by-SouthWest, from the center of town, with shallow water linking it to several areas on the coastline.

The terrain is mixed flat and frozen, with some hills and forested areas outside of town. Since winter has set in, there are some (not fully continuous) ice shelves along the coast. There are also lots of village hexes in this level - 41 (!) in total.

ClearWater Port is mostly walled-off from the land side, but its West-facing wall can be flanked on an ice shelf from the South, and in shallow water from the North. Also, the middle of the wall has a one-hex gap. There are 11 villages in town.

'''Recruitment:'''

# Your loyals, two to three healers and plenty of spearmen is all you need, if you stick to the walls and play defensively.
# Recruit slowly at start to stretch your gold with initial income.
# It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so add a few other (sturdy, non-mage) units for diversity and to make your recall list more varied.

'''Strategy:'''

The enemy leaders have an enormous influx of Gold: About +40 between them all at each turn, after upkeep costs; you see, they each have a base incoming of 10 (on Medium difficult). That means they churn out lots and lots of units. They also group them together, for daily - or rather nightly - attacks. So don't be tempted to believe that because you've had a lot of quality kills some day, and have leveled up a few units, you can go on the offensive; play defensively and conservatively.

You will be defending the Western town wall, mostly, for the duration of this scenario; so:

* Man the wall hexes with Spearmen and some healthy veterans.
* Use illumination and leadership to maximum effect. Two Mages of Light should do well enough, and you have two leaders, plus Commander Aethyr who stays put in his fort (covering two wall hexes).
* Note which hexes are more exposed (number of adjacent outer hexes + terrain) and consider both their unit assignment and the aura effects on them. Rotate wounded units from the higher-exposure wall hexes quicker than from other hexes.
* On Hard difficulty, or if you've started with little money - prepare to defend against occasional breaches, i.e. don't keep vulnerable units too exposed even behind the wall lines.
* Soften opponents with your veterans, feed kills to recruits. But - don't jeopardize your defenses for a little more XP.

''Your ally:''
Commander Aethyr is an idiot. He recruits L1 Mages and sends them off on suicide attacks. He clearly doesn't need his villages; your conscience should not bother you occupying all his villages. In the first few turns of the scenario, though - when it's still day, it may makes sense to support those troops somewhat, with your veterans, before solidifying your defense line.

''Defending the Eastern crossing:''
The Northern leader will send units both down the bridge and to the wall, but also east, to cross the river at its mouth. You need a force of several units, one of which will need to be rotated every turn for a fully-healed replacement, and a healer to be surrounded by them. Which units? It'll have to be our trusted Spearmen. While Footpads might do some more damage when defending, they don't have the necessary HP. The healer can be a White Mage; a Mage of Light is not necessary here. Make sure to position your Spearmen to block the enemy at the one-hex choke point. Your attackers will likely be Slayers, with an occasional Assassin or Grunt on Medium. 4 Spearmen should probably be enough, maybe 5.

''Finishing the scenario:''
Stay in town to help the defenses, and only take the third boat (and note you won't get an early finish bonus otherwise). You could try to defeat all leaders, but - this is more difficult than it looks. You might be thinking "eh, what are another bunch of Orcish Warlords? They're a dime a dozen". But with their unit production numbers, your advance against them will be slow, and will only be able to begin late. And while the two Eastern leaders are manageable - getting troops North by the bridge will take you many turns, or many deaths, or probably both. And for a walk around the level to the Eastern river crossing, at the mouth, takes a quick Spearman 13 or 14 turns. So you can probably only get to the North leader by splitting your forces when you start the attack.

===Fallen Lich Point===

This is a high variance scenario. It may be easy or 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.

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 village flagging 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.
* 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.)

===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 two Royal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.
* A Rogue (or Assassin) can be very handy as a damage dealer, who is able to break through bottlenecks.

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===

Clockwise, starting at the bottom:
* the southern orcs (purple) will recruit the usual orcish units, and with a few going west between the mountains and the coast, while the bulk will come through the plains south of the swamp, arriving at the keep early in the night. This one is the most conventional enemy, once his host is defeated you can march a comparatively small strike force to his keep and finish him off.
* The waterlogged orc to the west (black) will recruit mostly Naga and a few Bats, which will harrass you from the sea and try to seize the villages on your peninsula. He only has a small keep, so he can keep recruiting, two units per turn, seemingly forever.
* The northern orcs (green) are farthest away; they also have lots of villages they can capture. Hence it will be some time until they reach you, and not in full force at first. With any luck (and strong enough units) you'll have fought down the bulk of the southern orcs by then.
* Finally, a number of level-2 skeletons (including Chocobones) will appear behind the swamp in the east on turn 4 (first dusk). Those will join the black team; starting behind the swamp and with a few villages to grab, they won't knock on your door before daybreak.

Spoiler:
On turn five, a few mermen will appear near the lighthouse and join you; you'll also be able to recruit mermen from then on. That's your ticket to fighting back the Naga, see to it that you still have some money left at the time.

Recruitment/Strategy:
# several Trappers/Rangers/Huntsmen to sally forth and occupy the hills and forest south of the town. Your ally will sally forth to meet the enemy in the usual fashion; if you can lend a hand and soften up the enemy, King Addroran's troops will finish them off easily. In doing so, they'll happily expose themselves to counterattack -- your Trappers (etc.) have a rather good melee attack and probably won't be targeted as long as there's weaker and more accessible allied units nearby. Don't fret about the missed XP, there will be plenty more before this is over. For now, you want to dispose of the bad guys ASAP before they pile up on the doorstep.
# you probably don't need dedicated undead-killers beyond the Mages you bring anyway. But if you want to employ your loyal Shock Troopers, recruit them no later than turn 2 or they won't get there in time.
# Mages: seeing as there will be fighting all over the place, three healers will be barely sufficient. A few fireball-throwers will also come in handy, if only in order to deal with the evasive Orcish Assassins / Slayers. A Silver Mage or two will be especially useful, as they can teleport all over the place and help with each of the commanders in turn (especially the one on the island, that would take forever to get to otherwise).
# by turn 3, some chaff to occupy the coastal villages so the Naga can't just waltz in. Level-1 units or even peasants will do.
# the worst fighting will be over by daybreak; you'll still want a few lawful units to carry on the battle during the day. One keep of knights and level-2 lawful infantry should suffice. Recruit these on turn 4.
# starting on turn five, you can recruit mermen. Those can not only deal with the Naga infestation, but also tackle the northern orcs as they try to cross the bay. Two keeps worth is not too many.

Strategy is broken into three fronts...
# First order is to help your ally with the first waves of attackers, as described above. You can't stop King Addroran from throwing away his troops, but you can help them to have some effect before they perish.
# Next, fending off the Naga. A few cheap units in coastal villages at first, mermen later. Mermen vs Naga at sea will be slow fighting: both have excellent terrain defense, so there will be no obvious progress for a good long while. You should use a Mage of Light to support them, this really makes a difference during the night.
# Also, the bay/river to the north. The Mermen can be very efficient here, enjoying high terrain defense while being close enough to the coast that Lady Jessene and Haldric can provide Leadership wherever needed; again, you also want a Mage of Light if available.

For the landlubbers, don't bring too many rookies: this scenario is best used to direct experience to your level-2 units, partially advancing them outright or getting them to a point where you can expect them to level up at a good point in their next battle.

For the Merfolk, try to advance all they loyal ones, and a few more besides. Directing XP to particular units will be easier for those mermen defending the bridge, but those fighting the Naga will inevitably get some XP as well. Eventually you'll have to cross the bridge with ground troops and take the fight to the enemy, though.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a potentially bloody scenario. The Drakes are barely impeded by the difficult terrain and can run circles around you, making it hard to move damaged units into a safe position. On the upside, most drakes have little terrain defense even in forest and mountains, and are positively vulnerable to spears and arrows.

Strategy...
Using Trappers (or their upgrades) and Merfolk, try to lure the enemy into the swamps or over the sea, fight down their troops, then storm their keeps. Be prepared to suffer some losses: it's better to deliberately sacrifice some units of your choosing than struggling to keep everyone alive.

Spoiler...
* There's a Storm Trident in the middle of the bay. There's no particular hurry to pick it up for using it in this battle: the trident does fire damage, which isn't very useful against drakes. Just don't forget to retrieve it for later use.

Picking it up will summon a level-3 Sea Serpent on the next turn, be sure that you're ready for it.

Lord Typhon will depart in a few scenarios, so better give the trident to another fighter. Preferably a "quick" one, who can become a Hoplite and still keep up with his mates when he gets to Level-3.

===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 an odd scenario: as soon as anyone gets killed, the elvish high council will step in an end the bloodshed. Your "early finish bonus" becomes a "late finish" bonus: you're supposed to drag this out for as long as possible without anyone being killed.

Recruitment...
* the strongest units you have, that can deal both melee and ranged damage.
* Rangers are best, followed by Javelineers and level-3 Bowmen.
* you need six of these at the very least, preferably more, plus healers to back them up. If you don't have that many elite troops on your roster, or cannot afford to recall as many, it may be better to do nothing: keep your starting money, and slay the first person to reach you.

Strategy...
Place Javelineers on the keep, Mermen in the water, and Rangers in the forest. All backed up by healers. Have a few reserves you can swap in when things get tough. Haldric also makes a good front-line unit; Javelineers should stay near him for the leadership.

Note that no enemy unit will attack you when there's even a remote risk that they might die. So having the strongest possible fighters, both melee and ranged, will deter the most attackers. If your line looks fierce enough, some level-1 units will not attack you at all. All others will cease attacking as soon as they've taken enough damage that their death becomes a possibility. At which point, they will wander of in search of a village for healing; once all nearby villages are occupied, your attackers may even stand around dumbfounded.

Place your troops where they enjoy a good terrain defense, that is, the keep and the forest. The purpose is to reduce the damage taken and last for as long as possible. After the first round of attacks, you'll always have a few near-dead opponents standing in front of your lines, allowing you to end the scenario quickly.

You need eight tough guys to fully seal off a corner of the map, plus two mermen, and four healers. However, the enemy doesn't know or understand your plan: if your front doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the map, they will not deliberately try to outflank you. To the AI, a ''small'' gap of one or two tiles will look like a trap. So six land warriors to hold the line will do for a long time. Only after the attackers start to pile up against your formation will they eventually start to flow around.

Be sure to keep the villages behind you occupied at all times, however, or wounded enemies seeking a village to heal in may actually try to get there. Sir Ruddry and Burin, having no other use, will do nicely.

Spoiler...
* this the last chance you have to recruit Mermen, as their king leaves. You've probably got plenty on your roster from the previous scenarios, which will stay with you and can be recalled later. But if you think you need more, this is your last chance.
* the late finish bonus is 50/turn, so if your upkeep is less than that, you're in the good. Even if you don't have or cannot afford enough troops for a full defense, trying to hold the keep for a few turns will be worthwhile.

===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. Pikemen and Halberdiers 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.
* Merman shine on this map once you get them into the swamp / water hexes. They are more mobile than anything but silver mages. The storm trident makes short work of even high-level saurians and the dragon is weak to the pierce damage of your tridents and javelins. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon even further.

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 west leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed. But then by turn 10, 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.

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====

Cave terrain again, but this time the cave is so riddled with holes that there's barely any sense of individual corridors. There's plenty of short narrow passages which prevent both you and your opponents from ganging up on on each other, while on the other hand the trolls can just walk around a blocked choke point and come at you through the neighboring hole. So fighting is mostly one-on-one, though may have several such fights going on at any given time.

The map is roughly symmetrical, a keep in each of the four corners. Two random keeps will be home to the trolls, the other two will be occupied by a Giant Spider each. The spiders will only attack if you get too close.

You designated opponents will be level-1 and -2 trolls, under level-3 commanders. They don't have that much starting gold, but sufficient income to keep recruiting about one Troll Cub per turn, or a level-2 every other turn, very much until you're right on their doorstep. In order to win this, you have to be able and slay the trolls quicker than they're coming.

Recruitment...
* as usual in the caves, give preference to units that can move 3 tiles on cave terrain.
* also as usual by now, this is no place for level-1 units. You can carefully level up one or two rookies, but the bulk of your host has to be tougher than that. It's more an opportunity to level up your chaotic units, and, especially, your mages.
* Spellcasters will do a lot of damage to Trolls, and in the 1-on-1 situation so common on this map, any level-2 or better mage will be certain survive the counterattack. You'll need level-3 Magi to press forward and carry the battle to the enemy's keeps, though.
* You'll want two teams of two healers each in any event. However, Trolls are susceptible to arcane damage, so your White Mages can play a very active role (and quickly level up if so desired). Mages of Light will be especially nice, with their illumination blinding the trolls and a half-decent melee attack to fight back with.
* You can arguably fight this battle on mages alone. However, you'll need at least two keeps worth of units to plug all the holes and prevent the trolls from outflanking you. The supporters' main qualification will be to have enough hitpoints to survice a troll attack; being able to fight back is very desirable. Bandits or Swordsmen will be best, depending on whether you back them by a light source. Trappers and Outlaws will make do in the dark, Pikemen are a distant third, and lawful bowmen should sit this out: Mages can play the same game much better.

The general strategy is to move into whatever direction the trolls are coming from, and fight your way, upstream so to speak, until you get to the enemy keep.

You may start doing so right away, or first await the initial onslaught in the island you're starting on. With you on the ground and the enemy in the water, the terrain is in your favor... but the spacious cavern also allows two or even three trolls to gang up against one of yours. Then again, you can make good use of your loyal mermen and possibly even Sir Ruddry. Neither of which will be any good later when you carry the fight to the enemy, but hey, they're loyal and demand no upkeep.

If you want to explore the map and steal villages, you better do so in force. The spiders will lunge at anyone who happens to get in their range; and besides, there's several unflagged villages at the beginning of the scenario, and your opponents will seize them. This means that trolls, even level-2 ones, may show up in unexpected places.

====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 three temples there is 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===

The map's most striking feature is a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. The two closest keeps are Orcs, the one in the north holds a Troll. All will be spawning mostly level-2 units. Their average recruit will cost about 20-22 gold, check their gold at the beginning of the scenario and you'll have an idea of how many units you'll have to expect.
The terrain funnels you northward, where you will encounter the northern orcs at nightfall, coming at you in full force. The orcs from the west will start showing up during the night. They are distracted by several un-occupied villages, so they'll be a bit more stretched out. The trolls won't arrive until daybreak.
Whenever one of the enemy commanders has lost half of his units, some undead will join his team: one level-3 skeleton, plus two or four Chocobones depending on difficulty. This happens three times over the course of the battle, once for every enemy commander.
This scenario will be fairly easy, regardless of difficulty level, if you can afford at least three keeps worth of troops.

Recruitment / Strategy:
* Knights recalled on the first turn can encounter the Orcs in your north still in full daylight, and possibly wreck havoc among them before nightfall. The success of this strategy largely depends on what kind of units the orc is sending your way, but in any event don't bother with half-measures: either send 4+ strong riders on turn 1, or don't worry about trying it at all. Follow up with more lawful units and Mages of Light, using only a few chaotic ones to harrass and delay the orcs coming from the west.

* Alternatively, recall your toughest chaotic units from the get-go, and prepare to fight down the first orcish host in the woods to your north, with only a Knight or two to deal with any Wolf Riders getting ahead of the main host.

* You want to bring at least one Paladin (Sir Ruddry probably qualifies) and between that and your healers, you don't need much of a dedicated undead-killing force. If you have loyal Shock Troopers, by all means bring them on -- they'd be useful in any event. Otherwise, a pair of Bandits or a second Paladin will do nicely.

* If you want to seize the villages across the mountains to your west, be prepared to encounter a Goblin Knight or Pillager trying to do the same (you will meet whatever fast unit the western orc happened to recruit on his first turn. It may only be a "quick" archer, but a level-2 wolf is quite likely).

* 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. They will also keep their distance and refuse to attack until you present them with a target the AI considers worthwhile. Effectively you have to throw them a peasant, or a strong unit that will survive badly wounded and effectively be out of the battle for several turns.

* A Silver Mage or two can come in really handy, Teleporting all over the map to dislodge wolves from the mountains or lend a hand with the undead as needed.

This scenario is an excellent opportunity to train some Knights, as well as a few other lawful fighters. But keep in mind that the campaign is coming to a close and you can only recall so many units in the last battles: if you think you already have enough quality units, it's better to use those (and maybe get an AMLA or two) than to build up an ever bigger roster of troops you can't (or won't) recall.

===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 orcs in the north deploy the usual orcish fare, but can also recruit trolls. The undead commander will only recruit bats and skeletons (quality depending on difficulty, there may be Chocobones on Hard). During the first night, the Lich-Lord will make another appearance, casting fog of war upon the battlefield and deploy a number of Chocobones on the undead island (they're under command of the orcs, though).
When you get too close to the isle in the river mouth, you'll trigger cuttlefish to the west of that isle. Getting too close to the swamps where the river starts will summon level-2 saurians. It looks dire but the effect is mostly psychological.

Wolf riders may reach you during the night, the bulk of the orc army won't arrive until daybreak (unless you push forward to meet them, which you shouldn't). The skeletons, too, will be held up by the water. So you've got a lot of time to set up positions near the beach and in the wood.

* First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. It will be morning until they even reach the sea, but they'll still arrive in time to help with any (possibly many) skeletons still in the water. Later they can deal with the Draug in his keep. A Silver Mage's assistance will help but isn't strictly necessary.
* also send a few undead-bashers to the beach. Two or three units holding the beach at any time will do nicely; Burin and the loyal Shock Troopers are best, mostly because they're armored against arrows. If you don't have those, a number of Outlaws/Fugitives will be the next best choice, though you'll need more of them due to the damage taken.
* the cuttlefish (1, 2 or 4 of them depending on difficulty) will keep your mermen occupied for several turns and in need of healing afterwards. It's probably best to trigger them very early (a rider seizing the village at 20,22 will do): the cuttlefish are so aggressive that they will get out onto dry land in order to attack an Iron Mauler in broad daylight. That way, you can have them finished off before any skeletons reach you, and long before your mermen are even in the water.
* add another two or (at most) three keeps of mixed troops. You've fought enough orcs and trolls by know that you should know what suits the purpose. You probably want a few chaotic units to hold up the assault late at night, then rush the enemy with lawfuls at daybreak. Cavalry will once more work well, just keep in mind that you'll face a task force of quality saurians later on -- you also want some units that are not quite as prone to piercing damage.
* talking about which: getting within 10 hexes or less from 34,15 will touch off the Saurians. With careful navigation the encounter can be avoided for the whole scenario, but it's probably better to trigger them at a time of your choosing and get it over with. Saurians aren't very tough, their strength comes from being hard to hit and their skirmishing ability. But on normal and easy, they're not very numerous. If you can lure them out into open terrain, you can probably overwhelm them in a single turn, even at night.

Try to finish this scenario quickly. Make use of veterans, by this point you should really have enough of them. Don't worry about running into negative funds in the mean time: there's enough villages to ensure a hefty early finish bonus. Just don't dawdle, you want to get out of this with at least 200, better 300 gold carried over.

===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 some 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.

Strategy...
* You can either send everybody west initially and then split for the two bridges or you can split initially, with mounted units racing 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.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield.
* Kill all but one of the orc leaders (not all!).
* Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. Jevyan probably won't come out to play, so march Aethyr up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack.
* Paladins, great mages, mages of light, silver mages are all suitable units to kill Jevyan himself, make sure you have them in sufficient numbers with your southern army. 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 (or a Soulless on hard.)
* 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. The lich also will receive some gold once you kill his Familiar.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

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

TheRiseOfWesnoth

2020-06-13T16:51:40Z

Revolting peasant: Edited ClearWater Port

==Overall Campaign Strategy==

(At the moment, most of the walkthrough takes the perspective of the Lord (Challenging) difficult setting.)

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

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead vanquishers: 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 level-up at least two Paladins and two-or-more 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 not as useful against the 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 leveled up - preferably the quick ones, which will be more useful in underground levels. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which - upon reaching Level 3 - gain the marksmanship trait (or Rangers are good too, for swamps and forest.) These, plus Lady Outlaw, provide a better range of tactics in 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<br>
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops<br>
4a. The Midlands - avoid this Scenario, prefer The Swamp of Eden instead<br>
4b. The Swamp of Eden - Level-2 Haldric, Level-2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers<br>
6. Temple of the Deep - Level-3 Haldric, Level-3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits<br>
8. Clearwater Port - Level-3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers<br>
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages<br>
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''<br>
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light<br>
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin<br>
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights)<br>
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, Level-3 Commander Aethyr desirable<br>
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 ===

* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader - a Wesfolk Outcast (Level-2)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric or King Eldaric die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/28/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric (who can't recruit)
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

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

'''Recruitment:'''

* Your faction is Loyalists, but you can't recruit the heavier units (Heavy Infantry, Cavalryman).
* 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 recruit 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:'''

The Wesfolk are an Outlaw faction, recruiting Poachers, Thugs and Footpads.

On Medium or Easy difficulty, you can barely fail. Your initial keep-full of recruits (5 units) and another 2 at most are all you need. Just make sure not to advance head-on onto the initial attack, since if you do, you'll meet the majority of the enemy units during the first night, which can get hairy. Stay your advance a bit, and they'll come rushing down - without even ganging up on you properly. If you recruited 3 Horsemen, send one to tag villages; and send one of your later recruits (a Spearman/Bowman, preferably a quick one) to tag villages in the mountains. However - don't get too much in the way of enemy tagging, since you want their leader to have money for recruiting your "sparring partners" for gathering XP. If you recruited a Mage, s/he will drink up a lot the enemy XP, otherwise there'll be plenty for the Bowmen and some for the Horsemen and Haldric himself.

Don't forget to send Haldric out after making your last recruit.

On Hard, you'll need to put in a bit of thought. Players have used at least three strategies with success...

* '''Over the bridge''': 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.
* '''Hide in the swamp''': 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''': 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===

* Objective: Defeat the Wesfolk Outcast Leader (same one from the last level)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric or Wesfolk Leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/24/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

You are back in the same valley you were fighting in last scenario; it's fall, so the Northern parts have some snow, and King Eldaric has placed some one-hex fort pairs on the road due North-West. He also manned the upper pair of hexes with his personal guard - a troupe of three Heavy Infantrymen (Shock Troopers on Easy).

... but the more menacing change is three enemy leaders: Two Orcs, a Warlord (L3) and a Warrior (L2), in the Northwest and Northeast respectively, and your old friend the Wesfolk Leader woman in the Southwest: You (Haldric and Eldaric) are planning to evacuate South to avoid an Orcish overrun - and she's conveniently just in the way. Each Orc is about as rich as you, on Medium, and possibly richer on Hard; and Ms. roadblock has quite a bit of gold as well.

'''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:'''

This scenario may seem a little scary at first: Not a lot of money, only a few veterans, and an attack from three fronts without a lot of barriers. Not like the walk in park we had in Summer... but - it's not actually as hard as it looks: You're not trying to stand your ground and defeat all of your assailants - you're just clearing a path for retreat; that is, your only real enemy for this scenario is highway girl. And remember: The Orcs and the Wesfolk are not ganging up on you; the NW Orc Leader's forces will attack engage the Wesfolk on contact, and will, in fact, direct some units in the SW leader's direction (more, if you're not in the way).

There are three basic approaches to take out our Checkpoint Charlotte:

# '''Brute force''': Raise a large army and march West. Use part of your force to hold off the NW Orc leader's forces coming South through the pass; use the rest to break through the Wesfolk defense 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; but on Hard, it might be beyond your reach (or the reach of your funds).
# '''Leave the dirty work to the Orcs''': Wait around your keep, defending your bank of the river so the Orcs coming down from the Northwest don't get any ideas (and escorting Eldaric's private guard of HI to safety). The NW Orcs will fight the Wesfolk; when the outlaws forces are nearly spent, seize a moment of opportunity when the road to the Wesfolk leader is mostly clear. Then, take a strike force of a Knight and a few more units across the two bridges. Your timing should allow for quick dispatching of the odd enemy unit along the way (hopefully, these should be wounded or separated from their comrades), clearing a path for a Knight of yours to arrive at the SW keep and attack the Wesfolk leader. This strategy is risky, because Orcs will be present by this time around the Wesfolk leader, and might kill the leader before you do - you don't want that happening.
# '''Assassination''': Send a squad through the southern mountains to the Outlaw leader's keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen might be enough. If not, add a Knight, Horseman, or the King - but be careful with these supporting units, as they cannot traverse mountains, and may get pinned down on the narrow passage by the Wesfolk. The stretch of road from the pass due South to the keep should be clear, and the recruits fighting the Orcs.

Even if you manage to fend off the Orcs, you shouldn't delay your victory to collect more XP. Unlike the first level, here you are unlikely to have control of most of the villages, and the following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is quite a handful (at least on Hard difficulty). On Hard, aim for a carryover of almost 150 gold (i.e. finish the level with close to 375 gold). It is also important you have a Mage leveled up to a White Mage, or almost at the point of leveling. Near-leveling L1 units will also come in handy for their low initial upkeep (relative to L2 recalls), so that you'll squeeze a little more oomph from less starting gold. Steer XP collection accordingly.

Once you've brought the Wesfolk leader's HP reaches zero, she will beg for mercy again, offering to aid you going forward. If you accept, she comes back as a loyal unit already in the next scenario, also enabling recruitment of outlaw units; and - 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 will find she gets away anyway - but you will get 200 gold that she leaves behind. If you're not finishing early enough to have enough gold for the next level, you might have no choice but to decline her offer and take the gold... alas, such is the brutal reality of forward-thinking leadership!

Note: Try and keep Eldaric's personal guard alive. These HI/Shock Troopers are loyal, and quite useful in some future scenarios (not the next one). To save them from certain Orcish death, don't let them delay the Orcish advance and move them South right away.

===A Harrowing Escape===

* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (two Orcish Warlords in the SE)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric dies or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/45/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Outlaw Lady
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

'''Layout:'''

A narrow(ish) level, mostly mountains with a pass of decent width (3-abreast at the narrowest, usually 5, sometimes a bit more). The pass is strewn with villages - pretty close together. There's also a creek a mysterious cavern-style dwelling to the west of your starting point (wink wink, nudge nudge). No fog of war.

The enemy leaders have 140 starting gold (on medium), each with a 3-recruit keep on both sides of the Southwest of the level.

This scenario plays quite differently on the lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

'''Medium (& Easy?) Difficulty:'''

''Recruitment:''

Two rounds of recruitment (5 units each) will be quite sufficient, especially with the Outlaw Lady and the extra Steelclad (see below) - two new loyal units you get for free. Speaking of Loyals, consider recalling Eldaric's Loyal Heavy Infantry in the first turn: No upkeep!. Don't skew your recruitment too much for fighting on the mountains - Wolf Riders will zero in on your units on the pass soon enough, anyway; but a Footpad+Mage, or a Footpad+the Steelclad make a decent combination for chasing the odd wounded enemy. Definitely recall a White Mage, or an L1 Mage about to level-up, for this level - despite the villages along your way. You can manage without one, but - healing on the battlefield without the need to recycle troops is a great benefit when you're low on units and not recruiting again; especially if you've recalled the super-slow HI units. The White Mage will also deal with Orcish Assassins' poison. Don't get tempted to get more than one or two Horsemen/Knights - their mobility is not that useful. An interesting use they do have is as bait for units with ranged attacks: They are tempted to attack them despite a low chance for a kill, since they can't retaliate.

''Strategy:''

The timing of initial recruitment is meaningful: Recruit or recall your loyals and L1 units earlier, and your L2 units on turn 2 - even if they're slower. That means less of a gold penality on the first turn. Also, it means you can recruit a Footpad on turn 1 to go get the Steelclad (see below). Speaking of turn 2, by this time you'll have an initial notion of the Orcs' recruitment slant (mainly, more Grunts or more Wolf Riders), guiding your final choice of recruitment/recall.

Your enemies will recruit a typical mixed Orcish L1 force: Wolf riders, Grunts, Orcish Archers, Orcish Assassins, and a few Goblins. The proportions may vary, and so may their course of attack: Some units may or may not go up the stream; some Wolf Riders may or may not go over the mountains.

At any rate, Wolf Riders will reach the middle of the level by turn 6 - which as when you might reach the same area. So, don't push forward as fast as possible, except with your mounted units for village capture, and taking care not to over-expose them. Even with support nearby and with a Knight holed up in a village, you don't want to get into a night battle.

A little below the halfway point there's a choke point with two fortified hexes. That is a great spot for your Heavy Infantrymen; and they can be supported from behind by your leader(s), if they've leveled. Others like the Steelclad or even Lady Outlaw to man those posts.

At this point, if it seems the more Eastern enemy is coming up the river, consider sending some units over the mountains to deter that effort.

Once the initial Orcish attack is broken, you can leisurely proceed along the path, dispatching the occasional nuisance (but watching for the daily cycle, so as not to put yourself in the range of two Grunts at night etc.) Remember to let your leaders support your L1 units.

'''Hard Difficulty:'''

''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 decent starting gold. It has been beaten on hard with as little as 158 starting gold, 200 is still difficult, and 250+ makes it relatively easy. 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) <i>tout de suite</i>, 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. If you can recruit outlaws, a couple of Footpads are nice for village grabbing. Thieves are also good because they are cheap, the Grunts are fond of attacking them, and they often survive on 70% defense.

'' Strategy:''

Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill the first waves quickly: the wolves and assassins. 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. It's easier to make a stand at the keep and northern river bank, but this approach can be too costly in terms of time.

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.

'''Surprises and secrets:'''

* There is Dwarf Steelclad (L2) in the village at 8,5. It's not far from your camp, so send either a Footpad or Lady Outlaw there (a Footpad takes less time - if you want to invest in recruiting one). The Dwarf recluse will 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 - at the South patch of woods, just to the left of the river. 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.

'''Notes:'''

* If you haven't leveled Haldric from L1 up to L2, try to get that done.

* Lady Outlaw has a rare and somewhat odd ability, "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore enemy ZOCs. You're not likely to find yourself surrounded in this scenario, but that could happen later. Another feature of this sneaky lady is that she cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

* 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.

* It helps that there are two enemy sides as opposed to a twice as strong single enemy side. If one of your units could be attacked by three enemies, but one of these hexes is currently blocked by the other side, the currently moving enemy decides to attack units which it (they) is (are) actually less likely to kill than that one. AIs don't cooperate, that is.

* If you are stuck on this scenario, you may need to replay one or both of the previous scenarios and/or choose to "kill" Lady Outlaw in the previous scenario so you get her gold.

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

===Diverging Campaign Path===

At the conclusion of [[#HarrowingEscape|A Harrowing Escape]], Haldric has made it through a pass in the Broken Mountains, and must decide whether to proceed due Southeast, along a river going into the Swamp of Esten, or Southwest towards the hilly Midlands region of the isle (see the [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/maps/green_isle.png map]). As you can probably guess, Orcs like hills, not swamps, so if you go to the Midlands you'll be seeing a lot of them up close; this will likely cost you several good units, if not worse. The swamp is much easier, plus, you'll find a Loyal White Mage in there. So, the choice is a no-brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

====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 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 or Trapper or two, 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...
# Head to the northeastern leader first. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have a chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as at night 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 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===

* Objective: Defeat both enemy leaders
* Lose if: Haldric or Wose leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Outlaw, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

'''Layout:'''

In this forest-and-swamp map, the Orcish invaders are about to stumble upon a Wose castle (of sorts), and will try to dispose of the woses. You're given a chance to prove yourself as an ally to Woses by helping them defend against the Orcs. There are two Orc Warlord (L3) leaders, in NE and South castles; your keep is to the NW; and the Wose castle is at the center of the level. Narrow flat paths connect the different castles - but the South castle only connects to your NW keep; to get from it to the Woses directly, one must cross some forest, a 1-hex stream and a swampy area.

'''Recruitment:'''

The Orcs will recruit effectively against Woses: Goblin Pillagers and Crossbowmen, with fire damage; and the Wose leader is rather poor. Still, you should be able to manage this level with three rounds of recruitment on Hard; on Medium, three rounds will make this pretty easy, and two rounds will be a bit of a challenge but quite possible with L2 recalls.

* At least two White Mages/Mages of Light - since you'll be fighting on multiple fronts.
* For muscle, recall some loyal Heavy Infantry and recruit/recall some Thugs/Bandits.
* For firepower, recall Trappers and Longbowmen or recruit Poachers and Bowmen (and Red Mages if you have them). Recruiting L1 mages is probably too much of a gamble here, and XP is not very manageable with your ally around.
* Resilient Spearmen or Pikemen should do well as defenders of the Wose castle. Quick Spearmen might be less-unuseful for flanking in the swamp or forest. Alternatively, you can use HIs as defenders.
* One or two Footpad scouts will be effective scouts (unlike Horsemen).

'''Splitting of Forces:'''

Your forces will be fighting in three mostly-distinct areas:

* North of the Wose castle and due Northeast
* The path South from your keep towards the Southern Orc leader's castle.
* The Wose castle and immediately South of it.

... and your first tactical choice will be how to split your recruits among these areas. Consider making it:

* 3-5 units - to the Wose castle
* 4-8 units + Wesfolk Lady - past the Wose castle and Northeast
* Other units + Haldric - due South

'''The Wose Castle'''

On Medium, and if you don't actively avoid conflict - the NE forces will come up against your units and the Wose leader's on the path to the castle, not thec castle itself (and a good thing too, since it's only 4 hexes + the keep. On Hard they might bypass you and hit the castle from the East or SE. Beyond that - it's South leader units coming over the stream.

* If you send a White Mage or Mage of Light to the Wose castle, it will heal not just your units, but also the Woses. And - any adjacent Wose will recuperate up to 16 HP per turn: While healing effects aren't cumulative within the same turn, your healing and Woses' regeneration occur on _different_ turns: +8 your healing, +8 wose regeneration. A poisoned Wose will be cured and gain 8 HP.

'''The Northeast'''

Your task is to block the initial attack. You don't have to rush for the NE leader (there are lots of turns), nor are you strongly limited by time-of-day - since you have both Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral units (Mage, Burin). Some enemy units may be roaming far from the path; if you have a Footpad scout, you can tell where they're going, and either lure them towards the path, harass them, or perhaps send Ruddry back on the path to meet them where they're going (if you can spare him in the fighting).

'''The South'''

At least on Medium, you'll encounter limited resistance here. But exactly for this reason you _should_ try to push forward - to attract attention, and possibly divert some Pillagers or Archers away from the Wose castle. If that doesn't happen, consider sending a few units with better mobility to either attract them or at least squeeze them.

'''Looking forward'''

* The next scenario takes place in underground catacombs. 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, make sure an level up your Fearless Loyal HI into a Shock Trooper, alongside some Chaotic units. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice (as are Outlaws on Medium). Quick units of almost any type (except horse-mounted ones) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

* The temple to the SE of the Wose castle is the entrance to the catacombs; you can't go in there before next scenario, so don't bother visiting it.

===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, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water.
# 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). It helps if they are chaotic (or at least neutral) and/or have ranged or 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 other high HP units. Note that horse units are too sluggish in caves and should not be recalled/recruited unless you have a compelling reason.
# 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. First thing you will see are Tentacles. You can either ignore the Tentacles for the most part or use them for XP. Your main initial objective is to find a good place to make a stand against the nasty wave of undead coming from the north. The chokepoints and southern shoreline offer good defensive locations. Watch out for the enemy's Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a Level-3 unit.
# Once the flow of baddies as tapered off, gradually progress northwards. 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: The best choice for the Holy Water is a quick Bandit, who should level quickly. A quick Highwayman could be used, but won't benefit much from the XP.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The Tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. 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 Thug can be okay, if used with great care, but mostly you need to recall leveled troops here.

===Return to Oldwood===

Plot only.

===Clearwater Port===

* Objective: Wait for 1st/2nd/3d ship arrives, then have Haldric board it.
* Alternative Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Haldric, Jessene or Town Commander Aethyr die, or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/?? ; first ship arrives at turn ??/12/??.
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Jessene, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

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

'''Layout:'''

The town and port of Clearwater lies on a stretch of land extending eastwards, between the seashore going East, North-East then North (at the Eastern edge of the level), and a wide river cross the level from West to East. The middle of the river is deep; it has a bridge over it at the West of the level and 1-hex shallow-water narrowing at the western edge, as it reaches the sea. There's also a small island, due South-by-SouthWest, from the center of town, with shallow water linking it to several areas on the coastline.

The terrain is mixed flat and frozen, with some hills and forested areas outside of town. Since winter has set in, there are some (not fully continuous) ice shelves along the coast. There are also lots of village hexes in this level - 41 (!) in total.

ClearWater Port is mostly walled-off from the land side, but its West-facing wall can be flanked on an ice shelf from the South, and in shallow water from the North. Also, the middle of the wall has a one-hex gap. There are 11 villages in town.

'''Recruitment:'''

# Your loyals, two to three healers and plenty of spearmen is all you need, if you stick to the walls and play defensively.
# Recruit slowly at start to stretch your gold with initial income.
# It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so add a few other (sturdy, non-mage) units for diversity and to make your recall list more varied.

'''Strategy:'''

The enemy leaders have an enormous influx of Gold: About +40 between them all at each turn, after upkeep costs; you see, they each have a base incoming of 10 (on Medium difficult). That means they churn out lots and lots of units. They also group them together, for daily - or rather nightly - attacks. So don't be tempted to believe that because you've had a lot of quality kills some day, and have leveled up a few units, you can go on the offensive; play defensively and conservatively.

You will be defending the Western town wall, mostly, for the duration of this scenario; so:

* Man the wall hexes with Spearmen and some healthy veterans.
* Use illumination and leadership to maximum effect. Two Mages of Light should do well enough, and you have two leaders, plus Commander Aethyr who stays put in his fort (covering two wall hexes).
* Note which hexes are more exposed (number of adjacent outer hexes + terrain) and consider both their unit assignment and the aura effects on them. Rotate wounded units from the higher-exposure wall hexes quicker than from other hexes.
* On Hard difficulty, or if you've started with little money - prepare to defend against occasional breaches, i.e. don't keep vulnerable units too exposed even behind the wall lines.
* Soften opponents with your veterans, feed kills to recruits. But - don't jeopardize your defenses for a little more XP.

''Your ally:''
Commander Aethyr is an idiot. He recruits L1 Mages and sends them off on suicide attacks. He clearly doesn't need his villages; your conscience should not bother you occupying all his villages. In the first few turns of the scenario, though - when it's still day, it may makes sense to support those troops somewhat, with your veterans, before solidifying your defense line.

''Defending the Eastern crossing:''
The Northern leader will send units both down the bridge and to the wall, but also east, to cross the river at its mouth. You need a force of several units, one of which will need to be rotated every turn for a fully-healed replacement, and a healer to be surrounded by them. Which units? It'll have to be our trusted Spearmen. While Footpads might do some more damage when defending, they don't have the necessary HP. The healer can be a White Mage; a Mage of Light is not necessary here. Make sure to position your Spearmen to block the enemy at the one-hex choke point. Your attackers will likely be Slayers, with an occasional Assassin or Grunt on Medium. 4 Spearmen should probably be enough, maybe 5.

''Finishing the scenario:''
Stay in town to help the defenses, and only take the third boat (and note you won't get an early finish bonus otherwise). You could try to defeat all leaders, but - this is more difficult than it looks. You might be thinking "eh, what are another bunch of Orcish Warlords? They're a dime a dozen". But with their unit production numbers, your advance against them will be slow, and will only be able to begin late. And while the two Eastern leaders are manageable - getting troops North by the bridge will take you many turns, or many deaths, or probably both. And for a walk around the level to the Eastern river crossing, at the mouth, takes a quick Spearman 13 or 14 turns. So you can probably only get to the North leader by splitting your forces when you start the attack.

===Fallen Lich Point===

This is a high variance scenario. It may be easy or 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.

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 village flagging 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.
* 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.)

===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 two Royal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.
* A Rogue (or Assassin) can be very handy as a damage dealer, who is able to break through bottlenecks.

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===

Clockwise, starting at the bottom:
* the southern orcs (purple) will recruit the usual orcish units, and with a few going west between the mountains and the coast, while the bulk will come through the plains south of the swamp, arriving at the keep early in the night. This one is the most conventional enemy, once his host is defeated you can march a comparatively small strike force to his keep and finish him off.
* The waterlogged orc to the west (black) will recruit mostly Naga and a few Bats, which will harrass you from the sea and try to seize the villages on your peninsula. He only has a small keep, so he can keep recruiting, two units per turn, seemingly forever.
* The northern orcs (green) are farthest away; they also have lots of villages they can capture. Hence it will be some time until they reach you, and not in full force at first. With any luck (and strong enough units) you'll have fought down the bulk of the southern orcs by then.
* Finally, a number of level-2 skeletons (including Chocobones) will appear behind the swamp in the east on turn 4 (first dusk). Those will join the black team; starting behind the swamp and with a few villages to grab, they won't knock on your door before daybreak.

Spoiler:
On turn five, a few mermen will appear near the lighthouse and join you; you'll also be able to recruit mermen from then on. That's your ticket to fighting back the Naga, see to it that you still have some money left at the time.

Recruitment/Strategy:
# several Trappers/Rangers/Huntsmen to sally forth and occupy the hills and forest south of the town. Your ally will sally forth to meet the enemy in the usual fashion; if you can lend a hand and soften up the enemy, King Addroran's troops will finish them off easily. In doing so, they'll happily expose themselves to counterattack -- your Trappers (etc.) have a rather good melee attack and probably won't be targeted as long as there's weaker and more accessible allied units nearby. Don't fret about the missed XP, there will be plenty more before this is over. For now, you want to dispose of the bad guys ASAP before they pile up on the doorstep.
# you probably don't need dedicated undead-killers beyond the Mages you bring anyway. But if you want to employ your loyal Shock Troopers, recruit them no later than turn 2 or they won't get there in time.
# Mages: seeing as there will be fighting all over the place, three healers will be barely sufficient. A few fireball-throwers will also come in handy, if only in order to deal with the evasive Orcish Assassins / Slayers. A Silver Mage or two will be especially useful, as they can teleport all over the place and help with each of the commanders in turn (especially the one on the island, that would take forever to get to otherwise).
# by turn 3, some chaff to occupy the coastal villages so the Naga can't just waltz in. Level-1 units or even peasants will do.
# the worst fighting will be over by daybreak; you'll still want a few lawful units to carry on the battle during the day. One keep of knights and level-2 lawful infantry should suffice. Recruit these on turn 4.
# starting on turn five, you can recruit mermen. Those can not only deal with the Naga infestation, but also tackle the northern orcs as they try to cross the bay. Two keeps worth is not too many.

Strategy is broken into three fronts...
# First order is to help your ally with the first waves of attackers, as described above. You can't stop King Addroran from throwing away his troops, but you can help them to have some effect before they perish.
# Next, fending off the Naga. A few cheap units in coastal villages at first, mermen later. Mermen vs Naga at sea will be slow fighting: both have excellent terrain defense, so there will be no obvious progress for a good long while. You should use a Mage of Light to support them, this really makes a difference during the night.
# Also, the bay/river to the north. The Mermen can be very efficient here, enjoying high terrain defense while being close enough to the coast that Lady Jessene and Haldric can provide Leadership wherever needed; again, you also want a Mage of Light if available.

For the landlubbers, don't bring too many rookies: this scenario is best used to direct experience to your level-2 units, partially advancing them outright or getting them to a point where you can expect them to level up at a good point in their next battle.

For the Merfolk, try to advance all they loyal ones, and a few more besides. Directing XP to particular units will be easier for those mermen defending the bridge, but those fighting the Naga will inevitably get some XP as well. Eventually you'll have to cross the bridge with ground troops and take the fight to the enemy, though.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a potentially bloody scenario. The Drakes are barely impeded by the difficult terrain and can run circles around you, making it hard to move damaged units into a safe position. On the upside, most drakes have little terrain defense even in forest and mountains, and are positively vulnerable to spears and arrows.

Strategy...
Using Trappers (or their upgrades) and Merfolk, try to lure the enemy into the swamps or over the sea, fight down their troops, then storm their keeps. Be prepared to suffer some losses: it's better to deliberately sacrifice some units of your choosing than struggling to keep everyone alive.

Spoiler...
* There's a Storm Trident in the middle of the bay. There's no particular hurry to pick it up for using it in this battle: the trident does fire damage, which isn't very useful against drakes. Just don't forget to retrieve it for later use.

Picking it up will summon a level-3 Sea Serpent on the next turn, be sure that you're ready for it.

Lord Typhon will depart in a few scenarios, so better give the trident to another fighter. Preferably a "quick" one, who can become a Hoplite and still keep up with his mates when he gets to Level-3.

===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 an odd scenario: as soon as anyone gets killed, the elvish high council will step in an end the bloodshed. Your "early finish bonus" becomes a "late finish" bonus: you're supposed to drag this out for as long as possible without anyone being killed.

Recruitment...
* the strongest units you have, that can deal both melee and ranged damage.
* Rangers are best, followed by Javelineers and level-3 Bowmen.
* you need six of these at the very least, preferably more, plus healers to back them up. If you don't have that many elite troops on your roster, or cannot afford to recall as many, it may be better to do nothing: keep your starting money, and slay the first person to reach you.

Strategy...
Place Javelineers on the keep, Mermen in the water, and Rangers in the forest. All backed up by healers. Have a few reserves you can swap in when things get tough. Haldric also makes a good front-line unit; Javelineers should stay near him for the leadership.

Note that no enemy unit will attack you when there's even a remote risk that they might die. So having the strongest possible fighters, both melee and ranged, will deter the most attackers. If your line looks fierce enough, some level-1 units will not attack you at all. All others will cease attacking as soon as they've taken enough damage that their death becomes a possibility. At which point, they will wander of in search of a village for healing; once all nearby villages are occupied, your attackers may even stand around dumbfounded.

Place your troops where they enjoy a good terrain defense, that is, the keep and the forest. The purpose is to reduce the damage taken and last for as long as possible. After the first round of attacks, you'll always have a few near-dead opponents standing in front of your lines, allowing you to end the scenario quickly.

You need eight tough guys to fully seal off a corner of the map, plus two mermen, and four healers. However, the enemy doesn't know or understand your plan: if your front doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the map, they will not deliberately try to outflank you. To the AI, a ''small'' gap of one or two tiles will look like a trap. So six land warriors to hold the line will do for a long time. Only after the attackers start to pile up against your formation will they eventually start to flow around.

Be sure to keep the villages behind you occupied at all times, however, or wounded enemies seeking a village to heal in may actually try to get there. Sir Ruddry and Burin, having no other use, will do nicely.

Spoiler...
* this the last chance you have to recruit Mermen, as their king leaves. You've probably got plenty on your roster from the previous scenarios, which will stay with you and can be recalled later. But if you think you need more, this is your last chance.
* the late finish bonus is 50/turn, so if your upkeep is less than that, you're in the good. Even if you don't have or cannot afford enough troops for a full defense, trying to hold the keep for a few turns will be worthwhile.

===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. Pikemen and Halberdiers 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.
* Merman shine on this map once you get them into the swamp / water hexes. They are more mobile than anything but silver mages. The storm trident makes short work of even high-level saurians and the dragon is weak to the pierce damage of your tridents and javelins. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon even further.

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 west leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed. But then by turn 10, 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.

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====

Cave terrain again, but this time the cave is so riddled with holes that there's barely any sense of individual corridors. There's plenty of short narrow passages which prevent both you and your opponents from ganging up on on each other, while on the other hand the trolls can just walk around a blocked choke point and come at you through the neighboring hole. So fighting is mostly one-on-one, though may have several such fights going on at any given time.

The map is roughly symmetrical, a keep in each of the four corners. Two random keeps will be home to the trolls, the other two will be occupied by a Giant Spider each. The spiders will only attack if you get too close.

You designated opponents will be level-1 and -2 trolls, under level-3 commanders. They don't have that much starting gold, but sufficient income to keep recruiting about one Troll Cub per turn, or a level-2 every other turn, very much until you're right on their doorstep. In order to win this, you have to be able and slay the trolls quicker than they're coming.

Recruitment...
* as usual in the caves, give preference to units that can move 3 tiles on cave terrain.
* also as usual by now, this is no place for level-1 units. You can carefully level up one or two rookies, but the bulk of your host has to be tougher than that. It's more an opportunity to level up your chaotic units, and, especially, your mages.
* Spellcasters will do a lot of damage to Trolls, and in the 1-on-1 situation so common on this map, any level-2 or better mage will be certain survive the counterattack. You'll need level-3 Magi to press forward and carry the battle to the enemy's keeps, though.
* You'll want two teams of two healers each in any event. However, Trolls are susceptible to arcane damage, so your White Mages can play a very active role (and quickly level up if so desired). Mages of Light will be especially nice, with their illumination blinding the trolls and a half-decent melee attack to fight back with.
* You can arguably fight this battle on mages alone. However, you'll need at least two keeps worth of units to plug all the holes and prevent the trolls from outflanking you. The supporters' main qualification will be to have enough hitpoints to survice a troll attack; being able to fight back is very desirable. Bandits or Swordsmen will be best, depending on whether you back them by a light source. Trappers and Outlaws will make do in the dark, Pikemen are a distant third, and lawful bowmen should sit this out: Mages can play the same game much better.

The general strategy is to move into whatever direction the trolls are coming from, and fight your way, upstream so to speak, until you get to the enemy keep.

You may start doing so right away, or first await the initial onslaught in the island you're starting on. With you on the ground and the enemy in the water, the terrain is in your favor... but the spacious cavern also allows two or even three trolls to gang up against one of yours. Then again, you can make good use of your loyal mermen and possibly even Sir Ruddry. Neither of which will be any good later when you carry the fight to the enemy, but hey, they're loyal and demand no upkeep.

If you want to explore the map and steal villages, you better do so in force. The spiders will lunge at anyone who happens to get in their range; and besides, there's several unflagged villages at the beginning of the scenario, and your opponents will seize them. This means that trolls, even level-2 ones, may show up in unexpected places.

====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 three temples there is 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===

The map's most striking feature is a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. The two closest keeps are Orcs, the one in the north holds a Troll. All will be spawning mostly level-2 units. Their average recruit will cost about 20-22 gold, check their gold at the beginning of the scenario and you'll have an idea of how many units you'll have to expect.
The terrain funnels you northward, where you will encounter the northern orcs at nightfall, coming at you in full force. The orcs from the west will start showing up during the night. They are distracted by several un-occupied villages, so they'll be a bit more stretched out. The trolls won't arrive until daybreak.
Whenever one of the enemy commanders has lost half of his units, some undead will join his team: one level-3 skeleton, plus two or four Chocobones depending on difficulty. This happens three times over the course of the battle, once for every enemy commander.
This scenario will be fairly easy, regardless of difficulty level, if you can afford at least three keeps worth of troops.

Recruitment / Strategy:
* Knights recalled on the first turn can encounter the Orcs in your north still in full daylight, and possibly wreck havoc among them before nightfall. The success of this strategy largely depends on what kind of units the orc is sending your way, but in any event don't bother with half-measures: either send 4+ strong riders on turn 1, or don't worry about trying it at all. Follow up with more lawful units and Mages of Light, using only a few chaotic ones to harrass and delay the orcs coming from the west.

* Alternatively, recall your toughest chaotic units from the get-go, and prepare to fight down the first orcish host in the woods to your north, with only a Knight or two to deal with any Wolf Riders getting ahead of the main host.

* You want to bring at least one Paladin (Sir Ruddry probably qualifies) and between that and your healers, you don't need much of a dedicated undead-killing force. If you have loyal Shock Troopers, by all means bring them on -- they'd be useful in any event. Otherwise, a pair of Bandits or a second Paladin will do nicely.

* If you want to seize the villages across the mountains to your west, be prepared to encounter a Goblin Knight or Pillager trying to do the same (you will meet whatever fast unit the western orc happened to recruit on his first turn. It may only be a "quick" archer, but a level-2 wolf is quite likely).

* 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. They will also keep their distance and refuse to attack until you present them with a target the AI considers worthwhile. Effectively you have to throw them a peasant, or a strong unit that will survive badly wounded and effectively be out of the battle for several turns.

* A Silver Mage or two can come in really handy, Teleporting all over the map to dislodge wolves from the mountains or lend a hand with the undead as needed.

This scenario is an excellent opportunity to train some Knights, as well as a few other lawful fighters. But keep in mind that the campaign is coming to a close and you can only recall so many units in the last battles: if you think you already have enough quality units, it's better to use those (and maybe get an AMLA or two) than to build up an ever bigger roster of troops you can't (or won't) recall.

===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 orcs in the north deploy the usual orcish fare, but can also recruit trolls. The undead commander will only recruit bats and skeletons (quality depending on difficulty, there may be Chocobones on Hard). During the first night, the Lich-Lord will make another appearance, casting fog of war upon the battlefield and deploy a number of Chocobones on the undead island (they're under command of the orcs, though).
When you get too close to the isle in the river mouth, you'll trigger cuttlefish to the west of that isle. Getting too close to the swamps where the river starts will summon level-2 saurians. It looks dire but the effect is mostly psychological.

Wolf riders may reach you during the night, the bulk of the orc army won't arrive until daybreak (unless you push forward to meet them, which you shouldn't). The skeletons, too, will be held up by the water. So you've got a lot of time to set up positions near the beach and in the wood.

* First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. It will be morning until they even reach the sea, but they'll still arrive in time to help with any (possibly many) skeletons still in the water. Later they can deal with the Draug in his keep. A Silver Mage's assistance will help but isn't strictly necessary.
* also send a few undead-bashers to the beach. Two or three units holding the beach at any time will do nicely; Burin and the loyal Shock Troopers are best, mostly because they're armored against arrows. If you don't have those, a number of Outlaws/Fugitives will be the next best choice, though you'll need more of them due to the damage taken.
* the cuttlefish (1, 2 or 4 of them depending on difficulty) will keep your mermen occupied for several turns and in need of healing afterwards. It's probably best to trigger them very early (a rider seizing the village at 20,22 will do): the cuttlefish are so aggressive that they will get out onto dry land in order to attack an Iron Mauler in broad daylight. That way, you can have them finished off before any skeletons reach you, and long before your mermen are even in the water.
* add another two or (at most) three keeps of mixed troops. You've fought enough orcs and trolls by know that you should know what suits the purpose. You probably want a few chaotic units to hold up the assault late at night, then rush the enemy with lawfuls at daybreak. Cavalry will once more work well, just keep in mind that you'll face a task force of quality saurians later on -- you also want some units that are not quite as prone to piercing damage.
* talking about which: getting within 10 hexes or less from 34,15 will touch off the Saurians. With careful navigation the encounter can be avoided for the whole scenario, but it's probably better to trigger them at a time of your choosing and get it over with. Saurians aren't very tough, their strength comes from being hard to hit and their skirmishing ability. But on normal and easy, they're not very numerous. If you can lure them out into open terrain, you can probably overwhelm them in a single turn, even at night.

Try to finish this scenario quickly. Make use of veterans, by this point you should really have enough of them. Don't worry about running into negative funds in the mean time: there's enough villages to ensure a hefty early finish bonus. Just don't dawdle, you want to get out of this with at least 200, better 300 gold carried over.

===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 some 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.

Strategy...
* You can either send everybody west initially and then split for the two bridges or you can split initially, with mounted units racing 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.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield.
* Kill all but one of the orc leaders (not all!).
* Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. Jevyan probably won't come out to play, so march Aethyr up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack.
* Paladins, great mages, mages of light, silver mages are all suitable units to kill Jevyan himself, make sure you have them in sufficient numbers with your southern army. 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 (or a Soulless on hard.)
* 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. The lich also will receive some gold once you kill his Familiar.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

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

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-28T17:15:29Z

Revolting peasant: /* Diverging Campaign Path */

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due: The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that Humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth Elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat longer than in other campaigns. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Campaign-Level Strategy ==

=== Gameplay ===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

=== Unit advancement ===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone. So - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1.

Seeing how the rival Undead forces are fighting each other, not you - you would expect that such protection shouldn't be that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents... Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. On the other hand, the Undead also crave mortal flesh (a little retroactive pun there), so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; three rounds of recruitment/recall should be sufficient in this case. on Hard, that might be less feasible even with the extra gold, or require much more cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with a lot less gold then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!

<Big>Dealing With Dwarves</Big>

This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.

<Big>Talking With Trolls</Big>

This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-28T07:53:36Z

Revolting peasant: /* Talking With Trolls */ - title formatting

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due: The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that Humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth Elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat longer than in other campaigns. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Campaign-Level Strategy ==

=== Gameplay ===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

=== Unit advancement ===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone. So - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1.

Seeing how the rival Undead forces are fighting each other, not you - you would expect that such protection shouldn't be that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents... Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. On the other hand, the Undead also crave mortal flesh (a little retroactive pun there), so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; three rounds of recruitment/recall should be sufficient in this case. on Hard, that might be less feasible even with the extra gold, or require much more cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with a lot less gold then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
<Big>Dealing With Dwarves</Big>

This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
<Big>Talking With Trolls</Big>

This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-28T07:53:13Z

Revolting peasant: /* Dealing With Dwarves */ - title formatting

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due: The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that Humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth Elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat longer than in other campaigns. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Campaign-Level Strategy ==

=== Gameplay ===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

=== Unit advancement ===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone. So - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1.

Seeing how the rival Undead forces are fighting each other, not you - you would expect that such protection shouldn't be that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents... Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. On the other hand, the Undead also crave mortal flesh (a little retroactive pun there), so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; three rounds of recruitment/recall should be sufficient in this case. on Hard, that might be less feasible even with the extra gold, or require much more cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with a lot less gold then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
<Big>Dealing With Dwarves</Big>

This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-25T20:35:26Z

Revolting peasant: /* A Stirring in the Night */

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due: The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that Humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth Elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat longer than in other campaigns. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Campaign-Level Strategy ==

=== Gameplay ===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

=== Unit advancement ===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone. So - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1.

Seeing how the rival Undead forces are fighting each other, not you - you would expect that such protection shouldn't be that big of a deal. Unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents... Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. On the other hand, the Undead also crave mortal flesh (a little retroactive pun there), so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; three rounds of recruitment/recall should be sufficient in this case. on Hard, that might be less feasible even with the extra gold, or require much more cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with a lot less gold then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-25T20:21:23Z

Revolting peasant: Edited the introduction and some section titles

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due: The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that Humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth Elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat longer than in other campaigns. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Campaign-Level Strategy ==

=== Gameplay ===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

=== Unit advancement ===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone.

In light of the above - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1. Now, supposedly, this shouldn't be that much of an issue, since the rival Undead forces are supposed to be fighting each other, not you; unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents. Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. Luckily for you, the Undead also crave mortal flesh, so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; on Hard, that might be less feasible, or require lots and lots of cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with not as much gold, then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-25T20:19:00Z

Revolting peasant: /* A Stirring in the Night */

Strategy Guide for Under The Burning Suns:

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due. The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat long. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Strategic Tips ==

===Gameplay===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

===Long-Term Strategy===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the group Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone.

In light of the above - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1. Now, supposedly, this shouldn't be that much of an issue, since the rival Undead forces are supposed to be fighting each other, not you; unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents. Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. Luckily for you, the Undead also crave mortal flesh, so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frugal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; on Hard, that might be less feasible, or require lots and lots of cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with not as much gold, then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dilemma is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather un-useful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have leveled-up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even after being foreshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-25T20:17:46Z

Revolting peasant: /* A Stirring in the Night */

Strategy Guide for Under The Burning Suns:

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due. The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat long. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Strategic Tips ==

===Gameplay===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

===Long-Term Strategy===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the contigent of Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone.

In light of the above - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1. Now, supposedly, this shouldn't be that much of an issue, since the rival Undead forces are supposed to be fighting each other, not you; unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents. Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. Luckily for you, the Undead also crave mortal flesh, so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frogal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; on Hard, that might be less feasible, or require lots and lots of cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with not as much gold, then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dillema is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather unuseful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have levelled up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

On turn 7, a contingent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even afterbeing ham-fistedly forshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-25T20:17:21Z

Revolting peasant: /* A Stirring In The Night */

Strategy Guide for Under The Burning Suns:

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due. The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat long. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Strategic Tips ==

===Gameplay===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

===Long-Term Strategy===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring in the Night ==

* '''Alternative Objectives''':
** Survive until the (elongated) night is over with no more than 6 villages lost, or
** Defeat both Undead leaders
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 12 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting gold''': 200

<big>Layout</big>

This map is on the small side compared to the last scenario - it's just the surroundings of the Elves' encampment for a single night: Tents/villages and some bonfires, on sand and sandy hills, at the edge of proper hills with a bit of forest. The right of the level is a North-South path between the (5-hex + keep) castles of two Undead leaders: A Lich and a Death Knight. They are, in fact, each other's enemies, and you are just in the way: One of your villages is almost smack on the path; and four more are close to it (one turn for a Ghost, two turns at most for other Undead, from the path). Your castle is on the left of the level, with an oasis blocking the way - meaning it takes a few turns to get from there to where the action is.

<big>Strategy</big>

This scenario has a special consequence for the rest of the campaign: Whenever you lose a tent/village to enemy forces in this scenario, its inhabitants are turned to un-death, i.e. part of the contigent of Elvish survivors from your village is lost. The consequence: Higher recruitment price for units, for the rest of the ''entire campaign'', if more than 3 tents/villages are lost. And it doesn't help if you regain a village - those inhabitants are just gone.

In light of the above - protecting villages from the Undead is job #1. Now, supposedly, this shouldn't be that much of an issue, since the rival Undead forces are supposed to be fighting each other, not you; unfortunately, they seem to be rather fond of tents. Undead units will opportunistically leave the N-S path to capture a tent/village - particularly the high-mobility units like Ghosts and Bats. Luckily for you, the Undead also crave mortal flesh, so when faced with a choice between a village + sentry and an empty village - they won't always go for the village, especially if it's farther away from the N-S path. Still, play it safe and try to man villages that are within an enemy's movement range, whenever this is tenable.

This scenario feels quite different depending of how frogal and speedy you were in your voyage North. If you were reasonable and kept a tight formation with ~10 or a few more units, and didn't meander too much - you should be awash in gold. If that's the case, you will probably want to aim for the two Undead leaders; on Hard, that might be less feasible, or require lots and lots of cannon fodder. If you've started this scenario with not as much gold, then you're in for more of a challenge, and will be hard-pressed to take the maximalist stance of "no village left behind".

The first couple of turns of the level, though, are not effected by your recruitment - since even scouts will take until turn 3 to even arrive at the Eastern villages. An important first dillema is whether to protect that easternmost village in "no-man's land", in the middle of the path. Do that, and you've guaranteed most of the Undead's attention will be directed at _you_: They have to go through you to get to their rivals anyway.

As for recruitment and recall - bear in mind that all fighting will be at night - a major disadvantage for you vis-a-vis the Undead. That means it is even more important to utilize their movement impairment in the sand, to isolate and gang up on them. And you will have a lot of switching-of-positions, to get to villages which come into danger: The Bats and Ghosts will fly around you, and later there's another surprise (see below). Fighters will be rather unuseful for this purpose - slow (even the quick ones) and with the wrong attack types (except if one of your fighters took the holy water potion); Tuaroch riders have Impact attacks, and if you have L2 stalwarts they'll defend pretty well from the skeletal units - but they're even slower; when you recall or recruit some on turn X, they will come into play on turn X+3 or X+4 (!), and will be mostly limited to one region of the map.

This means that, in this scenario, the Dustbok riders - the Scout line of units - must shine. You'll need quite a bunch of them to support and replace your early-turn front-line units. They bruise easy, but remember that, after being attacked, they can retaliate and retreat on he same turn (their Disengage ability) - this will come in very handy. You will likely find yourself attacking with a wounder Scout, moving it away, then replacing it with a fresh one, on the same village, and attacking again. When leveling Scouts on this level, Pathfinders will be much more useful than Archers, due to their ability to Slow. This is important to reduce your losses against the damage-bonus-enhanced Undead.

If you plan on disposing of the Undead leaders, try moving in earlier rather than later, even at the price of unit losses, because both leaders make 20 gold per turn before any income from villages, and will often recruit a pair of units per turn. Keep in mind that voodoo ceremony Garak undertook before this battle: If you keep him in good health, he can repeat his attack on an enemy target again and again: The Lich is where you should send him, since its melee is much weaker than the Death Knight's.

On Hard, you're more likely to be on the defensive throughout the scenario - requiring some good luck, as well judicious use of slowing and leadership. If any of your Archers have levelled up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability may also come in handy.

By turn 7, hopefully you have destroyed the southern army and reduced the northern one.
On turn 7, a contigent of Orcs - a patrol? - moves down the path from the Northwestern outcropping. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them; but that doesn't make their weapons sting any less. Make sure and keep your terrain benefit by sticking to the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has no keep - but he does have an income; so if you let him, he will sneak down the Western edge of the map and use your own keep while his minions ravage the encampment. Finally, note that the Orcs are quite willing to attack the Undead, not just your own units, and may do so if a lot of the Death Knight (Northeast leader)'s minions remain.

Garak will meet his demise at the end of this scenario, in a rather arbitrary way (which, even afterbeing ham-fistedly forshadowed, seems rather arbitrary). But - you can't let him die earlier.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-24T18:38:46Z

Revolting peasant: Typos, formatting, capitalization, wiki markup correction, and dropped quotation marks from scenario names

Strategy Guide for Under The Burning Suns:

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due. The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that humans and Dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat long. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Strategic Tips ==

===Gameplay===

Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym ===

<big>As Quenoth elves (Wesnoth 1.14.x and later)</big>

These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach maximum XP, their HP and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specializations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

<big>As Desert elves (Wesnoth 1.13.x and earlier)</big>

The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:

* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

===Long-Term Strategy===

There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== The Morning After ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Rescue (all?) surviving elves in villages
** Defeat the Necromancer (L2) leader to the North
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 32 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym
* '''Starting gold''': 0

Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh and Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mud-crawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mud-crawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mud-crawlers here will not spawn smaller Mud-crawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mud-crawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mud-crawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the East side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mud-crawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The tribe leader Tanuil is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, a Necromancer Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

<big>Scenario-specific gameplay rules</big>

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

If a unit is:

* At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
* during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
* On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
* ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;

Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:

* - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
* -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)

with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

<big>Map Layout</big>

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

<big>Recruitment and formation</big>

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:

__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/

or along a diagonal axis:
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

<big>Strategy</big>

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the Undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the Undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== A Stirring In The Night ==

Your goal here is pretty simple: you have to protect the twelve villages of your people from attack on all sides. You can lose up to six villages without being 'defeated', but it's not recommended: the loss of more than three villages will increase your cost to recruit new troops for the rest of the campaign. To be safe, have somebody sitting on every village.

Your Lawful forces will be fighting the forces of the Undead in a scenario that entirely takes place in the night. You will find that the damage differentials combined with their high resistance to bladed and piercing weapons will keep your elves on the defensive. To counteract this, you'll need to have good luck, plus judicious use of leadership and the slowing effect of your healers and the Hunters' bolas. If any of your Archers have levelled up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability comes in handy here.

By turn 7, hopefully you have destroyed the southern army and reduced the northern one. That's when the Orcish contingent shows up in the mountains. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them. Just stay out of the mountains - you lose your defensive advantage the moment you step off the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has an income, but no keep. If you let him, he will sneak down the western edge of the map and take over yours while his minions ravage your villages. If you are still facing significant numbers of Undead, the Orcs might just decide to attack some of those for you.

As foreshadowed, Garak will meet his demise towards the end of the scenario in a possibly surprising way, but you must keep him alive before that.

== Descending Into Darkness ==

Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== A Subterranean Struggle ==

You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
===In the Tunnels of the Trolls===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
==== Dealing With Dwarves ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

=== In the Domain of the Dwarves ===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
==== Talking With Trolls ====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

== Out Of The Frying Pan ==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

== Blood is Thicker than Water ==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

== Speaking With The Fishes ==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

== The Battle for Zocthanol Isle ==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

== The Final Confrontation ==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

UnderTheBurningSuns

2020-04-24T18:17:43Z

Revolting peasant: /* "Across the Harsh Sands" */

Strategy Guide for Under The Burning Suns:

This campaign takes place eons after the others. At the height of Wesnoth's power, an additional sun was created and magically raised into the sky. Millennia later, entropy has its due. The fertile plains of Wesnoth have turned to desert. There are few survivors from the age of the empire, though it is whispered that humans and dwarves left the planet in some sort of spacecraft. The focus of these scenarios are the Quenoth elves, who are particularly well adapted to living on the sands.

In terms of gameplay, Under the Burning Suns' scenarios tend to be somewhat long. They are not boring, though, as victory conditions typically change several times before the scenario is 'won'.

== Strategic Tips ==
===Gameplay===
Under the Burning Suns changes several of the rules you may be used to from other scenarios. Here is a list of the most crucial changes:
* regarding movement and defense, sand is the new forest
* Elves' movement cost in caves is 2 (not 3)
* Your elves are lawful and subject to the day-night cycle, which has changed quite a bit:
** First Dawn
** First Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** First Dusk
** The Short Dark (Night)
** Second Dawn
** Second Morning, Midday, Afternoon (3 turns of daylight)
** Second Dusk
** The Long Dark 1-4
* Most known units still work the same way, however:
** Sorceress line has been removed
** Healers may become level-4 (Illuminates, also slightly improved damage & resistances)
** Ranger and above can backstab
** a new type of level-2 skirmishing cavalry
** a new type of infantry, Desert Hunters: slowing ranged attack, skirmishers from level 2

===Kaleh and Nym (Wesnoth 1.14, the Quenoth elves)===
These characters don't level up like ordinary units. Every time they reach max XP, their hitpoints and attack damage will improve a bit, and you're asked what else you want them to learn on top of that, like "become a better warrior" or
"become a better hunter". You needn't worry about the choice: none of the abilities is game-breaking in one way or another, and eventually they'll learn almost all of them.

* On the first level-up, you'll have three choices "warrior", "hunter" or "leader". Whichever you choose, you'll still be able to choose the other two on later level ups.
* On the second level-up and later, you'll also be able to choose specialisations that say "choose only one". You'll be able to choose one for each of Warrior, Hunter and Leader.

====Older versions of Wesnoth (Desert elves)====
The skill tree is different to the Quenoth version, for example "become a better swordsman" or "learn to use the bolas". The two most important things to know are:
* the very first swordsman<->archer choice defines his later field of excellence (he'll be merely good in the other)
* bolas and leadership are mutually exclusive

===Long-Term Strategy===
There's no way to know this beforehand, but you'll have to fight a some big underground battles. The army you build during the first scenarios should be capable of fighting in caves. There are two main variables to consider for underground battles:
# Can each unit move at least 3 cave hexes per turn?
# How can I maximize damage in narrow corridors?

Because of these two priorities, deciding which units to level in early campaigns is very important. For instance, the following units are not as effective:
* Marksman/Sharpshooter (marksmanship ain't necessary, and besides they're too brittle)
* Hero/Champion (unless they're quick)
* Scout/Rider/Outrider (as slow as infantry, but weaker)

There are more effective units:
* Ranger/Avenger have range attack (anti-troll) and backstab (+damage)
* Captain/Marshal have leadership (+damage)
* Sentinel's "slow" attack minimizes the damage taken; skirmish may break deadlocks

== "The Morning After" ==
Some strange meteors have destroyed the homes of our heroes. Kaleh & Nym must search for survivors by capturing all villages. Landing on an empty village will sometimes flush out a few elves. In the beginning, they will be battling Mudcrawlers. Since you have no keep in which to recruit, put the Mudcrawlers to the sword and save all the new units. Note that, unlike other campaigns, Giant Mudcrawlers here will not spawn smaller Mudcrawlers upon their death. Also note that the grey brown trail around the lake is not as good defensively for you as the sand.

The villages will lead you counter-clockwise around the lake. At the southernmost portion of the lake you'll find a shattered bridge leading to a shrine in the center of the lake. You don't have to go there right away, but the scenario won't complete until you rescue the Druid and both Shamans there. Be aware that stepping off the island will trigger the obligatory Cuttlefish. If you don't yet have Garak, I'd wait on the island until dawn - this thing will be a bit tough for any of the other characters you currently possess.

Garak the Captain will be found with a few recruits on the Training Ground, which is just to the East of the bridge. It's possible that your people headed for the bridge will trigger this encounter - you'll find a bigger mob of Mudcrawlers than you've seen so far, and likely get some bruises cleaning them out. However, don't go out of your way to level Garak up. He has his own... destiny.

After dealing with the Mudcrawlers and Cuttlefish, keep heading around the lake. The villages on the West side represent the remains of the stables - capturing them will give you Scouts. If the Scouts explore the outer edges of the map, they will find more a few more villages and units, though no more Mudcrawlers. You're now ready for bigger game!

Completing the circuit around the lake reveals the destroyed keep on the North side. The King is pronounced dead, Kaleh now leads the tribe. On turn 11, Xanthos will show up to lead the Undead against the elves. Head north to take the battle to his keep. On turn 16 the Quenoth hunting party returns on the North edge of the map, somewhat westward of Xanthos.

== Across the Harsh Sands ==

* '''Objectives''':
** Kaleh must reach "Pinnacle Rock" at the North end of the map.
** Defeat the Outlaw leader.
* '''Must survive''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Turn limit''': ?? / 60 / ?? (Easy/Medium/Hard)
* '''Starting units''': Kaleh, Nym, Zhul, Garak
* '''Starting gold''': 300

'''Scenario-specific gameplay rules'''

In addition to the two-sun daily cycle for this entire campaign, this particular scenario has more particular rules involving water economy, which make it play quite differently than usual: Your refugees are traveling through an "extra-barren" area and they are short on water-skins and even food. They are therefore at risk of ''dehydrating''. The rule for this effect triggering is:

> If a unit is:
>
> * At the ''beginning'' of a turn,
> * during the ''day'': any of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Dusk;
> * On a ''sandy'' hex: sand, road, rubble or sand-dunes;
> * ''Without a nearby healer'' - a Shaman, Mystic etc. standing in an adjacent hex;
>
> Then the unit will experience "thirst" and lose:
>
> * - 4 / 5 / 6 HP (Easy / Medium / Hard)
> * -1 point of damage on each attack (melee and ranged)
>
> with the effects being cumulative. The HP loss may be healed by any healer, during the day or the night - but the attack degradation is only healed at an oasis, i.e. by being located on a water hex at the beginning of a turn.

You may be wondering "What about staying in villages?" - well, there are effectively no villages along your way. Instead, the water hexes of oases heal 8 points of damage, regardless of the source of damage, in addition to removing the effects of dehydration. Thus, an oasis becomes a point of healing, surrounded by no-damage grasland hexes where you can roam free without a healer buddy.

'''Map Layout'''

This is a long vertical map. You start at the South end and move North. At your destination there's the headquarters The Black Hand, a band of outlaws. (Not that it's clear what being an "outlaw" even means in a tribal, stateless, semi-nomadic society and in the middle of the desert, but whatever.) Between you and them, other than desert, dunes and mountains, are 4 oases; these are located at east and west edges of the level, with occasional short stretches of road peeking out of the sands, indicating the direction of the next one. The oases are (in order):

# The small oasis you start in.
# An oasis with Giant Scoprions.
# An oasis with a contigent from an outlaw band, The Black Hand ().
# An oasis surrounded by a castle (complete with a keep and a leader), inhabited either by:
## A colony of Ogres, or
## A Wight with his undead minions
# A "mirage oasis" which disappears as you near it

''Recruitment and formation''

While 60 turns might sound like a lot, your navigation in this level is quite constrained: In the day, by the risk of dehydration, and at night by roving Ghosts (see below). So, don't stay in the keep too long; you should be able to handle everything you'll run across with a single castle's worth of troops (6 units) if you're careful. If you're not careful, it doesn't matter how many troops you get. Also, remember there are no villages on your way, and all of your recruits are supported "out-of-pocket".

All your recalled/recruited units can become dehydrated - including healers, therefore you should keep your healers in pairs. A reasonable formation is a "hedgehog" around Zhul and a Quenoth Mystic:
```
__
__/U \__
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/H \__/
/U \__/U \
\__/U \__/
\__/
```
or along a diagonal axis:
```
__
__/U \__
__/U \__/U \
/U \__/H \__/
\__/H \__/U \
/U \__/U \__/
\__/U \__/
\__/

```
this is 10 units: 2 healers ('H') + 8 any other ('U') = 4 starting units + 6 recalls/recruits. Out of those six, make one the Mystic/Shaman; another - a Quenoth Scout, and the other four could be, say, two Quenoth Fighters and two Tuaroch Riders.

Why place the two healers adjacent to each other? Because a healer, by him/herself, is ''not'' in itself safe from dehydration, so the healers must support each other.

''Strategy''

Your hedgehog will begin following the remains of the old road East-North-East. You won't be able to keep the hedgehog together if the group travels faster than 5 hexes per turn - the speed of the slowest unit - so that Scout you got will not be very effective right now beyond increasing you range of view. That's okay, we'll be able to let it loose soon. At night, of course, you can break this formation - but you must reform it _before_ Dawn to avoid dehydration.

One reason you might break formation at night is your being attacked by roving ghosts: Indeed, in most areas (outside oases), and at every turn of night (including dusk but excluding dawn), one or two Ghosts will appear near to your units, to "prey on the weak". You're not all _that_ weak, but a Ghost may be able to pick off a wounded character of yours if you just keep the hedgehog formation. If your characters have high HP, you have the option of just ignoring the Ghosts' harassment - after all, your units are ineffective against them (except for Garak), and they against you with your good sand defense; they will spontaneously disappear at dawn.

You should arrive at the second oasis at about first-dusk, and promptly be attacked by the Scorpions - who have decent desert movement and vision range - plus the roving Ghosts. Focus on the Scorpions first, unless you can land a terminal blow on a low-HP ghost; in fact, the Ghosts might even attack some Scorpions for you. After you take out the Scorpions, you'll find a Traveler's Ring. This artifact will make the designated unit invulnerable to hunger and thirst. Give it to your Scout; it can take off on its own without getting dehydrated.

If you somehow got dehydrated on day 1, or took a really bad beating - you might wish to rest in the oasis (remember: +8 HP in the water) before reforming your hedgehog; the bandit bathers' oasis is due West-by-Northwest.

As you approach the midline of the level, you'll find it a hilly region infested by several Ogres. Despite their high HP, they're not so difficult to beat, since they're slow in sand and will not all gang up on you; they're not Chaotic, so they won't get a bonus when you're able to break formation; they have no ranged attack; and - if you catch them on sand hexes, you'll have twice their chance to hit. A Pathfinder (leveled Scout), Nym, or Kaleh - with the hunting skill - can slow them down to make sure even their relaliation loses its sting. The issue you may have here is your formation, which will likely break up (unless you go very slowly), and in daytime will result in some dehydration - that will be a handicap in your next encounter.

If you dispose of the entire group of Ogres, you'll receive a special treat: A Loyal [[http://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/mainline/en_US/Dust%20Devil.html Dust Devil]] - an elemental earth spirit. It has a respectable arcane-type melee attack, and a nice impact-type swarm ranged attack - both effective against the undead. If that's not enough - it has 8 MP and low movement cost over most terrain, _and_ it has at least 50% defense everywhere, _and_ it recovers 6 HP per turn on sand or dirt hexes; so it's an excellent scout. It won't be your "tank" against the Undead, though, due to limited HP and its vulnerability to cold and arcane attacks.

The Black Hand's pool outing oasis is next: You'll find a mixed bag of Bandits, Thugs, Poachers and Trappers enjoying the pool (after all, it's not like they have a lot of crime to attend to). If you had your Scout in their sights before, they might have even joined the fray against the Ogres and yourself. By now should have some extra leveled-up units, so it won't be anything you can't handle - especially if you make sure to fight in daytime. The main issue here being the hills and the Ogres having impeded your formation. Depending on how effective you are in keeping everybody together, you might have some units go into battle wounded rather than wait for the healers to attend to them. When you are done here tack East-by-Northeast towards the castle oasis.

Close to the castle, you'll chance upon a Red Mage named Elyssa, who is being changed by a force of skeletal units. You'll obviously save her - you just let her fill the empty spot in your hedgehog formation (with the scout no longer needing its former spot). Remember she's very effective against the undead - but you need to keep her safe from the counter-attacks of Skeletons and Revenants.

As for the castle itself - there is some random roll-of-the-dice which decides whether you'll find Ogres or the Undead in it. If it's the Wight leader (an L2), it will have an "honor guard" of four units (Ghosts on Medium difficulty), and will have amassed some money for recruiting (it has a high base-income despite the lack of villages). Remember that Wights are quite mobile, and this one won't hesitate to leave its castle to target someone vulnerable.

The last (non-)oasis has a signpost at its entrance, announcing you've reached the home of the Black Hand of (existentially-unemployed) outlaws. When you cross some horizontal line, they will have already begun recruiting in earnest - and between the leader's basic income and their tent villages, they can recruit two units each turn without any gold reserves... So, hurry North. The leader of bandits is named Thorn, an L2 Outlaw (on Medium; probably a fugitive on Hard); when you take him out, he bargains for his life - and when you accept, he takes all of the remaining bandits with him.

The bandit leader's offering in exchange for his life is a vial of Holy Water. As you may recall from other campaigns, the unit which picks it up has its melee attack change type to arcane. Choose carefully - you probably want to give this to a unit with a pierce-type attack, add
Now you have a second unit with a highly-effective attack against the Undead (in addition to the trampling Tuaroch riders).

When you complete your objectives, you get a 20-per-turn early finish bonus (which doesn't correspond to the number of villages), before carryover deduction.

== "A Stirring In The Night" ==
Your goal here is pretty simple: you have to protect the twelve villages of your people from attack on all sides. You can lose up to six villages without being 'defeated', but it's not recommended: the loss of more than three villages will increase your cost to recruit new troops for the rest of the campaign. To be safe, have somebody sitting on every village.

Your Lawful forces will be fighting the forces of the undead in a scenario that entirely takes place in the night. You will find that the damage differentials combined with their high resistance to bladed and piercing weapons will keep your elves on the defensive. To counteract this, you'll need to have good luck, plus judicious use of leadership and the slowing effect of your healers and the Hunters' bolas. If any of your Archers have levelled up to be Desert Rangers, their Backstab ability comes in handy here.

By turn 7, hopefully you have destroyed the southern army and reduced the northern one. That's when the Orcish contingent shows up in the mountains. These are certainly easier to deal with - you can properly stab them. Just stay out of the mountains - you lose your defensive advantage the moment you step off the sand. Their leader, Ganthos, has an income, but no keep. If you let him, he will sneak down the western edge of the map and take over yours while his minions ravage your villages. If you are still facing significant numbers of Undead, the Orcs might just decide to attack some of those for you.

As foreshadowed, Garak will meet his demise towards the end of the scenario in a possibly surprising way, but you must keep him alive before that.

== "Descending Into Darkness" ==
Starting now, you lose the comfort and protection of the sand. The terrain here is primarily hills and mountains, interlaced with river and swamp. When you initially step into the mountains, Goblins will appear. The mountain road forks West or North. The western fork leads you to a bridge over the river that has a village on either side. Stepping anywhere close to here triggers the appearance of more Goblins and some Naga led by an Orcish Slayer [or Assassin on Easy difficulty]. It's probably more fight than the two villages are worth. However, if you're playing on Medium or Hard, you have to fight these sooner or later - may as well face them now before you get too busy. Plus, you can choose to face them during daylight.

The northern fork takes you over another bridge to the keep of Panok the Direwolf Rider. He moves ridiculously fast, so you might have a hard time pinning him down. His troops are mostly Goblins, so consider him to be a warmup for the tougher foes you'll face in the caverns. Upon his death, he drops a ring and possibly triggers the Naga and the Slayer.

From here, there are two roads: the North, and the West. Both lead to tunnels into the mountains, and each ends in the keep of an Orcish Warlord [Orcish Warrior on Easy]. The exit tunnel could randomly be behind either keep. Though the two keeps are linked by paths inside the mountain, it might be quicker overall to leave Kaleh outside until you determine whether he needs to go East or West. You could either split your troops and tackle the entrances separately, or send the whole bunch down the closest hole. In that case, expect a pitched battle as the furthest Orc reinforces the nearest.

The turn after Kaleh first enters either cavern, he will be pursued by a Cloaked Figure/Dark Assassin. It doesn't matter if Kaleh is surrounded, the Assassin will temporarily displace any Elf or Orc that is in his way when he appears. Other findings:
*If you follow the river where it enters the mountain, it will lead you to a Goblin Impaler guarding a treasure chest. Not exceptionally tough, but he will fight from solid ground while you stand in the water. The chest contains 40 to 80 gold.
*Continuing around the river, there is a passageway [coordinates 18,10] that ends in a pool. If you step into the pool, you will find a glowing blade. You may choose to either take it or leave it. If you take it, that character's melee attack will now deal cold damage, but a monster will appear to block your escape. It's only level one [and cute at that!], but again it will be on dry land while you will be starting in water. It's kind of a long trip, so you'd be unlikely to finish it before the end of the scenario unless you send a Scout or other fast unit. Alternately, if Nym didn't get the Holy Water, have her get it.

== "A Subterranean Struggle" ==
You're in a tunnel headed East. Soon you will see a squad of Giant Ants in front of you, while a Cave Spider tries to sneak up behind you. You can ignore the Ants for now, as the Spider is more dangerous: it poisons with its melee attack and slows with its ranged attack. Eventually you find yourself in a great chamber where Dwarves and Trolls are doing battle. You are forced to choose which side to ally with, and then you will be required to eliminate the other side. Your choice will stay with you for a few more scenarios, as the campaign forks after this. Fortunately, there is a keep right in front of you, though the battle is currently raging in it.

Soon after choosing sides [probably about the time you get your keep clear], your opponent will pull a sneak attack that nearly wipes out your allies. Most of the rest retreat. The ball is now in your hands. Three turns later, they make it up to you by giving some of their troops for you to command. Finally, some loyal troops. If you are allied with the Dwarves, the two tribes of Trolls are Southeast and Southwest from your keep. If you are allied with the Trolls, the two tribes of Dwarves are Northeast and Northwest from your keep.

Guard Kaleh well: some time after receiving your reinforcements, the Cloaked Assassin will reappear. This time s/he will Slow Kaleh and take up to half his hit points. There's some more crazy talk, and the Slow effect lasts until the Assassin has been removed again. Note that even if your troops now succeed in destroying the enemy tribes, this scenario won't end until the Assassin has been dealt with.

==Diverging Campaign Path==
==="In the Tunnels of the Trolls"===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading West is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the East-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Dwarven demolitions will make this wall an entrance to the Troll kingdom. You will immediately see a Troll leader and his minions in a keep. Don't get too excited; he's not your target, merely an outpost. However, the clock is ticking, so finish them off quickly. Afterward you might wish to use his keep to recruit an additional healer to support Zhul, and if you have a unit with the cold blade bring them as well.. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Dwarves that you've been given by your allies.

This cavern has exits leading North, East, and South. North only goes to the edge of the map. East leads to some Trolls interrogating some Dwarves. Play your cards right and you'll be able to rescue a Dwarvish Stalwart, who joins your party out of gratitude [though he's not grateful enough to be Loyal...]. South is the exit going toward the objective. This leads into a large lava cavern. Similar to the second scenario, you'll need to keep as many troops as possible gathered around a healer. However, the lava hexes are not safe for your units to end their turns on, other than the flying units. This is going to slow down your progress, as most units will not be able to use all their movement points.

The Troll Shamen blow up the bridge going directly to them, so you'll have to take an alternate route clockwise around the rim of the lava pit. They will conjure up a fire elemental to slow your progress; after you kill it, it will periodically regenerate. Additionally, as you reach certain checkpoints the Shamen will create more Fire Guardians, though these don't regenerate. When you reach the southern part of the rim, you'll be rewarded by a small pool of water that will heal whomever is standing in it by ten points per turn. The rim is interrupted here by a rock projection sticking out to bar your way. After this, you have to proceed by "island hopping".

By the way, there are two passages on the western side of the lava pit that aren't strictly necessary to get to, but might be worth exploring [flying units only]. The lower is blocked by the ghost of a Dwarf who died in the upper. Burying the remains of the Dwarf allows you to proceed further down the lower passageway to a Troll crypt guarded by a Zombie Troll Whelp. Flying over the Chasm allows you to loot the crypt for the poison wand it contains. Whomever picks it up will add poison damage to their melee attacks.

When you reach the spit of land that the Shamen are standing on, one will run to the boss. I got lucky in that the other chose to stand in the lava to get around me. He was a lot easier to finish off then. ;^) After that, follow South and East. The tunnel quickly narrows down to a single lane, and your progress will be impeded by some Whelps. The lair has a pair of alcoves containing Troll dead, who will eventually be turned into Zombies to further slow you down. By the time you deal with these and the army of Trolls the boss is recruiting, you might not have much time left. Finally take out the other Shaman and the Chieftain. Good luck!
===="Dealing With Dwarves"====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Dwarves. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Dwarf will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the Stalwart, it'll be him.

==="In the Domain of the Dwarves"===
You start in a small keep with few places to go. The tunnel leading East is where you just came from. To kick things off, move a unit to the West-most dirt hex. At the end of the turn, Troll fire magic will make this wall an entrance to the Dwarven kingdom. You will immediately see a small contingent of Dwarves in a fortress. Since it costs no upkeep, you may as well recall all the Trolls that you've been given by your allies. If you're going the send Zhul after the hidden bonus, you might also want to bring in another healer.

The area around the fortress has several tunnels. Going clockwise from your current position, the South-East avenue only goes to the edge of the map. South-West leads to a humorous scene of a Dwarven drill instructor berating his troops. Bring two mid-level Trolls, preferrably a mix of melee and ranged types to deal with these. Past this will be a Troll being tortured by a Dwarf. He pretty much rescues himself, but joins your party out of gratitude. North-West is the exit going toward the objective. North is a Dwarf guarding what will become a dead end.

The main path crosses two single hex wide bridges over a chasm. After you push the Dwarves back to the bridges you can fly Zhul over the chasm to support your front line. The leader of this Dwarven contingent challenges you to get up close and personal. After you do, however, he blows up the main entrance to the Dwarven Keep. Now you'll have to make a right turn detour through the Black Lake.

By the time you get your feet wet, you'll see a Dread Bat and some Giant Tentacles. If Zhul hasn't been upgraded to Desert Star yet, the Bat might be a tough match for her. Maybe have her hang back until the bat has been fireballed or rocklobbed. After the rest of your troops finish wading through the lake, they'll take the left. If you're going after the goody, have Zhul perhaps assisted by a Troll companion occupy the island in the northern part of the lake. There is a Dwarven Hermit speaking some Gollum-like speech. When he dies all your troops will have access to his amulet, which is basically a key. Send somebody to the South-East portion of the lake, where the amulet will get you past the concealed door to reveal a Dwarven crypt. Avoid the Dread Bat in his keep on the East side of the lake.

Anybody can do it, but wading through the water will take prohibitively long for characters who can't fly. If it were appropriate to the topic, i'd question why somebody who can easily fly over a Chasm can't fly over Deep Water, but it's not. Anyway, looting the crypt gets you a belt of strength that is supposedly good for 12 additional hit points. I say "supposedly" because I've repeatedly seen Zhul end up with 52 hits, not 53. Zhul could really use this, as she gets no additional hit points when levelling up to Desert Star. You won't be able to see the crypt, but it's in the center of the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Even with flying here, i had a hard time getting there before the Dwarf Chieftain was dead. I had to replay the end of the turn several times, as he repeatedly kept suiciding himself on my Druid. Anyway, upon putting on the belt your exit will be blocked by a ghost. It'll be kind of tough, but hopefully the chieftain will be dead before you're on the ropes.

Back to the mainland, the Chieftain and his troops will be almost directly west of where your people get back on land. There's a wall in the way, though, with entrances on both the North and South portions of it. The southern route is slightly closer, but is also a chokepoint. Send some faster troops the northern way to attack the Dwarves' rear.
===="Talking With Trolls"====
This is mostly just dialog, though if you have kept Elyssa alive she will decide to stay and study the Trolls. As a parting gift, she presents you with a flaming sword, and you can recruit/recall any unit to take it and deal out fire damage. Too bad she'll be drowning soon. The other bad news is that all of your loyal troops will also be staying down here when you go up into the outer world. Only one Troll will volunteer to guide you. If you saved the victim of Vengeful Dwarf, it'll be him.

=="Out Of The Frying Pan"==
Thankfully, this is the last of the underground fighting. It's too bad you can't recruit more of the Dwarves/Trolls you've allied with, as they could really help here. Your opponents have dammed the river and the whole tunnel system is being flooded. This is bad: every turn you will lose several hexes of floor. Recruit/recall no more than a single castle's worth of troops, as you'll lose more to drowning than to fighting. Actually, it's best to not recruit any units, though you should recall the Dust Devil, since it is loyal; you are going to need your gold later at a second keep, and you don't want to pay upkeep until then.

It is best to play this similar to "The Elves Beseiged". Don't fight any more than you absolutely have to, prefer to instead move past the enemies and let them drown behind you. Water areas that you haven't seen yet won't rise, so don't send fast scouts ahead of your slower troops (an exception: the Dust Devil doesn't trigger the "more water" events, except for the one at the end of the secret passage).

The first cavern will have your exit blocked by three of your opponents, be they Dwarf or Troll. Next is a scattering of Giant Ants. They don't put up much of a fight. The exit is the North West tunnel. The following cavern is populated by three humans who decide to attack you. The tunnel behind them is also flooding, so you need to make haste to the western tunnel. The next cavern is marked by a magical warding [looks like clouds] that blocks passage except through the red rune 'gate'. It won't hurt to step onto the rune, but upon leaving it the lead character will be burned for 25%-35% of their total hit points while both gates disappear. Also, a variety mix of undead will suddenly appear in the chamber. Some of them will gather around around the entrance chokehold, so you'll need skirmish ability to effectively assist the now lonely lead character. If you have Grog, best to send him in first, as he can heal up the damage by the time the battle is over. Also, his impact weapon is best used against the skeletons in the back of the room. The same goes for Rogrimir, naturally, but he'll need healing afterward.

There is a secret door at 24,49 that will lead you around the red rune room. It has more water there, though [not to mention the Soulless], so it's another opportunity to have good troops drowned. The cavern where this tunnel connects back behind the red runed room has two blue runes that will heal whomever steps upon them to 100%, but not cure poison. They are also only good for a few uses, so probably just use it to heal Zhul and your badly bruised ally.

The exits out of the blue runed room are thus: South is back to the red runed room. South-West is the water-logged Soulless. North-West is the 'Training Room'. A ghostly teacher in back of the room runs his ghostly students through weapons drills with you as targets. Destroying the students is not helpful, as the master keeps reanimating them. You need to take him out, but the Zone of Control of the students keeps you from getting to him. Yet another call for the Skirmish ability. I don't bother going in there, as there's no real gain for the amount of time you'll have to spend here. What i like to think of as the 'main exit' from the blue runed room is due north. This leads to a sleeping area where you will be assaulted by the skeletal remains of its former inhabitants. Your ally should have half of them cleaned up by the time the last of your troops gets in. This route is slightly longer in terms of hexes than going through the Training Room, but i still get through in fewer turns.

Besides, there is a goody to be had this way: North of the skeletons is the lab area. You'll find the secret door at 17,36. Inside, you'll find a red rune blocking the way, then two more further up. Stepping upon the first rune causes the character to suffer the usual 25%-35% damage PLUS poison. Then the other two runes are covered by angry monsters [failed experiments]. Both are first level. Behind them is a Frankenstein-style monster trapped in a ring of fire. If you Skirmish past the two, you can break the ring to release the second level Flesh Golem. It will fight for you. You have to be careful, as its Berserk fighting style can be a double edged weapon. Nonetheless, it can be useful to have another Chaotic fighter on your side.

The next room beyond either the Training Room or sleeping area is the sacrificial altar. Setting foot in here conjures two second-level fire demons the next turn. Bring out your Cold Blade and whatever ranged weapons you have handy. Note that every time you step on the tiled floor around the altar you are given the chance to pull a lever. Do not pull the lever until all your people are in this room and ready to leave. Pulling the lever opens two secret passages behind the Altar. The eastern is your exit; the western is flooded. Six turns after you pull the lever, the entire temple area will be Deep Water.

The exit goes through a Crypt area that is guarded by a Spider Lich. It is tough, but vulnerable to Fire and impact damage; you should still have both. After you leave the Crypt, you will again be stopped by: the ever mysterious Cloaked Assassin. This time you are able to capture him and get his whole sad story. I think it was about turn 30 or so that i got my people past the dangers of the raging waters. Woo-hoo!: you've made it out into the sand again, and are ready for some real fighting!! Fortunately there's a rather haughty group of humans who seem to think your people are meant to be sacrificed to their 'Dark Lady'.

By all means, start recalling troops to teach them a lesson. You probably need to spend all your gold. Figure the opposition is 20-something in Sergeant Durstrag's tribe plus five messengers and periodic visits by vengeful undead. These will mostly just bother your troops who are near the South end of the valley. Don't bother looking for the messenger; it isn't on the map yet. At some point, a messenger will materialize just East of the oasis. After taking him out, you only have a half dozen or so turns to finish off Sergeant Durstrag or another messenger will be created, along with his escorts. Don't forget the chest of gold just South of your Keep. If the battle goes on long enough, the flood waters will eventually come out of the side of mountain on the West end of the valley and make a new river.

=="Blood is Thicker than Water"==
Out of the frying pan, into hot water! Let's break this down into parts for each objective:
===Free the Mermen===
If you click too rapidly through the introductory text you will miss some crucial details: Namely that your enemies lie to the northwest, and that you're looking for ''five'' merfolk. It's worthwhile to get them all, as each will become a loyal troop once freed from the cage. The humans are Loyalist factioned in three tribes. They are not the mysterious 'Iron Council', just followers. The leader is a third level commander while the other two are second level lieutenants. Depending on the level of difficulty, you could be seeing things like Shock Troopers, Swordsmen and Cavaliers. Probably about three keeps worth should be good. If you wipe out all the bad guys before the sacrifice, but don't free all five merfolk, your troops will just wander idly until the time of the sacrifice. Freeing the fifth mermaid starts the rebellion, thus potentially saving a few turns for the end of scenario bonus.

It's easy to miss the the fifth Mermaid, as she is hidden in the small cave just north of the eastmost humans' keep. This is in deep water, so the land lubbers won't be able to help. Have the Mermaid Priestess and another Merman approach the island from the East side. The cage there holds a Mermaid Enchantress and is guarded by a few Walking Corpses/Souless. The other large island in the Northwest is closed off, you won't be able to get there yet. If it isn't obvious, use your freed merpeople very sparingly on land. Unless the humans are standing on the shore, or otherwise making themselves easy targets, just park your finny allies in the water. Sometimes they can jump on a village to prevent a wounded bad guy from getting a rest. If you have dealt with all the humans before turn 16, don't just stand around. Start shifting all the elves where they will next be needed next: the east side of the mainland and the eastmost island. Dwarves, Trolls, and Golems move slowly enough that they probably won't make it to the rebels before the rebellion is over. May as well leave them on the North-West island [the village at 20,23 is a good location] in readiness for the third objective, possibly accompanied by any of your elves with a move of 5.

On turn 16, any merpeople still caught will be pan-fried in a little butter as an offering to the Dark Lady. This is performed by a briefly seen Necromancer named Hekuba. He is a member of the Iron Council. Or is that an Iron Chef? Should any leaders of the Loyalists still remain, they will depart to prepare 'Plan B'. Sigh. It was so much easier to get to them on the mainland. If they are all dead, the Iron Council will then begin 'Plan C'.
===The Rebellion===
After the Dark Lady is newly invigorated by the sacrifice, the apparition of Eloh appears to (and appeals to) one of your elves. He expresses his faith in the apparition, and challenges you for leadership of the elves. You'll have to fight him for supremacy, and you won't be able to recruit new troops until this is over. Zhul will be torn between her admiration of Kaleh and Eloh. She will go to Eloh and sell Kaleh's goodness. The apparition rebuffs Zhul and petrifies her. If you don't have any other healers you might wish to recall some before making the long trek East. The rebel base is the northeast island. This was inaccessible to non-swimmers, but the merfolk will show you some Shallow Water paths to the island. If you're feeling shorthanded, you can wait offshore (backed up by a healer, of course) and hammer the defenders in the water. They seem quite eager to rush out to you. It might take a little longer this way, though.

As you approach the island, some Crab Men will appear and attempt to eat you. They're not terribly tough, but they're in their natural element and you're not. As insurance, have the ranged attack merfolk provide a screen in the deep water around you. The melee attack merfolk could perhaps approach the island from the north side. There is a river that goes right to where Eloh is standing. Four successful hits from Merman Warrior can do it...

If you have Kromph, the Flesh Golem, it will soon fall under the sway of the Dark Lady. It talks to itself for a few turns as a warning. When that happens, best surround it with ranged attacks. It changes sides on the beginning of your turn, so you can blast it before it gets a chance to attack. If you manage to strike down Eloh before she complete's Kromph's sub&shy;version, her final command to it causes it to collapse into a heap of confusion. Oh, but we barely knew ye...

If your costs to recruit are high as a result of the battle between the Spectres, it might interest you to know that the rebel elves are not your target - Eloh and Tanstafaal are. Whenever you destroy the apparition and capture Tanstafaal, the remaining elves will automatically switch over to your side. You might not want the extra overhead for the rest of this scenario, though. Besides, they screen Tanstafaal so well that most of them will have to be done in to get to him. Oh, and Zhul comes around after the apparition is gone.

===Capture Ships===
The next fight will take place on the formerly closed northwest island. This is the home of the Iron Council - a trio of Necromancers. Hekuba is their leader and stays on his keep. The other two are free to move and not even shy about stepping into the water. Nevertheless, they can hold their own out there at night. Plan C is the Necromancers raising the seabed to provide Shallow Water paths from the island - they actually think they're attacking YOU. Well, pride goeth before a fall. With the settling of the rebellion, you are able to recruit again. If you find yourself needing to do that, you have to chose whether it is better to use Tanstafaal's keep and march them all the way back West, or detour Kaleh down to one of the humans' keeps south of the action.

The troops of the Iron Council include a mixed bag of skeletal types and if plan B is place the human leaders will also be here. Hekuba can recruit the same troops as the humans did, plus more Necromancers, Skeletons/Revenants and Skeletal Archers/Bone Shooters. You'll have quite a fight on your hands to make landfall. After you do get on solid ground things aren't so bad. Of course, if the enemy captures the island at 20,23, you'll have to fight them through the water twice. It's probably better to continue to press them at night to prevent that. It'll be a little easier to take on the Necromancers if you can level up the Enchantress and the Priestess.

The bad guys won't be able to destroy the ships. For game purposes, the ships are actually villages. Thus, the worst thing that can happen to the ships is they get recaptured. The merfolk can't cross or occupy ship terrain - not even after they've been captured. I suppose they would have a hard time climbing ladders. When you have all four, the scenario immediately ends. You might wish to finish off any of your opponents that are close before capturing the last ship.

=="Speaking With The Fishes"==
Just dialog. A curiosity is that the queen of the Merfolk - Melusand - is giving all your people a seashell brooch, but doesn't say what they're good for other than they enable her to track your progress!

=="The Battle for Zocthanol Isle"==
Wow! This time around you'll have to battle five tribes, plus bats. You immediately have to head West along the southern shore of the island, searching for a keep. You'll soon find a Saurian Oracle who looks like he doesn't really need the keep he's sitting in. It's not a particularly tough fight, but you're under time pressure to immediately begin churning out units. As soon as Kaleh takes his seat in the center of the keep, your loyal merfolk return bringing the remaining ships and a group of merfolk you can recruit. They also capture the villages South of you, so you can immediately begin sending the troops North. Zhul makes a comment about not needing gold if you lose. I will simplify: this is the last scenario in which you do any recruiting, so you may as well bust the budget. You still have to face down four tribes. From left to right:

* '''Naga #1:''' If you follow the Shallow Water from your keep North, it'll lead to a small keep with a Naga Myrmidon. His tribe is not heavily populated, but you'll see them first due to closeness. Send half your loyal merfolk up there to deal with them, and recruit some new merfolk to assist.
* '''Undead:''' Not too far North of your keep will be a Draug recruiting a fairly strong assortment of undead: Blood Bats, Ghosts/Wraiths, various second level skeletal types, Soul Shooters, and Necrophages. On higher levels of difficulty, there will be Spectres and Draugs as well.
* '''Orcs:''' On the northeast corner of the island will be a peninsula. There you'll find a Orcish Sovereign recruiting a stiff mix of Orcs and leveled Wolf Riders, nothing under second level.
* '''Naga #2:''' On the east side of the island is more shallow water leading to another Naga Myrmidon. He is a twin to the western Naga, but he'll have more time to recruit before you get to him. Packs of Naga Hunters shooting poison can be deadly day or night. You can take them out with a mix of fast Elves supported by Mermen and a healer. If you're not used to recruiting merfolk, please note that the Mermaid Initiate is not capable of any healing or curing until she's levelled up.

The other threat you'll face are the bats that show up every dusk and harry you until morning. Easy difficulty gives you five Vampire Bats every night. Higher levels of difficulty take away two of those, but add Blood Bats. Like the Ghosts in the second scenario, these are not worth chasing after. They will, however, pick off the weakest of your troops. Anybody who is below 20 hit points is vulnerable at night. Hedgehog like crazy at night, if you don't have enough units for a massive line. If the bats don't see any likely targets, they will unflag any of your unguarded villages. You don't need the money, however, so who cares?

As soon as you have the keep, victory conditions change to reaching the black citadel. However, that'll take some work, as hordes of undead will soon begin pouring down your way. If you dally in recruiting/recalling, you might get flanked by Direwolf Riders and packs of Naga on your eastern side. Send the Dwarf/Troll (You ''do'' still have him, don't you?) along with Nym, Zhul and what's left of your initial landing to deal with the undead while the faster troops you recall head East along the beach. By all means also send whomever has the holy water North. Your merfolk can nail down your watery flanks, both west and east. You'll also need some sturdy elves to block the gap between the lagoons. You'll need another healer for the eastern front, and ideally a third to support the middle. If you don't have the Mermaid Priestess/Diviner in the eastern group, better send along a Shyde/Star.

Melusand told you that the black citadel was in the center of the island. It is, if by "center" you mean "north side". However, it is surrounded by mountains, so merfolk will be of no help there. If any undead come to the coast, then merfolk spellcasters could be helpful. There's a secret area off the northwest shore of the island that the merfolk could explore if they have nothing better to do. A wrecked ship is guarded by a Sea Serpent. Just South of the ship is a sunken treasure worth a little gold. We're really not worried about gold anymore, however. Northwest of the wreck is a sandbar containing another merman in a cage. Inside is a badly wounded Merman Triton. You can send him and the rest of your mermen east across the top of the board and then down to the orc leader.

You might reach the black citadel before finishing off the Orc. If so, victory conditions change: you will need to kill both the undead and orcish leaders before being able to open the door. After finishing them off, victory conditions change again: now get any unit to the door of the black citadel. Since you probably won't need ''everybody'' to take on the Orc, you may as well leave somebody near the citadel. When the door is open, there's some drama that ends up in having Kaleh, Nym, and Zhul go into the citadel to again face the apparition of Eloh. If your ally is still alive, he comes along as well.

=="The Final Confrontation"==
Earlier I alluded to the fact that during this battle you won't be able to recruit. You come into a hexagonal cave/chamber that is partially paved and partly rock floor. It somewhat reminded me of "The Duel" scenario ending the Eastern Invasion campaign. It's just the people I mentioned in the last paragraph of the Zocthanol scenario: Kaleh, Nym, Zhul and possibly Grog or Rogrimir. The Apparition of Eloh will be in the front of you, and she will have charmed some of your young troops to use against you. The objective is to defeat the apparition, quite possibly the easiest objective ever. By all means have the ally go first, since he will move faster and defend better on the cavern floor. When i did it, Grog the Troll Warrior took her out in a single move: both swings connected and she was done.

While this may not be as emotionally satisfying as having Kaleh or Zhul finish her off, it has the beneficial effect of leaving more characters able to move to fulfill the second objective. The two recruits are freed from their charm, if you are able to keep them alive in this pit of despair. After the apparition is gone you get to see "the man behind the curtain" so to speak. The evil creature doing all this isn't a standard brand demon, but some relation to Cthulhu. Yechnagoth is composed of a brain (Central Body), energy source (Pulsing Spires), and multiple fists (Crawling Horrors.) Don't even waste your time attacking the Central Body yet. Note that the Spires are a different team than the others.

As long as the Pulsing Spires are alive, the Central Body has 100% resistance to any attack AND it fully heals every turn. Every turn it can attack any adjacent unit, spray slime [hurts 10-12 points and slows] on any unit in the cavern, AND summon one or more new Crawlers. There is no turn limit, but you want to hurry before you get overwhelmed by Crawling Horrors. Due to my lucky start, I was able to finish before turn 5. The Spires have no melee attack, so hammer them as you reach them. (Well, even their ranged attack is nothing to write home about.) Even though the paved parts of the floor all lead to the Central Body, try not to have any character end their turn next to it until the Pulsing Spires are gone. You might find yourself using the hedgehog again, with characters not actively attacking surrounding Zhul to heal up from the constant depredations of the Crawlers.

After you have taken out the third Spire, the Central Body becomes a Weakened Central Body, which is a much more reasonable opponent. The healing stops, and the hit points, resistances and attack damages drop. Again, two mighty hammer blows could finish it off. Congratulations! You've just won yourself a tropical paradise island!!

[[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]

User:Revolting peasant

2020-04-21T19:16:16Z

Revolting peasant: /* My work on Wesnoth */

== About me ==

I'm not an actual peasant, I just have a soft spot for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKIWjnEPNY them]]. I'm a Computer Science researcher and software developer; you can check out my [[https://eyalroz.github.io/ off-Wesnoth-Wiki personal page]], or [[mailto:eyalroz@technion.ac.il email me]].

== My work on Wesnoth ==

I'm mostly an occasional official campaign player - haven't even finished them all, and even that's on Medium rather than hard.

I've contributed mostly here on the Wiki, and then mostly to official campaign walkthroughs:

* Heir to the Throne
* The Eastern Invasion
* The Hammer of Thursagan
* Delfador's Memoirs
* Dead Water
* Descent into Darkness
* The Rise of Wesnoth (in progress)

User:Revolting peasant

2020-04-21T19:15:53Z

Revolting peasant: /* About me */

TheRiseOfWesnoth

2020-04-21T17:46:24Z

Revolting peasant: /* The Oldwood */

==Overall Campaign Strategy==

(At the moment, most of the walkthrough takes the perspective of the Lord (Challenging) difficult setting.)

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

* Healers: White Mages/Mages of Light (at least four)
* Undead vanquishers: 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 level-up at least two Paladins and two-or-more 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 not as useful against the 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 leveled up - preferably the quick ones, which will be more useful in underground levels. Footpads help too, once leveled up. Due to swamps, you will sometimes be spamming Poachers, which - upon reaching Level 3 - gain the marksmanship trait (or Rangers are good too, for swamps and forest.) These, plus Lady Outlaw, provide a better range of tactics in 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<br>
3. A Harrowing Escape - 1 White Mage, 2 Knights, plus about-to-level troops<br>
4a. The Midlands - avoid this Scenario, prefer The Swamp of Eden instead<br>
4b. The Swamp of Eden - Level-2 Haldric, Level-2 Lady Outlaw, 2 Knights, 2 Shocktroopers<br>
6. Temple of the Deep - Level-3 Haldric, Level-3 Burin, 1-2 Mages of Light or several Outlaws / quick Bandits<br>
8. Clearwater Port - Level-3 Lady Outlaw, 3 White Mages / Mages of Light, 3 Iron Maulers / Royal Guards / Halberdiers<br>
12. A Final Spring - 1-2 Silver Mages<br>
14. Rough Landing - the 3 loyal Mermen from the previous scenario, ''Peoples in Decline''<br>
17a. The Dragon - up to 4 White Mages / Mages of Light<br>
17d. Cursed Island - 1 Paladin<br>
19. The Vanguard - 4 Knights/Lancers/Grand Knights, 2 Paladins (or about-to-level Knights)<br>
20. Return of the Fleet - 1 Mermen Entangler, 1 Merman Triton with Storm Trident, Level-3 Commander Aethyr desirable<br>
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 ===

* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader - a Wesfolk Outcast (Level-2)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric or King Eldaric die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/28/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric (who can't recruit)
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

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

'''Recruitment:'''

* Your faction is Loyalists, but you can't recruit the heavier units (Heavy Infantry, Cavalryman).
* 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 recruit 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:'''

The Wesfolk are an Outlaw faction, recruiting Poachers, Thugs and Footpads.

On Medium or Easy difficulty, you can barely fail. Your initial keep-full of recruits (5 units) and another 2 at most are all you need. Just make sure not to advance head-on onto the initial attack, since if you do, you'll meet the majority of the enemy units during the first night, which can get hairy. Stay your advance a bit, and they'll come rushing down - without even ganging up on you properly. If you recruited 3 Horsemen, send one to tag villages; and send one of your later recruits (a Spearman/Bowman, preferably a quick one) to tag villages in the mountains. However - don't get too much in the way of enemy tagging, since you want their leader to have money for recruiting your "sparring partners" for gathering XP. If you recruited a Mage, s/he will drink up a lot the enemy XP, otherwise there'll be plenty for the Bowmen and some for the Horsemen and Haldric himself.

Don't forget to send Haldric out after making your last recruit.

On Hard, you'll need to put in a bit of thought. Players have used at least three strategies with success...

* '''Over the bridge''': 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.
* '''Hide in the swamp''': 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''': 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===

* Objective: Defeat the Wesfolk Outcast Leader (same one from the last level)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric or Wesfolk Leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/24/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, King Eldaric
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

You are back in the same valley you were fighting in last scenario; it's fall, so the Northern parts have some snow, and King Eldaric has placed some one-hex fort pairs on the road due North-West. He also manned the upper pair of hexes with his personal guard - a troupe of three Heavy Infantrymen (Shock Troopers on Easy).

... but the more menacing change is three enemy leaders: Two Orcs, a Warlord (L3) and a Warrior (L2), in the Northwest and Northeast respectively, and your old friend the Wesfolk Leader woman in the Southwest: You (Haldric and Eldaric) are planning to evacuate South to avoid an Orcish overrun - and she's conveniently just in the way. Each Orc is about as rich as you, on Medium, and possibly richer on Hard; and Ms. roadblock has quite a bit of gold as well.

'''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:'''

This scenario may seem a little scary at first: Not a lot of money, only a few veterans, and an attack from three fronts without a lot of barriers. Not like the walk in park we had in Summer... but - it's not actually as hard as it looks: You're not trying to stand your ground and defeat all of your assailants - you're just clearing a path for retreat; that is, your only real enemy for this scenario is highway girl. And remember: The Orcs and the Wesfolk are not ganging up on you; the NW Orc Leader's forces will attack engage the Wesfolk on contact, and will, in fact, direct some units in the SW leader's direction (more, if you're not in the way).

There are three basic approaches to take out our Checkpoint Charlotte:

# '''Brute force''': Raise a large army and march West. Use part of your force to hold off the NW Orc leader's forces coming South through the pass; use the rest to break through the Wesfolk defense 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; but on Hard, it might be beyond your reach (or the reach of your funds).
# '''Leave the dirty work to the Orcs''': Wait around your keep, defending your bank of the river so the Orcs coming down from the Northwest don't get any ideas (and escorting Eldaric's private guard of HI to safety). The NW Orcs will fight the Wesfolk; when the outlaws forces are nearly spent, seize a moment of opportunity when the road to the Wesfolk leader is mostly clear. Then, take a strike force of a Knight and a few more units across the two bridges. Your timing should allow for quick dispatching of the odd enemy unit along the way (hopefully, these should be wounded or separated from their comrades), clearing a path for a Knight of yours to arrive at the SW keep and attack the Wesfolk leader. This strategy is risky, because Orcs will be present by this time around the Wesfolk leader, and might kill the leader before you do - you don't want that happening.
# '''Assassination''': Send a squad through the southern mountains to the Outlaw leader's keep. Two Mages and three Spearmen might be enough. If not, add a Knight, Horseman, or the King - but be careful with these supporting units, as they cannot traverse mountains, and may get pinned down on the narrow passage by the Wesfolk. The stretch of road from the pass due South to the keep should be clear, and the recruits fighting the Orcs.

Even if you manage to fend off the Orcs, you shouldn't delay your victory to collect more XP. Unlike the first level, here you are unlikely to have control of most of the villages, and the following scenario (''A Harrowing Escape'') is quite a handful (at least on Hard difficulty). On Hard, aim for a carryover of almost 150 gold (i.e. finish the level with close to 375 gold). It is also important you have a Mage leveled up to a White Mage, or almost at the point of leveling. Near-leveling L1 units will also come in handy for their low initial upkeep (relative to L2 recalls), so that you'll squeeze a little more oomph from less starting gold. Steer XP collection accordingly.

Once you've brought the Wesfolk leader's HP reaches zero, she will beg for mercy again, offering to aid you going forward. If you accept, she comes back as a loyal unit already in the next scenario, also enabling recruitment of outlaw units; and - 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 will find she gets away anyway - but you will get 200 gold that she leaves behind. If you're not finishing early enough to have enough gold for the next level, you might have no choice but to decline her offer and take the gold... alas, such is the brutal reality of forward-thinking leadership!

Note: Try and keep Eldaric's personal guard alive. These HI/Shock Troopers are loyal, and quite useful in some future scenarios (not the next one). To save them from certain Orcish death, don't let them delay the Orcish advance and move them South right away.

===A Harrowing Escape===

* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (two Orcish Warlords in the SE)
* Lose if: Prince Haldric dies or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/45/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Outlaw Lady
* Initial Gold: ???/100/???

'''Layout:'''

A narrow(ish) level, mostly mountains with a pass of decent width (3-abreast at the narrowest, usually 5, sometimes a bit more). The pass is strewn with villages - pretty close together. There's also a creek a mysterious cavern-style dwelling to the west of your starting point (wink wink, nudge nudge). No fog of war.

The enemy leaders have 140 starting gold (on medium), each with a 3-recruit keep on both sides of the Southwest of the level.

This scenario plays quite differently on the lower difficulty levels, calling for different strategies.

'''Medium (& Easy?) Difficulty:'''

''Recruitment:''

Two rounds of recruitment (5 units each) will be quite sufficient, especially with the Outlaw Lady and the extra Steelclad (see below) - two new loyal units you get for free. Speaking of Loyals, consider recalling Eldaric's Loyal Heavy Infantry in the first turn: No upkeep!. Don't skew your recruitment too much for fighting on the mountains - Wolf Riders will zero in on your units on the pass soon enough, anyway; but a Footpad+Mage, or a Footpad+the Steelclad make a decent combination for chasing the odd wounded enemy. Definitely recall a White Mage, or an L1 Mage about to level-up, for this level - despite the villages along your way. You can manage without one, but - healing on the battlefield without the need to recycle troops is a great benefit when you're low on units and not recruiting again; especially if you've recalled the super-slow HI units. The White Mage will also deal with Orcish Assassins' poison. Don't get tempted to get more than one or two Horsemen/Knights - their mobility is not that useful. An interesting use they do have is as bait for units with ranged attacks: They are tempted to attack them despite a low chance for a kill, since they can't retaliate.

''Strategy:''

The timing of initial recruitment is meaningful: Recruit or recall your loyals and L1 units earlier, and your L2 units on turn 2 - even if they're slower. That means less of a gold penality on the first turn. Also, it means you can recruit a Footpad on turn 1 to go get the Steelclad (see below). Speaking of turn 2, by this time you'll have an initial notion of the Orcs' recruitment slant (mainly, more Grunts or more Wolf Riders), guiding your final choice of recruitment/recall.

Your enemies will recruit a typical mixed Orcish L1 force: Wolf riders, Grunts, Orcish Archers, Orcish Assassins, and a few Goblins. The proportions may vary, and so may their course of attack: Some units may or may not go up the stream; some Wolf Riders may or may not go over the mountains.

At any rate, Wolf Riders will reach the middle of the level by turn 6 - which as when you might reach the same area. So, don't push forward as fast as possible, except with your mounted units for village capture, and taking care not to over-expose them. Even with support nearby and with a Knight holed up in a village, you don't want to get into a night battle.

A little below the halfway point there's a choke point with two fortified hexes. That is a great spot for your Heavy Infantrymen; and they can be supported from behind by your leader(s), if they've leveled. Others like the Steelclad or even Lady Outlaw to man those posts.

At this point, if it seems the more Eastern enemy is coming up the river, consider sending some units over the mountains to deter that effort.

Once the initial Orcish attack is broken, you can leisurely proceed along the path, dispatching the occasional nuisance (but watching for the daily cycle, so as not to put yourself in the range of two Grunts at night etc.) Remember to let your leaders support your L1 units.

'''Hard Difficulty:'''

''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 decent starting gold. It has been beaten on hard with as little as 158 starting gold, 200 is still difficult, and 250+ makes it relatively easy. 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) <i>tout de suite</i>, 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. If you can recruit outlaws, a couple of Footpads are nice for village grabbing. Thieves are also good because they are cheap, the Grunts are fond of attacking them, and they often survive on 70% defense.

'' Strategy:''

Near the start of combat, it's crucial to kill the first waves quickly: the wolves and assassins. 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. It's easier to make a stand at the keep and northern river bank, but this approach can be too costly in terms of time.

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.

'''Surprises and secrets:'''

* There is Dwarf Steelclad (L2) in the village at 8,5. It's not far from your camp, so send either a Footpad or Lady Outlaw there (a Footpad takes less time - if you want to invest in recruiting one). The Dwarf recluse will 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 - at the South patch of woods, just to the left of the river. 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.

'''Notes:'''

* If you haven't leveled Haldric from L1 up to L2, try to get that done.

* Lady Outlaw has a rare and somewhat odd ability, "distract", which allows adjacent allied units to ignore enemy ZOCs. You're not likely to find yourself surrounded in this scenario, but that could happen later. Another feature of this sneaky lady is that she cannot be permanently killed (at least not yet), so when desperate times call for desperate measures, you can move her into a suicidal position.

* 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.

* It helps that there are two enemy sides as opposed to a twice as strong single enemy side. If one of your units could be attacked by three enemies, but one of these hexes is currently blocked by the other side, the currently moving enemy decides to attack units which it (they) is (are) actually less likely to kill than that one. AIs don't cooperate, that is.

* If you are stuck on this scenario, you may need to replay one or both of the previous scenarios and/or choose to "kill" Lady Outlaw in the previous scenario so you get her gold.

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

===Diverging Campaign Path===

At the conclusion of [[#HarrowingEscape|A Harrowing Escape]], Haldric has made it through a pass in the Broken Mountains, and must decide whether to proceed due Southeast, along a river going into the Swamp of Esten, or Southwest towards the hilly Midlands region of the isle (see the [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/maps/green_isle.png map]). As you can probably guess, Orcs like hills, not swamps, so if you go to the Midlands you'll be seeing a lot of them up close; this will likely cost you several good units, if not worse. The swamp is much easier, plus, you'll find a Loyal White Mage in there. So, the choice is a no-brainer, unless you want more of a challenge.

====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 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 or Trapper or two, 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...
# Head to the northeastern leader first. Try to kill Dark Adepts with Burin or horse units before they have a chance to attack you. As you close in on the leader, hover your mouse over him to watch where he can go, as at night 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 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===

* Objective: Defeat both enemy leaders
* Lose if: Haldric or Wose leader die or time runs out.
* Turns: ??/32/??
* Starting Units: Prince Haldric, Lady Outlaw, Sir Ruddry, Burin the Dwarf, Minister Edren
* Initial Gold: ???/250/???

'''Layout:'''

In this forest-and-swamp map, the Orcish invaders are about to stumble upon a Wose castle (of sorts), and will try to dispose of the woses. You're given a chance to prove yourself as an ally to Woses by helping them defend against the Orcs. There are two Orc Warlord (L3) leaders, in NE and South castles; your keep is to the NW; and the Wose castle is at the center of the level. Narrow flat paths connect the different castles - but the South castle only connects to your NW keep; to get from it to the Woses directly, one must cross some forest, a 1-hex stream and a swampy area.

'''Recruitment:'''

The Orcs will recruit effectively against Woses: Goblin Pillagers and Crossbowmen, with fire damage; and the Wose leader is rather poor. Still, you should be able to manage this level with three rounds of recruitment on Hard; on Medium, three rounds will make this pretty easy, and two rounds will be a bit of a challenge but quite possible with L2 recalls.

* At least two White Mages/Mages of Light - since you'll be fighting on multiple fronts.
* For muscle, recall some loyal Heavy Infantry and recruit/recall some Thugs/Bandits.
* For firepower, recall Trappers and Longbowmen or recruit Poachers and Bowmen (and Red Mages if you have them). Recruiting L1 mages is probably too much of a gamble here, and XP is not very manageable with your ally around.
* Resilient Spearmen or Pikemen should do well as defenders of the Wose castle. Quick Spearmen might be less-unuseful for flanking in the swamp or forest. Alternatively, you can use HIs as defenders.
* One or two Footpad scouts will be effective scouts (unlike Horsemen).

'''Splitting of Forces:'''

Your forces will be fighting in three mostly-distinct areas:

* North of the Wose castle and due Northeast
* The path South from your keep towards the Southern Orc leader's castle.
* The Wose castle and immediately South of it.

... and your first tactical choice will be how to split your recruits among these areas. Consider making it:

* 3-5 units - to the Wose castle
* 4-8 units + Wesfolk Lady - past the Wose castle and Northeast
* Other units + Haldric - due South

'''The Wose Castle'''

On Medium, and if you don't actively avoid conflict - the NE forces will come up against your units and the Wose leader's on the path to the castle, not thec castle itself (and a good thing too, since it's only 4 hexes + the keep. On Hard they might bypass you and hit the castle from the East or SE. Beyond that - it's South leader units coming over the stream.

* If you send a White Mage or Mage of Light to the Wose castle, it will heal not just your units, but also the Woses. And - any adjacent Wose will recuperate up to 16 HP per turn: While healing effects aren't cumulative within the same turn, your healing and Woses' regeneration occur on _different_ turns: +8 your healing, +8 wose regeneration. A poisoned Wose will be cured and gain 8 HP.

'''The Northeast'''

Your task is to block the initial attack. You don't have to rush for the NE leader (there are lots of turns), nor are you strongly limited by time-of-day - since you have both Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral units (Mage, Burin). Some enemy units may be roaming far from the path; if you have a Footpad scout, you can tell where they're going, and either lure them towards the path, harass them, or perhaps send Ruddry back on the path to meet them where they're going (if you can spare him in the fighting).

'''The South'''

At least on Medium, you'll encounter limited resistance here. But exactly for this reason you _should_ try to push forward - to attract attention, and possibly divert some Pillagers or Archers away from the Wose castle. If that doesn't happen, consider sending a few units with better mobility to either attract them or at least squeeze them.

'''Looking forward'''

* The next scenario takes place in underground catacombs. 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, make sure an level up your Fearless Loyal HI into a Shock Trooper, alongside some Chaotic units. Bandits/Highwaymen and Fugitives are especially nice (as are Outlaws on Medium). Quick units of almost any type (except horse-mounted ones) will be helpful, if leveled and possessing high HP (>50).

* The temple to the SE of the Wose castle is the entrance to the catacombs; you can't go in there before next scenario, so don't bother visiting it.

===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, though their slow movement will prove frustrating. Also on the first round, recall a fast "tank" and someone to grab the holy water.
# 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). It helps if they are chaotic (or at least neutral) and/or have ranged or 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 other high HP units. Note that horse units are too sluggish in caves and should not be recalled/recruited unless you have a compelling reason.
# 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. First thing you will see are Tentacles. You can either ignore the Tentacles for the most part or use them for XP. Your main initial objective is to find a good place to make a stand against the nasty wave of undead coming from the north. The chokepoints and southern shoreline offer good defensive locations. Watch out for the enemy's Bone Shooters, Revenants and Deathblades, as they could easily mess up a Level-3 unit.
# Once the flow of baddies as tapered off, gradually progress northwards. 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: The best choice for the Holy Water is a quick Bandit, who should level quickly. A quick Highwayman could be used, but won't benefit much from the XP.

* XP: Use this level to get experience. The early-finish bonus is tiny. The Tentacles are perfect for leveling up units. 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 Thug 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 challenging for the second and third boats, and very difficult (on hard) if you want to take out all three leaders.

Recruitment...
# Your loyals, two to three healers and plenty of spearmen is all you need, if you stick to the walls and play defensively.
# Recruit slowly at start to stretch your gold with initial income.
# It's a good scenario for leveling troops, so add a few other (sturdy, non-mage) units for diversity and to make your recall list more varied.

Strategy...
# Your ally does not need his villages.
# Man the walls, play defensively, stick to the walls, prepare to defend against occasional breaches.
# Use illumination and leadership to maximum effect.
# Soften opponents with your loyal veterans, feed kills to recruits.
# Send a small task force to the northeastern coast (easy kills on 20% terrain). Be prepared to reinforce them.

Finish...
* Take the third boat (this gives early finish bonus) or try to defeat all leaders, if you feel ambitious.

===Fallen Lich Point===

This is a high variance scenario. It may be easy or 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.

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 village flagging 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.
* 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.)

===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 two Royal Guards/Highwaymen/etc, and a Trapper or Huntsman, plus three regular Mages and a Poacher.
* A Rogue (or Assassin) can be very handy as a damage dealer, who is able to break through bottlenecks.

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===

Clockwise, starting at the bottom:
* the southern orcs (purple) will recruit the usual orcish units, and with a few going west between the mountains and the coast, while the bulk will come through the plains south of the swamp, arriving at the keep early in the night. This one is the most conventional enemy, once his host is defeated you can march a comparatively small strike force to his keep and finish him off.
* The waterlogged orc to the west (black) will recruit mostly Naga and a few Bats, which will harrass you from the sea and try to seize the villages on your peninsula. He only has a small keep, so he can keep recruiting, two units per turn, seemingly forever.
* The northern orcs (green) are farthest away; they also have lots of villages they can capture. Hence it will be some time until they reach you, and not in full force at first. With any luck (and strong enough units) you'll have fought down the bulk of the southern orcs by then.
* Finally, a number of level-2 skeletons (including Chocobones) will appear behind the swamp in the east on turn 4 (first dusk). Those will join the black team; starting behind the swamp and with a few villages to grab, they won't knock on your door before daybreak.

Spoiler:
On turn five, a few mermen will appear near the lighthouse and join you; you'll also be able to recruit mermen from then on. That's your ticket to fighting back the Naga, see to it that you still have some money left at the time.

Recruitment/Strategy:
# several Trappers/Rangers/Huntsmen to sally forth and occupy the hills and forest south of the town. Your ally will sally forth to meet the enemy in the usual fashion; if you can lend a hand and soften up the enemy, King Addroran's troops will finish them off easily. In doing so, they'll happily expose themselves to counterattack -- your Trappers (etc.) have a rather good melee attack and probably won't be targeted as long as there's weaker and more accessible allied units nearby. Don't fret about the missed XP, there will be plenty more before this is over. For now, you want to dispose of the bad guys ASAP before they pile up on the doorstep.
# you probably don't need dedicated undead-killers beyond the Mages you bring anyway. But if you want to employ your loyal Shock Troopers, recruit them no later than turn 2 or they won't get there in time.
# Mages: seeing as there will be fighting all over the place, three healers will be barely sufficient. A few fireball-throwers will also come in handy, if only in order to deal with the evasive Orcish Assassins / Slayers. A Silver Mage or two will be especially useful, as they can teleport all over the place and help with each of the commanders in turn (especially the one on the island, that would take forever to get to otherwise).
# by turn 3, some chaff to occupy the coastal villages so the Naga can't just waltz in. Level-1 units or even peasants will do.
# the worst fighting will be over by daybreak; you'll still want a few lawful units to carry on the battle during the day. One keep of knights and level-2 lawful infantry should suffice. Recruit these on turn 4.
# starting on turn five, you can recruit mermen. Those can not only deal with the Naga infestation, but also tackle the northern orcs as they try to cross the bay. Two keeps worth is not too many.

Strategy is broken into three fronts...
# First order is to help your ally with the first waves of attackers, as described above. You can't stop King Addroran from throwing away his troops, but you can help them to have some effect before they perish.
# Next, fending off the Naga. A few cheap units in coastal villages at first, mermen later. Mermen vs Naga at sea will be slow fighting: both have excellent terrain defense, so there will be no obvious progress for a good long while. You should use a Mage of Light to support them, this really makes a difference during the night.
# Also, the bay/river to the north. The Mermen can be very efficient here, enjoying high terrain defense while being close enough to the coast that Lady Jessene and Haldric can provide Leadership wherever needed; again, you also want a Mage of Light if available.

For the landlubbers, don't bring too many rookies: this scenario is best used to direct experience to your level-2 units, partially advancing them outright or getting them to a point where you can expect them to level up at a good point in their next battle.

For the Merfolk, try to advance all they loyal ones, and a few more besides. Directing XP to particular units will be easier for those mermen defending the bridge, but those fighting the Naga will inevitably get some XP as well. Eventually you'll have to cross the bridge with ground troops and take the fight to the enemy, though.

===Peoples in Decline===

This is a potentially bloody scenario. The Drakes are barely impeded by the difficult terrain and can run circles around you, making it hard to move damaged units into a safe position. On the upside, most drakes have little terrain defense even in forest and mountains, and are positively vulnerable to spears and arrows.

Strategy...
Using Trappers (or their upgrades) and Merfolk, try to lure the enemy into the swamps or over the sea, fight down their troops, then storm their keeps. Be prepared to suffer some losses: it's better to deliberately sacrifice some units of your choosing than struggling to keep everyone alive.

Spoiler...
* There's a Storm Trident in the middle of the bay. There's no particular hurry to pick it up for using it in this battle: the trident does fire damage, which isn't very useful against drakes. Just don't forget to retrieve it for later use.

Picking it up will summon a level-3 Sea Serpent on the next turn, be sure that you're ready for it.

Lord Typhon will depart in a few scenarios, so better give the trident to another fighter. Preferably a "quick" one, who can become a Hoplite and still keep up with his mates when he gets to Level-3.

===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 an odd scenario: as soon as anyone gets killed, the elvish high council will step in an end the bloodshed. Your "early finish bonus" becomes a "late finish" bonus: you're supposed to drag this out for as long as possible without anyone being killed.

Recruitment...
* the strongest units you have, that can deal both melee and ranged damage.
* Rangers are best, followed by Javelineers and level-3 Bowmen.
* you need six of these at the very least, preferably more, plus healers to back them up. If you don't have that many elite troops on your roster, or cannot afford to recall as many, it may be better to do nothing: keep your starting money, and slay the first person to reach you.

Strategy...
Place Javelineers on the keep, Mermen in the water, and Rangers in the forest. All backed up by healers. Have a few reserves you can swap in when things get tough. Haldric also makes a good front-line unit; Javelineers should stay near him for the leadership.

Note that no enemy unit will attack you when there's even a remote risk that they might die. So having the strongest possible fighters, both melee and ranged, will deter the most attackers. If your line looks fierce enough, some level-1 units will not attack you at all. All others will cease attacking as soon as they've taken enough damage that their death becomes a possibility. At which point, they will wander of in search of a village for healing; once all nearby villages are occupied, your attackers may even stand around dumbfounded.

Place your troops where they enjoy a good terrain defense, that is, the keep and the forest. The purpose is to reduce the damage taken and last for as long as possible. After the first round of attacks, you'll always have a few near-dead opponents standing in front of your lines, allowing you to end the scenario quickly.

You need eight tough guys to fully seal off a corner of the map, plus two mermen, and four healers. However, the enemy doesn't know or understand your plan: if your front doesn't extend all the way to the edge of the map, they will not deliberately try to outflank you. To the AI, a ''small'' gap of one or two tiles will look like a trap. So six land warriors to hold the line will do for a long time. Only after the attackers start to pile up against your formation will they eventually start to flow around.

Be sure to keep the villages behind you occupied at all times, however, or wounded enemies seeking a village to heal in may actually try to get there. Sir Ruddry and Burin, having no other use, will do nicely.

Spoiler...
* this the last chance you have to recruit Mermen, as their king leaves. You've probably got plenty on your roster from the previous scenarios, which will stay with you and can be recalled later. But if you think you need more, this is your last chance.
* the late finish bonus is 50/turn, so if your upkeep is less than that, you're in the good. Even if you don't have or cannot afford enough troops for a full defense, trying to hold the keep for a few turns will be worthwhile.

===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. Pikemen and Halberdiers 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.
* Merman shine on this map once you get them into the swamp / water hexes. They are more mobile than anything but silver mages. The storm trident makes short work of even high-level saurians and the dragon is weak to the pierce damage of your tridents and javelins. An Entangler's slow ability will help tame the dragon even further.

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 west leader, but steer for good terrain, because your force will soon be swarmed. But then by turn 10, 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.

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====

Cave terrain again, but this time the cave is so riddled with holes that there's barely any sense of individual corridors. There's plenty of short narrow passages which prevent both you and your opponents from ganging up on on each other, while on the other hand the trolls can just walk around a blocked choke point and come at you through the neighboring hole. So fighting is mostly one-on-one, though may have several such fights going on at any given time.

The map is roughly symmetrical, a keep in each of the four corners. Two random keeps will be home to the trolls, the other two will be occupied by a Giant Spider each. The spiders will only attack if you get too close.

You designated opponents will be level-1 and -2 trolls, under level-3 commanders. They don't have that much starting gold, but sufficient income to keep recruiting about one Troll Cub per turn, or a level-2 every other turn, very much until you're right on their doorstep. In order to win this, you have to be able and slay the trolls quicker than they're coming.

Recruitment...
* as usual in the caves, give preference to units that can move 3 tiles on cave terrain.
* also as usual by now, this is no place for level-1 units. You can carefully level up one or two rookies, but the bulk of your host has to be tougher than that. It's more an opportunity to level up your chaotic units, and, especially, your mages.
* Spellcasters will do a lot of damage to Trolls, and in the 1-on-1 situation so common on this map, any level-2 or better mage will be certain survive the counterattack. You'll need level-3 Magi to press forward and carry the battle to the enemy's keeps, though.
* You'll want two teams of two healers each in any event. However, Trolls are susceptible to arcane damage, so your White Mages can play a very active role (and quickly level up if so desired). Mages of Light will be especially nice, with their illumination blinding the trolls and a half-decent melee attack to fight back with.
* You can arguably fight this battle on mages alone. However, you'll need at least two keeps worth of units to plug all the holes and prevent the trolls from outflanking you. The supporters' main qualification will be to have enough hitpoints to survice a troll attack; being able to fight back is very desirable. Bandits or Swordsmen will be best, depending on whether you back them by a light source. Trappers and Outlaws will make do in the dark, Pikemen are a distant third, and lawful bowmen should sit this out: Mages can play the same game much better.

The general strategy is to move into whatever direction the trolls are coming from, and fight your way, upstream so to speak, until you get to the enemy keep.

You may start doing so right away, or first await the initial onslaught in the island you're starting on. With you on the ground and the enemy in the water, the terrain is in your favor... but the spacious cavern also allows two or even three trolls to gang up against one of yours. Then again, you can make good use of your loyal mermen and possibly even Sir Ruddry. Neither of which will be any good later when you carry the fight to the enemy, but hey, they're loyal and demand no upkeep.

If you want to explore the map and steal villages, you better do so in force. The spiders will lunge at anyone who happens to get in their range; and besides, there's several unflagged villages at the beginning of the scenario, and your opponents will seize them. This means that trolls, even level-2 ones, may show up in unexpected places.

====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 three temples there is 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===

The map's most striking feature is a natural defensive line, where presumably an underground river has carved a line of sinkholes. The two closest keeps are Orcs, the one in the north holds a Troll. All will be spawning mostly level-2 units. Their average recruit will cost about 20-22 gold, check their gold at the beginning of the scenario and you'll have an idea of how many units you'll have to expect.
The terrain funnels you northward, where you will encounter the northern orcs at nightfall, coming at you in full force. The orcs from the west will start showing up during the night. They are distracted by several un-occupied villages, so they'll be a bit more stretched out. The trolls won't arrive until daybreak.
Whenever one of the enemy commanders has lost half of his units, some undead will join his team: one level-3 skeleton, plus two or four Chocobones depending on difficulty. This happens three times over the course of the battle, once for every enemy commander.
This scenario will be fairly easy, regardless of difficulty level, if you can afford at least three keeps worth of troops.

Recruitment / Strategy:
* Knights recalled on the first turn can encounter the Orcs in your north still in full daylight, and possibly wreck havoc among them before nightfall. The success of this strategy largely depends on what kind of units the orc is sending your way, but in any event don't bother with half-measures: either send 4+ strong riders on turn 1, or don't worry about trying it at all. Follow up with more lawful units and Mages of Light, using only a few chaotic ones to harrass and delay the orcs coming from the west.

* Alternatively, recall your toughest chaotic units from the get-go, and prepare to fight down the first orcish host in the woods to your north, with only a Knight or two to deal with any Wolf Riders getting ahead of the main host.

* You want to bring at least one Paladin (Sir Ruddry probably qualifies) and between that and your healers, you don't need much of a dedicated undead-killing force. If you have loyal Shock Troopers, by all means bring them on -- they'd be useful in any event. Otherwise, a pair of Bandits or a second Paladin will do nicely.

* If you want to seize the villages across the mountains to your west, be prepared to encounter a Goblin Knight or Pillager trying to do the same (you will meet whatever fast unit the western orc happened to recruit on his first turn. It may only be a "quick" archer, but a level-2 wolf is quite likely).

* 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. They will also keep their distance and refuse to attack until you present them with a target the AI considers worthwhile. Effectively you have to throw them a peasant, or a strong unit that will survive badly wounded and effectively be out of the battle for several turns.

* A Silver Mage or two can come in really handy, Teleporting all over the map to dislodge wolves from the mountains or lend a hand with the undead as needed.

This scenario is an excellent opportunity to train some Knights, as well as a few other lawful fighters. But keep in mind that the campaign is coming to a close and you can only recall so many units in the last battles: if you think you already have enough quality units, it's better to use those (and maybe get an AMLA or two) than to build up an ever bigger roster of troops you can't (or won't) recall.

===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 orcs in the north deploy the usual orcish fare, but can also recruit trolls. The undead commander will only recruit bats and skeletons (quality depending on difficulty, there may be Chocobones on Hard). During the first night, the Lich-Lord will make another appearance, casting fog of war upon the battlefield and deploy a number of Chocobones on the undead island (they're under command of the orcs, though).
When you get too close to the isle in the river mouth, you'll trigger cuttlefish to the west of that isle. Getting too close to the swamps where the river starts will summon level-2 saurians. It looks dire but the effect is mostly psychological.

Wolf riders may reach you during the night, the bulk of the orc army won't arrive until daybreak (unless you push forward to meet them, which you shouldn't). The skeletons, too, will be held up by the water. So you've got a lot of time to set up positions near the beach and in the wood.

* First turn, recall Mermen to assassinate the undead leader; 2 Entanglers/Netcasters and the Triton with the Storm Trident. It will be morning until they even reach the sea, but they'll still arrive in time to help with any (possibly many) skeletons still in the water. Later they can deal with the Draug in his keep. A Silver Mage's assistance will help but isn't strictly necessary.
* also send a few undead-bashers to the beach. Two or three units holding the beach at any time will do nicely; Burin and the loyal Shock Troopers are best, mostly because they're armored against arrows. If you don't have those, a number of Outlaws/Fugitives will be the next best choice, though you'll need more of them due to the damage taken.
* the cuttlefish (1, 2 or 4 of them depending on difficulty) will keep your mermen occupied for several turns and in need of healing afterwards. It's probably best to trigger them very early (a rider seizing the village at 20,22 will do): the cuttlefish are so aggressive that they will get out onto dry land in order to attack an Iron Mauler in broad daylight. That way, you can have them finished off before any skeletons reach you, and long before your mermen are even in the water.
* add another two or (at most) three keeps of mixed troops. You've fought enough orcs and trolls by know that you should know what suits the purpose. You probably want a few chaotic units to hold up the assault late at night, then rush the enemy with lawfuls at daybreak. Cavalry will once more work well, just keep in mind that you'll face a task force of quality saurians later on -- you also want some units that are not quite as prone to piercing damage.
* talking about which: getting within 10 hexes or less from 34,15 will touch off the Saurians. With careful navigation the encounter can be avoided for the whole scenario, but it's probably better to trigger them at a time of your choosing and get it over with. Saurians aren't very tough, their strength comes from being hard to hit and their skirmishing ability. But on normal and easy, they're not very numerous. If you can lure them out into open terrain, you can probably overwhelm them in a single turn, even at night.

Try to finish this scenario quickly. Make use of veterans, by this point you should really have enough of them. Don't worry about running into negative funds in the mean time: there's enough villages to ensure a hefty early finish bonus. Just don't dawdle, you want to get out of this with at least 200, better 300 gold carried over.

===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 some 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.

Strategy...
* You can either send everybody west initially and then split for the two bridges or you can split initially, with mounted units racing 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.
* Maintain awareness of the overall battlefield.
* Kill all but one of the orc leaders (not all!).
* Don't forget to sacrifice Aethyr to Jevyan. Jevyan probably won't come out to play, so march Aethyr up to Jevyan and use a crossbow attack.
* Paladins, great mages, mages of light, silver mages are all suitable units to kill Jevyan himself, make sure you have them in sufficient numbers with your southern army. 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 (or a Soulless on hard.)
* 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. The lich also will receive some gold once you kill his Familiar.

== See Also ==

* [[MainlineCampaigns]]

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

Dead Water

2020-04-18T18:42:12Z

Revolting peasant: /* Wolf Coast */

'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.

==Campaign Strategy==

====Recruitment and promotion====
You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do?

Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of "roadblocks", or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)

Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses.

Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).

A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Pierce to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth "investing" experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups "Inspecting the troops" from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.

Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, "just in case". Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.

====Other advice====

* You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.
* Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.

==Scenarios==

=== Invasion! ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.

This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.

Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success:

# '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.
# '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.

You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.

You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.

You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.

Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.

If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.

Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.

=== Flight ===
* Objective: Either
** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.
** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).

Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.

You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.

''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.

''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.

Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.

Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.

=== Wolf Coast ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful.

In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.

You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -> Shallow Water -> Ford -> Sand -> various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.

Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:

* Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).
* Land-based units actually _like_ fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.
* There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of wild Wolves which will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.

You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your Loyals). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.

You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.

When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make "piercer-only" unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.

Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.

What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).

'''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).

'''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.

=== Slavers ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.

There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess...

Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.

There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:

* A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...
* A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.
* 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.

With this in mind, let's get to it...

Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.

Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water.

As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever "tank" unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.

During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on "your" side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.

For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.
It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.

There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:

* Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign
* Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).

When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).

After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.

After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.

Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.

=== Tirigaz ===
* Objective: Destroy all the undead.
* Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.

... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.

The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.

Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.

As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).

When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards).

If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).

On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.

=== Uncharted Islands ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.

Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.

Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.

Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use "slows" to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.

If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.

When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.

=== BilHeld ===
* Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

This scenario should be rated "R" for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.

In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.

This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).

On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.

Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.

When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.

=== Talking to Tyegea ===

You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.

There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.

Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.

=== The Mage ===
* Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.
* Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.

In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.

Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have anything else to do on the level, so it's just about getting to a single unit to his position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.

'''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions are ''very'' resistant to impact attacks (70%) and have decent HP - but they're also sensitive to arcane damage, extremely susceptible to fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, the holy-water-equipped unit and Priestesses/Diviners work well. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot. You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem

Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.

'''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.

Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.

If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.

=== The Flaming Sword ===
* Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.
* Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.

This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.

When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.

After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.

Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.

When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.

=== Getting Help ===

Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.

There's no fighting in this scenario.

=== Revenge ===
* Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.
* Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.
* Turns: Unlimited.
* Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).

It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.

Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.

You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.

Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.

Use your halos effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a inescapable defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - its leadership bonus will be useful.

A few final tips:

* The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.

* If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which "increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points." Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.

* On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.

[Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.

[[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]