Bleda the Hun (c. 390 - c. 445 A.D.) was co-king of the Huns with his younger brother Attila from 434 to his death. He is a cavalry hero in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors where he appears as a minor ally-turned-enemy in the first scenario of the Attila the Hun campaign.
In his original The Conquerors incarnation, Bleda is not a hero but a common unit despite having his own unique name and portrait icon. As a consequence, he was not immune to conversion, could not regenerate health, and was listed in the common units table of the Scenario Editor rather than with the heroes. However, this all changed with the release of The African Kingdoms, where he was classified as a hero.
Before the Definitive Edition, like Attila, Bleda took bonus damage from anti-infantry attacks despite being mounted, took no extra damage from anti-cavalry units like Spearmen and Camel Riders, and could garrison in rams.
Trivia[]
- Bleda initially reused the Mangudai model, with melee attack despite being armed with a bow. In the Definitive Edition, he has the appearance of a Steppe Lancer.
- Though Bleda dies in-game at the start of The Scourge of God, in reality he was alive for most of the events depicted in this scenario and its follow-up, The Great Ride.
- While Attila became sole leader of the Huns following Bleda's death, the circumstances were left ambiguous by historical records. Some sources state that Bleda was deliberately murdered by his brother after the Huns retreated in 445 A.D. without attacking Constantinople, while others claim it happened during a hunting trip where a failed assassination attempt was made on Attila's life first.
- The Definitive Edition of The Scourge of God does not use the unit's default icon (seen above), due to a trigger causing it to change to Subotai's.