HeirToTheThrone

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

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

Each scenario has an individual forum thread where you can provide feedback to the authors. See also the forum posts Suggestions for Heir to the Throne walkthrough and Yet another "Heir to the Throne" walktrough (sic) for more. Ye Compleat Walkthrough To "Heir To The Throne" is a detailed guide, with illustrations, to the first several scenarios.

Finally, some replays were posted by Uwe Hermann.

Warning spoilers ahead!

Scenario 1 - The Elves Besieged

Scenario objectives: Both Konrad and Delfador must survive, and Konrad must escape to the signpost in the northwest corner of the map.

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

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

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

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

Now a few words about the units at your disposal. In-game, you cannot check the data of unknown units; if you want to take a peek anyway, check the Wesnoth Unit Tree.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Early finish bonus: 32 gold per turn.

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 2 - Blackwater Port

Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns (9 on Hard), or kill the enemy leader.

The opening dialog will introduce a new friend, Haldiel, a loyal Horseman. The importance of loyalty is explained in Campaign Strategies.

Horsemen

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 3 - Isle of Alduin

Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 4 - Bay of Pearls

Scenario objectives: Kill one or both enemy leaders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Diverging campaign path

Scenario 5A - Muff Malal's Peninsula

Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

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

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

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

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

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

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 5B - Isle of the Damned

Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leaders, or survive for 27 turns.

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

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 6 - The Siege of Elensefar

Scenario objectives: Kill both enemy leaders.

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

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

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

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

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

Early finish bonus for killing both enemy leaders.

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 7 - Crossroads

Scenario objectives: Kill the north-eastern enemy leader.

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 8 - The Princess of Wesnoth

Scenario objectives: Subdue Li'sar to win

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

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

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

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

See also the forum discussion.

Scenario 9 - The Valley of Death

Scenario objectives: Survive 12 turns.

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

One strategy is recruit a large army, defeat one of the enemies, and hole up in that enemy's castle. The southern enemy is popular for this strategy. It apparently also works to pack the lake around the starting castle with mermen, and hole up there. Don't underestimate the power of the Walking Corpses (WCs) recruited by the eastern necromancer. They are slow but there are so many that they can overwhelm and kill even your most powerful units if given the chance. On the other hand, do not underestimate the crowd-clearing ability of a Paladin or blessed Champion! A WC will lurch next to your unit. It will attack. It will die, leaving room for another WC to lurch forward. (Windscion: Unfortunately, this is also a good way to get a high level unit killed: 10 WCs in one turn can be deadly. I prefer a line of archers backed by healers.)

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

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

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

Early finish bonus if you somehow manage to defeat all enemy leaders. If you do, feel free to boast about your accomplishment at the forum discussion.

Scenario 10 - Gryphon Mountain

Scenario objectives: Kill the enemy leader.

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

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

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

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

Scenario 11 - The Ford of Abez

Scenario objectives: Move Konrad to the north side of the river

The wide Abez river cuts across the middle of the map from left to right, with Konrad starting on the lower right side. Princess Li'sar starts on the lower left, and an orc band is on the north side of the river. If you have lots of gold, if you have a plethora of well-seasoned fighting troops, and you think you're ready for a challenge, you could try and attack the Princess. But do a save first; you'll need it after you are wiped out by her Royal Guards.

Your major decision (after you learn that the Princess's escort is just too tough) is whether to have Konrad recruit for one turn or two. Do not recruit land troops with less than five movement points, as they will have trouble wading across the ford. You're under immense time pressure. The chaotic orcs will attack from the north, the Princess's lawful Loyalists will attack from the south, and... a new enemy (alignment: hungry) will be attacking from downstream. Except for the hungry ones--who will be focused on killing anything in their path--all the enemies will be focused on killing Konrad. The hungry enemies might assist you somewhat as they will probably hit the orcs and humans before trying to snack on your forces. Also, the orcs and humans will fight if they happen to cross paths.

Remember those loyal mermen from in the Bay of Pearls? They should comprise your principal fighting force. Be sure to send one downstream to acquire the Storm Trident there. If you have some of the flying elvish units, they fight equally well over land or water. Lure the orcs into the water, where your mermen have excellent defence and the orcs are highly vulnerable. If you captured the eggs last scenario, consider using a gryphon to distract the enemy.(Note in the latest version Gryphons are not available until a later scenario)

Early finish bonus for getting Konrad onto dry land.

See also the forum discussion

Scenario 12 - Northern Winter

• Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders (2 of them)
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
• Turns: 50 (as of 1.8.3 on medium difficulty turns = 40)
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, a random soldier
• Early finish bonus: ??
• Other:
  • Snow falls on turns 6 and 10, making the tundra patches larger.

This is a relatively simple scenario. The quickest strategy is to recall a few Knights, Lancers, Paladins, and/or Grand Knights along with fresh Horsemen, kill the northwestern leader, then head east. The eastern leader's wolf riders will attempt to attack you through the center of the map, so be sure to place a few horsemen there. It's a good idea for Kalenz and Delfador to defend the southern mountains, as a few riders may come there as well. This is a good level for getting a large amount of gold.

Scenario 13 - The Dwarven Doors

• Objectives: Move Konrad to entrance of the Dwarfen Kingdom
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
• Turns: 26
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Blidd, Kalenz, level 1 thug
• Early finish bonus: Find the correct entrance (the eastern one -- or the main one in version 1.3.4)

This scenario offers the usual strategic choice -- run for the exit and an early finish bonus, or slowly and carefully exterminate the enemy forces. If you choose to follow Delfador's advice and flee in terror, recruit one turn's worth of elven riders or gryphons to sacrifice as screening units. If you choose to attack, you'll be in for a struggle. For a real challenge, move to the middle of the map and get attacked from all sides... If you want to kill all three leaders, taking out the south eastern one with your full force and then splitting to take on both the others. Move Konrad near the exit (the eastern one!) so you can abort at any time. -- [v.1.3.4: moving directly to the eastern entrance does not work; it is blocked]

The main door by the lake is barred from the inside. Further, there is the usual tentacular horror hiding in the lake near the ancient subterranean Dwarven Kingdom. This means you will have to go into the entrance on the east.

If you fought on the Isle of the Damned, one of your outlaws will tell you about a Bandit who will be willing to ally with you. The initial outlaw is expendable, the other one is loyal, though (no upkeep cost!)

"coward" strategy for version 1.3.4 : In this version, you get a elvish scout, who says he'll check the entrance to see if it is opened. Send him there, passing on the right of the mountains that are along the "path" to the entrance. This will stop the north western orcs from killing him too soon. Once that is done, move the scout to the north western mountains, to lure the enemies there. Recruit one turn worth of elvish scouts as sacrificial units. They'll lure the enemies away from Konrad. For a higher chance of success, leave Delfador and Kalenz near your keep, in the south. Since Kalenz is weak, he can easily be killed before Konrad makes it to the cave entrance. Once Konrad is near the center of the map (and overwhelmed by orcs), move them North a bit, to attract enemies to them. All you need to do now is move Konrad to the entrance as fast as possible. The cuttlefish should appear in the lake as you pass by it, which will delay the orcs some more.

Do It Quickly: On the first turn recruit some units you may want to give experience to (and you're not afraid of losing them too), but choose only those having movement range 6 or greater. Then capture two nearest villages with Konrad and Delfador. Run straight north. The elf scout should be the leader to the doors and the only step off the straight path is to capture the village NE of the lake. This should unleash the octopus which will attract NW troops (not sure, tried only once) Eastern and western opponents are lazy and more attracted to the villages income than to fight. So they will first go south to capture villages near your keep. Before they do, you'll be at the middle of the map. If you recruited units with movement 6 and headed N without any stop, you're likely to be engaged at the pillars by some units from NW. Delfador and other leaders should have no problem dealing with them. Next attack may happen at the doors, one turn before Konrad reaches the entrance. I managed to do it, losing only one 1st level mage.

Version 1.2.5: I played on medium and found that I had only 20 turns. Killing all the orc leaders didn't end the game. You will still need to reach the door with Konrad. After reloading, I killed all the orc leaders AND managed to get Konrad to the door within 20 turns (20 exactly) but there was no bonus and I ended up with -ve gold because I had to recall all my veterans to kill the leaders. Finally, I adopted the coward's strategy. Created 5 Elvish scouts and 10 thieves and used them as canon fodder for the orcs. There were too many orcs and only 2 of the scouts survived but I ended up with 11 rounds of bonus.

Version 1.6.4:

On medium difficulty, I was able to defeat two out of the three leaders, and reach the door with Conrad by recruiting archers & horsemen, and then taking the western Orc keep. Then, i recruited one keep more of horsemen, and pushed forward. I was able to get Konrad to the exit by turn eighteen, and ended up defeating the northern Orc leader and most of the easter leader's troops, but I ended up with -ve gold. I was left with 1 horseman with 18/35 experience, four lancers, and two rangers i didn't have before.

Scenario 14 - Plunging into the Darkness

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

Since you're reading this walkthrough, you'll also be interested in locating the secret passage leading to a chest of 200 gold pieces in the southwest. However, said chest is guarded by a rather nasty poison-biting, slow-web-throwing level 3 spider. Beware the blood bats, seek out a niche in the wall, and be wary exploring the secret passage!

Tip: After this map, Gryphon Riders will finally be available for recruiting - provided you killed the Mother Gryphon during the Gryphon Mountain scenario previously.

Tip: For the next three stages you don't have to use too many dwarven companions. All I needed was 2 fighters, 2 riders, 2 guardmen,and 2 thunderers. These fighters I use over and over leading them to all level up to level 3 and having lots of gold by the time I finish the cave levels.

Scenario 15 - The Lost General

• Objectives: Kill all enemy leaders (there are two)
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador or Kalenz die or turns run out
• Turns: 64(!)
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz
• Early finish bonus: Killing both enemy leaders

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

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

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

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

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

Scenario 16 - Hasty Alliance

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

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

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

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

Scenario 17 - The Sceptre of Fire

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

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

Give Li'sar the Sceptre as it gives her a ranged attack. In a later scenario another artifact (melee weapon) will be available, although it may be given to any unit. Since it replaces the unit's melee attack, it may be better to give that to Konrad since his melee attack is not as powerful as Li'sar's.

No early finish bonus, so if you have the gold, this is a good place to level up. If you do, poise the character who is going to pick up the Sceptre right next to it, then send everybody else up to attack. Since there is a large time limit, milk every unit you can for maximum experience. And remember, Dwarvish Lords came in very handy later on.

Note: in version 1.2.4 there is an early finish bonus.(for easy mode at least) It is still a good place (and idea) to level up.

Tip: There is an early finish bonus for I had beat this stage within thirty turns and that had gave me a bonus of 37 gold per turn which multiplied to 185.

Tip: As of 9/10 (version 1.8.4) playing at Easy level, early finish bonus of 17. By the time the Scepter was reached most mobs already dead anyway, so not much opportunity for further leveling.

Scenario 18 - A Choice Must Be Made

• Objectives: Defeat either of the leaders
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
• Turns: 33
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
• Early finish bonus: Kill either leader
• Other:
  • Next level depends on killed leader
    • Northern orcish leader will get you to the Snow Plains and the Flaming Sword
    • Southern undead leader will get you to the Swamp Of Dread and give you the chance to get lots of gold
    • There's a third option. If you take a mermen to the eastern side of the river, you will be asked if you want to go through the river instead
  • Simply decide for one direction and block the bridge in the other direction unless you want to fight on two large fronts
  • First real chance to level gryphons

Scenario objectives: Kill either leader.

You must choose whether to go north, south or east (with a mermen). A Death Knight and the undead lie to the south, guarding the way to the Swamp of Dread. This path is easier, as the undead are hampered by the swampy terrain even more than you. To the north are the usual orc horde, fighting in the hills, a tougher battle. Your choice between these two will affect which magic artifact you can get in the next level. Northwards are the Snow Plains, where a magic weapon awaits; south is the Undead Swamp, where one of your units can obtain better armor. The east alternative takess you to a difficult scenario, so you could prefer to avoid that option.

Whether you go north or south, recruit a few level 1 units as sacrifices, or use fast-moving gryphons to delay the other force.

Tip: if you plan to go south, you do not need to defend the bridges: a strong attack will defeat the undead before the orcs cross the river.

Tip: if you plan to head south against the undead leader, you can use your mermen - there are large tracts of swampy terrain for them to travel around in.

Tip: in case you choose the mermen choice, you might want to attack south in the meanwhile to give them time to get to the eastern side of the map.

Tip: gryphon riders make excellent diversions if you need to draw the enemy's attention away, especially if you are headed north and need something to slow down the undead chasing you from the south. Fly a gryphon rider or two southwest and make village-stealing forays east towards the undead castle. A couple of faster undead (e.g. chocobones) will usually move far away enough to catch up to your main army, but the remaining units should be temporarily distracted by the gryphons and waste a few turns turning back to go after them. This should free the bulk of your forces to deal with the orcs in the hills.

Tip: If you choose to move a merman to the east, you will be given the option of whether or not you actually want to take this path. You can decline and choose either north or south

Diverging campaign path

Scenario 19A - Snow Plains

• Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
• Turns: 43
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
• Early finish bonus: Kill the leader
• Other:
  • Li'sar will tell you she does not like her mother

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

Early finish bonus for killing the enemy leader.

Scenario 19B - Swamp Of Dread

Scenario objectives: Kill all enemy leaders.

There are lots of undead, but also many villages. You can earn lots of gold if you can capture and hold villages. It may be useful recruiting cheap units to defend villages against bats. One of the Death Knights drops the Void Armor when killed. The unit that picks it up will gain high resistance to physical damage (blade, impact and pierce). Since Li'sar is vulnerable to precisely those types of damage, you should probably give her the armor.

Early finish bonus for killing all 5 enemy leaders.

Tip:This is another stage where you can use mermans specifically your strongest merman, merman priestess and ones with the tridents.

Scenario 19C - The Cliffs of Thoria

Scenario Objective: Make it to the end of the river

Turns: 45

Defeat:

• Death of Konrad, Delfador, Li'sar, or Kalenz
• Turns run out

Early Finish Bonus: 40% gold carryover

Starting Units:

• Konrad
• Delfador
• Li'sar
• Kalenz
• Your strongest merman

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

There are a number of small islands on this map with Drake bases. Each base will produce one Drake every turn until one of your units occupies the base. This means this level offers an enormous amount of experience, but is extremely difficult as you'll be fighting in water against a constant tide of Drakes.

Further, if you move outside of the stream, you'll discover very powerful undead enemies to the south. Basically, avoid the dark blue water. Even if you kill the undead, they'll just come back immediately, so don't try.

This map also contains a trident, useful for giving one of your mermen a magical electric attack.

Tip: Compared to the other two choices, this map is insanely hard. While there is an opportunity to pick up another loyal unit, you may wish to skip the challenge unless you have at least 1000 gold and a sufficient number of leveled-up mermen.

Tip: If you're going to insist on playing this map, hire many turns worth of gryphons and merfolk and move as fast as you can and just take the heavy losses. Since each base creates a unit every turn, to destroy a base you have to kill the unit occupying it and then move onto the base in that turn. Since merfolk can't move onto mountains, you'll need the gryphons to destroy bases.

Scenario 20 - Home of the North Elves

• Objectives:
  • Reach the forest kingdom of Emetria
  • Survive until turns run out
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
• Turns: 21
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
• Early finish bonus: 47 Gold per turn
• Other:
  • Your base will be dismantled after the first turn

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

On the other hand, while both the orc and human sides will attack you, you can lure them into attacking each other. The orcs start in the north central part of the map, while the humans begin in the southeast. You must decide whether Konrad will try to sneak along the northern map edge, or try to thread between the two opponents.

In order to win, Konrad must be in the Elvish castle by the end of the last turn. The early finish bonus is rather substantial: 44 gp per turn. However, you only get it if you kill both enemy leaders. Also, if both leaders are dead, it no longer matters whether your hero has reached the elven castle. Therefore, if one's dead already, killing the other makes for a workable 'plan b' if you realise you're 4 turns away from the castle, but only 2 away from the timer running out. (In 1.1, the enemy camps have been reinforced, and it is no longer practical to kill the leaders.)

Version 1.2.5: In this version, the fastest and best way for me was to just make Konrad run alone. Don't recall any units as the elvish riders that appear can be cannon fodder if necessary. Start by moving near the river side until you see orcs in the distance. Proceed slowly and wait for them to engage the humans. Then a group of elves will rush in to fight both orcs and humans. Time your run carefully between the elven forces in a NE direction and you can avoid meeting any humans or orcs. I think I finished in 13 or 14 turns without a single shot being fired (or flaming sword being slashed).

Alternate Strategy:

If you don't feel too confident, you can always try the most cowardly route of all, by going through the plains to the South, where you can eventually jump the river to safety. However, if you go through by this route, you will have to get close to "glancing blow" distance of the Humans- and their literal army of roughly 20 Swordsmen, guarding the west side of their encampment.

Scenario 21 - The Elven Council

This is a cut-scene furthering the storyline. No combat takes place.

Scenario 22 - Return to Wesnoth

Scenario objectives: Kill all three enemy leaders.

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

Early finish bonus for killing all enemy leaders: 27 Gold

Scenario 23 - Test of the Clans

• Objectives: Defeat either all four leaders or 25 units in total
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
• Turns: 53
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar
• Early finish bonus: 55 Gold per turn

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scenario 24 - The Battle for Wesnoth

• Objectives: Defeat Asheviere
• Lose if: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz or Li'sar die or turns run out
• Turns: 60
• Starting units: Konrad, Delfador, Kalenz, Li'sar, as many Grand Knights as you defeated in the last map
• Early finish bonus: 46

Scenario objectives: Defeat Asheviere and, by killing her, reclaim the throne.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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