Fight at the Forge

Fight at the Forge is the third scenario of The Golden Gift campaign in Age of Mythology. The main objective is to maintain control of the Plenty Vault long enough to build the Golden Boar.

Summary
Brokk arrives to the mines and realizes that Eitri is already in possession of the forge where the Golden Boar is to be created. Not wanting to be beaten by his younger brother, he decides to reclaim the forge for himself.

Objectives

 * 1) Capture the Plenty Vault before Eitri can finish the Golden Boar. (Eitri will finish the boar in 15 minutes. Capture the Plenty Vault by bringing units near it. Eitri will try to retake the Vault. Food is limited in the caves – hunt and fish for food. If you destroy Eitri’s docks, you will capture his fisheries. You can only build dwarven gatherers – get lots of gold!)
 * 2) Hold the Dwarven Forge (Plenty Vault) for 10 minutes.

Players

 * Brokk (Loki) – Begins in the Classical Age with Brokk, eight Dwarves, eight Heroes of Ragnarok, an Ox Cart and a Jarl.

Neutral

 * Golden Boar (Odin) – Will appear near the forge as soon as Brokk has held the Plenty Vault for more than ten minutes, indicating the player has won.

Enemies

 * Eitri (Loki) – Starts in the Classical Age. Is currently in possession of the Plenty Vault and will only attack if provoked or if he loses control of the Plenty Vault. Will also scout the map for Relics to bring them to his Temple.
 * Trolls (Loki) – A handful of Trolls are sitting idly around the map guarding large Gold Mines. Will attack if encountered.
 * Trolls (Loki) – Own a Town Center guarded by Trolls located at the south end of the map. They never attack.

Strategy
This guide is applied to hard difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.

Players should build a Town Center on the Settlement located at the starting position while the dwarves and Brokk mine Gold. Once the Town Center is complete, more dwarves should be trained to gather Gold and Wood as well as Ox Carts to accompany them. Nearby is a lake with plenty of Fish so a Dock should be built to train Fishing Ships to gather Food from them. It is not possible to build Farms on this map the only hunt available are Bears and Boars, both of which will attack Dwarves so fishing is a safer alternative. Next, a Temple should be built while Heroes of Ragnarok can be tasked into grabbing the nearby Ring of the Nibelung and Armor of Achilles Relics. They will grant the player a small trickle of Gold and an increase in infantry hack armor respectively.

The other Heroes of Ragnarok can be sent to destroy Eitri’s four Docks immediately. There is one northwest of the player’s Town Center, one directly far south of that one, one close to the Forge and another west of the forge not far from Eitri’s base. Upon destroying them, the Fishing Ships will convert to the player’s colors, saving the player the need to train his own. New docks can be built so the ships have someplace to unload their catch. Once this is accomplished, the Heroes of Ragnarok can return to the Town Center to begin building Longhouses and an Armory. Players should advance to the Heroic Age under Bragi to get the Swine Array technology and to train a couple of Battle Boars. From the Longhouses, Throwing Axemen, Ulfsarks and Hersirs can be trained. Currently, the forge is guarded by some of Eitri’s own Heroes of Ragnarok so when the player is ready to advance, they can task their soldiers to defeat them while the Battle Boars destroy the Watch Towers. The Plenty Vault should now be under the player’s control so they should build a forward base to secure it.

More Longhouses should be built to train units in the immediate vicinity while the Healing Spring God Power can be cast to heal the player’s soldiers. After researching Safeguard, the cost of Towers will be lowered which will make it easier to surround the area with defensive structures. Also, the entire perimeter should be walled off but it is advised to build two sets of walls as Eitri will likely cast Undermine to get passed it. If the population space runs low, more Houses can be built and more Settlements can be claimed. Eitri will send armies made up of Throwing Axemen, Huskarl, Jarls, Hersirs and various Myth Units from his western base to try and reclaim the Vault but the previous combination of units should be capable of handling those. Sometimes, he will attempt to attack the player’s original base so a second set of soldiers can stay behind to protect it. The est of the scenario is a matter of maintaining a defensive position and continually produce new units to replace the fallen ones. Once the Golden Boar is summoned after ten minutes, players will be rewarded with victory.

Additional Tips

 * Players may also build Hill Forts near the forge to strengthen their defenses, though they should bear in mind that these take longer to build.
 * Eitri may advance to the Heroic and Mythic Age but will worship a Minor God at random. Players should adjust their strategy based of his decision.
 * Whenever Eitri reclaims the forge, a new fifteen minute countdown will begin. This scenario is essentially similar to the King of the Hill Random Map.
 * If Eitri is being extremely aggressive towards the player’s original base but there is little time remaining, they can always abandon it altogether and focus entirely on maintaining control of the forge.
 * If players choose to advance to the Mythic Age, they should worship Tyr to get the Berserkergang technology to strengthen their Ulfsarks further. Fimbulwinter can be cast to attack Eitri’s Town Centers and buy some time.

Closing Cinematic
Eitri himself arrives to confront Brokk about stealing his idea. Skult arrives to interrupt the argument and proceeds to steal the Golden Boar by disappearing with it. The dwarf brothers realize that this was the work of Loki all along and decide to work together to get the Boar back.

Trivia

 * The Golden Boar is actually located in an unseen area of the map and is simply teleported to the forge.