Reconquista

Reconquista is the sixth and final scenario in the El Cid campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.

El Cid is dead, but in order to keep the Spanish Army's morale still high, his wife, Jimena, strapped his body to his horse, Bavieca. The Cid is not a playable character in this mission, he is a still unit outside your Castle. To win this scenario, Jimena must defeat the Black Guard Army & Navy, and Yusuf.

Starting Conditions

 * Starting age: Imperial-age-research.jpg Imperial Age
 * Starting resources:, , ,
 * Population limit: 125
 * Starting units:
 * 6 s
 * 8
 * 4 1 2
 * 6 s
 * 6 s
 * 2 s1
 * 2 s2
 * 2 s3
 * 2 s
 * 3 s4
 * 3 s1
 * 3 s2 4

1. Easy difficulty 2. Moderate difficulty 3. Hard difficulty 4. Only 2 war galleys and 2 fire ships on hard.


 * Gaia units: None

Objectives:

 * Defeat the three armies of Yusuf so that Valencia will remain free.
 * The body of The Cid (near the Castle) must come to no harm, lest the people of Valencia realize they have lost their leader.

Hints:

 * 1. You will need to expand out from the Valencian fortress in order to procure more resources.


 * 2. Concentrate on fighting in Spain at first. Later you can attempt to sail across to Yusuf's base in Africa.


 * 3. Spanish Cannon Galleons are powerful. You should use them when attacking Yusuf in Africa.

Scouts:

 * Your scouts report: El Cid (red) has all the buildings he needs in Valencia to quickly field an army.


 * There are three enemies: The Black Guard Army (cyan), Navy (yellow) , and Yusuf's elite forces (green).


 * The Black Guard Army is north of Valencia and the most immediate threat, but it can be dispatched by a series of quick raids. The Black Guard Army is composed mostly of Camels and Cavalry Archers.


 * The Black Guard Navy is west of Valencia but can be reached by land. The Navy is better defended than the Army but can still be attacked early. In addition to cavalry, the Black Guard Navy has some Monks.


 * Yusuf is the most dangerous enemy. His ships may attack Valencia early on and his fortress in Africa is dangerous. Yusuf trains Camels, Cavalry Archers, and Monks that he will attempt to transport across in addition to Fire Ships and Cannon Galleons.

Ally

 * Dead El Cid (Spanish) is in the form of the usual El Cid Campeador being frozen outside your castle. His body must not be destroyed or you will lose the game.

Enemies

 * Black Guard Army (Turks) is at the north and northwest of Valencia, without villagers but only military buildings and units, and a castle. They make early attacks at northern Valencia.


 * Black Guard Navy (Turks) is based at the southwest of Valencia. They keep attacking at southwestern Valencia by water. However they also have land units, and they are overall stronger than the Army.


 * Yusuf (Turks) has his base in the eastern part of the map, which is in Africa, across the Mediterranean Sea. They would keep transporting military units across the sea to invade Valencia. The base is protected by three towers on small islands at the sea side.

Strategy/Tactics
You start in Valencia, which is at the central-northwestern of the map. The Gaia walls and castle, in Middle Eastern architecture (reflecting the then-Muslim/Moorish-majority population of Valencia), immediately become yours. You also have several fish traps at the southwest of Valencia, but Black Guard Navy will attack them. There is also a Gaia monastery at the west of Valencia (just as the previous scenario, King of Valencia), with a relic outside.

Outside Valencia, there are gold mines in the northern base of Black Guard Army (which would require you to defeat the Army first, to ensure the villagers' safety), as well as the two islands at the northeast of Valencia, which are parts of the Balearic Islands.

Black Guard Army's base is located to the northwest. Their army is composed of Heavy Cavalry Archers ands Capped Rams. They start with 4-5 Cavalry Archers to the north, near their Archery Ranges. It is a viable strategy ro rush this zone early, since it has no defenses, and use your rams to destroy the buildings before they start mass-producing. If you are quick, once you are done with the Cavalry Archers from the north, the AI will send the rest of its army, either to attack you or to defend at north. The rest of their army consists of 4-5 Cavalry Archers, 2 Capped Rams, and two Trebuchets. Their Castle, located west of Valencia, should be destroyed while their army is away. You can make a few Trebuchets to destroy that Castle and the remaining Archery Ranges.

The Black Guard Navy's start with a Town Center and a couple of Villagers, but no army, and all of their first resources go to ships, so it is a good strategy to raid their gold and wood economy. Watch out for monks. There are also Gold Mines nearby, and if you are fast enough, you may take all that gold for yourself. But be careful, because they also have a Castle near their docks. To deal with their boats, it is recommended to make a castle near your fish traps, because that's their main initial focus.

Yusuf's base is protected by three special towers, being similar to The Accursed Tower and The Tower of Flies, but with different names. They are excellent in attack and range compared with normal towers, but their overall strength is from the weakest one at the east, to the strongest one at the south. It would be advisable to start by taking down the weakest tower with Cannon Galleons, since the ships would be able to attack beyond the range of the tower. On the other hand, cannon galleons cannot outrange the other two towers. If you wish to take down the strongest tower, it is the best for you to use a Trebuchet to attack from Africa, but since they have the same range, the tower would retaliate against your trebuchet, yet causing very little damage comparing with damage on ships.

Trivia

 * Reconquista (Spanish and Portuguese for Reconquer) is a period for about 700 years after the Islamic conquest of Spain 713 (depicted in The African Kingdoms by Tariq ibd Ziyad campaign) until the fall of the last Muslim state in Spain: Granada in 1492. In this time in history, Christian kingdoms in France and later Spain and Portugal waged war against the Muslim kingdoms in Spain, starting with the Battle of Covadonga in 722, and would officially began in the Battle of Tours (depicted in The Conquerors in the Battles of the Conquerors), in 732 when Charles Martel would defeat Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi (the character leading the Tariq campaign in the later stages) and killing him.
 * This is the only El Cid Scenario that El Cid can't be controlled by the player.