A Fallen Crown

A Fallen Crown is the third scenario in the Yodit campaign in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. In this scenario Yodit has to disrupt the army of the king of Aksum, Dagnajan, while simultaneously dealing with his allies, the Begemder, and a civil war in the region. In the end Dagnajan has to be stopped from passing through by killing him.

Ally

 * Darginda (Ethiopians)is the object of Dagnajan's desire. They have fortified the pass to their kingdom with a Castle, but their unupgraded army of Light Cavalry, Spearmen and Skirmishers is no match for Dagnajan.

Neutral, potential Ally

 * Alodian Traders (Ethiopians) have a trade outpost in the west of the map, only lightly defended by a few Eastern Swordsmen, Pikemen, Archers and two Watch Towers. When approached, they want the Alodian Rebels defeated after which they "provide their Market for trading".

Enemy, potential Ally

 * Alodian Rebels (Saracens) are a ragtag band of rebels, but their army is considerably larger than the one of the Alodian Traders. If the Alodian Traders outpost is destroyed, they ally with the player and help with raids on 3 of Daganjan's military camps whenever they are paid a tribute of 300 gold (for further details see further below)

Enemy

 * Daganjan (Ethiopians) is the final adversary in this scenario. He has a large and diverse army divided among several military camps and a city but will only attack 50 minutes into the game, so he can be weakened beforehand.
 * Begemder kingdom (sic!) (Ethiopians) are the major annoyance in the first part of the scenario. They attack with mostly Archers and Men-at-Arms (later upgraded), with a few Camels and Scorpions thrown in later, but can easily be raided to greatly diminish their threat. If left unattended they can even advance to the Imperial Age. The kingdom is located in the west and has no defensive buildings.
 * Orthodox Monks (Ethiopians) is a group of Monks allied to Dagnajan in the east. When their Wonder is destroyed, the Monks of Dagnajan's army are removed from the game.

Strategy/Tactics
The scenario starts with but a few Archers, Shotel Warriors and Villagers. Immediately starting to build houses can save some time. Directly southeast of the starting location where a few Begemder Archers and Spearmen are located is a sound place for a first Town Center, as there are all necessary resources nearby. Additional resources can be found north and south, but to the south lies the Begemder kingdom. The player has to deal with the attacking Begemder kingdom while simultaneously trying to cut the size of Dagnajan's army which will become active at the 50 minute mark, when they will advance towards the pass at Darginda's Castle. If Dagnajan reaches the pass the scenario is lost. For the first few minutes the focus should be on building up an economy to advance to the Castle Age to construct a Castle, but at the same time defense may not be neglected, as Begemder Archers and Men-at-Arms continuously swarm the base. To counter them Skirmishers or Archers (in order not to strain the food supply) are a good idea. A very gold efficient way is to build a Dock and a few Galleys. The Galleys only take 1 damage from Archers so they can deal with a great number of them. In addition once Bodkin Arrow is researched the Galleys can outrange the nearby Begemder Town Center. A navy shouldn't be too heavily invested in though, a few Galleys are enough. Once in the Castle Age a Castle can be built to stall the Begemder onslaught infinitely, as they have no siege weapons to speak of. The Ethiopian unique unit, the Shotel Warrior, is excellent for raiding the Begemder kingdom and their economy can be utterly destroyed by sending a few Shotel Warriors, but this is not mandatory as like mentioned before, a Castle is enough to stop them. There are a few task that can be done to make the final fight against Dagnajan easier.
 * In the northeast of the map on a mountain is a monastery of Orthodox Monks located. They try to convert any unit approaching them, so it might be best to deal with them using ranged units like Skirmishers or Arbalests. If their Wonder is destroyed all the Monks of Dagnajan's army are removed.
 * In the south of the Begemder kingdom a Castle overseeing Dagnajan's elephant pens can be found. If it is destroyed the War Elephants are removed from Dagnajan's army. The Castle can either be destroyed using siege weapons or Arson empowered Shotel Warriors as they most likely will not yet have researched Murder Holes.
 * The Alodian civil war spills into this region and either the Alodian Traders or the Alodian Rebels can be supported, however this is optional, given the limited time until Dagnajan attacks. This secondary objective is unlocked by sending a unit to the Alodian Traders outpost, upon which the player is given the choice of either defeating the Traders outpost or the Rebels camp north of it. Helping the Traders "gives access" to their market, with no additional benefits. If the Rebels are supported, they offer to raid Dagnajan's army along a set route, on which three of his camps are located. Each time they are paid a tribute of 300 gold they attack with 1 Imperial Camel, 2 Heavy Camels and 3 Camel Archers. As these units are unupgraded however they are not very effective and should only be used if the player has excess gold or time is running low. Once the 3 camps on the route are wiped out, they will no longer conduct raids. For either choice the gain is minimal, but supporting the Rebels might be more advantageous, as their army is significantly larger and the Traders' Market can be traded with even if they are enemies, as long as it is left standing (but given the limited time until Dagnajan attacks trading doesn't really pay off).
 * The last way to diminish Dagnajan's army is to attack his 6 military camps on the shore of the river and east of it. Each camp consists of a different army composition, in most cases two types of units. To avoid dealing with the Alodian Rebels when attacking from the west of the river, the tiny river can be crossed south of Yodit's base (the ford is hard to notice).

At the 50 minute mark Dagnajan starts gathering his army and heads for the pass leading to Darginda. His core army which cannot be diminished beforehand consists of Shotel Warriors, Siege Rams and Trebuchets. To better monitor his advance, Cartography can be researched to give vision of Darginda villages. The best place to intercept him is at Darginda's Castle as said Castle and Darginda's army distract the attention of Dagnajan's army. It should be remebered that the objective is to kill Dagnajan himself, not to defeat his entire army, so all available units should be ordered to attack him. The easily spotted Elephant Archer hero is best attacked using Elite Skirmishers, Arbalests, Halberdiers and/or (Elite) Shotel Warriors. Sometimes Dagnajan's army doesn't show up at Darginda's Castle but gets stuck at one of the camps by the river, upon which the player can further build up an army and then strike at him in full force. With Dagnajan dead the scenario is won.