Claiming Territory

Land Grab is the first map of the Glory of Greece campaign, telling the story of a Greek tribe overcoming the other Greeks.

Scenario Instructions
''The Ice Age is over and food is plentiful. To survive and grow in an increasingly hostile world, however, your tribe must take possession of good forage lands. There are three other tribes in this area already - the Dorians are the strongest. Build five Farms to establish your presence in the valley, while destroying all Dorian Farms to weaken your most powerful neighbor. It may be necessary to eliminate the Ionians or Tirynians first to obtain a foothold in this area.''

Objectives

 * Destroy all Dorian Farms.
 * Establish 5 Farms.

Strategy
This mission is not as easy as one would expect from the first map of a campaign. You are limited to the Tool Age, with only Axemen, Bowmen, Scouts and (in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome) Slingers at your disposal. And the Dorians are not easy opponents.

You start off with six Clubmen and four Villagers (Blue). Tyrinia (Yellow) and Ionia (Brown) can be found to the south-east and north-east, respectively. They shouldn't be too much of a head-ache, but don't forget that they are there. The real threat is going to be the Dorians (Red) to the north.

To the north of your starting position you'll find a few Stone Mines, some huntable animals, and plenty of trees; you'll need all of these. Alternatively, you could take over the Tyrinian base straight away. The Tyrinians also have a stone mine to the north of their base, protected by walls and a tower. Start building up your base. Closing off entrances to the base with Houses will give you a warning before enemy soldiers enter your base.

Age up as quickly as possible. A Market will let you build farms. Not only will they be needed to complete the map, they will be the best source of food as well.

Build a Barracks and an Archery Range, and start making Bowmen and Axemen (upgrading your Clubmen will provide you with the best soldiers on the map). Researching Watch Tower on your Granary will let you build defenses to stop Dorian assaults.

Once you've built up a force of twelve or fifteen soldiers, and upgraded your defense and attack at the Storage Pit, you can start taking the fight to the Dorians. Bring along a Scout or two to find enemy Farms, but don't use them for fighting unless you have to - they're too expensive for that. Taking out Barracks, Archery Ranges and Stables will stop their production of soldiers, which will make your task easier. But this isn't strictly necessary. As long as you find their Farms and destroy them, you will win.

You can actually win this campaign without even building up much of a base. Immediately at the beginning, move all your Clubmen and Villagers into red's fort and attack them (using your Villagers too). Once you've weakened them a good bit, build a Barracks and a few Houses, then train more Clubmen. After you've gotten rid of all of red's military units, attack brown and yellow with your army before either of these teams gets stronger. Once all enemy military units are out of the way, destroy any remaining buildings and Villagers, and you win. This can be very difficult, though, especially on Hardest.