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=== Enemies === |
=== Enemies === |
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| − | * '''{{color|blue|Poland}}''' ([[Goths]] |
+ | * '''{{color|blue|Poland}}''' ([[Goths]], [[Slavs]] in ''[[Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition|Definitive Edition]]''): Poland occupies the east of the map, with [[Castle (Age of Empires II)|Castles]], [[Siege Workshop (Age of Empires II)|Siege Workshops]], [[Watch Tower (Age of Empires II)|Watch Towers]], [[Dock (Age of Empires II)|Docks]], and [[House (Age of Empires II)|Houses]] scattered across the land. They field [[Huskarl (Age of Empires II)|Huskarls]] ([[Boyar]]s in the ''Definitive Edition''), [[Siege weapons (Age of Empires II)|siege weapons]], and send in navy early on. Destroying the Polish Castles and Siege Workshops forces Poland to resign. |
== Strategy == |
== Strategy == |
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Revision as of 22:23, 26 December 2019
Henry the Lion is the second scenario of the Barbarossa campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is loosely based on the German expansion to the East (Ostsiedlung) during the Late Middle Ages.
Scenario instructions
Starting conditions
- Starting Age: File:Castle-age-reseach.jpg Castle Age
- Starting resources: 1000 wood, 1000 food, 1000 gold
- Population limit: 75
- Starting units:
- 10
Pikemen - 6
Crossbowmen - 6 Knights
- 1 Light Cavalry
- 10
Objectives
- Defeat Poland.
- Defeat Henry the Lion.
Hints
- The German states of Bavaria and Saxony are 'feeding' the armies of Barbarossa and Henry the Lion. Defend the helpless feeders at all costs.
Players
Player
- Player (Teutons): The player starts in a central-western position on the map. All military building for training land units are at the player's disposal, but no Villagers, so the player cannot build up an economy.
Allies
- Bavaria (Teutons): Bavaria lies in the southern part of the map, with only Villagers and civilian buildings, gathering resources and paying tribute to the player.
- Saxony (Teutons): Saxony lies in the northwest. Just like Bavaria, they also have only Villagers and civilian buildings, gathering resources and paying tribute to the player.
- Henry the Lion (Teutons): Henry the Lion has his base at the western tip of the map, without any Villagers. He builds rams and Teutonic Knights. As his stance towards Poland is 'ally', his army does not resist the Polish invasion and simply gets slaughtered by the Polish. In a later stage of the game, he becomes the player's enemy and the player must defeat him.
Enemies
- Poland (Goths, Slavs in Definitive Edition): Poland occupies the east of the map, with Castles, Siege Workshops, Watch Towers, Docks, and Houses scattered across the land. They field Huskarls (Boyars in the Definitive Edition), siege weapons, and send in navy early on. Destroying the Polish Castles and Siege Workshops forces Poland to resign.
Strategy
The player starts from the central-western part of the map. Poland will have a navy attacking them in the early stage of the game, so they may need to build Fire Ships to defend themselves against the Polish navy. However, once the player has destroyed the Polish navy and they have stopped building a navy, they may start building Trade Cogs to trade with the Polish Docks. It is also possible to end the threat of a Polish navy very early on (at least on standard difficulty) by sending the player's Fire Ships to burn down their Docks in the very early game. The player will encounter War Galleys en route which they must eliminate, but this can almost instantly remove considerations of a Polish navy from the game.
Poland will invade both the player and Henry the Lion (which will simply get slaughtered without resistance), and may occasionally attack Saxony and Bavaria. As Poland is attacking Henry the Lion, it would be advisable to at least destroy their mangonels to prevent them from stationing at the west, where some Gaia villagers will spawn.
Henry the Lion will betray the player and become their enemy either at the 2000th second (33 minutes and 20 seconds) mark of the game, or when the northwestern Polish castle (on the western side of the river, near Saxony) is being destroyed, or the player has crossed the river into the northern or southeastern part of the Polish base, or if they change stance with him to enemy.
The player will be informed by a soldier of theirs that Henry the Lion has some villagers at the west (actually the Gaia villagers mentioned above) ready for their possession. There will be a flag marked at that spot. Send any unit to the flag and the Gaia villagers become the player's. (If there is any enemy around, they may start attacking the villagers, and any Mangonel will deal a great blow against the villagers). There is also a relic there, being confined in Henry the Lion's walls and locked gate. If the Polish army has destroyed the structure, the player may just send a Monk to take the relic, as long as there is no enemy around.
It may be a good idea to convert Polish Huskarls whenever possible, in order to make use of their speed and strength, as they cannot research Heresy.
Alternative way
Players can defeat Henry the Lion by changing their stance to neutral, building Rams, and attack Henry's Castle, Siege Workshop, and Barracks before he changes his stance to enemy.
Alternatively, use Mangonels and the "Attack Ground" command.
Trivia
- Henry the Lion has the same voice as the narrator of the Barbarossa campaign, foreshadowing the reveal that they are the same person in the final outro.
- This is one of two scenarios in which a player starts with over 20,000 points; namely, Henry and the Polish. The other scenario where this happens is York.
- The only way to win this scenario without being betrayed by Henry (and thus sharing a victory) is with the "i r winner" cheat.
- Like in the previous scenario, the player starts with a Light Cavalry even though it isn't available to the Teutons otherwise.
- Since this scenario predates the release of Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, the Poles are played by Goths rather than Slavs. This is corrected in Definitive Edition, where the Poles are properly represented by the Slavs.
Historical comparison
- Barbarossa invaded Poland early in his reign, in 1157. However, the purpose was not conquest but the restoration of Wladyslaw II, who had fled to Germany after being overthrown by his brother, Boleslaw IV. After negotiations, Barbarossa withdrew in exchange for several promises (allowing Wladyslaw's return, large sums of gold and silver, Boleslaw's youngest brother as hostage, joining the Emperor's army in his Italian campaign, and going to Magdeburg to address Wladyslaw's complains against him). As Boleslaw honored none of them, Barbarossa invaded again in 1172 (long after Wladyslaw's death) and secured a new peace wherein Boleslaw gave 8,000 marks to Barbarossa and partitioned Silesia between Wladyslaw's sons.
- The second (if not main) inspiration of the scenario is Henry the Lion's campaigns against the Slavic Duchy of Pomerania on the lower Oder river in 1147, 1164, and 1177. Pomerania was once pledged to Poland, but Polish rule ceased by 1138. While a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry allied in these campaigns with the King of Denmark, rather than with Barbarossa. He also demanded the Pomeranians's submission to himself, and they transferred it to Barbarossa only after Henry's downfall, in 1181.
- Henry was the Duke of Saxony since 1142 and was made Duke of Bavaria by Barbarossa in 1156, explaining why he remains allied with Saxony and Bavaria in the game despite betraying the player.
- Henry's eastern wars brought his downfall eventually, but in a less direct manner than in the scenario. Instead of rebelling against Barbarossa, he refused to provide troops for Barbarossa's Italian campaign of 1176 and used them against the Slavs. Barbarossa blamed his subsequent defeat on Henry, accused him of insubordination, seized his lands, and banished him from Germany.
