| “ | The city of Jerusalem stands alone, surrounded by Saladin's forces. It is up to you to reclaim the city's outer defenses and repel the enemy. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Montgisard, also known as the Battle of Montgisard, is the fourth challenge scenario in Historical Battles in Age of Empires IV: Knights of Cross and Rose. It is based on the 1177 battle between the Kingdom of Jerusualem, along with the Knights Templar and other Crusader Orders, against Saladin and the Ayyubids.
Intro[]
Scenario description[]
The city of Jerusalem stands alone, surrounded by Saladin's forces. It is up to you to reclaim the city's outer defenses and repel the enemy.
Opening cinematic[]
My brother, the king, stands alone in Jerusalem. While our erstwhile allies march to war in Syria, only a few loyal Knights Templar remain. The sultan Saladin has brought a vast army to take advantage of our isolation and seize our lands. He believes our king frail, and our armies meagre. But this king does not cower behind city walls. It is time to reclaim the outlying fortifications from Saladin's men, and banish them from our lands. Today my brother will force Saladin, and the world, to remember the name of King Baldwin.
Start of scenario[]
Saladin's army has captured four key locations outside of Jerusalem. If he continues to control the countryside, he will ruin the city's farmland and supply chain. We must take back all four of these key points before it is too late for our city.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Starting Age:
Dark Age - Population limit: 200
- Starting units:
- Resources: 200 food, 100 wood, 100 gold
Objectives[]
- Capture all four Sacred Sites
- Defend your Capital Town Center
- (Optional): Complete all points of interest (0/6)
- Conqueror challenge
- Capture the first Sacred Site quickly for a greater challenge
- Clear the camp to activate conqueror mode
- Capture all reinforced Sacred Sites within 25 minutes
Medals[]
Time to capture all Sacred Sites
- Gold: 17 min
- Silver: 25 min
- Bronze: 1 hour
Players[]
Player[]
- Knights Templar: The player starts with a base in the south of the map, containing their Templar Headquarters, a Barracks, Archery Range, Stable, and Blacksmith, two Outposts, and a few Houses and drop-off buildings. The player starts out with the maximum population capacity of 200, of which the Houses contribute only 40. They can advance up to the Imperial Age, and their Villagers are unable to build walls. The player's base also contains the Leader Tent at which their heroes will respawn after being killed.
Allies[]
- Knights Templar: Allied buildings and Villagers are placed around the map, mostly as cosmetic additions, but also as parts of side objectives. They also have several military units and Villagers that can be rescued or recruited. They can assist in the capturing of one of the Sacred Sites with an army of Templar Brothers, Teutonic Knights, Archers, and Battering Rams.
Enemy[]
- Ayyubid Sultanate (Ayyubids): The enemy has a large presence everywhere on the map. Not only do they reinforce all four Sacred Sites, but they also guard side objectives and have soldiers patrolling the map. They field nearly every unit in the Ayyubid roster, including siege engines, with which they will launch sorties against any player-controlled Sacred Sites. Around the map, they will position mostly Spearmen and Archers, but they will have a wider variety of stronger units defending the Sacred Sites, including the campaign-exclusive Turkic Horse Archers. Approximately every five minutes, they will further reinforce the Sacred Sites.
Strategy[]
Out of all the Historical Battles released with Knights of Cross and Rose, Montgisard is the most open-ended, giving the player plenty of different ways to complete it. Since the enemy is not particularly aggressive against the player's base, even the conqueror medal can be achieved while playing at a moderate pace, comfortably building up an economy and advancing to the Imperial Age.
Conqueror Mode[]
Activating conqueror mode is achieved by capturing the Sacred Site immediately down the path from the player's base within three minutes, then clearing out the enemy mining encampment to the east within another three minutes. Capturing the first site can be done with the units at the start of the game as long as the player correctly uses their units to counter the enemy units (although the Templar Brothers are strong enough to defeat small amounts of Spearmen). If the player does not lose too many units capturing the site, they should also be able to quickly clear the camp as well with the additional Hospitaller Knights gained from capturing the Sacred Site. These Hospitaller Knights should heal up the player's units before attacking the camp. Since the abilities of King Baldwin and Odo have a long cooldown, it is better to save them for clearing the camp if speed is paramount, but it is possible to fit in two uses within the time window. Rescuing the Villagers from the first point of interest (see below) and immediately sending them to gather food from the nearby Deer can help the player advance to the Feudal Age faster, granting them additional units with which to clear the camp. Since the camp contains a Fortified Outpost, it will be difficult to clear it without the starting Battering Ram.
Points of interest[]
Although they are referred to as such, these are not the same as the Points of Interest that appear on various skirmish maps. Rather, they are various side objectives that can be completed for additional rewards. Completing the points of interest is not necessary to complete either the scenario or conqueror mode, and in fact, it may be better to avoid some of them if aiming for as fast a time as possible. The points of interest are as follows:
Montgisard minimap with points of interest labeled
- Defeat three Spearmen and three Archers to gain six Villagers.
- Defeat six Ghulams, Crossbowmen, Veteran Archers, and Veteran Spearmen each and destroy a Mining Camp and two Outposts (including a Fortified Outpost and one with five Archers garrisoned) to gain five Gold Chests with 200 gold each. Clearing the camp within three minutes of (quickly) capturing the first Sacred Site activates conqueror mode.
- Defeat four Veteran Archers and Desert Raiders each, and two Springalds, to gain six Villagers.
- Defeat eight Archers, six Spearmen, and a Horseman to gain three Battering Rams.
- Defeat eight Ghulams and eight Crossbowmen to gain 15 Elite Templar Brothers.
- Defeat 10 Ghulams, 6 Elite Archers, 6 Crossbowmen, and 5 Elite Horsemen to gain a Fortress and the support of an allied army during the capture of the eastern Sacred Site.
- While not specifically a point of interest, the point labeled 'M' provides a free Monastery and four Monks, which can quickly gather up several nearby Relics, so it should be sought out as fast as possible.
Of the points of interest, the player should prioritize number one as soon as the scenario starts to get a quick and considerable boost to their economy. The second one is cleared as a part of conqueror mode, and the fourth one can provide quick access to additional siege engines to capture the western Sacred Site without having to build a Siege Workshop or research Siege Engineering. The rest are beneficial, but are more out of the way and require more time to get, which some players may not find to be worth it. The fifteen Templar Brothers obtained from point five can help to quickly take point six as well if going for them.
General strategy[]
The following strategy can apply to either standard or conqueror mode
- The player should be able to maintain a strong enough economy with a single Town Center, Pilgrims, and Relics. Various resource crates are also distributed around the map. There are several nearby Sheep that should be herded back with the Scout, and after these are exhausted along with the Berry Bushes, the nearby Deer are the fastest source of food.
- Advancing to each Age provides ten of each unlocked Commanderie unit, giving an additional tempo advantage to Ageing up.
- The enemy is passive enough that it is possible to quickly advance to the Imperial Age without producing many units.
- Chevaliers Confrere are useful in the Feudal Age for their mobility and ability to quickly complete points of interest, although they become obsolete very quickly compared to the overall more versatile but less mobile Hospitaller Knights.
- For the Castle Age, Genoese Crossbowmen can provide high backline DPS to support a cavalry composition, while the Kingdom of Castile provides a bonus to all the player's units while they fight around the Sacred Sites. The Angevin Empire is the only option not recommended for the Castle Age.
- Advancing to the Imperial Age with the Kingdom of Poland provides a highly mobile and extremely powerful unit in the Szlachta Cavalry, which makes quick work of most enemy units. This option also improves the rest of the player's cavalry, which should be a key component of their army if they are attempting a fast completion time.
- The abilities of the player's Hero units are extremely powerful and should be used before any significant engagement.
- The Battering Rams obtained from the point of interest are perfect for assaulting the more weakly fortified western Sacred Site. They can also be used for the north and east Sacred Sites, but it may also be useful to build a few Trebuchets to take down the Stone Wall Towers and north site Keep from afar. The north site is the most heavily fortified and well defended, but the slow speed of the Battering Rams may make it more convenient to capture this site before the east one.
- There is no immediate penalty for losing a Sacred Site, so if out of position, it is better to pull back and wait for a big enough army to take it back instead of throwing away units trying to defend it.
Outro[]
End of scenario[]
Victory is ours. Saladin will rue the day he challenged King Baldwin
Unlockable content[]
- Page from History: The Leper King
Gallery[]
