Saladin (Age of Empires: The Age of Kings)

A composite picture of the complete tapestry for Saladin's campaign

Saladin is the campaign for the Saracens in Age of Empires: The Age of Kings. It is described as the second hardest in the game. Like most of the campaigns, the first few scenarios involve the hero fighting other factions within their civilization and then fighting other civilizations. The player primarily fights the Saracens and then the Franks as they try to wrestle control of Egypt and the Holy Land in the time before and during the Third Crusade. In the final scenario, they fight against their crusader counterpart, Richard the Lionhearted.

Rising to Power, Part 1

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy 1: Bilbeis (Saracens)
• Enemy 2: Damietta (Saracens)
• Enemy 3: Alexandria (Saracens)

Objectives

• Donate four relics to your named mosques (churches).
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Win by the end of day 26.
  2. Achieve the Imperial Age by the end of Day 18
  3. Destroy the town of Bilbeis

Rising to Power, Part 2

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy 1: Nur ad-Din (Saracens)
• Enemy 2: Bastra (Saracens)

Objectives

• Destroy the enemy Castle.
• Destroy the Damascus Town center.
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Win by the end of day 34.
  2. Destroy the town centre of Bastra
  3. Capture all three relics

Reynald's Raiders

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy: Reynald's Raiders (Franks)
• Enemy 2: Bastra (Saracens)

Objectives

• Less than three caravans must be destroyed.
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Less than two caravans destroyed
  2. No caravans destroyed
  3. Destroy Kerak Castle

The Horns of Hattin

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy: Crusader Army (Franks)
• Enemy hero: Reynald de Chatillon - Knight Templars

Objectives

• Defeat Reynald.
• Kill all enemy military units.
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Destroy the trade cart
  2. Defeat the enemy monk
  3. Keep both mamelukes alive

Reclaiming Jerusalem

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy: Jerusalem (Franks)

Objectives

• Destroy Jerusalem Town Center.
• Allow at least 5 Jerusalem town buildings to survive.
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Win by the end of day 35
  2. Destroy both Jerusalem citadels (Castles)
  3. Destroy Ramla and Lachish town center by day 25.

The Battle of Arsuf

Players

• Player: Saladin (Saracens)
• Enemy: King Richard (Britons)
• Enemy hero: Richard the Lion Hearted

Objectives

• Destroy three trade carts.
• Saladin must survive.
• Bonus objectives:
  1. Defeat King Richard
  2. Win by the end of day 8
  3. Defeat all the four Knights Templar

Trivia

• Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin have mirrored final scenarios. In Richards' campaign, he fights in Arsuf and then fights for Jerusalem, but Saladin does this in reverse order. Saladin's order is historically correct, but he actually did lose the battle of Arsuf, whereas Richard never did get to assault Jerusalem, but he won the battle of Arsuf. The final scenarios use the same battlefields for Arsuf and Jerusalem.
• Richard does not speak to Saladin in any of the in-game dialogue.
• Saladin's campaign contains many instances where important cities, such as Jerusalem and Acre, are completely absent even though the battle field map should technically contain these cities.
• It is unsure what historical city "Bastra" in the second scenario is. This may be a spelling mistake for the town of Bosra in Modern Syria, which is close to Damascus and would make sense historically.

Gallery

Campaign map

Saladin, the campaign hero

Saif ad Din, the campaign advisor

Reynald de Chatillon