First Battle of Lincoln is the first scenario of the The Anarchy chapter and overall sixth scenario of the The Normans campaign in Age of Empires IV. It is based on the Battle of Lincoln of February 1141, fought between the forces of King Stephen of England and Empress Matilda during the civil war known as The Anarchy.
Intro[]
Scenario description[]
The Empress Matilda made her move for the English throne, fueling the fire of the civil war.
Opening cinematic[]
After England defeated the French at the Battle of Brémule… Normandy was back in King Henry's hands. But one year later, his good fortune turned to tragedy. In 1120, his son and heir, William Adelin, died in a shipwreck. The future of Henry I's kingdom was in jeopardy.
Henry desperately needed a new heir. With no legitimate sons left alive, he broke with tradition and chose his daughter, Matilda. Henry forced his barons to accept Matilda as Queen. But when the king died, they broke their promise.
England would not be ruled by a woman. Matilda's cousin, Stephen, saw his chance and claimed the throne.
The crisis moved to the capital. At Westminster Abbey, Stephen was crowned king. But Matilda wanted what was hers. She was also lining up powerful supporters who would fight Stephen for her right to rule. Their conflict engulfed England in civil war. Fighting raged throughout the land.
In 1141, everything focused on one of the kingdom's most strategic cities: Lincoln. Matilda's allies had commandeered the castle. But King Stephen was determined to take it back. He besieged the castle. Stalemate.
As dawn broke on February the 2nd, everything was about to change. Matilda's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, raced to break the siege. As Robert's forces approached Lincoln, Stephen's army turned away from the castle to face them. Robert could win Matilda the crown… but only if his army could win the day…
Loading screen[]
The castle at Lincoln was under siege. Inside, forces loyal to The Empress Matilda awaited relief from her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester. To break the siege, Robert would have to capture the king.
Start of scenario[]
Robert of Gloucester's forces approached Lincoln. Their task: to liberate the castle from King Stephen's siege... while behind Lincoln's walls, troops loyal to Matilda held the castle for the Empress. First, Robert's forces would state an ambush to prevent enemy reinforcements from joining with King Stephen's army.
Scenario instructions[]
- Age:
Castle Age - Units:
- 3 Scout
- 36 Man-at-Arms
- 3
- Resources: None
Objectives[]
- Defeat the besieging forces
- Clear the western camp
- Clear the central camp
- Clear the eastern camp
- Set up an ambush
- Move all units to the ambush site in the Stealth Forest
- Set all units to Stand Ground
- Eliminate enemy reinforcements
- Eliminate the first column
- Eliminate the second column
- Eliminate the final column
- Destroy the enemy market town
- Rendezvous with Welsh allies
- Help your Welsh allies
- Gain entry to Lincoln
- Break the blockade at the castle gates
- Enter Lincoln
- Capture King Stephen
Players[]
- Empress Matilda: The player begins with a mid-sized force of Men-at-Arms and some Scouts for the purpose of ambushing enemy reinforcements on their way to besiege the allied town of Lincoln. Upon successfully ambushing the three enemy columns, they will receive reinforcements in the form of an additional thirty Men-at-Arms, twenty Longbowmen, and two Scouts. After destroying the enemy market town, they will be further reinforced by twenty-six Knights and two more Scouts. They will then be tasked with defending the city of Lincoln which, once reached, will turn over control of its buildings, Villagers, and defending military units to the player.
Allies[]
- Lincoln Garrison (English): The city of Lincoln is heavily fortified but defended by only a nominal force of Hardened Spearmen and Longbowmen. Their units and buildings will switch to the player's control once their army enters the city.
- Welsh Allies (English): The Welsh will appear in the east of the map with a force of forty-five Hardened Spearmen and thirty Longbowmen heading to Lincoln to bolster the city's defenses. They will be attacked by King Stephen's forces and will need to be rescued by the player. Once they reach the city, their Longbowmen will join those of the Lincoln Garrison (now the player's) on top of the Stone Walls.
Neutral[]
- Neutral Citizens (English): The neutral citizens control the town of Stowe, in the west of the map. They play no role in this scenario except as a visual embellishment. They can be attacked but will not fight back and destroying them confers no benefit to the player.
Enemies[]
- King Stephen (English): King Stephen's forces have besieged Lincoln, attacking from four camps to the southwest of the city. They also control a small market town to the south, and have several groups of units around the map which need to be destroyed by the player. Once their siege camps are destroyed, King Stephen himself will approach Lincoln with a mid-sized retinue of Veteran Horsemen, Men-at-Arms, and three Mangonels. The player is then tasked with capturing King Stephen by killing his unit. King Stephen's forces are composed mainly of Hardened Spearmen and Longbowmen, and will also build siege engines to assault Lincoln, namely Battering Rams, Mangonels and Siege Towers.
Strategy[]
The player's first task is to ambush three columns of enemy reinforcements on their way to join the siege of Lincoln. Since the player only has access to one type of unit at this stage, aside from the Scouts, there is little strategy that can be applied. It is not recommended to use the Scouts as bait for enemy archers, at least initially, as they will be useful for observing enemy movements. The first column will arrive on the road leading from the west, so the player should follow the instructions given and place their units in the Stealth Forest to the south of the road and set them to Stand Ground stance until the enemy units are close by. The next column will arrive from the southwest, so the player should move their units to the Stealth Forest near where the south and southwest roads meet. They can then return them to the same place to ambush the final column.
With the three columns eliminated, the player will receive reinforcements and the objective of destroying the market town nearby to the east. There is a large Stealth Forest just south of the town, so the player can make use of it to ambush the enemy garrison. As the town is destroyed, the player will receive further reinforcements, as well as news that an allied force from Wales is headed to join Empress Matilda's forces. These will soon be ambushed in turn by King Stephen's forces, however, so the player should hurry east with their own troops to rescue them, as they will contribute to the defense of Lincoln once the player reaches the city. As the enemy will have patrols of Spearmen and Longbowmen guarding the road, a good tactic is to use the player's Scouts to draw the enemy infantry away from their archers, so that the player's Knights can take out the latter while their own infantry deal with the former.
The entrance to the city is blocked by a considerable force of Longbowmen, Hardened Spearmen, and a Springald. Here again, the player can use a nearby Stealth Forest to flank and ambush the enemy from the east. However, as the enemy Longbowmen are protected by Spearmen from behind and Palings to the front, the player will have to be careful when maneuvering their Knights. The Welsh will also not wait too long before attacking the enemy head on, so the player cannot take too much time positioning their ambush, unless they are willing to lose their allies.
With the blockade destroyed, the player can enter the city, which will then switch all of its units and buildings to the player's control. The player will then be tasked with eliminating the three remaining enemy siege camps to the southwest of the city. The player's first task should be to send their Longbowmen to guard the city walls and produce Villagers to gather gold for improvements at the Blacksmith and Arsenal. The Silk Bowstrings technology in particular is useful here, as it allows the player's Longbowmen to outrange the enemy's and will even allow those on the city walls to pick off a good portion of the enemy camp garrisons. The Council Hall landmark will be useful for massing Longbowmen, which also benefit from the Setup Camp ability, and in large enough numbers can even take out most siege engines which the enemy will send to attack Lincoln. It is recommended to train some additional cavalry as well, however, particularly to deal with any Siege Towers, as well as Mangonels when attacking the camps.
Once all three siege camps are destroyed, King Stephen himself will approach Lincoln with a mid-sized retinue of Veteran Horsemen, Men-at-Arms, and three Mangonels, and the player will be tasked with capturing the king by destroying his unit. King Stephen is pretty tanky, with 700 hit points, so the player should send all of their Knights to deal with him after his Mangonels have been destroyed. It is also possible to trigger King Stephen's attack before the camps have been destroyed by sending a unit to the position where he and his guard are initially camped out, on the road between Lincoln and the neutral town of Stowe (gray). Once King Stephen is captured, the scenario will complete.
Achievement[]
Defeating the siege before the Keep takes damage grants the "Siegebreaker" achievement.
Outro[]
End of scenario[]
Matilda's forces had won the battle at Lincoln. But the fight for the crown was not over yet...
Post-game screen[]
Matilda's forces ended the siege and took King Stephen prisoner. But Matilda was far from the end of her quest for the English crown.
Page From History: The Empress's Flight[]
| “ | In the deep winter of 1142, the Empress Matilda - facing capture by her rival, King Stephen - was forced to make a daring flight from the tower of Oxford Castle Under cover of night, she descended the tower's walls by rope, aided by a few loyal soldiers. Finding the gaps in stephen's dwindling siege forces, the group fled unseen with Matilda wearing white for cover against the snow. Crossing the frozen River Thames Matilda then trudged miles through heavy snow, before finding refuge at her stronghold of Wallingford. Shortly after her escape, she slipped away to her court at Rouen, where she was free to plan the next phase of her challenge for England's throne |
” |
Trivia[]
- Once the Welsh Allies reach the city of Lincoln, their color will change from green to yellow (like the Lincoln Garrison), although their units' silhouettes will remain green. However, if the game is saved and then reloaded at this point, a bug will cause their units to appear green once more. Their Longbowmen may also not move up to the city walls, if they had not already when the save was made.
