Razzia is the fifth and final scenario of the Tariq ibn Ziyad campaign in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. After crossing the Pyrenee mountains, the Umayyad Caliphate has reached the southwestern French region of Aquitania (Aquitaine). Under the leadership of Abd ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, the Caliphate seeks vengeance against the French warlords who overthrew their army ten years ago. Capturing the city of Bordeaux will destabilize the region and provide a chance to defeat the Frankish Army.
Players
Enemies
- Aquitanian Villages (Franks): They have three small villages near the player's starting position, each of which has a Monastery. The player's initial objective is to scare these villages into submission by destroying their Monasteries. The player will get 500 gold as loot for each Monastery they destroy. Each village has a small army protecting the Monastery but it will be no match for the player's initial army and will be defeated easily.
- Bordeaux (Franks): They have a well fortified base and a strong navy along the coast of the Bay of Biscay. They mainly train Paladins, Light Cavalry, Elite Skirmishers and Elite Throwing Axemen and will try to attack the player's base with small raiding parties of Elite Throwing Axemen and Long Swordsmen.
- Frankish Army (Franks): They have their main base at the northern edge of the map along with two smaller fortresses along a river. They will also be making a navy at these encampments but it won't be as large and powerful as Bordeaux's navy. They will mainly train Paladins, Pikemen, Elite Throwing Axemen and Elite Skirmishers. The player should be wary of them as they will be sending groups of Paladins and Elite Throwing Axemen quite frequently to the player's base.
Strategy
The player starts at a camp near the southeastern edge of the map, with a pretty big army of cavalry and ranged units along with Elite Huskarls. The initial objective is to destroy the Monastery at all three of the Aquitanian Village. It is good to begin with the village at the east since it is the most out of the way of the player's initial base. The player should have no problem facing them, after which the player should aim for the Monastery. Once the Monastery is down, the player will get 500 gold as loot. Soon after destroying the Monastery, return to the base as a group of Paladins from the Frankish Army will soon reach the village.
After that, go to the village on the center. Again, the player will face a Feudal Age army which is bigger than the previous one. Destroy the Monastery and come back quickly to the base because Paladins from the Frankish Army will approach the village after the Monastery is destroyed. Once back at the camp, go for the remaining village on the left, destroy their Monastery and leave quickly to avoid the Paladins.
After destroying all three Monasteries, the player will get a Transport Ship with five Villagers on board. There are two places on the map which are ideal starting locations - one at the sea's edge and another one deep inland. It is advised that the player start their base at the southern edge because not only will it provide an access to the Bay of Biscay but it is also further away from both enemy cities and thus safer. It is nearly always better to fish than not to fish since that is an excellent early source of food.
The player should be careful because the group of Paladins which came after destroying the left Aquitanian Villages' Monastery is still there and is very close to the player's base. It is probably wise to housewall them out so they don't get accidentally aggroed. There are 12 Paladins (which, oddly enough, have converted from Frankish Army to Aquitanian Villages).There is also a Relic near the player's base so the player should make a Monastery and train a Monk to pick up the relic and drop it at the Monastery. This Monk can heal injured soldiers too, if any. The player can, with a little care, get the Monk to the Relic and return it to the base right under the noses of those paladins.
The player should mine stone early since Bordeaux starts attacking really fast and it is good to have a Castle and walls in front of the base. For initial defence, Monks and Mangonels are good choices, since the player starts with 1,700 gold. Monks can be used to convert Paladins (although with Heresy, it does not gain any troops), and Mangonels stop the rams. This allows the player to concentrate on the economy, and the player should aim to get 30+ farmers, 20+ lumberjacks, and 30+ miners (of gold and stone). While still in turtle mode, do not forget to mass the Camel Archers, which are very strong, and garrison them in the Castle to increase its firepower. Research Heavy Camel using the initial stable far away from the base, and mass them up in the main base to counter the French Paladins.
After repelling the first few waves of French, the player should expand to the secondary gold and stone piles located all over the map with new Town Centers, taking care not to walk into any Aquitainian Villages (with their Paladins), and build a stable or two so it can pump out defensive Heavy Camels versus raids. If the player fails to diversify quickly enough, soon, Bordeaux and the French Army will attack with a monstrous army and navy capable of overwhelming even heavily protected Castles, and the player will run out of resources and lose the game.
But if the player has correctly invested in a strong economy, then the player's large army of Camels and Camel Archers will be the biggest deathball on the map, and the player will hit the population limit of 200. The player should research the Maghrabi Camels tech to regenerate their HP, keeping these valuable units alive much longer, and maintain several Monks to heal them even more. Gold runs out fast on this map, and the player's army is a very gold intense one. Conversely, the AI has enough resources to spam paladins forever.
The only time the player needs to invest in a navy is when Bordeaux and French Army's docks are still standing. They will keep on sending ships to harrass the player as long as they have Docks, so build a few Docks defended by a castle to fend them off. Train a huge fleet of Heavy Demolition Ships and blow up the docks. If the player has to pass a enemy Castle, send a larger group of Demolition Ships so the player will have any ships remaining to do enough work. Once all of the Docks are gone, the waters are safe.
Once the player has established superiority on the open field, the player should build a lot of Trebutchets (8 is recommended), and even Capped Rams, to one-shot all the buildings in Bordeaux. The player can also load the army in transport ships and launch a surprise attack unloading every ship inside Bordeaux. If the player does not have field superiority, Trebutchets can easily be sniped by Throwing Axemen, who do melee damage. Also, the French have a lot of Paladins if the player gets caught out of position.
After Bordeaux surrenders, the entire Bay of Biscay belongs to the player. Build Docks inside the city of Bordeaux and make lots of Fishing Ships so that food can accumulate fast. The player should also make a secondary base inside Bordeaux, with lots of Stables, Barracks and one or two Castles so that troops don't have to cover the entire distance. There is also another Relic to the north of Bordeaux which can now be collected.
Now it's time to attack the Frankish Army's base. The player has to destroy both their main base to the north as well as their two encampments along the river for them to surrender. It will be better to start with their main base first, so that most of their military buildings are destroyed, which will severely hamper their unit production capability. Their main base has two Castles, a Fortress and lots of military buildings. Again, the army should mostly comprise of Pikemen, Camels and Knights. Take all the Trebuchets the player has and destroy the Fortress on the edge of their base, then open a hole in their walls. Aim for their military buildings and use Trebuchets to attack their Castles, keeping other units away from it. Don't forget to queue Camels from the Stables back at Bordeaux. Once all of their military buildings are destroyed, the player should bring all of their units out of there. Alternatively, the Berbers have excellent Castle Drop, so build at least four castles with camel archers filled inside them since the Frankish Army has units strong enough to damage a castle severely. Use Trebuchets to destroy any red Trebuchets.
Now aim for the two smaller encampments. They should not be a problem at all - they only have one Castle each and a few soldiers to guard it. The player can also bring their navy to help attack these encampments. Once both of the encampments have been destroyed, Frankish Army will surrender and the player will be victorious.
Trivia
- This scenario depicts the Battle of the River Garonne, where Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi leads Umayyad forces against Bordeaux and an Aquitainian (Frankish) army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine. Al-Ghafiqi defeated Odo, which forced him to submit to his neighbour, King Charles Martel of the Frankish Kingdoms. Odo's submission led Charles Martel to organise his army to attack Al-Ghafiqi in the Battle of Tours (Tours scenario in the Battles of the Conquerors) which the Franks won and al-Ghafiqi defeated and killed.
