Frankel

Hi folks! Dropped off the face of the earth there for about a year. Good to see you all still around. Lord Paul, your offer might just have motivated me to get cracking on that trail again :)

Mission 12: The Ransom Objectives Acquire 6000 gold Back on track, but unfortunately I cannot find my screenshot for this mission. None the less I recall it quite well. I didn't hand around too much at the start here. I used one maceman to determine the range of the archers on the wall and then used my tunnellers to knock a hole in the wall. I then used my macemen to rush through the hole in the wall and clear the enemy fort. ? ? ? With that start out of the way, I patched up the hole and proceeded to build up an economy. I manned the northwest walls with my archers and crossbowmen and placed some extra economy buildings (stone, weapons and food production). As stone came in I walled my base from the northern most point up to the lake in the north east corner of the map. I walled to the ridge on the left on the otherside. I was caught out on the first couple of attacks however. I didnt notice some macemen creep down the left of my castle and hamstring my economy by taking out woodcutters and iron mines. I used my remaining macemen to finish them off. At this point I deleted the walls at the rear of my base and finished off my wall to the west (to prevent similar assaults) and fortified the rest of my wall. All the while I was building up a stronger ranged defense. I added a moat between battles while gold was steadily flowing in from my now recovered economy. At this point is was simply a matter of waiting out the remainder of the mission. Mission 13: Snake Eyes Objectives Finish off the Snake once and for all! This was a relatively straightforward mission. You begin in an easily defended location facing the prospect of regular attacks from the pig every year or two. The pig must cross a river here so it is easy to pick off his men as they cross over. Again build up a handful of crossbowmen and archers and place them on a tower within reach of the river. Once you get enough men to cover the pigs attacks (I needed my original macemen at the start to pick off a couple of stragglers who made it through the original line of fire) you can build up a good economy. http://i.imgur.com/rCipHxe.png[/img] Note: At this point, while I was building up an army to face the snake, I had built a forward post near where the pigs attacks originate to take them out as early as possible. When it came to assaulting the Snake's keep I used some catapults to punch holes in the two walls. My defensive archers and crossbowmen were put to use offensively to clear the walls while a small group of macemen finished off the lord on his keep. Mission 14: The Mountain Pass Objectives Survive all of the enemy attacks (Eliminate all units). In this mission our mysterious mate the monk has again bestowed upon us plans, this time for a mounted ballista. I began this mission by deleting all of the walls in my base other than those closest to the enemy's focal point. This may be risky at higher difficulties but at Normal it is simple enough to defend. I used the stone to strengthen walls and move my barracks beside my defensive walls. Weapons production was prioritised with a number of fletchers placed. I focused on crossbowmen but switched to arrows as I ran low on leather armor (or was too poor to buy some). Extra food buildings were placed too (I ran very low at one point and had to buy food).? http://i.imgur.com/crLAz4a.png[/img] My defense originally relied on archers and crossbowmen. I targeted the engineers as much as possible (they tended to attack first) while I had plenty of woodcutters to deal with the macemen as much as possible. I had my own small army of spearmen and macemen that would wait behind the gatehouse and rush out to meet any men that got close. Again on normal just keep up unit production and keep the walls stacked and, in my case, keep the spike traps in plentiful supply. The remainder of the mission takes care of itself. http://i.imgur.com/S2qojKp.png[/img]

Well after a somewhat extended break, my issues are resolved and I can get back to posting :) My memory is a little rusty about the following missions so I will keep the descriptions brief. Mission 8: Dealing With the Devil Objectives: Acquire 10 Ale Eliminate all enemy units Well my recollection of this mission is a big foggy. I started with the usual focus on bread production on the valley floor. I decided to leave off on the hops production for now as I did not trust the Snake to do anything other than take the ale I provided and invade regardless! I originally stationed my troops on my keep and made it a priority to build up a small force of archers. This was enough to hold off the original invasions while I walled off the gaps in the valley. I left a path through the walls in the bottom of the below picture to funnel them though that area. When I was happy with my defenses I obtained the necessary ale (which he was now requesting 20 of) and shortly after the reinforcements arrived the Rat's last assault crumbled on my defense. http://i.imgur.com/B7RR8Ot.png[/img] Mission 9: The Rat's Last Stand Objectives: The usual (i.e. kick some a** and drink some milk) This was a simple enough mission with a few points standing out in my memory. First of all I kept my farmland to the rear of the castle, having added a gatehouse and drawbridge. Secondly I fortified my moat around the front of my castle with my spearmen. Next I build up a force of both spearmen and archers (rather than focusing on archers like usual) and used the stone to add three square towers to the front of my castle. The quarry and woodcutters to the right of my castle were a prime target for enemy soldiers so I left some spearmen within a short distance who could rally to their defense as needed. The last point of note was I tended to have a small forward part ready to harass enemy engineers as they were trying to construct siege equipment, or failing that, destroy the siege equipment as soon as possible. It was not long before the enemy exhausted its forces and the Rat was finally finished. http://i.imgur.com/U18UuZX.png[/img] Mission 10: The Snake Hunt Begins Objectives Achieve 50 population 75% religious coverage In this mission one piece stands out as making my life easier. I walled off a short area around my farms and built a stairway from the top of the cliff down to my farms. This not only saved my farms from enemy troops, but also saved them from the constantly multiplying rabbits. Beyond that the mission was relatively straightforward. Build up a strong defensive structure manned with many archers (watch out for the bears in the wooded area to the north - use archers to kill them). I tended to build a short wall around the front of my quarries also, but this achieved little other than drawing catapult fire. Once my defense was strong enough I build a number of chapels and let the priests get to work. http://i.imgur.com/hSxy4PP.png[/img] Mission 11: First Blood Objectives Kill all enemy troops. So here we have the choice of where to place our keep. I decided to place mine slightly north of the stone mines, alongside the cliff edge. On one hand farmland space is at a premium, as is flat land to place economic buildings, however I liked the thought of placing walls and towers on the raised terrain enabling me to pick off enemy soldiers as they climb through the hills. I don't quite recall the order in which I built up my castle, however I went with a mix of bread, dairy (as much for leather armor as food) and hops. I started building a wall from the east, forcing enemy troops to take the long route to my keep. I made a few macemen at the beginning in case any troops did make it as far as my keep.? http://i.imgur.com/2fTsEWd.png[/img] After a while, my defense was getting stronger and crossbowmen became available to me. I switched most of my production to crossbows, making liberal use of the marketplace. When the Wolf finally arrived he was no match for my defense, so much so that not one troop was lost. http://i.imgur.com/vne4dj5.png[/img] And so we are getting back on track. Hopefully I should have more updates for you later this week and sorry for my absence.

Its almost as if there is another box superimposed on the reply area. Looks like it should be an ad of some description, but I don't see anything on it and no option to close it. I've tried in Chrome (same as I am using at the moment) and Firefox. Probably some kind of adware or something although no scans have picked up anything (although my housemate has problems with unwanted ads on his browser recently). I'm confident I will figure it out this weekend.

Just to let you know I am still progressing on this. Its just I can't seem to post to the forums from my personal laptop at the moment. It won't let me type in the reply box. Once I figure this one out I will have a nice big update for you :)

I didn't know what the first Stronghold I played was. A gentleman who had family in our area used to visit our town for a few weeks each year. When I was a kid he used to drop in some games?(Super Mario!)?for me to play while he was in town. One time he left his laptop with some kind of castle strategy game on it for me to try. I didn't have a clue what I was doing (tried a random game he had saved), but I loved it. It was only years later that I saw Stronghold 1 on a website somewhere and figured it must be it, or at least something similar to it. Actually in hindsight it was SHC he dropped in, and it was a skirmish against a lot of Wolfs. I only played it for at most an hour yet I remember it well. Still, it was a while before I got that, and SH1 kept me busy in the beginning.? Getting back to SH1, I have to say I love the feel of this game. While SHC is a big step up and far more re-playable, I miss the rustic charm of those little wooden settlements and the storyline of the military campaign. It gives a bit of life to the characters. As for my progress, I am currently on Mission 12 and will post some updates soon?:) (Just completed mission 12 and I pressed print screen twice by mistake at the end so I only got the score and not my beautiful castle :(?Oh well, onwards and upwards!)

So I have been working my way through the SHC first skirmish trail and just as a bit of a break I decided to try out the military campaign in SH1. It has been a long time since I tried this, in fact I don't think I ever completed the final mission. I'm not going to (or at least don't intend to) go into a huge amount of detail. Hopefully by posting my progress I will keep myself motivated to finish the campaign this time! I will play through on Normal difficulty. So without further ado... Mission 1: Gathering the Lost Objectives: Acquire 20 meat Acquire 40 wood I popped down a keep and granary, placed a couple of hunters and a few wood cutters and put the kettle on :) http://i.imgur.com/3TON1jY.png[/img] Mission 2: Finishing the Fort Objectives: Acquire 35 meat Complete the castle I used all the starting wood on woodcutters and a few hunters. Then moved my stockpile beside the forest and my woodcutters. Shortly after I sealed my caste and saw out the end of the mission. My castle wasn't sealed for the first wolf attack but it was easily defeated none the less. http://i.imgur.com/lkdSALu.png[/img] Mission 3: Eliminating the Wolves Objectives: Do exactly what it says on the tin (eliminate the wolves :P?) A few woodcutters to the south and a granary and few hunters to the north. Next came the fletchers, an armory and a barracks. I sealed the keep too for fun. The rat sent a small force after a while but the 3 or 4 archers he sent are easily killed and the wolves then eradicated at my own pace. Gold was raised by setting taxes to -4 and setting extra rations for the +4 population bonus. http://i.imgur.com/s1GN1rz.png[/img] Mission 4: Hidden Lookout Objectives: Do to the Rat's troops what you did to the wolves. Eliminate all enemy troops. The usual start here. I placed my keep forward near the edge of the cliffs as its a good base for archers. A few woodcutters (I'm too used to a marketplace to make up for goods I lack. From this mission I started placing more woodcutters at the begining) my granary and 2-3 dairy farms. I decided not to just wall off the gaps, but aim for a keep fully enclosed by wooden walls. Then it was just a matter of building some fletchers and constantly expanding my economy. I was quite exposed for the first assault but had enough archers just to turn the enemy away as they reached the keep. After that my economy was more than strong enough to see the mission out. You can see the final assault below. Taxes and rations were at -8 / +8 respectively in this one. http://i.imgur.com/IsLod7Q.png[/img] Mission 5: Between a Rock and a Hard Place Objectives: Eliminate all enemy troops. I placed the keep (in hindsight I would have placed it closer to the north river to aid my archers), some woodcutters, a couple of wheat farms, the granary and armory. As wood came in up went a mill (didnt place this at the start as it takes a bit of time for wheat to be ready) a few bakeries fletchers and build up from there. For the first attack I didnt have any gates in place on the river but a handful of archers was more than enough to take care of it. From there I just build up a strong economy gated the three northern river passes and threw up some wall. For the final attack I build a little forward outpost just to take the catapult fire that I expected to arrive. It worked as planned. +8/-8 on the taxes and rations again. http://i.imgur.com/eSY6reO.png[/img] Mission 6: The Rat's Proposal Objectives: Negotiations with the Rat Eliminate all enemy units Well the Rat is a rat, who knew? I placed my keep near the stone, From what you see in the picture below, I started with the inside castle and started building (roughly in this order) a few woodcutters (2 north 1 west and 2 east), my barracks, armory, granary, 3 dairy farms, fletchers, 2 quarries, 2 oxen, 2 wheat farms and some bakeries. Now I didn't build all of this off the bat of course, but I had the inside keep walled for the first attack. I did defend it, however the catapults punched a hole in the left wall and the rat's soldiers took out the eastern woodcutters, hence the new wall that was shortly added sealing off that side. I repaired my wall and for future attacks I send a small party of archers forth first (4-5 each time) to try to pick off some engineers before they build their catapults. This worked very well and the rest of the troops were easily killed by my ever increasing army of archers. Ahead of the final attack I built another outer wall to draw catapult fire (and because I had excess stone) and finished the mission easily. http://i.imgur.com/33dWuS0.png[/img] Mission 7: Breaking the Siege Objectives: Eliminate all enemy units So you start off with a handful of troops and a reasonable size force about to attack. You also have the basic makings of a castle with an inner stone wall and an outer wooden wall. First of all I pulled my archers off the wooden wall and placed them on the stone gatehouse. I trained whatever troops I could with the weapons in the armory and build some fletchers. The few spearmen I saw were placed on defensive stance on the walls to deal with the mass of laddermen. The catapults focused on the outer wooden wall, although I was unsure how to deal with the mass of units approaching when I noticed the reinforcements on the beach. They were quickly assigned to the walls along with my other troops and easily dealt with the siege force. When the immediate threat was over I send 4 spearmen to finish off the catapult. From there I built 3 oxen, some more bakeries and another wheat farm. I alternated taxes as I could, eventually settling on -4 when I had enough bakeries to support extra rations. To gain extra wood I deleted all of the wooden walls at the rear of my base and also any wooden watchtowers. From there I built up my defense, dealing with invasions as necessary (small raiding parties of 4-6 men to take out engineers helped here again). By the time the final mission came around I had three outer walls and more than enough troops to finish the mission. http://i.imgur.com/NrVaJcL.png[/img] I'll leave it here for now. I might do a couple more and return to SHC to progress there a little. After a bit of a break from Stronghold this was a fun way to pass a little time and get back into the swing of things.

Most evenings it would be ~21:30 CET before I can start. Probably earlier (19:30) on Thursdays and much more flexible at weekends.

I could do it on a weekday also, however it would probably be quite late in the day for the rest of you!

I'm a bit late to the party on this, but its an excellent topic that deserves an answer. I will focus on Crusader as it has been far too long since I played SH1. What approach do you take when building a castle (in-game or in-editor)? I take very much a horses for courses attitude. Generally I enclose my keep, usually with walls, although sometimes just moats. Square towers for defense. I try to keep as much of my economy inside, with the occasional exception of the barracks/mercenary post. Quarrys and farms are not kept inside my keep if I build a square castle surrounded by walls. Do you ever use mongenels on square / round towers? Only if I am in close proximity to enemy lords' keeps. Otherwise I like having ballista to pick off catapults. Do you ever use turrets, or do you always build towers? Always a tower man, and usually square ones only. Have you ever set troops to patrol an area? Defensively, no. Offensively I sometimes use horse archers on patrol to harass quarries/farms, or to annoy the likes of the sultan. What troops do you use to defend the keep? Walls? Gatehouses / Towers? It depends on the opponent. If it is against the snake or rat (lords who focus on lightly armored units) I tend to just build archers. Against most other lords its Crossbowmen. For the caliph, I tend to build a combination of both. These are usually on square towers. I tend not to use troops on walls or gatehouses. As for hand-to-hand units, I occasionally keep a few inside the keep, although I rarely focus on this. It is only for some very dicey missions that I use these defensively. When sieging an enemy castle, what do you use if you use anything? Hmm this is where my tactics vary a lot. I tend to focus on building a very strong defense in missions. If it is a map that is rich in resources, and gold is easily obtained, then its not uncommon for me to just mass horse archers and some melee units (be it arabian swordsmen, assassins or macemen) to finish off the job. When I originally played the game, my most common method of sieging was a smash and grab approach. Use some catapults to punch a hole in a wall and then storm in with an army of fast units like macemen. This time around I tend to build a handful of fast units (knights/macemen) to take down any barracks/mercenary post outside the keep and to keep the gates closed. Horse archers, crossbowmen or archers I would aim to position at the same time to clear the towers and walls (prioritising mangonels). Then once the enemy lord is trapped, light the keep on fire with some fire ballista. Once they have burned alive, I use an assassin to open a gatehouse and then march in with some ground units to finish the job. What's the hardest troop to kill? The most annoying? In short, whatever the pig builds. Catapults are my biggest irritant (my poor walls), but macemen have caused me problems in the past with their speed. Crossbowmen defensively are a pain too. Special mention to those early raiding parties of horse archers that Saladin sends out. Those are annoying too when you are trying to get your economy up and running. What's your favorite troop? Least favorite? Most useful? My favourite troop. Hmm. Probably either the maceman or fire ballista. Least favourite would be a ladderman (just trying to think of what I never use). Most useful? VS the AI I would almost say slaves. Moats are so good defensively and slaves are so cheap to hire that they make a strong defense very easy to achieve. Do you ever use spearmen when you have better troops available? Haha usually not. I have completed a few missions before by trying to mimic the rat, but that was just for fun. What about laddermen, monks, and tunnellers? Laddermen and Tunnellers I tend not to use. I have used monks in the past to complete missions, but usually just for fun to provide that final killer blow. Which is more important: iron or pitch? Iron. I'm not a big pitch man. What food(s) do you use? Focus is always on bread. There is usually a dairy farm or two for the tanners, and if I have space I add apple farms for the popularity bonus. If you can't use bread, what food would you grow? In missions where I can't produce bread, I usually rely on buying hops rather than produce other food. I would probably focus on apples though if I had the space. Do you use cremulation for defensive purposes? Do I use it? Yes. Is it for defensive purposes? No. I just think it makes my castle look pretty?:D What's your average population size? (Especially Crusader) Probably in the region of 70-90. ~50 is not too uncommon, but I very very rarely go above 100. Are macemen worth the leather? (Does their power make up for the fact that the leather has to be shared between them and crossbowmen?) Yes yes yes. I love macemen. Also leather armor is cheap enough to produce so selling some maces or crossbows if needed to buy some more is easily done. Which is worse (in Crusader): Starting Rush (Trainging a bunch of mercenaries then attacking while the opponent has no time to build up defenses) or horse archers with portable shields? I've never tried the latter, but I would have to pick it from what I have read. A rush can backfire ?leaving you in a weaker position but horse archers are strong enough without the need for portable shields! Which do you prefer: catapults or trebuchets? I use both depending on the situation. Smash and grab: Catapults. Slow and steady (partly destroying a tower so they cant rebuild): Trebuchets. In Crusader, what's your average siege army size? If I don't hear "Your army is approaching its maximum size" then its not big enough! On a more serious note, probably 100-200 units offensively, although I change it up depending on how I feel. Defensively Its hard to gauge. In Crusader, what style of gameplay do you use (defensive, offensive, support/economy, support/defend, etc) Defensive (followed by an army boom and a decisive victory). The best offense is a good defense. What tactics would you use if you couldn't build walls, moats, and other commonly used defensive structures (pitch / boiling oil allowed). Possibly replace the stockpile at the start, positioning my economy further behind my keep (using natural terrain where possible) and using my keep as a tower?:D. Then a combination of fireballista and small groups of crossbowmen supported with macemen (slightly behind crossbowmen to be out of range of original arrows, but close enough to rush forward and protect vs any melee troops that make it close. Who's harder: Saladin or the Wolf in Crusader? They are quite similar I find. It really depends on their castle and how quickly they attack. If I have time to get up some moats and square towers its fine. The original horse archers from Saladin are a pain, but overall probably the wolf. How many Rats would take to kill Saladin?? It depends on the map I guess and how favourably you position the Rats (and how much you incapacitate Saladin).

Maybe we could all shake off the rustiness with an multiplayer game this weekend?

That's the one surely. 30 missions down, 20 to go (lets not mention the second trail for now?:D?).

Hi Isaiah - Good to see you back. Perhaps between us we could look at an online game sometime :) I have also been slacking off myself as of late (work/holiday). I haven't got around to starting my latest skirmish vs. three Wolfs (Wolves?).

Rushing one of them with assassins would be possible, especially the top pig given he wouldnt be able to hire recruits, although having played the mission and knowing he can't recruit I agree I would have been worse off. As for the mangonels, funnily enough thats exactly where I did fire upon although perhaps my luck had deserted me. If I had built farms to the north though a mangonel would have been much more viable I feel as the catapult would only have targeted my quarry at worst.

Mission #30 - Eye of the Camel 2 teams: [Me, Richard] vs [saladin, Sultan]. 2000 starting gold (vs AI 8000) This was a relatively straightforward mission so I shall keep it brief. Saladin had prime location on top of the hill and I had the Sultan as my noisy neighbour. Still, this was nothing to worry about. My usual starting buildings (stockpile, granary, market, armory, barracks, woodcutters, 2 wheat farms, hops farm, dairy farm, quarry, oxen, mill, bakeries, houses). I added one tower slightly north of my keep, added a gatehouse, a ballista and hired some troops for it. I kept my units split between the keep and that tower until I manged to add a second tower (mangonel), wall and units to man it. As for the other side of my keep, I hired some slaves to dig a moat knowing most of saladin's troops are not fond of a shovel. http://i.imgur.com/Xta6NSj.jpg[/img] (The two lines of stone wall you see at the north west of my base were there to protect my towers from catapult fire. I got fed up of repairing them). Once your defense is set this becomes a relatively simple mission. Lionheart keeps wearing away at Saladin and the Sultan is a simple adversary. Once the Sultan is out of the way you have plenty of room for an economy boom. If you have patience you can use the high terrain in the north to siege Saladin's keep, however I went for a mass army of Pikemen and Crossbowmen (with my two knights kindly taking out the mercenary post in advance). On a side note, it seems as if dirty tactics are not beneath the Lionheart. He played the old 'ox tether in at enemy keep' trick with an apple farm, drawing plenty of fire from the enemy mangonel. http://i.imgur.com/H4S1wsb.jpg[/img]

Mission #29 - Rivers of Blood 3 teams: Me vs [Rat, Rat, Rat, Rat, Pig] vs Sultan High starting goods and 10,000 gold - What more can one ask for in SHC? This was a straightforward mission. I placed the usual buildings & stockpile and added two square towers to the rear of the keep with one mangonel in each - one for each of my two noisy neighbours. I hired at least 60 archers, 30 for each tower, and hired some slaves to moat off the southern river crossing. In this mission I would advise to attack the Sultan last as he has the useful habit of occupying the pig for a large part of this mission. http://i.imgur.com/Yp8vKJF.jpg[/img] I continued to fortify my caste, as you see in the picture above, making full use of the ample resources allocated at the start of this mission. My economy was predominantly driven by weapons and food production. When I had built up a small army of arabian swordsmen and crossbowmen I replaced the mangonels on the towers above with ballista and sallied forth to dispatch the two rats.? Gold on this mission is easy to come by, and when gold is easy to come by that usually means horse archers. Around this time I started getting attacked by the Sultan and the Pig, however my four towers were more than a match for whoever approached. By the time my small army had defeated the next two rats across the river (usual tactic of blocking the gathouse, destroying the barracks and picking off units until I decided to knock a wall and finish the lord), I had a sizeable army of horse archers who quickly dispatched the pig's defences (helpfully aided by the pig sending an assault to my keep minutes earlier) in time for my arabian swordsmen (and handful of macemen) to kill their lord. Finally it was time for the Sultan and I shall let you guess how that ended up from the picture below. http://i.imgur.com/qEwdBv7.jpg[/img] I may keep to one mission per post going forward if there are no objections. It is easier for me to keep track of my thoughts (I have a habit of rereading my post to ensure I am not repeating myself too much).

Mission #28 - A Place of Rest Where do I begin. I had pencilled this in as a tough mission and I was not disappointed. Two pigs in close proximity with 8000 gold to my 2000. Any resources (other than wood) were vulnerable to enemy attack. I do not wish to rush any lord in this playthrough so that made it more challenging (or so I thought it would but I will get to that later). I shall begin by saying I did not succeed on my first attempt, however I soon learned my lesson and the second attempt was much smoother sailing. Attempt 1: I began by placing 4 stockpile, 1 granary, 1 armory, 2 woodcutters and a marketplace. Next was one wheat farm to the south, as far away from the pigs as possible followed by a quarry in the same position with 2 ox teathers. I built a square tower slightly northeast of my keep between the two gaps and added a stairs, mangonel (after engineers guild - as ones tends to do when enemy lord's keeps are so close), archers and crossbowmen (buying gear as needed). I also needed to buy more stone for the barracks as between the square tower and stairs I did not have enough.? Soon the attacks started. The first few I managed to deal with, but what I didnt account for were the almost instant attacks from catapults outside the yellow pig's walls. The only unit I had that could reach them was my mangonel and accuracy is not a strong point. It wasnt long before I had no resources, my quarry and wheat farm was destroyed and I was selling food to hire any kind of unit possible to defend myself. I was bested. I'm glad to say, however, I learned my lesson (somewhat). This time around the square tower was attached to my keep, thus leaving me enough stone for a barracks without having to purchase more. Rather than a mangonel I built a ballista. I did take some damage from the catapults but I managed to kill them reasonably quickly as long as I kept a close eye on the yellow pig's mercenary post. Resources saved on purchasing stone and panic hiring soldiers was spent on fletchers. 4 arabian swordsmen were hired to defend my granary at one point, but aside from that I slowly but steadily built up a small defense. As soon as I had the stone to build a second square tower adjacent to the first, manned with another ballista, I was comfortable. http://i.imgur.com/hgsLrOp.jpg[/img] (The small wall you see at the south eastern entrance was very useful as it forces my oxen to take the south western route, out of line of enemy fire) Soon after this I sent my spearmen north to destroy some farms and iron mines to harass the enemy economy. It was then I realised (after coming under no attack) that I should have placed my farm (and more than one!) up here at the beginning. The northernmost pig is useless in this mission after his first attacks as he cannot build a barracks. This rushing at the start only serves to reduce your gold on troops, when in fact he takes up economy space from the second pig. A few more towers with mangonels were added to roughen up the enemy while I produced swordsmen. Shortly after the screen below I attacked and defeated the two pigs in turn. What started as a hairy mission was made much simpler by the change of location of the square tower, and the use of a ballista rather than mangonel. http://i.imgur.com/CYA8oG8.jpg[/img] All in all an enjoyable mission, despite my original setback.

Funny you mention the Pig giving you food in that mission EaglePrince, it was the first time I tried asking a Lord for goods and the Snake duly obliged with a small delivery of wood. I was pleasantly surprised. Lord_Chris - Of course! If you feel it would be useful to people, then please go ahead. As for the help thread, I'm happy to help out people with what little I know however I have still never completed the first skirmish trail (not to mention the second) so I fear I may lack the knowledge of certain missions just yet. As for mission #28, I was right to think this would be challenging but I will say no more until I post my next update

Mission #27 - Arabian Nights Well this one was a nice breather so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum. Below was my keep from early on (I walled in the snake and pig at the end just so I could take a screenshot in peace!). Saladin was a bit of a pain at the start of this mission with his horse archers but as long as you build a stairs at the back of the snake's castle (he moats himself in), the rest of this is pretty much autopilot. The snake is even kind enough to dig the moat around the entrance to Saladin's keep if you set the blueprint. http://i.imgur.com/JZZnWbn.jpg[/img] Next up is me vs two pigs on a tight map. This will be challenging as I do not rush opponents at the start. Tonight I shall gird my loins and sharpen my steel as I shall soon be tested!

Mission #26 - Vultures Claw Me and the snake against 2 caliphs and a sultan. Lots of resources to start here, albeit low gold. Started off as usual, this time building a small square enclosure around my keep with the starting stone (the two holes at the back I added late on when I realised the tight space within my keep was slowing production and causing a roundabout route to the stash). 2 towers at the front manned with archers, crossbowmen and ballista took care of my defense. A moat on three sides linking up with the snake was added (albeit not needed). 2x wheat farms, 1x hops farm an apple orchard and two quarries were soon added. http://i.imgur.com/Wkvmbt3.jpg[/img] I wont drag on too much. Defensively the only thing I added of note was the square tower at the top of the snake's keep. That, manned with a mangonel, was quite important as the snake was really suffering against the blue caliph as the battle went on. Offensively I went for the sultan first, marching my troops (mostly crossbowmen, macemen and some engineers. Maybe 5-10 horse archers too) around the map to the top centre. At that time the sultan decided to attack me, conveniently emptying his base. http://i.imgur.com/gftv91E.jpg[/img] As soon as they left I cleared the walls, used 3 catapults to knock a tower and rushed with the macemen. With the gold boost (and a strong economy with plenty of iron (maces) & leather armor production), I built up an army or horse archers and macemen. The yellow caliph was quick to beat, my mangonel having ravished his economy and castle (horse archers werent even needed). I asked the snake to attack the blue caliph at the same time, and by the time I had killed the yellow caliph, the snake had opened a gap in the blue caliphs walls to rush through with my macemen. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So after a bit of a delay (alas work has been busy), mission #25 - The Forgotten is complete. Aside from a brief hairy moment ?at the start, there was nothing much to report here and I was never threatened. I began by placing the usual 6 stockpile squares, a granary, marketplace, a armory. Next up was the northernmost square tower you see in the picture below followed by 2x wheat farms, 1 hops farm, 2 apple farms, 4x fletchers, a barracks (with 5 stone purchased for this), 2-3 houses, a mill and some bakeries. I purchased some bows and placed all of my archers on top of the northern tower. I also set my spearmen to dig a moat to the west of the nearest river passage hoping to force the wolf and pig soldiers through the iron and stone deposits. It was here I had my hairy moment. The pig sent 5 or 6 macemen and killed my moat diggers when there was one tile of land left to make. My lord was alone on top of his keep and I had no gold. I pointed all of my archers at the incoming men (ignoring some archers the snake or rat had to the north) and tried to move my lord to the stairs of the tower. Luckily here they split up. Two went to attack my lord when he was halfway to the stairs (he easily defeated them) while the rest stopped to destroy two farms. I lost one wheat and one hops farm, but it was a small price I was willing to pay. Below is a picture of my keep. This is at the end of the mission (I sent all of my troops to the wolf and pig but I'll get to that later). The moat to the right was just something to keep my slaves busy when they finished the first moat to the left. http://i.imgur.com/Bh5IH50.jpg[/img] I hired 3 slaves and finished the moat and from there on it was a matter of building my economy (bread & crossbows) and army. When I decided to take out the rat I used 30 archers, 40 monks and two fire ballistae. The fire ballista took out the barracks, then the archers took out any archers on the walls while the monks closed the gate. Then the archers killed all remaining troops before I knocked a wall and killed the lord. The snake I killed shortly after. I was building up some horse archers so a handful of these helped the existing troops I had for the rat to easily dispatch the snake. After this I built the extra towers you see in the map and opened up the moat on the left with a gatehouse and drawbridge albeit in the line of fire of the wolf's mangonels. The mangonel fire hastened my attack plan against the wolf. About 200 horse archers I sent to clear the walls and towers along with whatever troops I had from the snake attack. In total about 250 troops died in this attack (there were a lot of crossbowmen in the pig and wolf keeps) but my main objective was complete. I had one horse archer left alive at one gate, and 3 monks alive at the other. This kept the wolf pinned in and I sent all of my crossbowmen and archers (a little over 100 in total) from the towers over as reinforcements. These killed off all of the pigs troops while a handful of monks finished him off. Monks took out the wolf's barracks that was outside of his walls and I made an assassin to open an outer gatehouse. All of my 100+ bows/crossbows stood atop the outer walls and cleared all of the troops within. A fire ballista lit the buildings on fire and the archers quickly killed the lord on a slight variation of death by a thousand cuts. All in all quite a manageable mission, if a bit long.?

I said I would try one more for tonight, and it was a success. Mission #24 - Death in the Dunes complete. This mission with me vs four Sultans in a barren map was straightforward enough. More gold than I need and 4 enemies who are not in a hurry to attack. I built a small castle, surrounded (mostly) by a small moat. I bought probably 50 bows and 20 crossbows & leather armor to man the towers. The two towers to the north east had mangonels and the two to the south west, ballista. A small economy based on crossbows and soon after, stone, was probably unnecessary but I do not like to rush. I sold the original pitch and iron and bought hops and wheat as necessary. Taxes were -4, half rations and +8 from beer. http://i.imgur.com/SWFhz41.jpg[/img] When I did decide to attack, I used 2 fire ballista, 10 swordsmen (either arabic or the 10 european ones I made because I clicked on swords by mistake!) and 20 crossbowmen. More than enough to take out each Sultan with a bit of patience. Here I shall leave it for today. Enough progress was made for one day.

I have never been one to throw in the towel, and indeed one learns more in these moments than in a mission that goes smoothly. I know there are some missions coming up however where my mistakes will be more harshly punished. On to mission #22 - Red Beak. Me vs Caliph. I am in an area easily defended but shy on resources. A small moat and a tower at the top of my area of the map, coupled with some archers (bought bows) was more than enough to hold the enemy at bay in this mission. Later a fire ballista at the bottom of my area to set the caliph's iron mines and quarries on fire was well worth the small 210 gold investment.? http://i.imgur.com/Uv7CdZG.jpg[/img] Using bread and crossbow production as the foundation of my economy I built two more towers with archers (completely crippling food and hops production), added a gatehouse and drawbridge to access the iron mines, and built up a small army of crossbowmen and swordsmen to walk in and kill the Caliph. Simple mission but just takes a bit of time to get your economy going. Next up was mission #23 - Flatland. Me vs 5 rats. No arable land but more than enough iron and stone to make up for it. First off I built a tower and enough bows for 40 archers. That would be enough to take care of any early attacks. I didnt bother trying to wall in right away, considering the investment in one tower and archers more prudent. From there on I built up a (completely unnecessarily) strong defence, kept my population happy with a 'sleepy' cathedral, church and purchased beer (3 inns). I placed bad things for a -4 population bonus (-5 at times when hiring soldiers). This with no taxes balanced nicely. By that time I had enough fun with my castle so I used 150 horse archers and 50 swordsmen to take all of the rats out one after another. http://i.imgur.com/4GYQwTe.jpg[/img] In the screenshot above, the inner circle was my original fortification. The outer one I built for fun to house my church & cathedral. Next up is me in the centre of 4 Sultans in a barren map. To quote my unit of choice in the last mission "Forward! To glory!!"

Mission 21 - The Desert Wind complete. I fear this post may become a bit rambling as it echoes my unorganised approach to this mission. Well, this was an interesting one. 3 teams. Me vs Pig Pig Pig Rat vs Lionheart. If I was to replay this mission I would start it differently, but here is what I done. 5 extra stockpile, 2 granary, 1 market, 2 wheat farms, 1 hops farm, 4 wood cutters, 3 houses, 1 mill, 2 bakeries, 2 armouries (buying wood as necessary). Next I placed the square tower at a distance I felt suitable in front of my keep. Enough to cover the stone and iron mines while keeping pressure on the rat and the yellow pig. Next up was the barracks and I ended up spending the rest of my gold on bows (then trained archers) followed by, I think, 10-15 crossbows and 5 leather armor. Now here is the problem, that is where my gold ran out. I set taxes to -4 and I had to juggle with no stone to make a stair for my tower, no gold to train troops (other than 15-20 archers), 10 crossbows with no leather armor, and running out of food as the bread process takes time. To do this I ended up having to really micro manage, with the priority buying those last 10 leather armors and training crossbowmen in fear of a pig attacking. Any archers I had were moved to the keep roof, while the few spearmen I had tried to dig as much of a moat as possible (one dug a moat at the small patch of iron to the south of my base to close that off). I managed to just about kill off an assault from the black pig during this process (2 macemen made it as far as the top of my keep). I places more bakeries as I could, finally remembered a brewery and again used the market to sell as much as possible (regularly staying with no more than 10 units of food). As I could I placed fletchers on crossbow production for the gold they bring. I also placed an inn shortly afterwards, as well as purchasing 5 stone, a mangonel, an engineers guild and 2 engineers (all of this took quite a while). Once this was all up and running, and I had about 6 fletchers operating (should have prioritised this sooner), I had a good enough income source to slowly build up some crossbowmen, selling crossbows for leather armor as necessary.? The mangonel was targeted at whatever piece of the yellow pig's castle he could reach, while the archers and crossbow men meant the rat was as good as dead and there was no stone or iron for the black pig. This is my castle as at that point: http://i.imgur.com/keVOQ1u.jpg[/img] ?It was at this point I made one fire ballista and took out the black pig's barracks, granary (regularly doing so) and houses that were within reach. I made 3 poleturners and bought 5 armor. They walked in and killed the rat. I bought stone to gate and wall the bottom entrance, removed the moat and built two iron mines. Then I started armor production and the rest is history. Black pig fell shortly to an army of pikemen. The yellow pig I didn't successfully defeat on my first effort (largely due to a tactless assembly of crossbows and pikemen) but 30 assassins I had ready for the lionheart soon did. I sent out all of my tower units then to the blue pig who cleared the way for my new pikemen and then as mentioned the assassins cleared the mangonels and ballistae from the towers allowing my pikemen to walk in for a free kill. So there you have it. Poor decision making at the start thankfully didnt cost me, although it did hinder my progress. The Lionheart is his own worst enemy here, walling off his oasis at the back and not able to place his barracks either. He deserves credit though for somehow managing to stave off quite a few pig attacks regardless. If you have read this far I hope I have not bored you. I will keep it more brief in future :)?Onwards and upwards!?

So a quick summary of the next three missions. I wont go into too much detail here, just post a quick picture and an overview of the mission. First up was me against 5 snakes. Quite a simple mission. Just buy plenty of archers, plant a tower or two to the front (leaving room for a few farms), hire slaves to dig a moat across the three entrances (you can moat around the stone to keep one quarry in your base), and then just keep enough archers on your towers. They also fell quite quickly. A few catapults and a small army of macemen was enough to deal with each snake. http://i.imgur.com/oFGGnsv.jpg[/img] Next up was me against the wolf. The gold advantage might seem daunting but he builds a hugely impressive army in this one. Again the usual strategy worked here. A couple of forward towers, buy crossbows & leather armor and dig a moat around the rest (you need to wall the bit by the quarry as it is on a hill). From there build up an army and destroy him. Offensively I built 20 mounted knights. 10 to each side gate to take out the barracks, mercenary post and close the two gates (as well as take the mangonel fire). Then a group of crossbowmen to go to the front of the castle both to close the front gate and destroy the mangonels. Once pinned in with no unit production it was easy. By the time I built up some macemen to finish the job it was simply a case of knocking a side gate and walking in. The defense here was unnecessary btu I had more stone than I knew what to do with! http://i.imgur.com/35Calsi.jpg[/img] Final update is for mission 20. It sees me teamed up with one Lionheart against three caliphs on the same mission as the one we started out on. First off wall the southern and western entrances. Get some quarries up and running and buy archers. The next while was spent fortifying my defense against the yellow and black caliphs. A tower out of reach of the black caliphs archers took care of that. I placed a mangonel on it to worry the nearest caliph. My small economy was based on 4 quarries in my base and a bit of food. Richard is a bit useless in this mission, other than to occupy the blue caliph. Their bases are so close that Richards gate is almost always closed, however his mangonels and catapults reduce the blue base to rubble. I bought about 20 assassins and used them to finish him off just to give Richard some breathing room. On the other side I made 30 macemen, knocked a ruined tower of the black caliph and took out that Lord. For the final caliph I asked Richard to attack and he kindly knocked a tower before letting his troops trigger the pitch ditches. Then I just used my remaining macemen and assassins to walk in and kill that Lord. http://i.imgur.com/Qa70rSP.jpg[/img] Next up mission 21. I hope to have time this weekend so I will keep you posted. Forward, march!