The Lion's Den

The Lion's Den is the fifth and final scenario of the Sundjata Campaign in Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms.

In this scenario the treacherous Sumanguru rallies his troops for a last stand in the city of Koumbi Saleh against Mansa Sundjata. The goal is to kill Sumanguru himself and raze the city sheltering him to the ground. This decisive battle is fought both on land and on sea.

Enemy

 * Koumbi Saleh (Malians, red) is a massive and extremely well-fortified city in the west. They produce large numbers of Halberdiers, Champions, Cavaliers, Light Cavalry, Trebuchets as well as Galleons and later Cannon Galleons. Some minutes into the game, they start building a wonder, putting the player on a clock.
 * Sumanguru (Malians, orange) himself and his personal guard of Champions and Elite Shotel Warriors are entrenched at the center of the city. Additionally his Arbalests, Siege Onagers and Trebuchets guard the double city walls and his Champions and Arbalests defend the several resource holding islands in the bay. Although he has a large army initially he can't replenish it and his units won't attack unless provoked, except for one wave at the start of the game.

Running the Gauntlet
At the beginning of the scenario time is of essence. As Koumbi Saleh attacks very early with a large army, certain preparations have to be made. First of all, all of Sundjata's Galley should be brought to safety behind the Towers to later upgrade them to War Galleys and help in the defeat of the enemy navy. Immedialtely gathering stone and sending a few villagers west to the bottleneck near Koumbi Saleh (where two short parallel walls are located) to contruct a (Fortified) Wall as well to intercept the incoming army is a top priority. As soon as enough stone is available a castle should be built there to hold off enemy attacks from both land and water. One of the first waves contains some Elite Shotel Warriors and Petards by Sumanguru so the Castle should be manually ordered to take these threats out.

Additionally a Dock can be built in the little pond, where ships are safe from enemy ships. The player shouldn't invest too heavily into War Galleys in this pond however as all enemy units have high pierce armor and the ships are trapped, limiting their utility. The best use for the pond is to position Cannon Galleons there once Imperial Age, Chemistry and Cannon Galleon itself are researched to safely take out enemy Trebuchtes attacking the wall or Castle.

Chemistry is also the requirement for Hand Cannoneers who can take out enemies unendangered from behind the wall and have a high attack bonus versus infantry.

Once this isthmus is secured, the player can decide whether to attack Koumbi Saleh via land or via water. The land assault has some drawbacks: It basically means giving up water control so not only are the resources on the islands forfeited but also as the enemy starts producing Cannon Galleons after some time Towers or Castles are no suitable defense, so Sundjata's base is under constant threat. Also Koumbi Saleh' mighty army has to be fought head-on as opposed to letting them run into the Castle and Hand Cannoneers positioned behind walls. Because of this reasons it is advised to mount a maritime assault.

Establishing a beach head
Attacking Koumbi Saleh via water has several advantages: As resources on the main land are very limited (especially gold) controlling the water also means controlling the several resource holding islands scattered across the bay while simultaneously disrupting the enemy's gold income from their mines near the shore once a beach head is secured. Secondly once the enemy navy is beaten all enemies have to attack the bottleneck, making them easy to kill by the Castle, Hand Cannoneers and additional Galleon fire from the sea. Thirdly, the Wonder is somewhat more accessible from the water.

Despite these benefits, the maritime assault is by no means an easy task and the main reasons for this are the enemy Sea Fortifications. They are towers with more health and a whopping 15 range, meaning they can easily outrange even Cannon Galleons. On top of that they also regenerate health, so they can't be worn down slowly. The best way to take them down is to approach them with Galleons to draw fire and then move in with several Cannon Galleons to destroy them quickly.

A good strategy is to raze the 5 enemy Docks (along with the surrounding Galleons) as soon as possible using (Heavy) Demolition Ships. This will not entirely ahlt their production, but will severly hinder it. Koumbi Saleh do rebuild their docks, albeit somewhat slowly and often outside the city walls (and thus removing any protection by walls or towers), making them easy targets to destroy or prevent their erection. Sometimes Koumbi Saleh also build a new Dock on one of the islands, so the villager on it should be killed if the player wants to entirely prevent the enemy from producing ships.

Once the initial Docks are gotten rid of, water control can be taken far more easily and the Sea Fortifications and seaside Castle of the city should be the next target so a beach head can be established.

Invading the city
With the enemy navy shattered and their oceanfront fortifications and buildings destroyed, Koumbi Saleh is ripe for the taking. A good army to land whould be Hand Cannoneers with Champions to soak up damage, of course supported by Galleon fire. If the enemy relies on Cavalry rather than infantry (which seems to happen sometimes) Heavy Camels with Farimba are a sound counter. A few villagers to construct military buildings to replenish the army are also of value. As Koumbi Saleh has Trebuchets however, a Siege Workshop should be built first in order to produce Bombard Cannon to safely take them out from afar without having to plow into fortifications or Sumanguru's guard.

In case time is running low, the Wonder can be besieged by Trebuchets without alerting Sumanguru's personal guard, as long as no unit comes too close to them.

Once a large enough army is amassed, Sumanguru's personal guard and he himself can be lured towards the shore in medium groups using ranged units. With this major threat taken out, the player can tread more safely in the city and gradually take down all buildings and units.

Sometimes Koumbi Saleh doesn't resign, in which case all buildings including Sea Fortifications have to be destroyed.

Trivia
This map is modelled after the Pyrrhus of Epirus scenario of the Rise of Rome expansion for Age of Empires I, with a few islands added in the bay.