Path of War, Chapter 3

PATH OF WAR:  LOST KING CAMPAIGN
Chapter 3
Edwin’s Rescue

by Stratego

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Mission Briefing:
“It seems I am going to get my first taste of siege-warfare. I have taken my strongest men and followed the guide, who has led us to a castle with William’s men encamped outside it.”

Objectives for Victory:

  • Rescue Edwin

Losing Conditions:

  • All Your Troops Dead

Starting units:38 spearmen, 27 archers, 26 armed peasants, 10 laddermen
Map size:small
Starting Date:January 1066
Game Version:1.2

WALK-THROUGH:

In CHAPTER 3, you are facing your first siege scenario, where your initial troops have to break through two hostile defensive lines to reach Edwin, held prisoner on top of the enemy’s keep. Sir William, your ally next to you, will give the sign to attack and you should follow his advice to tackle this insufficiently guarded eastern wall sector.

You can absolutely ignore Sir William’s activities on the southern frontline. His assault will fail and all his men will be slaughtered, but it will keep the enemy busy, at least for a while.

Let’s get going! Gather all your troops and command them along the right map’s edge to the northeastern point as shown on the picture below.

Avoid moving them forward straight on from your starting position, so they will be out of range of hostile archers while being on the march. After your men have been arrived at this new position, your archers will automatically take aim at all enemy units up on the wooden palisades.

Now pick out one or two spearmen in order to clear the way by tearing down the wooden wall just for a small passage. Then advance quickly with your archers until they reach the second wall sector, and keep the rest of your troops out of the danger zone at a safe distance for the time being.

From there your archers will be able to eliminate all reachable hostile units up on the walls. Don’t worry if some adversary spearmen start counter attacks at that moment. Your archers will give them a “proper reception” with deadly accuracy…

As soon as the situation is clear, you can order your ladder men putting their ladders against the walls. Now it’s easy to climb up the walls securely. Split up your archers into three groups of about six or eight soldiers and conquer the enemy’s towers one after another and at least three of them.

It is true that you will put up with some casualties, but you should cope with it. In return for it, your archers will get the most important strategic parts of the walls under control. Meanwhile, Sir William’s troops should be wiped out, but that doesn’t matter as I mentioned before. I was even able to take the liberty of sparing the lives of some inactive or passive hostile spearmen up on the walls.

Now is the time to start up fulfilling your actual task. I recommend this way:

Regroup your spearmen and your armed peasants, eventually by using the following shortcuts: You can select particular unit types like your spearmen by using the left mouse button. Double click on one of your spearmen visible on the screen and all your spearmen will be marked (now you’ll see a small green “beam” above their heads). If you want to group these selected units press Ctrl plus one of the key-numbers from 0 to 9. To create a group of various types of troops you can also drag a selection box over your required units and apply the same key combination (Ctrl + key-number from 0 to 9). Once your grouping is done you just have to press the selected key-number of your previously defined group. Then they’ll be reactivated again, ready for new commands.

Now you can lead both groups, waiting outside the castle so far, through the main gate unhindered. For your advance, choose the safer way along the northern elevation passing by the enemy farms and hovels as you can see on this picture below.

Order your armed peasants to attack and to divert those sentries in front of the keep’s entrance, while your spearmen should force their way upwards to the prisoner. After an insignificant fight, the spearmen will finally rescue Edwin – victory!

Stratego

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