Path of War, Chapter 10

mini map

PATH OF WAR:  LOST KING CAMPAIGN
Chapter 10 
Siege of the Abbey

by Stratego

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Mission Briefing:
“In truth, I have grown weary of Sir William’s endless charging about this country, achieving little. Barclay and the Hawk are dangerous men, but only through them can I gain the power I crave.”

Objectives for Victory:

  • Kill Lady Seren

Losing Conditions:

  • Your Lord Dies

Starting units:21 spearmen, 12 archers, 10 macemen, 21 pikemen, 25 swordsmen, 10 laddermen, lord
Map size:small
Starting Date:January 1066
Game Version:1.2

WALK-THROUGH:

Chapter 10 definitely is one of the shortest siege scenarios within the “Path of War” campaign, and it’s the first mission on the “Green Path”. Basically, it’s the same map you are facing in chapter 7, but sometimes things are going the other way round, thus you are the attacker here.

Well, I confess that I needed several restarts until I found out the most efficient strategy to defeat Lady Seren. I recommend pursuing the following line of action in a well-timed sequence; then you will be amazed how easy it can be to master this task.

This time, you have to proceed very quickly; each activity of your troops ought to be precisely planned and perfectly synchronized. As soon as you succeed in getting over the walls, the mission will be as good as won. Above all, keep an eye on your lord; he’s one of the central figures here and mustn’t be neglected under any circumstances…more details later!

You have to force your way up to the walls through a treacherous defensive area consisting of firetraps (invisible pitch ditches), rolling logs and man traps; it’s possible if you send in less valuable units like spearmen and macemen to clear them out and to prepare a relatively safe path for the advance of your stronger troops (pikemen and swordsmen).

Unfortunately, you cannot rely on your ally Lord Barclay erecting a siege camp on the left side. He’ll be just a temporary distraction to Lady Seren’s mounted knights who are leaving the castle for counter attacks right in the beginning. On this picture below you see Lady Seren’s pink coloured knights attacking Sir Barclay’s green soldiers.

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Don’t look after your allies and don’t expect any military support, they’ll fight a losing battle and will be mercilessly slaughtered by those knights. Don’t waste your time to come to your ally’s aid or to wait for the mounted knights tracking you down. I also failed trying to hide my lord somewhere on the map’s southeastern corner with the intention of keeping him aloof. That’s in vain, don’t leave your lord back on the field, Lady Seren’s knights would find him and charge at him in any case. This would cut your attack earlier than you might think. Therefore, it’s advisable to forget about them and start the attack immediately.

At first, gather all your spearmen and macemen and double click on each troop type by pressing “control key” + “number key 1” (for grouping the spearmen) and “control key + 2 (grouping the macemen). So you can select all units of the same type that are visible on the screen.

Now lead both groups close to the end of the cliff that protrudes from the right end of the map, still being out of range from enemy fire. Then advance them around the cliff diagonally to the wall aiming at those two points underneath the rolling logs on the right side.

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Meanwhile, keep the rest of your men still waiting for new orders at your starting position. It’s very important to be in safe position in case that some rolling logs should roll all the way down the hill! I admit that spearmen and macemen represent a kind of suicide mission, but that’s necessary to pave the way for the second advancing wave of laddermen and archers. Spearmen and macemen will all die, but they’ll cause hostile archers to ignite the outer pitch ditches, trigger the rolling logs and spring many traps. So don’t worry, it’s a part of the strategy here.

Now the time has come to activate your laddermen assisted by your archers! Wait a little while until most of the burning logs are cleared out, then send all your laddermen to the wall targeting the far right wall section that you were choosing shortly before with your spearmen and don’t click on the staircase. Keep that in mind, laddermen won’t move forward if you click on the staircase directly, but targeting the wall signalled by a little ladder icon, will cause the laddermen to advance and to place their ladders, even against the staircase!

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To support your advancing laddermen it’s advisable to guide all your archers around the cliff to that niche as shown on the picture above. From there, they will be in a good position to attack those hostile archers up on the right wall sector, while your laddermen are trying to get at the walls unharmed through fire and traps. Somehow, two or three of them should make it to scale their ladders, and that’s all you need!

At the same time you should start to move your pikemen and swordsmen (including your lord!) heading upwards to the staircase, now by using the ladders leaned against the wall. To minimize fire damage you can also pause the game and try to steer your men around traps and flames, but you are not forced to do that. While the distracting archers are busy to clean off the walls, your troops should make it to the walls. It doesn’t matter if all your brave archers should die, the main thing is to get over the walls.

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Retarget your entering soldiers to the top of the keep and don’t waste your time to attack those enemy troops standing nearby unless they should hinder your path. (For example, note the enemy sentries at the campfire!). Continually click on Lady Seren on top of the keep, and it only will take a short time until the “noble lady” is departing this life.

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She’s got no chance against your superiority. Victory!

Stratego

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